National Electric Light Association Research Articles

The fact of uncertainty, the uncertainty of facts and the cultural resonance of doubt.

Sixty years after industry executives first decided to fight the facts of tobacco, the exploitation of doubt and uncertainty as a defensive tactic has spread to a diverse set of industries and issues with an interest in challenging scientific evidence. However, one can find examples of doubt-mongering before tobacco. One involves the early history of electricity generation in the USA. In the 1920s, the American National Electric Light Association ran a major propaganda campaign against public sector electricity generation, focused on the insistence that privately generated electricity was cheaper and that public power generation was socialistic and therefore un-American. This campaign included advertisements, editorials (generally ghost-written), the rewriting of textbooks and the development of high school and college curricula designed to cast doubt on the cost-effectiveness of public electricity generation and extol the virtues of laissez-faire capitalism. It worked in large part by finding, cultivating and paying experts to endorse the industry's claims in the mass media and the public debate, and to legitimatize the alterations to textbooks and curricula. The similarities between the electric industry strategy and the defence of tobacco, lead paint and fossil fuels suggests that these strategies work for reasons that are not specific to the particular technical claims under consideration. This paper argues that a reason for the cultural persistence of doubt is what we may label the 'fact of uncertainty'. Uncertainty is intrinsic to science, and this creates vulnerabilities that interested parties may, and commonly do, exploit, both by attempting to challenge the specific conclusions of technical experts and by implying that those conclusions threaten other social values.

A Golden Opportunity? Edward Bernays and the Dilemma of Ethics

In 1928, the Federal Trade Commission began a six-year-long investigation of the National Electric Light Association (NELA), who, for 15 years, had carried out a massive propaganda campaign intended to discourage public ownership of electric utilities, including, most notably, General Electric (GE). This article examines the relationship between Edward Bernays, NELA, and GE—especially given Bernays's involvement the following year in the GE-sponsored celebration of “Light's Golden Jubilee.” Bernays's defense of the techniques of propaganda on the one hand, and his belief in a new form of persuasion embodied in the ethical public relations counsel on the other, reveal both his idealism and his opportunism and, at the same time, call into question the ethicality of his actions.

The Origins of Electricity Regulation: Revisiting an Unsettled Topic

While the electricity industry is currently experiencing a regime shift from state regulation to competitive markets for generation, a number of questions regarding the change in regulatory environment in the electricity industry during the beginning of this century remain unsettled. This paper revisits some of these issues. Specifically, the paper tests the validity of the two most commonly suggested reasons for the origin of state regulation in the electricity industry. Using Census data gathered on the electricity industry during the beginning of this century, the paper models the decision to adopt state regulation as a function of the average electricity price and profit rate in the state. The results cast doubt on the commonly accepted justification that state regulation was passed to limit competition and increase the profits of electricity firms, but do not unilaterally support the public interest view, either. The paper then draws on trade publications to assess the industry's mindset during this period. Literature from the National Electric Light Association suggests that although some industry leaders supported state regulation in order to rid themselves of corrupt local politicians, the industry did not unilaterally support increases in regulation.

When Old Technologies Were New: Thinking about Electric Communication in the Late Nineteenth Century by Carolyn Marvin

