gofer articles

AC electric motor repair is commonly done these days, typically for generator turbines and the like, whether for power plants or ship and aircraft engines.
Nothing unusual about any of that.
But not so long ago, just a little over a century ago, AC, or alternating current, and DC, or direct current, were quite controversial matters – especially for the two men bitterly locked in what would become identified to history as the great War of the Currents.

Yes, AC electric motor repair is frequent enough these days, but back then, AC was new, and at first appeared unsafe – ironic considering that it won out over DC in lots of applications due to its superior safety.
But before this came about, there were the most acrimonious protests, right down to court battles, not to mention personal smearing promotions in the court of open public opinion, against AC, the newer technology.

While it’s arguable that the superior AC standard would have finally been adopted, it’s almost certain that the campaign against it, and its most celebrated proponent, delayed its widespread use for quite some years.
While something such as AC electric motor repair is still rather expert work, it isn’t the revoluntionary thing it was back when engines running on AC were deemed exotic and, as previously mentioned, dangerous.

Thomas Edison, the great inventor, used AC’s initial faults as a method of personally attacking his one-time assistant Nikola Tesla, another brilliant mind.
Likely as a result of skilled jealousy (though a lot of money was also at stake, as numerous patent royalties were required), Edison went to great lengths to discredit not only the technology but its most notable proponent – to the point of macabre demonstrations electrocuting animals and also a condemned prisoner in order to get the public agitated against AC!