There are few inventors more widely known than Thomas Edison, and there are certainly
few inventors who courted controversy more often.
Edison is credited with helping pioneer the use of electricity in everyday life, from
the light bulb to the phonograph, as well as developing direct current in electrical
devices.
The latter, amazingly, was the source of one of the fiercest and dirtiest business competitions
in history, in what was dubbed the "Current Wars."
As America began to adapt to electricity, one of two types of current — alternating
current or direct current — needed to be adopted.
It wouldn't be logical to have both, and Thomas Edison, who pioneered direct current, knew
that.
So did his rivals George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla, who were Team Alternating Current.
It became a race to see which current would become accepted by the public, netting their
promoter a huge increase in public profile and profits.
Due to the nature of the men involved, particularly Edison, this was not an example of good sportsmanship
and friendly competition.
Although not as instantly recognizable of a name as Edison or Tesla, George Westinghouse
played a major role in how Americans use electricity today.
He came from a military background, and his first big invention was the railroad air brake,
which became compulsory a couple of decades after it was introduced.
His experience with air brakes would later influence his interest in electricity, as
he imported AC generators from Europe and perfected the designs of AC generators and
transformers.
The seeds of the Current Wars in America had been planted.
As the name suggests, direct current runs in a single direction, while alternating current
reverses direction dozens of times a second.
Edison's conviction in DC was due to its superiority over AC when constructing motors.
AC, however, had a huge advantage: It could stretch over much longer distances.
AC seemed like the superior current to many, so Edison felt he had to go on the offensive.
"Should you choose Westinghouse, then yes, there is a possibility you'll be putting in
jeopardy the lives of 28 million people."
Edison focused on painting AC and its high voltages as dangerous to consumers, writing
that should any AC system be installed, a fried corpse would appear within six months.
To prove it, Edison decided to demonstrate it by helping to invent the electric chair
— using Westinghouse's AC.
Dogs and horses were electrocuted first, and in 1890, the first prison inmate was killed
— brutally, as the initial volts didn't kill him.
The most famous animal electrocution, however, was not Edison's fault — at least not directly.
Topsy the elephant has become a symbol of Edison's determination to win the Current
Wars no matter the cost.
The story typically goes that Edison electrocuted an innocent elephant in front of the public
as a dramatic demonstration of AC's danger, but this is not entirely true.
By 1903, Topsy had killed three men, including one man she hit after he burned her trunk
with a lit cigar.
Orders were given, saying Topsy was to be destroyed.
Animal rights groups thought a hanging was inhumane, and it was suggested that the newly
introduced method of death by electrocution be implemented.
A Brooklyn electrical company bearing Edison's name handled the voltage, and the grisly affair
was filmed using another Edison invention, but the man himself was not present and likely
completely unaware of the killing of Topsy.
The two men's approaches to the Current Wars were largely defined by what they thought
was most important about their inventions.
Thomas Edison had a user-first philosophy, while Westinghouse looked at his inventions
from an industry and infrastructure perspective.
It was this mindset that would eventually help him win the Current Wars, as AC required
fewer relay stations and other physical infrastructure than his rival's system.
When Tesla succeeded in developing an AC motor with Westinghouse, DC's days were numbered.
Westinghouse was chosen to light the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, signaling
an end to the Current Wars and a victory for alternating current.
"Thomas Alva Edison is a charlatan, who preys on the fears of the common man, because I
have the better system."
AC is still used today around the world, while DC is mostly reserved for batteries.
It wasn't all bad for Edison, however, as he would continue to make some other massively
influential inventions, while Westinghouse would suffer from financial crises around
the turn of the century, and die with no connections to any of his businesses.
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