Customer Reviews

A History of Industrial Power in the U.S., 1780-1930: Vol 3: The Transmission of Power

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This is probably the best non to semi-technical book on all forms of power transmission, including electrification, in the U.S. It is a significant work on the history of technology and economic history and is the product of an extraordinary amount of research.

The book covers electrification* and several previously used methods of mechanical power transmission, such as the line shaft and wire rope systems, with chapters grouped in three parts. There is a huge amount of material so this is an incomplete outline/table of contents:

Part I Small Prime movers
1. Background: the difficulty of using power in the pre-steam age, especially when water power was not available. Discusses mechanisms for using animal power and hand and foot power in the workshop.
2. Power for small businesses: Reasons for lack of small steam engines. Other types of engines such as hot air and Otto engines using town gas.

Part II The Transmission Revolution
3. Pre-electric transmission methods: Problems with line shaft and millwork systems. Subdivided steam power systems. Wire rope systems. Hydraulic systems. Compressed air. Central stations supplying hydraulic and compressed air.
4. The beginnings of electric power transmission: Early electrification.
5. The rise of the electric power company: Alternating current. The Niagara project and first long distance transmission. Load management for central stations. Holding companies. Consolidation of the industry.
6. The development of prime movers for electric power, 1900-1930: Development of steam engines for generation of power. The introduction of steam turbines and the displacement of reciprocating engines. Hydro projects and their integration with steam.

Part III Use of power in 19th century mining
7. Power in early mining
8. Power in the Industrialization of Mining:
9 Petroleum mining, 1859-190

Hunter's work, finished by Bryant, comes close to being an engineering text, but does not go into theory or calculations. It covers many obscure and almost forgotten mechanical power transmission techniques and gives very good descriptions of mining and petroleum operations.

The book contains numerous illustrations, many from the 19th century, which effectively convey the operation of various machines and working conditions, and by themselves give valuable insight to the past. There are also several data tables.

The typical engineer or engineering student or anyone interested in the history of technology should enjoy it. It may also be of interest to those researching economic history, especially since Louis Hunter was an economic historian.

Hunter & Bryant is mainly about power in the United States but it does give some coverage to the rest of the world, such as hydraulic systems used in British ports, especially London, and European pneumatic and wire rope systems. If you are looking for a somewhat more comprehensive account of electrification, I recommend Ian McNeil's An Encyclopedia of the History of Technology, Chapter 6: Electricity. However, McNeil does not give the anywhere near the coverage all the various forms of mechanical power transmission and their comparison with electricity. In this, Hunter & Bryant is unique.

Unfortunately this book is extremely difficult to find and very expensive if you can locate one. You should be able to obtain a copy through the inter-library loan program.

*The National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences voted electrification as the most important innovation of the 20th century.