“Oliver B. Shallenberger”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

Shallenberger was born in Rochester, Pennsylvania, on May 7, 1860. His parents were Aaron T. Shallenberger and Mary (Bonbright) Shallenberger.{{sfn|Jordan|1914|p=87}} He attended public schools of Rochester in Beaver County. He also went to Beaver College in Beaver County for a short time. He then attended the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis as a cadet engineer in 1877. William Shadrack Shallenberger, a member of Congress, was his uncle and helped him get into the Academy. He was head of a list of 126 candidates and took special interest in their physics courses. For the first year he was at the top of his class. During the second year in an accident he dislocated his wrist, broke an arm, and suffered vision impairment. He graduated in 1880 and was third of his class. Among the electricians and inventors that attended the Naval Academy around this same time were Frank J. Sprague, Dr. Louis Duncan, W. F. C. Hasson, and Gilbert Wilkes.{{sfn|Jordan|1914|p=87}}{{sfn|Terry|1898|p=577}}

Mid life and career

Shallenberger then served the customary two year commitment serving on a government ship, assigned to the U.S. flagship Lancaster in the Mediterranean. He witnessed the Bombardment of Alexandria. He returned to the United States in 1883. Shallenberger then joined the Union Switch and Signal Company of Pittsburgh in 1884 under the management of George Westinghouse. The company was organizing an electric light department using alternating current and he became their Chief Electrician. He then for the next few years spent his winters in Colorado and his summers in Rochester at a research laboratory of the Westinghouse company. Shallenberger ran the experiments of alternating current apparatus which had been imported from Europe. This research was the foundation for the organization of the Westinghouse Electric Company. He was appointed chief electrician, which continued at the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company. He was elected an associate member of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers in 1888. In 1891, poor health required him to resign from the Westinghouse company but he continued as a Consulting Electrician.{{sfn|Terry|1898|p=577}}

In 1897 he organized the Colorado Electric Power Company, becoming its President until his death. He settled permanently in Colorado Springs in 1897. Shallenberger was recognized as a worldwide authority on electricity. He was one of the promoters of the Rochester Electric Company.{{sfn|Jordan|1914|p=88}}{{sfn|Terry|1898|p=579}}

Inventions and innovations

Shallenberger did much in electrical experimentation and original research.{{sfn|Electrical World|1898|p=206}} He invented a street-lighting system in which each of a series of incandescent lamps is connected to specially designed transformers so that upon the interruption of the current of any lamp, the normal current is allowed to flow through the corresponding transformer to the remaining lamps without a power surge. It was patent US740189.{{sfn|United States Patent Office|1903|p=80}} The design and construction supervision of these specially designed transformer systems were by him. He also was the first in the United States to innovate a method of connecting alternating current generators in a parallel circuit.{{sfn|Jordan|1915|p=981}}

Shallenherger was the first to demonstrate in the United States, with the assistance of George Westinghouse, the safety of alternating current and he was primarily responsible for the general usage of that type of current over that of direct current. Through his inventions he showed that the use of alternating current electricity was more efficient and safer to use than direct current.{{sfn|Iron Age|1898|p=26}}

Shallenberger, through a research laboratory accident, innovated a device that led to the invention in April 1888 of an induction meter, a paramount apparatus of the Westinghouse alternating current system.{{sfn|Jordan|1914|p=981}}{{sfn|Terry|1898|p=580}} One day when he was experimenting on a new type of lamp a spring fell off and landed inside the lamp on a small edge of the holding structure. Before it got replaced by a co-worker Shallenberger observed that the spring rotated by some sort of electromagnetic force. He then conceived the idea that perhaps this force field could be used to turn some small wheels in such a way that they could measure electricity.^[2] One thing led to another and eventually a few weeks later he built the first alternating current measuring meter.{{sfn|Kane|1997|p=218}} He patented it under number US449003 A.{{sfn|United States Patent Office|1903|p=80}} It was a type of motor.^[3] Shallenberger's meter device was improved to what is today the modern electric meter for recording and indicating watt-hours for the measure of electric energy consumed by a customer. His electric meter was used by the British Government Board of Trade as the primary instrument for the measurement of electric current. His electric meter for measuring alternating current electricity was known worldwide by the end of the nineteenth century.{{sfn|Iron Age|1898|p=26}}

Securing accurate payment for electricity as a commodity had immense practical import.^[1]{{sfn|Iron Age|1898|p=26}} Shallenberger's electric meter invention was not the first to address the need for payment for electricity. Thomas Edison initially invoked a ‘per lamp’ surcharge in 1882. This gave way to a meter that used electrolytic jars that chemically measured zinc transfers and inferred electric usage. In 1888 Elihu Thomson patented a walking-beam meter, disparagingly labeled as a Rube Goldberg-styled device.^[3]

Shallenberger's simple AC motor (as it was later identified by Nikola Tesla) revolutionized electric meters. It operated on alternating current of 133 cycles per second.{{sfn|Skrabec|2007|p=116}}{{sfn|Seifer|1998|p=92}} It was accurate and an important component of Westinghouse's AC electrical system. The meter sold 120,000 units within ten years. It enabled billing by the ampere hour, combining measures of current and charge. "Coulomb motor meters" are those that measure electric quantity used. Therefore, power companies that used Shallenberger's meters charged by the energy consumed.^[3]

Later life and death

In 1889 he visited some major European cities.{{sfn|Jordan|1914|p=88}} Shallenberger died in Colorado on January 23, 1898. He is buried at Beaver County, Pennsylvania.{{sfn|Bausman|1904|p=527}}

Personal life

Shallenberger married Mary Woolslair on November 27, 1889.{{sfn|Jordan|1914|p=89}} They had a son (John W.) and daughter (Gertrude). John W. graduated from Yale University in 1912.{{sfn|Bausman|1904|p=527}}

References

Citations

1. ^¹{{cite web |url=https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/artifact/64863/ |quote=...the first successful AC ampere-hour meter in 1888. This meter measures the flow of electric current through a circuit. Early meters like this helped companies that supplied electricity to customers monitor usage and charge appropriate rates. Shallenberger's meter also paved the way for the acceptance of AC power distribution. |title=Westinghouse Shallenberger Ampere-hour Meter, 1888–1890 {{ndash}} Object I.D. 29.1333.4 |publisher=The Henry Ford |accessdate=December 15, 2017}}
2. ^{{cite web |url=http://watthourmeters.com/westinghouse/shall-amp.html |title=Shallenberger Ampere-hour Meter (1888 to 1897)|author= |date=2017 |website= |publisher=WattHourMeters |access-date=December 13, 2017 |quote=}}
3. ^¹²{{cite web |url=https://www.wired.com/2008/08/dayintech-0814/ |title=Aug. 14, 1888: I Sing the Meter Electric |last=Alfred |first=Randy |date=July 27, 2010 |work=Wired Magazine |publisher=Condé Nast |access-date= December 10, 2017 |quote=Shallenberger realized he could use the effect to turn wheels in a meter to measure electrical charge. Not only could he use it, he did ... and built an alternating-current ampere-hour meter in just three weeks.}}

Bibliography

External links

Early life