William Stanley Jr.

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William Stanley Jr.
BA
)
Spouse
(m. 1884)
ChildrenHarold Stanley
AwardsIEEE Edison Medal (1912)
Scientific career
FieldsElectrical engineering
InstitutionsGeneral Electric
Signature

William Stanley Jr. (November 28, 1858 – May 14, 1916) was an American

Stanley Bottle Company
.

Early life and education

Stanley was born November 28, 1858, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of William Stanley and Elizabeth A. Parsons Stanley.

Williston Seminary and later graduated from Yale University with the class of 1881.[2]

Career

Stanley was as an

electrical installations (at a Fifth Avenue store). Shortly thereafter, George Westinghouse
hired Stanley as his chief engineer at his Pittsburgh factory.

In 1885, Stanley built the first practical alternating current transformer based on Lucien Gaulard and John Dixon Gibbs' prototype of 1881. This device was the precursor to the modern transformer. In December, under a new contract with Westinghouse, Stanley moved his operations to Great Barrington, Massachusetts.[3]

In 1886, on March 20, Stanley demonstrated the first complete system of high voltage

IEEE Milestone.[4]

Agreeing that the AC system had arrived, Westinghouse further tested the system in summer 1886 in Pittsburgh; it transmitted over a distance of 3 miles, and used an alternator designed by Stanley to replace the Siemens model, which regulated voltage poorly. Satisfied with the pilot system, Westinghouse began commercial production and shipped his company's first commercial alternator to Buffalo, New York, where a local utility placed it in service. Orders for 25 alternating-current plants followed within months.[3]

In 1890, Stanley founded the Stanley Electric Manufacturing Company in

General Electric Corporation purchased a controlling interest in the firm. The land on which the company once stood is now the site of the William Stanley Business Park of the Berkshires in Pittsfield.[5]

Patents

The practical coil circuits were the prototypes for the modern transformers. (U.S. patent 349,611)

William Stanley Jr. was granted 129 patents for a range of products and electrical devices.[1][6] A selection of patents follow. Significant patents are in bold.

Thomas Alva Edison

Personal life

William married to Lila Courtney (Wetmore) Stanley in 1884.[2] In 1935, their son, Harold Stanley, went on to found the modern day financial firm of Morgan Stanley with J. P. Morgan's grandson, Henry Sturgis Morgan.[8]

William Stanley Jr. died at his home in Great Barrington on May 14, 1916.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^
  2. ^ a b c d "William Stanley Dies". The New York Times. Great Barrington, Massachusetts. May 15, 1916. p. 9. Retrieved June 19, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b Thomas Parke Hughes, Networks of Power: Electrification in Western Society, 1880–1930, pp. 103–104, (1993)
  4. ^ "Milestones:Alternating Current Electrification, 1886". IEEE Global History Network. IEEE. Retrieved July 27, 2011.
  5. ^ William Stanley Business Park
  6. ^ Stanley Archived November 16, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ This is the 1886 Stanley-Westinghouse Lamp Archived December 9, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ "Harold Stanley, 77, is Dead". The New York Times. May 15, 1963. p. 39. Retrieved December 12, 2015.

Further reading

  • "William Stanley" (Nov.22, 1858-May 14, 1916), Dictionary of American Biography, Vol XVVVII, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1935, p. 514.
  • "William Stanley", The National Cyclopedia of American Biography, Vol XXIV, James T. White & Co., New York, 1935, p. 394.
  • William Stanley and Nikola Tesla(1858–1916) – His Life and Work, Laurence A. Hawkins, The Newcomen Society in North America, New York, 1951-2023


External links