Engineering Hall of Fame

William Stanley Jr.
Pioneer of the transformer and AC distribution systems

Born in Brooklyn, New York, William Stanley attended private schools before enrolling at Yale University. He began to study law at age 21 but less than a semester later left school to look for a job in the emerging field of electricity. The decision marked the beginning of a productive career whose highlights included the invention of the modern type of transformer, and the creation of the business enterprise that was to become General Electric's Pittsfield Works.

Unfortunately Stanley has been the victim of the Tesla Myth - false information spread by the internet and television attributing the invention of the transformer to Nikola Tesla. This internet myth has done significant damage to the presentation of actual history and the MANY men who actually helped lead the way to the modern transformer.

The development of the Transformer:
Also see the History of the Transformer webpage

1885 - William Stanley is equipped with knowledge of the European advancements and then develops the first true transformer - it uses a soft iron core and adjustable gaps to regulate the amount of Electromagnetic Field in the secondary winding.

1886 - William Stanley uses his transformer to light Great Barrington, Massachusetts in the first full AC power system.

Stanley's first job was as an electrician with one of the early manufacturers of telegraph keys and fire alarms. He then worked in a metal-plating establishment before joining Hiram Maxim, inventor of the machine gun and already a pioneer in the electrical industry. As Maxim's assistant, Stanley directed one of the country's first electrical installations, in a store on New York's Fifth Avenue.

George Westinghouse Jr. (Born in Central Bridge, NY)

Inventor and industrialist George Westinghouse learned of Stanley's accomplishments and hired him as his chief engineer at his Pittsburgh factory. It was during this time that Stanley began work on the transformer. Actually the first practical AC transformer was developed by Frenchman Lucien Gaulard and Englishman John Gibbs; improvements were made at the Ganz company in Budapest. Westinghouse instructed Stanley and his assistants, Schmid and Shallenberger, to make tests to determine the commercial value of the Gaulard and Gibbs system. He also arranged to have a number of the transformers and a Siemens alternating-current generator forwarded from England to Pittsburgh. Stanley, working under the direction of Westinghouse, devised a further improvement, which consisted in securing the enclosure of the coils by making the core of E-shaped plates, the central projections of each successive plate being alternately inserted through rewound coils from opposite sides, thus permitting separate winding and consequently the better insulation of the coils. This form was further improved by Albert Schmid, who extended the ends of the arms of the E to meet the central projection. When inserting these plates the extensions were temporarily bent upward, and upon being released each plate formed a closed magnetic circuit about the sides of the coils.

In 1885, ill health almost cut short his career - some say he worked himself too hard. But it proved a disguised blessing, because it necessitated a move to his family home, Great Barrington, Massachusetts. In those peaceful surroundings, he was able to develop some ideas he had suggested two years earlier to his employer, George Westinghouse (who helped finance Stanley's lab) for a new type of transformer.

The 1886 Transformer built by Stanley

This work resulted, on March 20, 1886, in the demonstration of a prototype system of high voltage transmission employing Stanley's parallel connected transformer. This system was used by him to provide lighting for offices and stores on the town's Main Street. Read more about it in the link below:

The first full successful AC distribution system in the world! Read more about William Stanley's work in Great Barrington. Click Here

Stanley received a patent on his transformer: "Induction-Coil," Patent No. 349,611.

William Stanley explains to Franklin L. Pope (advisor to Westinghouse and patent lawyer.) that is design was salable and a great improvement. Pope disagrees but Westinghouse decides to trust Stanley anyway. Oddly, later on Pope dies when he accidentally touches one of Stanley's transformers in a basement in Great Barrington.

These various inventions and discoveries led up within a year to commercial production of transformers of high efficiency and excellent regulating qualities.

The development was a fine engineering performance in speed and in quality. The most important single contribution was by Stanley. He brought out the parallel connection in which the transformers are connected in parallel, across the constant-potential alternating-current system, instead of being arranged in series, as in the Gaulard and Gibbs connection. He obtained patents on the method, involving the construction of transformers in which the counter electromotive force generated in the primary coil of the transformer was practically equal to the electromotive force of the supply circuit. This is obvious now, but in 1886, when the principles and characteristics of the alternating current were practically unknown, it was a wonderful invention, and revolutionary in character. On this invention Stanley's fame largely rests. Of course Stanley did not discover or invent a theory of counter electromotive force before any one else had thought of it. Such fundamental things seldom happen in invention. His claim to great and original merit rests on the discovery of a theory which was new to him and the use of it in making a structure of immense importance in the affairs of men. Briefly, all transformers now made are built upon practically the same principles as those that were developed in these early products of the Westinghouse Company.

William Stanley (photo by Alfred A. Costello) prepared by the Housatonic River Walk, Great Barrington Land Conservancy

Stanley's later work:

Stanley's genius continued to influence the industry as he produced newer and better power distribution systems for General Electric. The Stanley Works in Pittsfield, MA develops new power distribution systems at the birth of the power grid. Stanley's air blast transformers are used in the Folsom Powerhouse 1896 and other GE AC power systems. We will have more information here as time goes on.

We recommend you visit the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, MA to learn more

The Stanley Works in Pittsfield, MA

Sources:
"Men and Volts" by John Hammond
"Workshop of Engineers" by John Miller
The Great Barrington Historical Society
Wikipedia
www.pittsfield-ma.org/history
Photos by Smithsnoian, General Electric company photographers,and the Edison Tech Center
The Power Makers: Steam, Electricity, and the Men Who Invented Modern America by Maury Klein. 2009.

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