Technology and culture Book Reviews 1045 position history is an important contribution to the growing histori­ ography of international expositions. Robert W. Rydell Dr. Rydell is associate professor of history at Montana State University. He is currently completing a sequel to All the World’s a Fair (Chicago, 1984) that carries the history of America’s international expositions through the Second World War. When Old Technologies Were New: Thinking about Electric Communication in the Late Nineteenth Century. By Carolyn Marvin. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. Pp. 269; illustrations, notes, index. $34.50. This engaging book is filled with quotations taken from stories and anecdotes about the telegraph, telephone, phonograph, and electric­ ity at the end of the 19th century. Most were selected from local newspapers and magazines for republication in the trade press, particularly ElectricalReview, Western Electrician, Telephony, and Electrical World. Other examples come from popular magazines. The often bizarre stories concern not only the United States and England but also Europe and colonies of the British Empire. This material is not examined as evidence of cultural variation, however, but is taken to be a discourse addressed to the technical audience, primarily about the naive fantasies and confusions of the general public. Carolyn Marvin argues that electrical engineers used this discourse to define themselves as a textual community and to gain social status. Stories about terrifying natives with electric lights or frighten­ ing an old black man with a hidden loudspeaker exemplify how “electrical experts caricatured and ridiculed the aspirations and electrical encounters of conventional scapegoat groups, including non-Europeans, Indians, blacks, women, criminals, and the poor. Deception and coercion were accepted sanctions against those who refused to recognize the authority of electrical expertise” (p. 62). Yet if technological literacy defined a new elite, the technol­ ogies themselves—particularly the telephone and phonograph— penetrated the sanctity of the home and “muddied social distance,” allowing anyone to court, trick, or swindle anyone else. Furthermore, the professional’s abstract knowledge of electricity clashed with the layman’s attempt to understand new technologies through the body, by means of electrical belts, “flash” jewelry, accounts of magical electric powers, and electric dresses. Some showmen and profession­ als exploited the public fascination with new technologies through hoaxes, spectacular lighting displays at expositions, advertising, and messages splashed across the clouds by searchlights. 1046 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Long before McLuhan’s “global village” was thought of, such new forms of communication seemed to promise the future annihilation of “Space, Time and Difference” and encouraged fantasies of reach­ ing out to the “others,” both on the earth and on other planets, creating a wider “kinship” and obliterating cultural difference. Over­ all, Marvin argues that the importance of early electrical communi­ cation lies “not in the record of cumulative improvements in engi­ neered devices, not in institutional narratives of how emerging industries built and marketed new devices of communication, but in the history of continuous concern about how new media rearrange and imperil social relationships” (p. 235). Edison and other popular self-taught electrical pioneers do not bulk large in this account, perhaps because they cannot comfortably be called experts or plausibly be seen as laymen. Nor was archival research deemed appropriate for a project focused on public dis­ course rather than on individuals or inventions. But granting this restriction to published anecdotes and stories, should material re­ printed in the engineering technical press be granted a special privilege? What of the journals of electrical medicine, of the National Electric Light Association, and the street railway associations? What of electricity in feminist utopian writings or in Mark Twain’s A Connect­ icut Yankee or in Henry Adams? Why is only one great world’s fair—the Chicago Columbian Exposition—discussed? Other com­ plaints: the index is too short and the illustrations are not analyzed, two failures of communication. Within the self-imposed limits of her research base, however, Marvin has made a thorough study of long-neglected materials, painstakingly winnowing thousands of pages in the technical press. Without using specialized jargon, she has deployed an original method which converts these forgotten materials into a work where technology, society, and communications intertwine. David E. Nye Dr. Nye...

