Skip to main content

Electric

(not pictured)
Society: ASMEMain Category: Civil, Electric, MechanicalEra: 1950-1959DateCreated: 1949Was located at 1715 Belle Isle Blvd, Oklahoma CityState: OKCountry: USACreator: Oklahoma Gas & Electric Company

 The Belle Isle gas turbine was installed in 1949 and was the first gas turbine built in the United States for the purpose of generating electric power. Its low cost and consistency aroused considerable interest in the electric utility industry, both here and abroad.

(Image not displayed)
Society: ASMEMain Category: Civil, Electric, MechanicalEra: 1920-1929DateCreated: 1925800 Boylston StreetState: MACountry: USA

The Edger station was the first steam electric plant produced that could tolerate over 1000 psi of pressure. Initially conceived by Mr. Irving Edwin Moultrop, then Assistant Superintendent, Construction Bureau of the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Boston. He guided his company and the electric utility industry on a major step forward into the higher-pressure range of 1,200 psi steam.

500 CPS Synchronous Rotary Gap transmitter at Brant Rock, Ma. Ca: 1906.
Society: IEEEMain Category: ElectricEra: 1900-1909DateCreated: 1906Blackman's PointBrant RockState: MAZip: 02050Country: USAWebsite: http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Milestones:First_Wireless_Radio_Broadcast_by_Reginald_A._Fessenden,_1906Creator: Reginald A. Fessenden

On 24 December 1906, the first radio broadcast for entertainment and music was transmitted from Brant Rock, Massachusetts to the general public. This pioneering broadcast was achieved after years of development work by Reginald Aubrey Fessenden (1866-1932) who built a complete system of wireless transmission and reception using amplitude modulation (AM) of continuous electromagnetic waves. This technology was a revolutionary departure from transmission of dots and dashes widespread at the time.

YearAdded:
2008
Image Credit: Courtesy Michael Thompson (CC BY-SA 2.5)Image Caption: 500 CPS Synchronous Rotary Gap transmitter at Brant Rock, Ma. Ca: 1906.Era_date_from: 1906
Arne Larsson
Society: IEEEMain Category: ElectricEra: 1950-1959DateCreated: 1957-1958C. H. Best InstituteTorontoState: CACountry: USAWebsite: http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Milestones:First_Wearable_Cardiac_Pacemaker,_1957-1958Creator: Bakken, Earl E.

During the winter of 1957-58, Earl E. Bakken developed the first wearable transistorized pacemaker, the request of heart surgeon, Dr. C. Walton Lillehei. As earlier pacemakers were AC-powered, this battery-powered device liberated patients from their power-cord tethers. The wearable pacemaker was a significant step in the evolution to fully-implantable units.

YearAdded:
1999
Image Credit: Courtesy Professor Marko Turina, University Hospital, Zurich (CC BY 3.0)Image Caption: Arne H. W. Larsson (26th May 1915 to 28th December 2001) was the first recipient of an implantable pacemaker. He received the first device in 1958 and had a total of 26 devices during his life. He became an advocate for patients needing pacemakers, campaigning for greater funding and research in this area.Era_date_from: 1957
First Transpacific Reception of a Television (TV) Signal via Satellite
Society: IEEEMain Category: ElectricEra: 1960-1969DateCreated: 1963Ibaraki Satellite Communication CenterTakahagiZip: 318-0022Country: JapanWebsite: http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Milestones:First_Transpacific_Reception_of_a_Television_%28TV%29_Signal_via_Satellite,_1963

On 23 November 1963, this site received the first transpacific transmission of a TV signal from Mojave earth station in California, U.S.A., via the Relay 1 communications satellite. The Ibaraki earth station used a 20m Cassegrain antenna, the first use of this type of antenna for commercial telecommunications. This event demonstrated the capability and impact of satellite communications and helped open a new era of intercontinental live TV programming relayed via satellite.

YearAdded:
2009
Image Caption: Artist's vision of NASA Relay 1 satelliteEra_date_from: 1963
First Transatlantic Reception of a Television Signal via Satellite
Society: IEEEMain Category: ElectricEra: 1960-1969DateCreated: 1962Parc du Radôme
Pleumeur-BodouCountry: FranceWebsite: http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Milestones:First_Transatlantic_Reception_of_a_Television_Signal_via_Satellite,_1962

On 11 July 1962 a station in Pimsleur-Bodou received the first transatlantic transmission of a TV signal from a twin station in Andover, Maine, USA via the TELSTAR satellite. The success of TELSTAR and the earth stations, the first built for active satellite communications, illustrated the potential of a future world-wide satellite system to provide communications between continents.

