Timeline of electricity adoption
From Timelines
This is a timeline of electricity adoption.
Contents
Big picture
| Time period | Development summary | More details |
|---|
Full timeline
| Year | Month and date | Event type | Details | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1800 | Alessandro Volta develops the first battery.[1] | |||
| 1802–1809 | Sometime during this period, Humphry Davy first demonstrates the arc lamp. | |||
| 1816 | The first working electrical telegraph is built by Francis Ronalds. | |||
| 1831 | Michael Faraday announces his discovery of electromagnetic induction.[2]:3 | |||
| 1847 | October 12 | Siemens is founded. | ||
| 1878 | November 15 | The Edison Electric Light Company is incorporated in New York. The company provides "financial support for Edison's electric light experiments in return for control of the resulting patents".[3] | ||
| 1878 | December 18 | Joseph Swan demonstrates that "a carbon filament in an evacuated glass globe would glow when an electric current was passed through it". This allows for electric lighting that is not excessively bright.[2]:4 | ||
| 1879 | June 28 | Walter Baily demonstrates an AC motor to the Physical Society of London. | ||
| 1879 | November 1 | Thomas Edison's carbon-filament incandescent lamp is patented.[4] | ||
| 1880 | Joseph Swan obtains a British patent for his incandescent light bulb.[4] | |||
| 1880 | December 17 | The Edison Electric Illuminating Company of New York is organized.[3] | ||
| 1880 | December 23 | The Edison Electric Light Company of Europe, Ltd. is incorporated to control Edison's electric light patents in Europe (except the United Kingdom).[3] | ||
| 1880–1883 | The first electric trams begin operating in Russia (1880), Germany (1881), Britain (1883), and Austria (1883). | |||
| 1881 | September | Godalming becomes the first town in the world with a public electricity supply. The central station here is water-powered.[2] | ||
| 1882 | January 12 | Holborn Viaduct power station begins running. It is steam-powered.[2]:7 | United Kingdom (London) | |
| 1882 | March 15 | The Edison Electric Light Company, Ltd. is organized in London.[3] | United Kingdom | |
| 1882 | August 18 | The Electric Lighting Act of 1882 is enacted. This act allows for the creation of a public electricity supply by breaking up (i.e. digging up and temporarily removing) streets in order to place pipes.[2]:5[5] The act also provides a twenty-one-year limited tenure to private companies to supply electricity (after which the local government would be allowed to purchase the central station and distribution system).[6]:60 | United Kingdom | |
| 1882 | September 4 | Pearl Street Station begins generating electricity.[3] | ||
| 1883 | The Thomson-Houston Electric Company is established.[7] | |||
| 1883 | March 13 | The German Edison company, known as Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte Elektricität at the time, is founded by Emil Rathenau.[6] The company would later be renamed to AEG. | ||
| 1883 | October | The English Edison Company and Swan Electric Light Company merge to form the Edison and Swan United Electric Light Company, Ltd.[6]:62[3] | ||
| 1884 | The modern steam turbine is invented by Charles Parsons. A production model would be installed in the Forth Banks power station in Newcastle in 1888.[2]:13 | |||
| 1886 | January 8 | The Westinghouse Electric Corporation is founded as Westinghouse Electric Company. | ||
| 1886 | November 30 | The first commercial alternating current central station in the United States begins operating.[8] | United States (Buffalo, New York) | |
| 1888 | June 28 | The Electric Lighting Act of 1888 is enacted. This act amends the act from 1882 by extending the tenure for private companies from twenty-one to forty-two years.[6]:64 | United Kingdom | |
| 1889 | NESCo is founded by John Theodore Merz as Newcastle upon Tyne Electric Supply Company. | |||
| 1893 | The first electric bread toaster is invented by Alan MacMasters. | United Kingdom | ||
| 1897 | By this time, the United States has electrified almost 90% of its tramway mileage.[2]:15 | United States | ||
| 1902 | The first modern electric air conditioning unit is invented. | United States | ||
| 1904 | The first electric washing machines are created around this time. | |||
| 1905 | By this time, Britain has electrified almost 90% of its tramway mileage.[2]:15 | United Kingdom | ||
| 1906 | The first patents for induction cooking date back to around this time. However, modern implementations would arrive only in the 1970s. | |||
| 1907 | The first portable electric vacuum cleaner is invented. | United States | ||
| 1910s–1920s | The first electric dishwasher is produced around this time. Wikipedia shows a photo of one from "about 1917". Some other sources credit "the Walker brothers" in 1913.[9] By the mid-1920s, there are companies dedicated to manufacturing electric dishwashers.[10] | |||
| 1914 | The first practical electric refrigerator is created around this time. | |||
| 1935 | The Rural Electrification Administration is created as part of the New Deal. | United States | ||
| 1936 | May 20 | The Rural Electrification Act is enacted. | United States | |
| 1946 | Electricity production and distribution in France is nationalized.[11]:315 | France | ||
| 1947 | The microwave oven becomes commercially available. | |||
| 1948 | April 1 | In Britain, the Electricity Act 1947 nationalizes the electricity generation and supply industry. The act would be repealed in 1989 with the Electricity Act 1989. | United Kingdom | |
| 1978 | October | Economy 7 is introduced in the United Kingdom. | United Kingdom | |
| 2000 | April | California electricity crisis |
Meta information on the timeline
How the timeline was built
What the timeline is still missing
Timeline update strategy
See also
External links
References
- ↑ Jeffrey La Favre (1998). "Brush's Arc Lamp". Retrieved May 18, 2017.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Hannah, Leslie (1979). Electricity Before Nationalisation: A Study of the Development of The Electricity Supply Industry in Britain to 1948. The Macmillan Press LTD.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 "Edison's Companies". The Edison Papers. Rutgers University. October 28, 2016. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Edison's Incandescent Lamp". Engineering and Technology History Wiki. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
- ↑ Glen, W. Cunningham; Glen, Alex. "The Electric Lighting Act 1882".
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Thomas Parke Hughes (1983). "Networks of Power: Electrification in Western Society, 1880–1930". The Johns Hopkins University Press.
- ↑ Edward J. Covington. "The Thomson-Houston Electric Incandescent Lamp, 1884-1893". Retrieved May 18, 2017.
The Thomson-Houston Company had been formed in 1883 to produce dynamos and arc lighting; it succeeded the American Electric Company, which had been formed in the year 1880.
- ↑ "Early Electrification of Buffalo". Engineering and Technology History Wiki. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
- ↑ "A Visit to a 1930s Appliance Show". Retrieved May 16, 2017.
In 1913 when the Walker Brothers hardware store was wired for electricity they produced thier first electric dishwasher.
- ↑ "Early Electric Dishwasher". Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
- ↑ Beltran, Alain. "Competitiveness and Electricity: Electricité de France Since 1946" (PDF).
