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Frank J. Sprague Invents the Constant-Speed Dc Electric Motor

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Frank J. Sprague Invents the Constant-Speed Dc Electric Motor JohnJohn L.L. SpragueSprague history Frank J. Sprague invents the constant-speed dc electric motor ON A MISERABLY COLD SPRING day in 1998, it became necessary to The “History” column in the November/December 2015 issue of IEEE Power clean out a little-used storage barn in & Energy Magazine was about the remarkable life and career of Frank Julian Williamstown, Massachusetts, so that Sprague, the accomplished inventor and electrical engineer. That article, au- it could be sold. The barn was part of thored by Frank’s grandson, John L. Sprague, focused on Sprague’s multiple the estate of Robert C. Sprague, who had unit control system, still in wide use today, chiefly in railway applications. This died in 1991. Although the winter snow was mostly gone, a misty drizzle made issue’s article, also authored by John L. Sprague, delves even deeper into Frank the muddy walk down to the barn’s en- Sprague’s career, centering on his pioneering work on dc motors. His inven- trance slippery and treacherous. Once tions, still in use, include constant-speed motors, which are nonsparking and used to house riding horses, the stalls fully self-regulating under changing load conditions, and the design of ad- O vanced railway motor trucks. were long gone and the building was almost completely filled with rotting Born in 1930, John L. Sprague holds an A.B. degree in chemistry from wet hay and broken pieces of equip- Princeton University and a Ph.D. degree in chemistry from Stanford Univer- ment, along with seemingly useless files sity. He served as a line officer in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War, includ- that once belonged to electrical inventor ing two years in naval electronics. He joined the Sprague Electric Company Frank Julian Sprague, Robert’s father. in 1959 as a research scientist and retired as CEO in 1987. Since then, Sprague The inventor had died in 1934, nearly 60 has headed a small consulting firm, John L. Sprague Associates, now head- years before his son, and it seemed im- quartered in Williamstown, Massachusetts. John, an IEEE Life Member, has possible that the barn could still hold any- thing of value. The building was sagging, authored or coauthored more than 20 articles, primarily in technical journals, and, once inside, broken light bulbs and and holds six U.S. and three foreign patents. He coauthored “A Frank Sprague wooden supports from Frank Sprague’s Triumph: The Electrification of Grand Central Terminal,” which appeared in failed late 1920s programmable elec- the “History” column of the January/February 2013 issue of this magazine. tric sign business made moving around John’s first book, Revitalizing U.S. Electronics: Lessons from Japan, was pub- nearly impossible and dangerous. With lished by Butterworth-Heinemann in 1993. He edited The Birth of Electric its stagnant hay and years of collected Traction, the Extraordinary Life and Times of Inventor Frank Julian Sprague, rodent droppings, the space reeked, and a book written by Frank Rowsome and published in 2014 by the IEEE History it seemed best to get a front loader, empty Center Press. More recently, John authored Sprague Electric, An Electronics out the structure, take the contents to the Giant’s Rise, Fall, and Life After Death, a book published this past April by dump, and hope for a buyer who could the IEEE History Center Press. see more value than was apparent. We are honored and pleased to welcome John Sprague back as our guest However, over in the far southeast cor- ner there was a small room with a broken “History” author for this issue of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine. door, which contained a table covered with the remnants of a metal lathe and —Carl Sulzberger miscellaneous, mostly unrecognizable, Associate Editor, History Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPE.2015.2501085 Date of publication: 18 February 2016 80 IEEE power & energy magazine 1540-7977/16©2016IEEE march/april 2016 Following a call for help to the Shore Line Trolley Museum in East Haven, Connecticut, a team was soon on the scene and tentatively concluded that it could be a demonstration model of one of Sprague’s early electric motors, possibly the only one still in existence. Gleefully offering to take the object back to the museum to see if it could be brought back to life, the team left with the motor and several of the files. Then the front loader came, emptied out what was left in the building, and headed for the town dump. Although now gone from the barn, Sprague’s memory lives on in Connecticut where, a year later, the motor was running again, lovingly figure 1. The restored 1884 Sprague dc motor in the museum display. (Photo worked on