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Dissertation Information for Andre John Millard

NAME:
- Andre John Millard

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- History

SCHOOL:
- Emory University (USA) (1981)

ADVISORS:
- Rondo Cameron

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- None

MPACT Status: Incomplete - Inspected

Title: THE DIFFUSION OF ELECTRIC POWER TECHNOLOGY IN ENGLAND, 1880-1914

Abstract: Electric power technology is the technology of electric light, electric drive for machines, and electric traction for urban mass transit. Engineers refer to this area of electrical technology as strong current to distinguish it from the weak current of telecommunications. The era of electric power technology began in 1879, with Edison's invention of the incandescent light, and by 1914 the foundations of our modern system of supply and distribution of electricity were well established.

Many of the contemporaries of the diffusion of electric power technology believed that England was lagging behind Germany and the United States. Perceptions of the lag in late Victorian England were centered around the slow diffusion of electric traction, high voltage supply systems, and electric drive for industry. England had been the world's "First Industrial Nation," and had pioneered the early forms of industrial technology. In the late nineteenth century newer forms of industrial power and traction were introduced and the continual process of comparison between England and her industrial rivals was applied to new so-called "scientific industries." England was thought to be lagging behind Germany and the United States in the electrical, optical, and chemical industries.

This study divides the development of electrical technology into four phases, each a distinctive period in the evolution of modern electrical systems. Each phase encompassed a stage in electrical development and a period of perceived lag. The first phase marked the early development of electric generators. The late Victorians believed that English scientists, like Faraday, were largely responsible for electrical progress. Yet this was an international movement in which England was lagging rather than leading. The second phase (of the 1880s) was the time that the image of a lag was raised in the disputes over municipal or private control of the supply industry. Although many contemporaries, and some modern commentators, believed that the lag started in the second phase, this phase involved great progress in the elimination of the lag of the first phase.

Perceptions of the lag reached a climax during the third phase when the highly visible traction and high voltage technologies were introduced. The English pattern of diffusion of these technologies differed from American and German patterns because the unique institutional structure in England retarded the acceptance of high voltages and placed control of urban traction into the hands of municipal governments. In the less visible technologies of the third phase, adoption was rapid and English electrical engineers made significant contributions to electrical progress.

The diffusion of electric power in industry dominated discussion of the lag during the fourth phase (1900-1914). Adoption of electric drive in industry was uneven in England. Where it was cheaper than existing power sources and easily applied, it was soon adopted. The lag was in marketing and applying electric power: an area which English electrical manufacturers and supply organizations neglected until the latter years of the fourth phase.

The conclusion of this study is that perceptions of the lag were based on an incorrect understanding of the pace and character of electrical development. The type of comparisons made between England and Germany and the United States were biased in favor of the last two countries' electrical industries. By 1914 the English supply industry was the most technologically advanced of the three, and English users enjoyed the lowest prices for electric current. Yet the image of the lag remained in England. Several interest groups had much to gain from public and parliamentary perceptions of the lag and thus did little to correct exaggerated and mistaken opinions on the slowness of English electrical development.

MPACT Scores for Andre John Millard

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-06-04 16:45:13

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Students under Andre John Millard

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None