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418 Suppressed Inventions and Other Discoveries
electrocuted with high voltages—using the Tesla/Westinghouse AC current,
of course. Edison refered to electrocuting as "Westinghousing."
Carrying on this strategy of linking AC with electrocution and death,
the Edison camp distributed scare pamphlets warning that Westinghouse
wanted to put this deadly AC current into every American home.
However, Edison omitted the fact that the current would first be reduced
in voltage. Through this disinformation campaign, Edison was determined
to sway the public toward his DC technology, inefficient as it was.
To answer accusations against the safety of AC, Tesla in turn developed
showmanship; he proved that he could conduct AC through his own body
without ill effects. He stood on a platform in white tie and tails and corkbottomed
shoes. Bolts of electricity crackled and snapped, and he allowed
several hundred thousand volts to dance over his body and light the bulbs
in his hands. However, although the voltage (pressure) of the electricity
was high, he reduced the amperage (quantity) and used high frequencies.
That type of electrical current crawls over a body and therefore doesn't
reach vital organs. As an argument against Edison it was cheating,
because domestic AC switches back and forth on a conductor 60 times a
second, not thousands of times as in high frequencies.
Edison, however, played dirtier. He persuaded state prison authorities
to kill a death-row prisoner with AC current instead of executing him by
hanging. It was a further attempt to popularize the phrase "to Westinghouse"
as a replacement for "to electrocute." Prison officials miscalculated the
amount of current needed to kill the condemned man, and newspaper
reporters witnessed a messy smoky execution.
Despite Edison's efforts, Tesla and Westinghouse won the Battle of the
Currents. In 1892 Westinghouse built an AC system for lighting the 1893
world fair in Chicago.
TYCOONS PUT SQUEEZE ON WESTINGHOUSE
A big hydroelectric project was the second major victory for AC supporters;
in 1895 Tesla's first generating unit was put into operation at Niagara
Falls. Eventually, Tesla's distribution system delivered immense amounts
of electrical power across the continent. Since Westinghouse had signed a
contract giving Tesla $2.50 per horsepower, Tesla could have died as a
multibillionaire.
"Morganization" intervened, however, with cut-throat practices directed
against George Westinghouse. Business competitors in the real-life
game of Monopoly tried to squeeze him out of the power picture and gave
him an ultimatum: "get rid of your contract with Tesla or you're finished."
When Westinghouse laid his cards in front of Tesla and admitted to being
in financial trouble, Tesla demonstrated his priorities. He remembered that