Diesel: Technology and Society in Industrial Germany by Donald E. Thomas, Jr

1046 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Long before McLuhan’s “global village” was thought of, such new forms of communication seemed to promise the future annihilation of “Space, Time and Difference” and encouraged fantasies of reach­ ing out to the “others,” both on the earth and on other planets, creating a wider “kinship” and obliterating cultural difference. Over­ all, Marvin argues that the importance of early electrical communi­ cation lies “not in the record of cumulative improvements in engi­ neered devices, not in institutional narratives of how emerging industries built and marketed new devices of communication, but in the history of continuous concern about how new media rearrange and imperil social relationships” (p. 235). Edison and other popular self-taught electrical pioneers do not bulk large in this account, perhaps because they cannot comfortably be called experts or plausibly be seen as laymen. Nor was archival research deemed appropriate for a project focused on public dis­ course rather than on individuals or inventions. But granting this restriction to published anecdotes and stories, should material re­ printed in the engineering technical press be granted a special privilege? What of the journals of electrical medicine, of the National Electric Light Association, and the street railway associations? What of electricity in feminist utopian writings or in Mark Twain’s A Connect­ icut Yankee or in Henry Adams? Why is only one great world’s fair—the Chicago Columbian Exposition—discussed? Other com­ plaints: the index is too short and the illustrations are not analyzed, two failures of communication. Within the self-imposed limits of her research base, however, Marvin has made a thorough study of long-neglected materials, painstakingly winnowing thousands of pages in the technical press. Without using specialized jargon, she has deployed an original method which converts these forgotten materials into a work where technology, society, and communications intertwine. David E. Nye Dr. Nye is associate professor of American Studies at the University of Copenhagen. He is completing a work on the social meanings of electric light and power in the United States, and he serves as an educational consultant to Danish television. Diesel: Technology and Society in Industrial Germany. By Donald E. Thomas, Jr. University: University of Alabama Press, 1987. Pp. xii + 279; illustrations, notes, appendixes, bibliography, index. $26.95. Diesel: Technology and Society in Industrial Germany is an in-depth study of the invention and early development of the diesel engine based on archival research with the collections of Diesel’s papers at the Deut­ sches Museum and the Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Ntirnberg TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 1047 Werkarchiv. The book offers a fascinating portrayal of the oftentimes indeterminate and malleable relationships that exist between theoret­ ical ideas, design options, economic and market contingencies, and social visions. The heart of the book comprises three chapters that discuss the (conceptual) invention of the diesel engine (ca. 1889-92), culminating in Diesel’s patent of 1892; the development phase (from 1893 to 1897) during which Diesel built and tested several working models of his engine; and the marketing phase (from 1898 to approximately 1912), in which Diesel and his industrial backers began to manufacture and sell diesel engines. Additionally, in two introduc­ tory chapters Donald Thomas presents a brief biography of Diesel as well as a study of his ideas for social reform (to which Diesel devoted considerable attention). A brief epilogue gives highlights of the subsequent history of the diesel engine up to the present. Thomas’s book both complements and supplements two earlier ar­ ticles on Diesel written by Lynwood Bryant that appeared in Scientific American 221 (August 1969): 108— 17 and Technology andCulture 17 (July 1976): 432—46. (There are, of course, important treatments of Diesel’s life and work in German as well.) It is not merely that Thomas provides us with more information, however, but also that his fuller analysis brings with it qualitatively new insights and raises new questions. For example, his account of Diesel’s social ideas helps us to see the invention of the diesel engine in a broader social context. Diesel was concerned about the rapid displacement of small craftsmen by factory labor, and he viewed the creation of a more efficient...

Heating of cables in a Duct bank

IN THE calculation of the temperatures attained by underground cable systems installed in duct banks, it has been customary to base such calculations upon a set of experimentally determined thermal resistances commonly known as the “National Electric Light Association Duct Heating Constants,” by which the temperature rise above the ambient earth temperature of cables located in the duct bank may be calculated under stated conditions of duct occupancy.

Basic Impulse Insulation Levels

ONE of the early steps taken by the electrical industry, in an attempt to help solve the insulation-co-ordination problem was the formation of the National Electric Light Association (now Edison Electric Institute)-National Electrical Manufacturers Association Joint Committee on System Insulation Co-ordination in 1931. Before relating the work done by this committee, to acquaint the industry with what has been done to date and the present status of the work, it may be well to comment briefly, on what is meant by “insulation co-ordination.”

Basic impulse insulation levels

ONE of the early steps taken by the electrical industry, in an attempt to help solve the insulation-co-ordination problem was the formation of the National Electric Light Association (now Edison Electric Institute)-National Electrical Manufacturers Association Joint Committee on System Insulation Co-ordination in 1931. Before relating the work done by this committee, to acquaint the industry with what has been done to date and the present status of the work, it may be well to comment briefly, on what is meant by “insulation co-ordination.”

