5; MATSotJ RP3 Electricity Supply in Great Britain A Chronology-From the beginnings of the industry to 31 December 1976 The Electricity Council Published by: The Electricity Council 30 Millbank London SW1P4RD First published April 1973 Second edition April 1977 Photo-litho reprint by W & J Mackay Limited, Chatham from earlier impression ISBN 0-85188-053-3 Intelligence Section Secretary's Department 'The Electricity Council Preface This annotated chronology records the principal developments in the technology of electricity supply and utilisation; legislation and reports of official committees; regulations governing electricity; and organisa­ tions of the electrical industry. Although primarily concerned with Great Britain, this chronology also includes references to some of the outstanding developments abroad. It is necessarily highly selective. In dealing with "official" information, such as annual reports and reports of Select Committees, the original sources have been consulted wher­ ever possible. But some reliance has had to be placed on other "authoritative" sources. Among the large number of publications that have been consulted are those set out at the end of the chronology. Grateful acknowledgment is made to the authors and publishers concerned. Supporting the chronology is a comprehensive Alphabetical Index (p. 86). Electricity Supply in Great Britain A Chronology-From the beginnings of the industry to 31 December 1976 * Denotes developments abroad. 1831 Michael Faraday made his fundamental discovery of electro-magnetic induction-demonstrating that electricity could be generated by mechanical means. But many years were to elapse before machinery was available for its production on a commercial scale and apparatus for its utilisation had been devised. 1837 First electrical journal-"The Annals of Electricity, Magnetism and Chemistry; and Generation of Experimental Sources". Conducted by W. Sturgeon, etc. in London from 1837 to 1843. 1837 The first practical electric truck ("electro-magnetic locomotive") con­ structed by Robert Davidson of Aberdeen. Electricity supply was from primary batteries. In 1842 a number of successful runs were made on the Edinburgh and Glasgow railway. 1837 *Professor M. H. Jacobi, a Russian, invented the process of electro­ plating. 1839 *In a letter to Faraday, written from St. Petersburg, Jacobi described how he had successfully driven a boat by an electro-magnetic engine, supplied from a primary battery. 1844 Using horseshoe magnets, Woolrich produced a continuous uni­ directional current from his electro-magnetic generator. This was used in an electroplating works in Birmingham. 1846-48 Development of the carbon arc lamp by W. E. Staite and W. Petrie. Many demonstrations were given including the lighting of the portico of the National Gallery, London, on 28 November 1848. The experi­ ments failed because the primary cells from which the lamps were supplied were too costly in up-keep. 1847 *Siemens & Halske founded in Berlin to manufacture electric telegraph cables using gutta-percha as insulation. 1 1847 Gas Act, including a clause giving rights to break up streets for the construction or repair of pipes. (Cf. "Electric Lighting Act", 1882) 1856-70 Professor F. H. Holmes pioneered the illumination of lighthouses by carbon arc lamps, supplied by magneto-electric generators for which he took out a series of patents during those years. The lighthouses in­ volved were : 1857 Experiments at Blackwall and South Foreland 1862 Dungeness 1870 Souter Point, Nr. Sunderland. This installation remained in service until 1900 The Holmes machines were still too costly for general application. 1858 Siemens & Halske & Co of London founded. The partners were William Siemens & Halske of Berlin and Newall & Co. 1859 Vulcanized rubber cable introduced. W. T. Henley built his main cable factory at North Woolwich. 1859 *G. Plante in Paris produced a lead secondary cell or storage battery. But this did not find much industrial application at the time and it was not until 1881 that a fresh impetus was given to the study of the secondary cell by the discovery of another French inventor, C. Faure. 1866-67 Development of the principle of self-excitation of magneto-electric machines ("dynamos") independently by Dr. H. Wilde, the brothers C. & S. A. Varley, Dr. Werner Siemens (in Germany), and Sir Charles Wheatstone. 1870 The Tramways Act, with its limitation of concessions to twenty-one years and subject to local authority consent, was to prove an unfor­ tunate precedent for the first electricity legislation twelve years later. 1871 *Z. T. Gramme-a Belgian-produced a dynamo with a ring-wound armature, (the "Gramme Ring"), which brought matters to a point where the industrial generation of electricity became a practical ques­ tion. The machine, after many changes and improvements, became the first generator to be used commercially. 1871 Foundation of the Society of Telegraph Engineers. (In 1880 the title was broadened to the Society of Telegraph Engineers and Electricians, and in 1888 it became the Institution of Electrical Engineers.) 