when was electricity first used in homes in the us
History of electric power transmission Extremely bright arc lights were too bright, and with the high voltages and sparking/fire hazard, too dangerous to use indoors.[15] In 1878 inventor Thomas Edison saw a market for a system that could bring electric lighting directly into a customer's business or home, a niche not served by arc lighting systems.[16] After devising a commercially viable incandescent light bulb in 1879, Edison went on to develop the first large scale investor-owned electric illumination "utility" in lower Manhattan, eventually serving one square mile with 6 "jumbo dynamos" housed at Pearl Street Station.[7][9][17][18] When service began in September 1882, there were 85 customers with 400 light bulbs. Each dynamo produced 100 kW2—enough for 1200 incandescent lights, and transmission was at 110 V via underground conduits. The system cost $300,000 to build with installation of the 100,000 feet (30,000 m) of underground conduits one of the most expensive parts of the project. Operating expenses exceeded income in the first two years and fire destroyed the plant in 1890.[19] Further, Edison had a three wire system so that either 110 V or 220 V could be supplied to power some motors.
Electricity Long before any knowledge of electricity existed, people were aware of shocks from electric fish. Ancient Egyptian texts dating from 2750 BCE referred to these fish as the "Thunderer of the Nile", and described them as the "protectors" of all other fish. Electric fish were again reported millennia later by ancient Greek, Roman and Arabic naturalists and physicians.[2] Several ancient writers, such as Pliny the Elder and Scribonius Largus, attested to the numbing effect of electric shocks delivered by catfish and electric rays, and knew that such shocks could travel along conducting objects.[3] Patients suffering from ailments such as gout or headache were directed to touch electric fish in the hope that the powerful jolt might cure them.[4] Possibly the earliest and nearest approach to the discovery of the identity of lightning, and electricity from any other source, is to be attributed to the Arabs, who before the 15th century had the Arabic word for lightning ra‘ad (رعد) applied to the electric ray.[5]