The Electrical Characteristics of Impregnated Cable Papers

IN CONNECTION with the investigation of ionization in impregnated paper insulated cables conducted at The Harvard Engineering School under auspices of the impregnated paper cable research committee of the National Electric Light Association, it was found necessary to determine over a considerable range of voltage gradient, temperature, and frequency, the electrical characteristics of cable paper impregnated with different cable oils and compounds. The impregnation was conducted under almost ideal laboratory conditions so that little if any gas was occluded. When the results of the measurements were rationalized and analyzed, it was found that to a remarkable degree they all conformed to the same general laws. These laws and the analyses of the electrical characteristics into components may appear to be only empirical. However, they are results of some fundamental causes, involving probably molecular and intramolecular reactions. Therefore, aside from any value which the results presented may have as engineering data, they may at some time be of value in confirming or in disproving some more fundamental theories of dielectrics. Moreover, it is found that actual cables when impregnated so thoroughly that they manifest no appreciable ionization, have electrical characteristics comparable to those obtained with these samples impregnated under almost ideal conditions. The conclusions presented in this paper are as follows: 1. An abrupt change in the slope of the cooling curves of some cable compounds occurs in the neighborhood of 50 deg C; this may indicate changes in the molecular structure. 2. It appears to be a general law that the power loss in cable compounds varies as a constant exponential power of the voltage gradient, the exponent usually being 2 at room temperature; at higher temperatures it may be greater or less than 2. 3. The power factor characteristics of cable compounds are exponential functions of the voltage gradient, the exponent being related to that for the power characteristics. 4. The power-frequency characteristics are essentially linear, having a positive intercept at zero frequency. 5. The power factor-frequency characteristics are essentially rectangular hyperbolas. 6. The equivalent series resistivity-voltage gradient characteristic is the same type of function as the power factor-voltage gradient characteristic. 7. The equivalent parallel conductivity-voltage gradient characteristic is the same type of function as the power factor-voltage gradient characteristic. 8. The power-temperature characteristics for constant frequency and constant voltage gradient appear to consist of 2 terms, each of which is a constantexponential function of the temperature. (A.I.E.E. paper No. 33–58)

The electrical characteristics of impregnated cable papers

IN CONNECTION with the investigation of ionization in impregnated paper insulated cables conducted at The Harvard Engineering School under auspices of the impregnated paper cable research committee of the National Electric Light Association, it was found necessary to determine over a considerable range of voltage gradient, temperature, and frequency, the electrical characteristics of cable paper impregnated with different cable oils and compounds. The impregnation was conducted under almost ideal laboratory conditions so that little if any gas was occluded. When the results of the measurements were rationalized and analyzed, it was found that to a remarkable degree they all conformed to the same general laws. These laws and the analyses of the electrical characteristics into components may appear to be only empirical. However, they are results of some fundamental causes, involving probably molecular and intramolecular reactions. Therefore, aside from any value which the results presented may have as engineering data, they may at some time be of value in confirming or in disproving some more fundamental theories of dielectrics. Moreover, it is found that actual cables when impregnated so thoroughly that they manifest no appreciable ionization, have electrical characteristics comparable to those obtained with these samples impregnated under almost ideal conditions. The conclusions presented in this paper are as follows: 1. An abrupt change in the slope of the cooling curves of some cable compounds occurs in the neighborhood of 50 deg C; this may indicate changes in the molecular structure. 2. It appears to be a general law that the power loss in cable compounds varies as a constant exponential power of the voltage gradient, the exponent usually being 2 at room temperature; at higher temperatures it may be greater or less than 2. 3. The power factor characteristics of cable compounds are exponential functions of the voltage gradient, the exponent being related to that for the power characteristics. 4. The power-frequency characteristics are essentially linear, having a positive intercept at zero frequency. 5. The power factor-frequency characteristics are essentially rectangular hyperbolas. 6. The equivalent series resistivity-voltage gradient characteristic is the same type of function as the power factor-voltage gradient characteristic. 7. The equivalent parallel conductivity-voltage gradient characteristic is the same type of function as the power factor-voltage gradient characteristic. 8. The power-temperature characteristics for constant frequency and constant voltage gradient appear to consist of 2 terms, each of which is a constantexponential function of the temperature. (A.I.E.E. paper No. 33–58)

Electric Power Data as Indexes of Business Fluctuations

T HOUGH generally accepted as indicative of business activity, figures on the production and use of electric power are seldom intensively utilized in analyses of the business s'ituation. The chief compilations are indeed faithfully reported, and as a rule the various composite indexes of business conditions make sure to include electric power as one constituent; but when it comes to current interpretation and analysis of business activity, not a great deal is made of the data. In part this comparative neglect may be ascribed to difficulties in the way of properly correcting the figures, among which the difficulty of making due allowance for normal growth is perhaps preeminent; but in part it seems to reflect uncertainty as to the precise significance and worth of the different figures available. In the present study it is proposed, therefore, to examine three outstanding series monthly production as reported by the United States Geological Survey, weekly production as reported by the National Electric Light Association, and monthly consumption as reported by Electrical Worldwith respect both to their statistical content and reliability and to their past performance as indicators of business or industrial activity.