YearAdded:
2002
Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Nicholas Lannuzel (CC BY-SA 2.0)Image Caption: The Radome in Pimsleur-Bodou.Era_date_from: 1962
First Television Broadcast in Western Canada
Society: IEEEMain Category: ElectricEra: 1950-1959DateCreated: 1953CBC Broadcasting Site, Mount SeymourNorth VancouverState: BCZip: V7G 1L3Country: CanadaWebsite: http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Milestones:First_Television_Broadcast_in_Western_CanadaCreator: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

On 16 December 1953, the first television broadcast in Western Canada was transmitted from this site by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's CBUT Channel 2. The engineering experience gained here was instrumental in the subsequent establishment of the more than one thousand public and private television broadcasting sites that serve Western Canada today.

YearAdded:
2010
Era_date_from: 1953
First Semiconductor Integrated Circuit (IC)
Society: IEEEMain Category: ElectricEra: 1950-1959DateCreated: 1958Texas Instruments, North CampusDallasState: TXZip: 75243Country: USAWebsite: http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Milestones:First_Semiconductor_Integrated_Circuit_%28IC%29,_1958Creator: Kilby, Jack S.

On 12 September 1958, Jack S. Kilby demonstrated the first working integrated circuit to managers at Texas Instruments. This was the first time electronic components were integrated onto a single substrate. This seminal device consisted of a phase shift oscillator circuit on a tiny bar of germanium measuring 7/16” by 1/16” (11.1 mm by 1.6 mm). Today, integrated circuits are the fundamental building blocks of virtually all electronic equipment.

YearAdded:
2009
Image Credit: Courtesy Wikipedia/Texas InstrumentsImage Caption: Jack Kilby's original integrated circuit.Era_date_from: 1958
Society: IEEEMain Category: ElectricEra: 1970-1979DateCreated: 1974-1982Lincoln LaboratoryLexingtonState: MAZip: 02493Country: USAWebsite: http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Milestones:First_Real-Time_Speech_Communication_on_Packet_Networks,_1974_-_1982
In August 1974, the first real-time speech communication over a packet-switched network was demonstrated via ARPANET between MIT Lincoln Laboratory and USC Information Sciences Institute. By 1982, these technologies enabled Internet packet speech and conferencing linking terrestrial, packet radio, and satellite networks.
YearAdded:
2011
Era_date_from: 1974
First Radio Astronomical Observations Using Very Long Baseline Interferometry
Society: IEEEMain Category: ElectricEra: 1960-1969DateCreated: 1967Dominion Radio Astrophysical ObservatoryCaledenState: BCZip: V0H 1K0Country: CanadaWebsite: http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Milestones:First_Radio_Astronomical_Observations_Using_Very_Long_Baseline_Interferometry

On the morning of 17 April 1967, radio astronomers used this radiotelescope at DRAO and a second one at the Algonquin Radio Observatory located 3074 km away to make the first successful radio astronomical observations using Very Long Baseline Interferometry. Today, VLBI networks span the globe, extend into space and continue to make significant contributions to both radio astronomy and geodesy.

YearAdded:
2010
Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/bulliver (CC BY-SA 2.0)Image Caption: The Radiotelescope at DRAOEra_date_from: 1967
Subscribe to Electric

Innovations

Curtis 500-kW Vertical Turbine

This, the first Curtis vertical turbine built, was constructed by the General Electric Co. for the Newport & Fall River Street Railway Co. It operated in the Newport, R.I., generating station until June 1927. It was transferred to the Harding Street Station of the Indianapolis Power &…

Read More

This machine, which began operation on December 15, 1891, for the New York Edison Illuminating Company, represents the beginning of large-scale electric power generation in the United States. The generator was designed by chief engineer John Van Vleck, David Joy (known in England for his valve…

Read More
Idols Station, Fries Manufacturing & Power Company

This run-of-the-river plant is a typical example of late nineteenth-century small-scale (750 kilowatt) low-head hydroelectric power technology. The Fries Manufacturing and Power Company began operating the Idol's Station on April 18, 1898, making it the first commercial hydroelectric plant in…

Read More
Michigan-Lake Superior Power Hydroelectric Plant

This low-head operating plant is representative of nineteenth-century hydropower-plant practice using many small turbines in contrast to twentieth-century use of few large turbines and generators. Its 40,000 horsepower capacity made it the largest in the country using turbines of American design…

