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The Last DC Power Grid Shut Down in NYC

Posted by Zonk on from the edison-we-barely-knew-ye dept.

cell-block-9 writes "Today the last section of the old Edison DC power grid will be shut down in Manhattan. 'The last snip of Con Ed's direct current system will take place at 10 East 40th Street, near the Mid-Manhattan Library. That building, like the thousands of other direct current users that have been transitioned over the last several years, now has a converter installed on the premises that can take alternating electricity from the Con Ed power grid and adapt it on premises.' I guess Tesla finally won the argument."

7 of 533 comments (clear)

  1. Tesla won but... by Bryansix · · Score: 4, Insightful

    most people don't even know who Tesla was or that he pushed for the system that we now use to distribute electricity.

    1. Re:Tesla won but... by oo7tushar · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Just like most of us here on Slashdot don't know (without the assistance of a search engine) who won the 1982 Super Bowl. Different things matter to different people and most people have things to worry about rather than wondering who the proponents of power transport via AC were.

      Most of us here on /. certainly know who Mr. Tesla is and what he pushed for and we should take pleasure in being in such distinct company...except for the trolls and turds.

      --
      internet like monkeys'
    2. Re:Tesla won but... by Tablizer · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Or that he died broke and alone because people like Edison stole his ideas ... Tesla's failure is a perfect example of capitalism at work.

      Much of the good ideas that really propel technology are that way. Capitalism rewards manipulative wheeler-dealers far more than creativity. It rewards those who can best exploit creative ideas, not make them.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
  2. Re:uh by ResidntGeek · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No. Capitalism is the best system available, but that doesn't make it fair. It is up to the people within the system to try to make it fair. That includes pointing out the problems with it. His criticism isn't meaningless, it's important.

    --
    ResidntGeek
  3. Re:Is there 600VDC in Boston? by Animats · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Later elevators still used 600VDC but used a dynamotor

    What you're hearing is not a dynamotor, but something called a Ward Leonard drive. It's a fixed-speed motor driving a generator, but its purpose is speed control. The field current of the generator, which is small, is adjusted to control the larger output of the generator. The variable output of the generator then drives the elevator motor. The Ward Leonard drive is thus a big power amplifier. Until power semiconductors got big enough, which wasn't really until the 1980s, this was the most effective way to smoothly speed-control large motors.

    A dynamotor has a common field for the input and output sides, but a Ward Leonard drive does not.

    Incidentally, the Wikipedia article in Ward Leonard drives is bogus. Here's a better reference.

  4. Re:uh by Pharmboy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Winston Churchill - The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.

    --
    Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
  5. Re:DC vs AC - not true today by rubycodez · · Score: 5, Insightful

    actually no, that means 80+ years ago that was true but now a high voltage dc transmission system is in fact more efficient, uses less condutors, eliminates need for sychnonization between different systems. HVDC also preferred for undersea long distance transmission because of less capacitive losses.