Frank Julian Sprague

Frank Julian Sprague PDF Author: William D. Middleton
Publisher: Railroads Past and Present
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description
The definitive biography of "The Father of Electric Traction"

Frank Julian Sprague

Frank Julian Sprague PDF Author: William D. Middleton
Publisher: Railroads Past and Present
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description
The definitive biography of "The Father of Electric Traction"

Frank Julian Sprague

Frank Julian Sprague PDF Author: William D. Middleton
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253023599
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 334

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Book Description
“[This] biography of the ‘Father of Electric Traction’ details the life and times of an exceptional engineer, maverick innovator, [and] entrepreneur.” —NMRA Magazine Frank Julian Sprague invented a system for distributing electricity to streetcars from overhead wires. Within a year, electric streetcars had begun to replace horsecars, sparking a revolution in urban transportation. Sprague (1857–1934) was an American naval officer turned inventor who worked briefly for Thomas Edison before striking out on his own. Sprague contributed to the development of the electric motor, electric railways, and electric elevators. His innovations would help transform the urban space of the 20th century, enabling cities to grow larger and skyscrapers taller. The Middletons’ generously illustrated biography is an engrossing study of the life and times of a maverick innovator. “The authors weave this biography through time, with technological and political details that make Sprague human, a creative soul pressing his ideas with a sports-like outcome—some wins, some losses, and some ties . . . I recommend this well-written book detailing the life of the ‘Father of Electric Traction’ to explain the development of what we so casually take for granted.” —Trains “No one has previously used Sprague’s personal papers in a published biography . . . Recommended.” —Choice “Frank Sprague . . . is a major historical figure who for decades lacked a significant biography. This void has been ably and engagingly filled in this book by the dean of electric traction authors, William D. Middleton, and his son, William III.” —Classic Trains

The Birth of Electric Traction

The Birth of Electric Traction PDF Author: Frank Rowsome
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781490955346
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 386

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Book Description
Frank J. Sprague was renowned in electrical circles around the world as “The Father of Electric Traction.” The control and safety systems which make railroads and mass transit work today are his. He was the first to design electric motors capable of earning their way in industry, and helped perfect the high-speed electric elevators that made skyscrapers possible. He created the basic circuitry that ran, and still runs, subways, elevators, and electrified railroads. Sprague was among the first men to bring rigorous mathematical discipline to replace cut-and-try research, making him the life-long rival of Thomas Edison. Sprague helped change electricity from a laboratory and lecture-platform oddity to a vital part of the modern world. Almost single-handedly he wired electricity into the second industrial revolution as a basic source of power and transportation.

Frank J. Sprague and the Edison Myth

Frank J. Sprague and the Edison Myth PDF Author: Harriet Chapman Jones Sprague
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 40

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The Growth of Electric Railways

The Growth of Electric Railways PDF Author: Frank Julian Sprague
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electric railroads
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Yet There Isn't a Train I Wouldn't Take

Yet There Isn't a Train I Wouldn't Take PDF Author: William D. Middleton
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 9780253336996
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
Yet there isn't a train goes by all day But I hear its whistle shrieking.... Yet there isn't a train I wouldn't take, No matter where it's going. —Edna St. Vincent Millay, "Travel" "Yet there isn't a train I wouldn't take" is a collection of stories about favorite train journeys by an inveterate railway enthusiast and train traveler. A half century career as an engineer, Naval officer, and university administrator took Bill Middleton to almost every part of the globe, and everywhere he took with him an abiding interest in railways, and a notebook and camera to record his experiences. His North American journeys have included experiences as diverse as the long journey north through Manitoba to polar bear country on Hudson Bay, a trip to Minnesota's Mesabi Range to haul a boatload of iron ore to Lake Superior behind a giant Yellowstone articulated steam locomotive, and the trip between Costa Rica's Atlantic and Pacific coasts by narrow gauge railway. His European travels have ranged from a Pullman seat on the crack London-Paris Golden Arrow to the slow trip across Thrace on one of the last runs of the celebrated Simplon-Orient Express. In Asia he traveled through the Toros Mountains of Turkey on the famous Istanbul-Baghdad Toros Express, experienced modern high-speed railroading in the cab of Japan's Bullet Train, and rode to Asia's highest mountain east of the Himalayas on the little trains of Taiwan's Ali Shan Forestry Railway.

The Electric Motor and Its Applications

The Electric Motor and Its Applications PDF Author: Thomas Commerford Martin
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electric motors
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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A Meeting of Appreciation and Tribute to Frank J. Sprague

A Meeting of Appreciation and Tribute to Frank J. Sprague PDF Author: Frank J. Sprague Anniversary Committee
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Frank Julian Sprague, Father of Electric Traction, 1857-1934

Frank Julian Sprague, Father of Electric Traction, 1857-1934 PDF Author: Harold Clarence Passer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electric railroads
Languages : en
Pages : 42

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The Electric Interurban Railways in America

The Electric Interurban Railways in America PDF Author: George Woodman Hilton
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 9780804740142
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 500

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Book Description
One of the most colorful yet neglected eras in American transportation history is re-created in this definitive history of the electric interurbans. Built with the idea of attracting short-distance passenger traffic and light freight, the interurbans were largely constructed in the early 1900s. The rise of the automobile and motor transport caused the industry to decline after World War I, and the depression virtually annihilated the industry by the middle 1930s. Part I describes interurban construction, technology, passenger and freight traffic, financial history, and final decline and abandonment. Part II presents individual histories (with route maps) of the more than 300 companies of the interurban industry. Reviews "A first-rate work of such detail and discernment that it might well serve as a model for all corporate biographies. . . . A wonderfully capable job of distillation." —Trains "Few economic, social, and business historians can afford to miss this definitive study." —Mississippi Valley Historical Review "All seekers after nostalgia will be interested in this encyclopedic volume on the days when the clang, clang of the trolley was the most exciting travel sound the suburbs knew." —Harper's Magazine "A fascinating and instructive chapter in the history of American transportation." —Journal of Economic History "The hint that behind the grand facade of scholarship lies an expanse of boyish enthusiasm is strengthened by a lovingly amassed and beautifully reproduced collection of 37 photographs." —The Nation