Read More
Rocky River Pumped-storage Hydroelectric Plant

The Connecticut Light & Power Company pioneered the use of pumped storage in the United States at this hydroelectric station. First operated in 1929, the Rocky River Plant had two reversible pumps that somewhat resemble large hydroelectric turbines. This permitted significant improvements in…

Read More
Hiwassee Dam Unit 2 Reversible Pump-Turbine 1

The integration of pump and turbine was the first of many to be installed in power-plant systems in the United States. It was the largest and most powerful in the world. As a "pump storage" unit in the Tennessee Valley Authority's system, it effected significant economies in the generation of…

Read More
This unit, retired from the Belle Isle Station of the Oklahoma Gas & Electric Company, was the first gas turbine to be used for electric utility power generation in the United States. It represents the transformation of the early aircraft gas turbine, in which the engines seldom ran more than… Read More
Fossil Creek meanders ten miles to the Verde River, dropping some 1,600 feet during its course and, at the turn of the century, enticed miners in the copper-rich Irving area to use a new technology -- hydroelectric power. A seven-mile series of flumes brings the water from a dam below Fossil Spring… Read More
Formerly known as the Oneida Street Power Plant, this plant served from 1918 to 1920 as the pilot plant in the United States for the development and use of finely pulverized coal firing in the boilers of steam-electric power plants. The results of the Oneida experiences were major changes in boiler… Read More
Eddystone Station Unit #1

Operated by the Philadelphia Electric Company (PECO), now known as Exelon Corp., Eddystone Station Unit #1 is a 325 MW pulverized-coal-fired plant that pushed the technology of steam-electric generating plants. When built in 1960, engineers sought to make a more efficient plant using higher…

Read More
Edison 'Jumbo' Engine-Driver Dynamo

This dynamo, connected directly to a high-speed steam engine, was one of six that produced direct current at Thomas A. Edison's electric power station at 257 Pearl Street in New York City. The Pearl Street Station was the prototype for central station power generation. Edison set out in 1878 to…

Read More
Folsom Powerhouse on the American River, at Folsom Powerhouse State Historic Park, California, USA

The historic Folsom Power House #1 marks one of the first successful uses of hydroelectric power in the world and the first successful transmission of power long distance (twenty-two miles to Sacramento). The old Folsom Power House still shelters the machinery generated to drive streetcars and…

Read More
The Georgetown Steam Plant, a surprisingly complete and operable steam power plant after a career of nearly seventy-five years, was built in the early 1900s when Seattle's inexpensive hydroelectric power attracted manufacturers. Much of the power produced at this plant operated the streetcars. It… Read More
Greens Bayou Generator Plant

On April 21, 1949, a completely outdoor turbine-generator was placed into commercial operation at the Greens Bayou electric power plant--the first fully outdoor unit to operate in the United States. The demand for unprecedented quantities of electricity after World War II pressed utilities to…

Read More
This Kaplan turbine is one of the first three machines to be put into service in the United States. Named for its Austrian inventor, Viktor Kaplan (1876-1934), the turbine was an outstanding innovation, operating with a high, nearly constant efficiency over a wide load range. The machine was built… Read More
Port Washington Power Plant

The Port Washington Power Plant of the Wisconsin Electric Company was the most thermally efficient steam power plant in the world for many years following its opening in 1935. Its design reflected the cumulative experience of the utility's engineers in burning pulverized coal at the Oneida…

Read More
Pratt Institute Power Plant

Steam and the inexpensive electricity it could produce brought about dramatic technical growth in the United States. Developed during the last century, reliable and efficient steam engines were the forerunners of today's massive generating facilities. A rare survivor of the period, the Pratt…

Read More
Shippingport Nuclear Power Station

The first commercial central electric-generating station in the United States to use nuclear energy was the Shippingport Atomic Power Station of the Department of Energy and the Duquesne Light Company. In a dramatic high-tech display, ground was broken in 1954 during dedication ceremonies by…

Read More
A pioneer in the development of electrical science, Nicholas Joseph Callan was born on 22 December 1799 in Darver, Ireland. He started the priesthood at Navan Seminary, and continued his studies at St. Patrick’s College Maynooth, where he studied natural and experimental philosophy under Dr.… Read More
Studies on the feasibility of building a hydro plant in the site were initiated in 1893. The increasing need for power that was cheaper and easily adapted to mine underground use drove the Lota coal mine company to develop a study of alternatives for this purpose. Engineer William E. Raby traveled… Read More

We hope you enjoyed this essay.

Please support America's only magazine of the history of engineering and innovation, and the volunteers that sustain it with a donation to Invention & Technology.

Donate

Stay informed - subscribe to our newsletter.
The subscriber's email address.