IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - March/April 2016 - 85

ard of Menlo Park," it wasn't long
before tensions flared between the
two men. Sprague made an important early contribution by developing a mathematical approach for
calculating the values and locations of the electrical street mains
for new electric lighting installations. It replaced a tedious and inaccurate modeling approach and,
in the process, reduced the time
required for the exercise from
weeks to hours. As a uniquely
competent and intuitive inventor,
Early Years
Edison always seemed uncomFrank Julian Sprague was born
fortable when technically trained
on 25 July 1857 in Milford, Conengineers, such as Sprague, found
necticut, but grew up in North Adways to solve problems other than
ams, Massachusetts, when, in 1864,
by pure experimentation. Also,
his mother died and his father left
Edison wanted electricity primarto find his fortune in the West,
ily for lighting purposes while
shipping Frank and his younger
Sprague viewed it as a new motive
brother, Charley, to live with their
power for transportation. Only 11
Aunt Ann in North Adams. The
months after joining Edison, folSprague family had originally ar- figure 2. Frank J. Sprague as a cadet-ensign in the
lowing an angry exchange of
rived in the New World in 1629 U.S. Navy, circa 1878. (Photo courtesy of John L.
Sprague.)
letters, Sprague departed, to confrom Upwey in Dorset, England,
tinue his motor work begun at the
when Ralph Sprague and his family disembarked from the Lion's Whelp in Farmer at the Torpedo Station became Torpedo Station and form his first comSalem, Massachusetts. They first settled his mentor. Encouraged by Farmer, pany, the Sprague Electric Railroad and
in Charlestown and then spread out across Sprague created his first electric de- Motor Company (SERM), incorporated
New England. While they were substan- vice, a unique inverted-type dynamo, in late November 1884.
tial, good, hard-working citizens, none designed such that the relationship beshowed the creative genius that would tween the magnetic field and armature Early dc Electric Motors
blossom in eight-year-old Sprague some circuits became the basis for series-par- Although he arguably developed the
235 years later. Although Sprague was allel controllers used on direct current first truly useful electric motor, Sprague
physically unimpressive, as he was small, (dc) railway motors to this day. Filed was the first to admit he certainly didn't
wiry, with sandy hair and eyes that glit- 4 October 1881 and issued 26 August invent the electric motor. Actually, the
tered with intelligence, he quickly demon- 1884 (assigned to the U.S. Navy), this foundation for the electrical revoluwas Sprague's first patent, U.S. 304,145: tion began in 1831 when English scistrated that he was no one to take lightly.
In North Adams he attended Drury "Dynamo-Electric Machine." Farmer entist Michael Faraday discovered that
Academy, where he excelled in mathemat- then helped Sprague gain assignment electricity could be generated by the
ics and science, and then won a competi- to the 1882 Crystal Palace Electrical movement of a conductor in a magnetic
tive exam for the U.S. Naval Academy in Exhibition in London where he served field. Then in 1834 Vermont blacksmith
Annapolis, Maryland (surprising since he as secretary to the awards jury. His Thomas Davenport developed a crude
thought the exam, taken in Springfield, "Report on the Exhibits at the Crys- electric motor followed two years later
Massachusetts, was for West Point!), en- tal Palace Electrical Exposition" won by a small 2-ft (0.61-m) diameter electric
tering as a plebe in 1874. His technical him considerable notoriety (and saved model railroad. Motor work accelerated
skills and fascination with electricity blos- him from certain court martial since around the world, in Russia, Scotland,
somed at Annapolis, and he graduated in its preparation caused him to be six Britain, the United States, Italy, and
1878 with honors in mathematics, physics, months AWOL). It also led to his 1883 elsewhere. However, the electric power
resignation from the Navy to take a job for all these different devices came from
and chemistry (see Figure 2).
In 1881, while serving on the train- working for Thomas Edison on electri- storage batteries, making them impracing ship USS Minnesota, at the time cal distribution systems for lighting.
tical for most applications.
Although he was initially enthralled
stationed in Newport, Rhode Island,
This changed dramatically when, in
inventive and influential Prof. Moses by the opportunity to work for the "Wiz- 1861, Italian physicist Antonio Pacinotti
Finding this motor seems especially appropriate since the
largest percentage of the inventor's 95 patents dealt with electric
motors: how to make them (the
constant speed motor), how to use
them (urban railways and elevators), how to control them [elevators and multiple unit (MU) control systems], and how to make
the vehicles that used them safe
(Sprague Safety Company).

ieee power & energy magazine

march/april 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - March/April 2016