History of the electricity

"The greatest invention of the nineteenth century was the invention of the method inventions"

This aphorism English mathematician and philosopher Alfred Whitehead Nord (1891-1947) perfectly reflects the history of the electric meter, which improved with each new invention, followed one after the other, based on the scientific achievements and encouraging further development.

The first half of the nineteenth century brought a brilliant discoveries in the field of electromagnetism. In 1820, the Frenchman Andre-Marie Ampere (1775-1836) discovered the phenomenon of interaction of electric currents. In 1827, the German Georg Simon Ohm (1787-1854) established a relationship between the current and the voltage in the conductors. In 1831, Englishman Michael Faraday (1791-1867) discovered the law of electromagnetic induction , which underlies the principle of operation of generators , motors and transformers .

By the second half of the century it was already well prepared the ground for the introduction of scientific achievements in practice. For the discovery was followed by inventions and patents. Lamp, dynamo, motor, transformer, meter and turbine were invented one after another in a short time.

Not surprisingly, when the time is right, the key inventions occur almost simultaneously in different parts of the world. Hungarian Otto Titus Bluth, the inventor of the induction electric meter and co-inventor of the transformer, recalling in 1930, this exciting period, said: "In my time it was easy to Science like a tropical forest All that was needed, it is a good ax and wherever.. you may be hit, I could cut down a huge tree. "

With the invention of the dynamo (Anosh Yedlik in 1861, Werner von Siemens in 1867) an opportunity to produce electricity in large quantities. The first area of ​​the massive use of electricity was lighting. When this new product - electricity - began to sell, it became necessary to determine the price. However, it was unclear whether the units should keep records and what principles of measurement would be most convenient.

The first was the electricity meter counter hours of lamp Samuel Gardiner (USA), patented in 1872. He measured the time during which electric power is supplied to the load point, with all the lights connected to this counter, controlled by a single switch. With the advent of the light bulb Edison was practiced light chain branching, and a counter out of use.

Electrolytic counters
Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931), who introduced the first distribution grid lighting DC, argued that the electricity to be sold as a gas - in those days is also widely used for lighting purposes.

"Electric meter" Edison, patented in 1881, used an electrochemical current effect. It contained an electrolytic cell, where at the beginning of accounting period was placed precisely balanced plate of copper. The current passing through the electrolyte causes copper deposition. At the end of the billing period, the copper plate was weighed again and the difference in weight displays the amount of electricity that has passed through it. The counter was calibrated so that the bills can be put in cubic feet of gas.

These counters continued to be used until the end of the 19th century. However, they had one big drawback: readout be difficult for the power company and it was absolutely impossible for the consumer. Later, Edison said counting mechanism for easy meter reading.

There were other electrolytic meters, such as the pH meter German company "Siemens-Schuckert" (Siemens Shuckert) and mercury meter Jena glass factory "Schott und Genosse" (Schott & Gen. Jena). Electrolytic counters could only measure the ampere-hours and not good when the voltage fluctuations.

Pendulum counters
Another possible design principle was to create a counter movement - vibration or rotation - proportional energy, which in turn would run counter mechanism for displaying the meter readings.

The principle of the pendulum counter has been described by the Americans William Edward Eyrtonom and John Perry in 1881. In 1884 in Germany, not knowing about their invention, Hermann Aron (1845-1902) constructed a pendulum counter.

The more advanced models of this counter were two of the pendulum with the coils on each connected to a voltage source. Under pendulums placed two current coils with opposite windings. The interaction of the coils of one of the pendulums moved slowly, and the other faster than without electrical load. This path difference is transmitted totalizers counter. Pendulums changed roles every minute to compensate for the difference in the initial oscillation frequency. At the same time winding the watch mechanism.

These counters are expensive, because they contain two time mechanism, and gradually replaced motor counters. Pendulum counter possible to measure the ampere-hours or watt-hours, but it can be used exclusively for DC networks.

Motor counters
Another alternative was to create the electricity use of the motor. In these counters, proportional to the load torque and a counter-balanced by the torque thus rotor speed proportional to the load, whereas the moments are balanced. In 1889, American Elihu Thomson (1853-1937) developed his "The recorder power meter" for the company "General Electric" (General Electric).

It was a motor armature without an iron core, which is run by the voltage flowing through the coil and resistor via a collector. The stator is powered by a current, and thus the torque was proportional to the product of voltage and current. The braking torque ensured permanent magnet, which worked on the aluminum disc attached to the anchor. This counter is used primarily for DC. The big drawback was the motor of electric power collector.

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