The first motors to use Edison station current were designed by
Frank J. Sprague, a graduate of the Naval Academy, who had worked
with Edison, as have many of the foremost electrical engineers of
America and Europe. These small motors possessed several
advantages over the big steam engine. They ran smoothly and
noiselessly on account of the absence of reciprocating parts.
They consumed current only when in use. They could be installed
and connected with a minimum of trouble and expense. They emitted
neither smell nor smoke. Edison built an experimental electric
railway line at Menlo Park in 1880 and proved its practicability.
Meanwhile, however, as he worked on his motors and dynamos, he
was anticipated by others in some of his inventions. It would not
be fair to say that Edison and Sprague alone developed the
electric railway, for there were several others who made
important contributions. Stephen D. Field of Stockbridge,
Massachusetts, had a patent which the Edison interests found it
necessary to acquire; C. J. Van Depoele and Leo Daft made
important contributions to the trolley system. In Cleveland in
1884 an electric railway on a small scale was opened to the
public. But Sprague's first electric railway, built at Richmond,
Virginia, in 1887, as a complete system, is generally hailed as
the true pioneer of electric transportation in the United States.
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