page_title: History of electric power transmission
section_title: Early transmission
hierarchical_section_title: History of electric power transmission / Early transmission
context_page_description: Electric power transmission, the tools and means of moving electricity far from where it is generated, date back to the late 19th century. They include the movement of electricity in bulk and the delivery of electricity to individual customers. In the beginning, the two terms were used interchangeably.
context_section_description: Prior to electricity, various systems had been used for transmission of power across large distances.  Chief among them were telodynamic (cable in motion), pneumatic (pressurized air), and hydraulic (pressurized fluid) transmission.  Cable cars were the most frequent example of telodynamic transmission, whose lines could extend for several miles for a single section.  Pneumatic transmission was used for city power transmission systems in Paris, Birmingham, Rixdorf, Offenbach, Dresden and Buenos Aires at the beginning of the twentieth century.  Cities in the 19th century also used hydraulic transmission using high pressure water mains to deliver power to factory motors.  London's system delivered 7000 hp ( 5 megawatts) over a 180-mile (290 km) network of pipes carrying water at 800 psi.  These systems were replaced by cheaper and more versatile electrical systems, but by the end of the 19th century, city planners and financiers were well aware of the benefits, economics, and process of establishing power transmission systems.
  In the early days of electric power usage, widespread transmission of electric power had two obstacles. First, devices requiring different voltages required specialized generators with their own separate lines. Street lights, electric motors in factories, power for streetcars and lights in homes are examples of the diversity of devices with voltages requiring separate systems. Secondly, generators had to be relatively near their loads (a mile or less for low voltage devices). It was known that longer distance transmission was possible the higher the voltage was raised, so both problems could be solved if transforming voltages from a single universal power line could be done efficiently.
caption: Berlin, 1884. With double the brilliance of gaslight, arc lamps were in high demand for stores and public areas. Arc lighting circuits used up to thousands of volts with arc lamps connected in series.
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