1872 Dynamos in wide use for electroplating. 1872 Foundation of "The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review"-later to become "The Electrical Review". 1874 *"The Electrical World: An Illustrated Weekly Review of Current Progress in Electricity and its Practical Applications" established in the USA. 1876 *P. Jablochkoff, a Russian officer working in Paris, invented his famous "electric candle", consisting of two carbon rods placed side by side­ the first arc lamp to be used on a large scale. 1877-79 The first large installations of arc lighting, principally by Jablochkoff candles, installed by French engineers: *The Grands Magasins du Louvre, in Paris. The Gaiety Theatre-the first public building to be electrically lighted in London; Billingsgate Market; street lighting on the Thames Em­ bankment, Holborn Viaduct and the Mansion House; and industrial and private installations, including the commercial ironworks of 2 Wells Co., Shoreditch; London Bridge and St. Enoch (Glasgow) rail­ way stations; Wills tobacco factory at Bristol; the British Museum Reading Room; Pullars Dye Works at Perth; and Cammells steelworks near Chesterfield. "The Electrician" Vol. 1, 1878 reports a football match played during October of that year under electric light before nearly 30,000 spectators at Bramall-lane Grounds, Sheffield. 1878 The first practical incandescent carbon filament lamp-demonstrated by Sir Joseph Swan at a meeting of the Newcastle-on-Tyne Chemical Society, on 18 December 1878. (His first lamp patent was January 1880.) 1878 Thirty-four Private Bills were introduced in Parliament with the object of seeking powers to supply electricity in various towns and break up streets and lay the necessary mains. 1878 *A de Meritens, in France, invented a magneto-electric machine (alter­ nator) in which coils were replaced by a distributed winding to give a more uniform current. 1878-79 *C. F. Brush of the USA produced an efficient form of open-coil dynamo and electric arc lamp suitable for working in series. He promoted the formation of district street-lighting companies, raising local capital and negotiating terms favourable to his company, particularly in respect of the use of Brush equipment. The first of these was the California Electric Light Company of San Francisco whose generating station, supplying street lighting exclusively, was in operation during 1879. 1879 Appointment on 28 March of a Parliamentary Committee under the chairmanship of Sir Lyon Playfair to consider all Private Bills seeking powers to supply electricity. Their terms of reference were: "to consider whether it is desirable to authorize Municipal Corpora­ tions or other local authorities to adopt any schemes for Lighting by Electricity; and to consider how far, and under what conditions, if at all, Gas or other Public Companies should be authorised to supply Light by Electricity." The substance of the committee's recommendations, in a report pub­ lished on 13 June, was to extend local authorities' power to break up streets for the laying of electricity mains-but that such power should not be given to companies in their own right, i.e. without local authority consent. The committee also considered the application of the principle of a reversionary purchase right to local authorities. Their recommendation was incorporated in the subsequent legislation. 1879 *First fatal accident due to electric shock reported in France through contact made with a 250 V a.c. circuit. 1879 Electric arc furnace constructed by Sir William Siemens for melting iron and steel. Siemens showed that the electric furnace could compete in economy with the gas regenerative furnace, but there were no further developments until 1898. 1879 *Siemens and Halske exhibited an electrically-driven locomotive at the Berlin Exhibition, for transporting the visitors through the grounds. 1879 *Thomas Edison (of the U.S.A.) patented hisincandescentcarbonfilament lamp in the U.S.A. and in Great Britain, and began production on a commercial scale. 1880 Sir Joseph Swan's House, 99 Kells Lane, Low Fell, Gateshead was almost certainly the first house in Britain, and possibly the first in the world, to be lighted by incandescent lamps. 3 1880 First commercial Edison incandescent lamps shown in London in Febru­ ary. The first public demonstration of electric lighting on a large scale by means of incandescent lamps was given in Newcastle, 10 October. 1880 Sir William Armstrong had a small hydro-electric plant (6 h.p.) con­ structed to light his picture gallery at Cragside, Northumberland, a mile away-possibly the world's first hydro-electric installation. 1881 V. B. vulcanized bitumen cable developed by W. 0. Callender and manufactured by a new company set up at Erith under the manage­ ment of Thomas Callender, son of "W. 0.". V. B. cables laid in com­ pound-filled troughing (the "solid system") were used extensively for many years for low-voltage distribution. 1881 *Invention by C. Faure in France of pre-formed accumulator grids revo­ lutionised the original Plante cell of 1859 and laid the foundation of the modern lead accumulator.