Part IV--Status of Cooperative Work on Joint Use of Poles

Because of the necessity of reaching the same customers, electric supply and telephone lines commonly use the same streets and highways. In urban communities, the joint use of poles for these two services has been very widely adopted and practises for joint use construction have been established from experience gained in past years. In rural communities, joint use is not always practicable or economical. Joint use involves many engineering and economic problems which have received the careful consideration of the Joint General Committee of the National Electric Light Association and Bell Telephone System. This paper describes some of the problems which have been encountered in joint use, and briefly outlines the work which is being conducted by the Joint General Committee in connection therewith. It is concluded that in specific cases proposed for joint use all factors should be studied cooperatively by the companies concerned and that everything practicable should be done to facilitate joint use construction and extend its usefulness.

Status of Joint Development and Research on Noise Frequency Induction*

The work of finding out the technical facts bearing on the problems of the physical relations of power and telephone circuits was intrusted to the Joint Subcommittee on Development and Research of the National Electric Light Association and the Bell System. This paper has to do with this fact-finding work so far as it concerns noise frequency induction. The work on inductive coordination may be classified into three groups of factors: 1. Influence factors which concern the characteristics of the power circuits. 2. Susceptiveness factors which concern the characteristics of the communication circuits. 3. Coupling factors which concern the interrelation of power and communication circuits. The paper discusses these various factors in detail and describes the work done by the committee or in progress regarding them. References are given to published reports and papers which present the results of technical studies already completed. Many of the existing noise frequency induction problems have arisen because of the development of the art of the two industries without such close cooperation between them as now exists. It is becoming evident, from the work of this Joint Subcommittee, that while it is not practicable to design machinery and apparatus for power systems to be entirely free of harmonics, or to ideally balance either power or telephone circuits, it is possible to control these factors within limits which, in conjunction with the control of coupling obtainable by cooperative planning of routes and coordination of transpositions, permit satisfactory operation of both services without unduly burdening either.

Status of Cooperative Work on Joint Use of Poles*

Because of the necessity of reaching the same customers, electric supply and telephone lines commonly use the same streets and highways. In urban communities, the joint use of poles for these two services has been very widely adopted and practises for joint use construction have been established from experience gained in past years. In rural communities, joint use is not always practicable or economical. Joint use involves many engineering and economic problems which have received the careful consideration of the Joint General Committee of the National Electric Light Association and Bell Telephone System. This paper describes some of the problems which have been encountered in joint use, and briefly outlines the work which is being conducted by the Joint General Committee in connection therewith. It is concluded that in specific cases proposed for joint use all factors should be studied cooperatively by the companies concerned and that everything practicable should be done to facilitate joint use construction and extend its usefulness.

Impregnated paper insulation

THIS abstract of a preliminary report gives some results of a study of the life of impregnated paper insulation under way at the School of Engineering, Johns Hopkins University. The work is being supported by the subcommittee on impregnated paper-insulated cable research of the National Electric Light Association. In an earlier work under the same auspices, a study was made of the influence of residual air on dry impregnated-paper insulation. Results of that study (Vol. 47, No. 1 Transactions A. I. E. E., January, 1928) showed the desirability of investigating the effect which different amounts of residual air would have upon the life of impregnated paper insulation. A brief summary of the results so far obtained is given here in the form of eight conclusions, briefly qualified.

