Engineering Invention Dalzell, Frederick
2009, 20090925, 2009-09-25, 2019-06-20
eBook
Over the course of a little less than twenty years, inventor Frank J. Sprague (1857-1934) achieved an astonishing series of technological breakthroughs--from pioneering work in self-governing motors ...to developing the first full-scale operational electric railway system--all while commercializing his inventions and promoting them (and himself as their inventor) to financial backers and the public. In Engineering Invention, Frederick Dalzell tells Sprague's story, setting it against the backdrop of one of the most dynamic periods in the history of technology. In a burst of innovation during these years, Sprague and his contemporaries--Thomas Edison, Nicolas Tesla, Elmer Sperry, George Westinghouse, and others--transformed the technologies of electricity and reshaped modern life. After working briefly for Edison, Sprague started the Sprague Electric Railway and Motor Company; designed and built an electric railroad system for Richmond, Virginia; sold his company to Edison and went into the field of electric elevators; almost accidentally discovered a multiple-control system that could equip electric train systems for mass transit; started a third company to commercialize this; then sold this company to Edison and retired (temporarily). Throughout his career, Dalzell tells us, Sprague framed technology as invention, cast himself as hero, and staged his technologies as dramas. He toiled against the odds, scraped together resources to found companies, bet those companies on technical feats--and pulled it off, multiple times. The idea of the "heroic inventor" is not, of course, the only way to frame the history of technology. Nevertheless, as Dalzell shows, Sprague, Edison, and others crafted the role consciously and actively, using it to generate vital impetus behind the process of innovation.
In 1882, Thomas Edison and his Edison Electric Light Company unveiled the first large-scale electrical system in the world to light a stretch of offices in a city. This was a monumental achievement, ...but it was not the beginning of the electrical age. The first electric generators were built in the 1830s, the earliest commercial lighting systems before 1860, and the first commercial application of generator-powered lights (in lighthouses) in the early 1860s. In Power Struggles, Michael Brian Schiffer examines some of these earlier efforts, both successful and unsuccessful, that paved the way for Edison. After laying out a unified theoretical framework for understanding technological change, Schiffer presents a series of fascinating case studies of pre-Edison electrical technologies, including Volta's electrochemical battery, the blacksmith's electric motor, the first mechanical generators, Morse's telegraph, the Atlantic cable, and the lighting of the Capitol dome. Schiffer discusses claims of "practicality" and "impracticality" (sometimes hotly contested) made for these technologies, and examines the central role of the scientific authority--in particular, the activities of Joseph Henry, mid-nineteenth-century America's foremost scientist--in determining the fate of particular technologies. These emerging electrical technologies formed the foundation of the modern industrial world. Schiffer shows how and why they became commercial products in the context of an evolving corporate capitalism in which conflicting judgments of practicality sometimes turned into power struggles.
Innovation in energy technology is becoming increasingly important to meet growing demand for energy amidst concern about the security of energy supplies and calls for greater environmental ...protection. Governments across the OECD are investing considerable sums in R&D on new energy technologies, such as fuel cells, and seeking ways to speed their deployment and smooth the transition to a more sustainable, hydrogen-based economy. What steps are they taking? What lessons can be learned from the experiences of other countries? How do energy innovation systems differ among countries and how can policy account for such differences?. This report reviews efforts under way in a number of OECD countries to advance innovation in energy technology, with a particular focus on hydrogen fuel cells. It compares energy innovation systems in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Norway, the United Kingdom and United States to identify the roles of government, industry, universities and other public research organisations in the innovation process. It also examines the policies governments are implementing to finance needed research and development and to stimulate market demand for innovative energy technologies. The report forms part of a larger effort to compare innovation processes in different industry sectors and technological fields to provide policy guidance and to more fully elaborate the national innovation systems approach to policy making. Related reading:.:.; Innovation in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology: Comparing National Innovation Systems at the Sectoral Level , OECD (2006).; Governance of Innovation Systems, Volume 1: Synthesis Report , OECD (2005).; Innovation Policy and Performance: A Cross-Country Comparison , OECD (2005).
The fact that market experience improves performance and reduces prices is well known and widely exploited in technology-intensive industries, but sparsely used in analysis for energy technology ...policy. Knowledge of the “experience effect” can help in the design of efficient programmes for deploying of environment-friendly technologies. The effect must be taken into account when estimating the future costs of achieving targets, including targets for carbon dioxide reduction. This book discusses issues raised by the “experience effect”, such as price-cost cycles, competition for learning opportunities in the market, risk of “technology lockout” and the effects of research, development and deployment policies on technology learning. Case studies illustrate how experience curves can be used to set policy targets and to design policy measures that will encourage both investment in and use of environment-friendly energy technologies. Low-cost paths to stabilising CO2 emissions are explored.
Analysing the interaction between energy and climate change mitigation issues requires the adoption of a long-term perspective – looking up to fifty years ahead. This volume examines ‘exploratory ...scenarios’ and ‘normative scenarios’. These long-term scenarios complement the IEA’s World Energy Outlook, which presents a mid-term business-as-usual scenario with some variants. The analysis in this volume seeks to stimulate new thinking in this critical domain.
Technology can make a significant contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the energy sector. But it can only do so if efforts to develop and deploy advanced energy technologies are ...redoubled and if technological advances are combined with measures that discourage the emitting of carbon by making it more expensive. Efforts with a near-term focus are needed, but so is work that will only bear fruit years from today. Both are vital. Both must start now and continue over time. Government and industry both have indispensable roles in the task of maximising energy technology’s contribution to emissions reduction. This report is a call to action to IEA Member countries to find ways, compatible with their own circumstances, to achieve that end. It reviews a large number of technologies that could prove important in reducing energy-related emissions in both the near and long term. It points out how the availability of advanced energy technology can mitigate the cost of emissions reduction, and it outlines how traditional “barriers” to using new technology can be overcome. It deals directly with the issue of what governments can do in this area and points out where government action is needed. The report builds on two previous IEA reports – Energy Technologies for the 21st Century and IEA/OECD Scoping Study: Energy and Environmental Technologies to Respond to Global Climate Change Concerns.
