The War of Currents Omar Ahmad ENT 103 The war of the currents was a concept created by Tesla, Thomas Edison and Westinghouse so as to determine between direct current and alternating current which would be standard. Edison championed the direct-current system, in which electrical current flows steadily in one direction, while Tesla and Westinghouse promoted the alternating-current system, in which the current’s flow constantly alternates. He had many patents on various things including the phonograph, motion picture camera and the light bulb. The light bulb was quite a huge step forward in his career. Direct current worked well with incandescent lamps, which were the principal load of the day. Its systems could be directly used with storage batteries, providing valuable load-leveling and backup power during interruptions of generator operation. Edison had invented a meter to allow customers to be billed for energy proportional to consumption, but this meter worked only with direct current. D.C also worked well with electric motors, an advantage DC would hold throughout the 1880s. The …show more content…
This happened as Westinghouse AC gained momentum. As AC system voltages were used for new electric chairs and to kill cats and dogs, Edison turned his crusade against Westinghouse into a crusade for public safety. Meanwhile, Westinghouse concentrated on developing the system devices that would make his AC system dominant in the field. He also took advantage of special opportunities to publicize his AC system, such as the famous "White City" exposition at the Chicago World's Fair in