The Trend in the Design of Telephone Transmitters and Receivers1

This is a report of the Joint Subcommittee on Development and Research, National Electric Light Association and Bell Telephone System. It was prepared by the Chairmen, respectively for the Bell System and the N.E.L.A., of the Project Committee assigned to this study. The report reviews the history and present trend of the design of telephone transmitters and receivers, particularly from the standpoint of their response frequency characteristics, and discusses the possibility of obtaining a reduction in the effect of line noise by shifting their points of maximum response. It is concluded that no advantage from this standpoint is indicated inasmuch as it has been found that the distribution with frequency of the extraneous energy on telephone toll lines is approximately uniform over the more important portion of the frequency range. It is further stated that the present trend in improvement of the response characteristics of transmitters and receivers is in the direction of reducing the difference between their maximum and average response.

Mutual Impedances of Ground-Return Circuits Some Experimental Studies

This paper describes some of the results of the work of the Joint Development and Research Subcommittee of the National Electric Light Association and Bell Telephone System on the mutual impedances of ground-return circuits. The first part of the paper deals with some experiments which were performed to establish an experimental background for the testing of theoretical ideas. Different theories, one involving an ``equivalent ground-plane,'' a second a d-c. distribution in the earth, and a third an a-c. distribution in the earth, are discussed in the light of the experimental results. While none of these is adequate to explain all the observed phenomena, each has a field in which it can be made useful. The second part of the paper is devoted to a description of practical means for predetermining the mutual impedances of power and telephone lines. This involves an experimental determination of a curve of mutual impedance as a function of separation in the region of the proposed exposure and the calculation of the over-all mutual impedance between the proposed lines from this curve and the dimensions of the exposure. The results of trials of this method in two locations are given which indicate that it should be of sufficient accuracy for engineering purposes.

Mutual Impedances of Ground-Return Circuits Some Experimental Studies*

This paper describes some of the results of the work of the Joint Development and Research Subcommittee of the National Electric Light Association and Bell Telephone System on the mutual impedances of ground-return circuits. The first part of the paper deals with some experiments which were performed to establish an experimental background for the testing of theoretical ideas. Different theories, one involving an “equivalent ground-plane,” a second a d. c. distribution in the earth, and a third an a. c. distribution in the earth, are discussed in the light of the experimental results. While none of these is adequate to explain all the observed phenomena, each has a field in which it can be made useful. The second part of the paper is devoted to a description of practical means for predetermining the mutual impedances of power and telephone lines. This involves an experimental determination of a curve of mutual impedance as a function of separation in the region of the proposed exposure and the calculation of the overall mutual impedance between the proposed lines from this curve and the dimensions of the exposure. The results of trials of this method in two locations are given which indicate that itshould be of sufficient accuracy for engineering purposes.

Abridgment of mutual impedances of ground return circuits: Some experimental studies

This paper describes some of the results of the work of the Joint Development and Research Subcommittee of the National Electric Light Association and Bell Telephone System on the mutual impedances of ground return circuits. The first part of the paper deals with some experiments which were performed to establish an experimental background for the testing of theoretical ideas. Different theories, one involving an “equivalent ground-plane,” a second, a d-c. distribution in the earth, and a third, an a-c. distribution in the earth, are discussed in the light of the experimental results. While none of these is adequate to explain all the observed phenomena, each has a field in which it can be made useful The second part of the paper is devoted to a description of practical means for predetermining the mutual impedances of power and telephone lines. This involves an experimental determination of a curve of mutual impedance as a function of separation in the region of the proposed exposure and the calculation of the over-all mutual impedance between the proposed lines from this curve and the dimensions of the exposure. The results of trials of this method in two locations are given indicating that it should be of sufficient accuracy for engineering purposes.

Industrial Lighting as a Safety Measure

A RECENT publication, sent out by the Industrial Lighting Committee of the National Electric Light Association, sets forth the result of a survey which was made of 390 industrial establishments for the purpose of ascertaining what conditions existed in the average plant with respect to lighting facilities. This report states that of the 390 establishments surveyed 56 per cent were found to be poorly lighted, 29 per cent fairly lighted, and 15 per cent well lighted. It is believed that this survey is fairly representative of conditions as they now exist in industry. It has been my privilege to observe conditions in hundreds of plants over a period of ten years; and from this experience I, too, can bear testimony to the fact that my observations have revealed an equal percentage of plants wherein the lighting facilities were inadequate. If it can be proved that inadequate lighting is responsible for a considerable number of the accidents which are