090717-1859 EST
chris:
The reason I started this in Continuing Education was because it did not relate to a problem, and it seemed to logically belong here. Unfortunately the easily found references on Google do not provide the stunning photos of the Scientific American article. It appears the research was at least partially supported by the US Army.
There are many modern developments that have resulted from US Military support. Much of my education was directly or indirectly supported by military contracts. Many of my teachers worked on these contracts and I did as well. One of my teachers, William G. Dow, was instrumental in getting contracts for work on upper air atmosphere studies just after WWII. During WWII Dow worked on military projects, such as the proximity fuse, and this provided him the connections for the contracts after the war. These contacts resulted in the establishment of the Willow Run Laboratories. Probably starting in the late 40s and continuing into the 50s side looking radar was developed at Willow Run.
This reference outlines Dow's life. He lived about 4 blocks from me and even when he was near 100 he walked by my home every few days. There is a substantial elevation difference between our homes, maybe in excess of 100 ft. So this was certainly something that kept him in shape. He talked about and clearly remembered fellow associates from 50 years ago.
http://www.eecs.umich.edu/eecs/dow/b-day_tribute.html
The following reference gives a very limited history on Willow Run Labs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_Research_Institute_of_Michigan
When doing Google searches one runs across many interesting and unexpected results. This is one:
http://www.dexterresearch.com/content/company-history
Looking back at old magazines and books provides very interesting material. When I was young commercial television did not exist in our area. Probably only New York had limited broadcasting. In some old magazines I found articles on a mechanically scanned display. This used a motor driven disk, probably spun at 1800 RPM, that produced a 60 line picture. I believe a neon bulb was modulated to provide the light source behind the disk. This system was possibly circa 1928.
See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philo_Farnsworth
for information on the first all electronic TV system.
It is quite interesting to go back and look at the history of electricity.
With my knowledge today I would like to go back when I was in 1st and 2nd grade and ask Francis Jehl how current and voltage were measured during the development of the light bulb. Jehl was the last person alive at that time that was present during Edison's development of the incandescent lamp. In visits to the Menlo Park Lab in Greenfield Village Jehl told us about various Edison inventions. Edison had a mirror galvanometer. At this time, 1879, the d'Arsonval meter did not exist. The Wheatstone bridge had existed from 1833 and Edison had resistor boxes. So accurate resistance measurements were possible. What was used for a voltage reference? Probably a cell or battery. How were 100 V measurements made. How was current measured? How was dynamo efficiency measured? Horsepower was measured with a weight on a scale and a belt and pulley system.
See these two references on the volt, circa 1879:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clark_cell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volt
Voltage dividers from high voltage to near 1 V could have been used with the galvanometer in a difference measurement. To some extent high accuracy was not required. Maybe just a coil of wire and a compass could have been the detector. Put yourself in Edison's position in 1879 and without today's knowledge how would you run the experiments necessary to develop his electrical distribution system?
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