by Fred Sherwood. Today courtesy of Jeff Hakner, Shore Line Trolley Museum, operated by the Branford the motor (see Figure 1) sits on display Electric Railway Association, East Haven, Connecticut.) as part of the museum’s permanent exhibit, “Frank J. Sprague: Inventor, pieces of rusting metal. Centered on the vealed a startling date, “1884.” Clearly, Scientist, Engineer,” which opened on table was also something of substance the front loader would have to wait until 15 May 1999 at a private reception with covered with grime and cobwebs. Wip- the identity of this unexpected object many Sprague family members pres- ing away the dirt on its name plate re- could be determined. ent, including the author. A history that spans the past century. A vision that spans the next century. www.DeltaStar.com • 1-800-368-3017 Finding this motor seems es- ard of Menlo Park,” it wasn’t long pecially appropriate since the before tensions flared between the largest percentage of the inven- two men. Sprague made an impor- tor’s 95 patents dealt with electric tant early contribution by develop- motors: how to make them (the ing a mathematical approach for constant speed motor), how to use calculating the values and loca- them (urban railways and eleva- tions of the electrical street mains tors), how to control them [eleva- for new electric lighting installa- tors and multiple unit (MU) con- tions. It replaced a tedious and in- trol systems], and how to make accurate modeling approach and, the vehicles that used them safe in the process, reduced the time (Sprague Safety Company). required for the exercise from weeks to hours. As a uniquely Early Years competent and intuitive inventor, Frank Julian Sprague was born Edison always seemed uncom- on 25 July 1857 in Milford, Con- fortable when technically trained necticut, but grew up in North Ad- engineers, such as Sprague, found ams, Massachusetts, when, in 1864, ways to solve problems other than his mother died and his father left by pure experimentation. Also, to find his fortune in the West, Edison wanted electricity primar- shipping Frank and his younger ily for lighting purposes while brother, Charley, to live with their Sprague viewed it as a new motive Aunt Ann in North Adams. The power for transportation. Only 11 Sprague family had originally ar- figure 2. Frank J. Sprague as a cadet-ensign in the months after joining Edison, fol- rived in the New World in 1629 U.S. Navy, circa 1878. (Photo courtesy of John L. lowing an angry exchange of from Upwey in Dorset, England, Sprague.) letters, Sprague departed, to con- when Ralph Sprague and his fam- tinue his motor work begun at the ily disembarked from the Lion’s Whelp in Farmer at the Torpedo Station became Torpedo Station and form his first com- Salem, Massachusetts. They first settled his mentor. Encouraged by Farmer, pany, the Sprague Electric Railroad and in Charlestown and then spread out across Sprague created his first electric de- Motor Company (SERM), incorporated New England. While they were substan- vice, a unique inverted-type dynamo, in late November 1884. tial, good, hard-working citizens, none designed such that the relationship be- showed the creative genius that would tween the magnetic field and armature Early dc Electric Motors blossom in eight-year-old Sprague some circuits became the basis for series-par- Although he arguably developed the 235 years later. Although Sprague was allel controllers used on direct current first truly useful electric motor, Sprague physically unimpressive, as he was small, (dc) railway motors to this day. Filed was the first to admit he certainly didn’t wiry, with sandy hair and eyes that glit- 4 October 1881 and issued 26 August invent the electric motor. Actually, the tered with intelligence, he quickly demon- 1884 (assigned to the U.S. Navy), this foundation for the electrical revolu- strated that he was no one to take lightly. was Sprague’s first patent, U.S. 304,145: tion began in 1831 when English sci- In North Adams he attended Drury “Dynamo-Electric Machine.” Farmer entist Michael Faraday discovered that Academy, where he excelled in mathemat- then helped Sprague gain assignment electricity could be generated by the ics and science, and then won a competi- to the 1882 Crystal Palace Electrical movement of a conductor in a magnetic tive exam for the U.S. Naval Academy in Exhibition in London where he served field. Then in 1834 Vermont blacksmith Annapolis, Maryland (surprising since he as secretary to the awards jury. His Thomas Davenport developed a crude thought the exam, taken in Springfield, “Report on the Exhibits at the Crys- electric motor followed two years later Massachusetts, was for West Point!), en- tal Palace Electrical Exposition” won by a small 2-ft (0.61-m) diameter electric tering as a plebe in 1874. His technical him considerable notoriety (and saved model railroad.
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