Abstract :
This first article in a series of four on the historical background of the metering art, sponsored by the AIEE committee on instruments and measurements, deals with origins and development up to 1900; the others, covering respectively (II) progress in the art from 1900 to 1925, (III) special applications, and (IV) calibration and installation of meters, will appear in future issues AN INDUSTRIAL ART is the adaptation through change or combination of material things both new and old to the accomplishment of some desired end. An essential ingredient is skill. Progress in an art is the integrated result of three major influences. First and most vital, there are the men who for one reason or another have become so deeply interested in accomplishing a given result that there is created a reservoir of human ingenuity sufficient to insure success. Second, there are the technological discoveries in other fields which give these men new materials, tools, and methods by means of which progress in their own art is accelerated. Third, there are the sociological trends, economical, political, and otherwise, which are largely responsible for charting the course to be followed. There is probably no better example of the working of these forces than the creation and subsequent progress of the art of metering electric energy. In the year 1879, through the genius, initiative, and industry of Thomas A. Edison, the incandescent electric lamp became a commercial reality. Three years later, on September 4, 1882, Edison put in operation the Pearl Street generating station in New York City.
