The first electric meter was invented quite by accident. Its creator was tinkering with an arc lamp when he noticed the peculiar way a spring had fallen off of it, as if affected by rotating electric fields. View Slideshow __1888: __Oliver B. Shallenberger receives a patent for the electric meter. There's no free lunch. You'll get an electric bill.
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When Thomas Edison started selling electricity for illumination in 1882, he charged per lamp. He soon replaced that with a complicated chemical ampere-hour meter.
It was an electrolytic jar with two zinc plates immersed in a zinc-sulfate solution. Electricity flowing through the jar dissolved zinc off the positive plate and deposited it on the negative plate. Workers had to remove the electrodes every month and weigh them to see how much zinc had been transferred from one plate to the other.
It was messy, it was inefficient, and it wasn't very accurate. Even though Edison also developed a motor-type meter, his interest in chemistry caused him to prefer the chemical version. Blind spot.
Electrical polymath Elihu Thomson devised a walking-beam meter in 1888. It was a complicated, Rube Goldberg-type apparatus. A heating element in the circuit warmed a small alcohol-filled bottle on a seesaw lever. The alcohol warmed, evaporated and flowed into a matching bottle on the other side. When there was more alcohol in the opposite bottle, it would sink and start heating up to reverse the process. Each time the bottles rocked, they ticked off a notch on the meter. Not exactly a robust design.
Shallenberger was an Annapolis graduate who left the Navy in 1884 to join the Westinghouse company. He was working on a new arc lamp one day in 1888, when a spring fell out and landed on a ledge inside the lamp. Before an assistant could reach in to replace it, the ever-observant Shallenberger noticed the spring had rotated.
He soon determined that the lamp's rotating electric fields had caused the spring to turn. 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.
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The Shallenberger meter was a key part of George Westinghouse's AC electrical system. (Nikola Tesla later pointed out to Shallenberger that the induction meter was a type of AC motor.)
The meter went into commercial use within months, selling 120,000 units in 10 years. The ampere is a measure of current, and the ampere-hour a measure of charge. So power companies that used these meters charged by the charge.
Thomson invented a commutator watt-hour meter (that measured the energy consumed), also in 1888, and brought it to market the following year. It worked on both alternating- and direct-current systems, but fell by the wayside in the late 1890s when the induction watt-hour meter came into general use, where it remains to this day.
Source: Dave's Old Watthour Meter Webpage
Gallery: Measuring the History of Electricity
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The history of the electric power meter dates back to the late 19th century when the demand for electricity started to grow rapidly. Before the invention of the electric power meter, electricity was billed based on a flat rate or by the number of light bulbs in a household.
The first electric power meter was invented by Thomas Edison in 1882. It was a simple device that measured the amount of electricity consumed by a household or business. This invention revolutionized the way electricity was consumed and billed, as it allowed for accurate measurement of electricity usage.
In the early days of electric power meters, they were manually read by meter readers who would visit each household or business to record the amount of electricity consumed. This was a time-consuming and labor-intensive process, but it was the only way to accurately bill customers for their electricity usage.
In the 1920s, the first automatic electric power meters were introduced. These meters were equipped with mechanical dials that recorded electricity usage and could be read remotely by utility companies. This innovation made the process of billing customers for electricity usage much more efficient and accurate.
In the 1960s, electronic electric power meters were developed. These meters use digital displays to show electricity usage and can be read remotely using radio signals. This technology allows utility companies to monitor electricity usage in real-time and detect any irregularities or tampering with the meters.
In recent years, smart electric power meters have become increasingly popular. These meters are equipped with advanced communication capabilities that allow them to send real-time electricity usage data to utility companies. This technology enables customers to monitor their electricity usage and make informed decisions about their energy consumption.
Overall, the history of the electric power meter is a story of innovation and progress. From the simple meters invented by Thomas Edison to the smart meters of today, electric power meters have evolved to meet the changing needs of customers and utility companies. As we continue to rely on electricity for our daily lives, the electric power meter will remain an essential tool for measuring and managing our energy consumption.
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