Model of Edison's Pearl Street power station
date: label: Date made
content: 1927
name: label: maker
content: Edison Company
notes: label: Description
content: This scale model of Thomas Edison's Pearl Street power station was made in 1927. It demonstrates the internal arrangement of generating equipment and can be operated by means of a small electric motor in the base.
label: Description
content: The first floor contained the boiler room and coal-handling equipment. Steam created by the boilers operated Porter-Allen horizontal steam engines on the second floor. The engines powered large Edison electrical generators nicknamed "Jumbo" after the famous elephant. Control and switching equipment were housed on the third and fourth floors.
label: Description
content: The site for Edison's generating station had to satisfy both engineering and business needs. Because Edison used 100 volt direct current to power his new light bulbs, customers could be no further than ½ mile from the generator. But he needed a high profile location to promote the system. Edison chose a site in the heart of New York's financial district, 255 and 257 Pearl Street. On 4 September 1882, he threw a switch in the office of one of his main investors, J. Pierpont Morgan, and initiated service to the area.
label: Description
content: A fire damaged the station extensively in 1890 but Edison and his men worked around the clock for 11 days to restore service. The station was taken out of service and dismantled in 1895, the building sold and later demolished. The New York Edison Company placed a commemorative plaque at the site in 1917.
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
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content: Energy & Power
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content: Work
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content: Engineering, Building, and Architecture
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content: Industry & Manufacturing
label: Exhibition
content: Lighting a Revolution
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from the New York Edison Company
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.309605
label: catalog number
content: 309605
label: accession number
content: 104795
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Model
label: Object Name
content: power station model
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 46 in x 57 1/2 in x 12 3/4 in; 116.84 cm x 146.05 cm x 32.385 cm