Westinghouse – Wes Vullo

George Westinghouse was a bold inventor and American business man, known primarily for his electric company Westinghouse Electric, AC generators, and air brakes. Safety was important in an ever expanding transportation and freight industry, and Westinghouse took advantage of that. Westinghouse’s early invention of the air brakes in railroad industry boosted his reputation and provided him enough capital to search into other ventures. Upon noticing Nikola Tesla’s competence in inventing and innovating, Westinghouse was determined to become business partners with him. Westinghouse purchased all of Tesla’s patents that were relevant to alternating current in an effort to battle Edison’s direct current. Westinghouse’s AC generators proved to be highly inefficient, and he invented a new steam turbine to bolster his efficiency. Although Edison had enormous amounts of capital, Westinghouse was able to produce AC generators efficiently, and with small costs to his company. Westinghouse’s control of precious AC generators haunted Edison, and eventually Edison proved to be the lesser minded. Westinghouse’s more efficient AC generators soon prevailed in the war of currents, thanks to Tesla and capital gained from his company. With the war of the currents won, Westinghouse was able to spread AC power to homes and cities, thus starting a revolution.

Transformers – Wes Vullo

The transformer is an electrical device that will drop or raise the voltage to another set voltage. This electrical device made the expansion of electricity to homes and cities safer. The transformer consists of coils of wire which produce a magnetic field. When the current hits the first wire, it induces current in the other coils as well. Pending upon specifications this will either create a voltage drop or increase. This is the law of electromagnetic induction simply put. Transformers are generally simple, but their importance is very relevant in today’s world.

Transformers – Michael

Transformers are the key to Alternating Current systems. The original design for the transformer was created by Michael Faraday and was later revolutionized by George Westinghouse. The transformer was designed to step down the voltage of the AC system in order to make working environments safer. At the same time the transformer was capable of increasing voltages allowing more rural areas to be electrified. By stepping up the voltage, current could be transported farther making it cheaper and easier to power homes. With the help of Gaulard-Gibbs, Westinghouse designed a transformer that was more advanced than Faraday’s original. It had H-shaped iron plate cores which passed through coiled copper wires. This made if possible to create more or less current based on how many times the wires were coiled. With this design the world was industrialized with Alternating Current.

How transformers work- Will

Transformers have a great deal to do with why we are able to use the concept of Alternating Current in modern times. It allows high voltages to be passed through and generate power more efficiently. It drops down the high voltage power so that it can effectively be used in factories, businesses, and homes. It creates a magnetic field inside the coil of one wire, which then establishes another current through another wire. The current travels through a series of wires which allows an easy change in the stepping up and down of voltages.

Transformers – Micah T

Transformers are the only reason that we are currently using alternating current, without the transformer we would most likely be using direct current.  The transformer allows AC to be stepped-up in voltage so that it can be transmitted over long distances from a power station to rural and urban areas.  The transformer also allows that high voltage to be stepped-down to a safer lower voltage in order to power our houses and factories.  The transformer is basically a copper wire that is wrapped around an iron rod, and as the current flows through the wire it creates a magnetic field that will step-up the current or if there is a second wire it will create a lower voltage on that wire.

Transformers- Aysha R

The AC transformer is a very important part of the AC power system. It allowed generating stations to be located in the city and still effectively power homes and businesses in rural areas. The transformer would take high-voltage electrcity, and drop it down to a level safe for people to use. Westinghouse invented the transformer out of a “H-shaped iron plate, the core, that would pass through copper wire coils that would be machine wound and used as the primary and secondary. The ends were closed by I-shaped plates ” (Jonnes 132). The “primary” is the copper wire used to feed electric current into the magnetic field and the “secondary” is the copper wire that intercepts the primary’s force field. Thanks to Westinghouse and his men, electricity was able to travel farther and faster.

How transformers work – Cory S.

Transformers are electrical devices that takes electricity at one voltage and raises or drops it into another voltage.  A transformer basically changes electricity from a high voltage to a lower voltage using two basic properties of electricity.  When you have an electric circuit, it is constantly surrounded by magnetism. When this magnetic field changes a voltage is created.  Voltage is defined as the measure of the strength or amount of electrons flowing through a wire.

Transformers – Joey M

Transformers are devices, which use induction to transfer a current from one wire to another. As the current travels through the first wire, it produces a changing magnetic field inside a coil of wire. This changing magnetic field is induced by the coil as a voltage at the ends of the coil. This voltage is then used to create a current in another wire. Transformers have an incredible electrical efficiency and many practical uses. Their primary use is to facilitate the transmission of electrical energy over long distances.

Transformers-June Sri

A transformer is an electrical device the is used to change the voltage of the electricity. Transformers can take high voltages that had traveled over the long distance and step the voltages down for safety use in house or factory. A transformer is built base on the law of an electromagnetic induction. A magnetic field is generated when an electric current flows through a wire. Th greater the number of wrapped coils, the higher the voltages rise. The bigger the current, the stronger the magnetic field (the strength of the magnetism is directly related to the size of the electric current). When a magnetic field moves around a piece of wire, an electric current in the wire is generated. When the second coil of wire (fewer coil) is put next to the first coil, an electric current in the second wire is created. Because the current in the first coil induces a current in the second coil, we call this “the law of electromagnetic induction”. The interaction of two coils created a high self-induction, stepping down the high voltages low enough to be run in individual electronic device in the house or factory.

How Transformers Work – Robert

The transformer is one of the most important pieces of the AC power system. It allows AC power to be transmitted very long distances by stepping up the voltage to a higher level. Then, when the power reaches it’s destination, the voltage can be stepped down to a much lower level so it can be used in lights and machines. The device works by having a piece of iron with 2 wires, the primary wire and the secondary wire, wrapped around it. The primary wire creates a magnetic field in the piece of metal, which is then absorbed by the secondary wire. The amount of voltage that is transferred between the wires depends on the number of times they are coiled. If the secondary wire is wrapped around the iron more times then the primary wire, then the voltage is stepped up, and if it is wrapped fewer times, then the voltage is stepped down.