When Edison began the process of electrifying cities across America, his company was a strong proponent of something called “direct current.” Direct current, or DC, works by directing power continuously across a circuit. It’s a simple way to provide electricity and was well suited to the early days of electric power. But DC had a number of faults. To begin with, there was no way to keep power flowing if there were a break in the cable at any point. Because the electricity flows along a straight path, a block anywhere in the current shut off power throughout the entire system.
In addition, DC delivers a more powerful charge, which meant that it could be more dangerous for people working on the electric wires. So, Edison hired a young Serbian inventor named Nikolai Tesla to help him improve his direct current model. Rather than focusing on how to improve DC, Tesla soon realized that the best thing to do was use another method of power called “alternating current,” or AC. AC worked by alternating the intensity of the current along different circuits.
This provided a number of advantages like safety and the ability to keep electricity flowing when there was a break in the current. And AC could also be extended over long distances much more cheaply than DC, which was vital in bringing electricity to the interior of the nation. But when Tesla brought his idea to Edison, he promptly told Tesla that there was no future in AC. So, two years later, Tesla left Edison’s company and patented AC. Tesla then took his idea to Edison’s biggest competitor, George Westinghouse. Westinghouse’s company, Westinghouse Electric, soon began using the AC model to directly challenge Edison’s control over the electric grid.
Edison, who was nothing if not a shrewd businessman, immediately began looking for ways to regain the edge his company had enjoyed in the market. As Edison soon realized, his DC model wasn’t as good as Westinghouse’s AC model and never could be. So rather than trying to improve his own process, Edison began trying to discredit his competitor by arguing that AC electricity was too dangerous to use in the electric grid. Luckily for Edison, this mission to prove how dangerous DC was happened to come at the same time as a shift in the justice system. Around that time, people were becoming more concerned about the way that criminals were treated.
Edison quickly recognized an opportunity and managed to convince the prison system to begin executing convicted murderers with electricity in order to be more humane. And thanks to Edison’s influence, the first person to be executed in the electric chair died with the help of alternating current. The fact that Edison played a role in the introduction of the electric chair probably explains how he got wrapped up in the legend of Topsy the Elephant. After all, Topsy was another “murderer” who was ultimately executed with electricity. But Edison’s actual involvement in the whole episode was a little less direct than you have probably heard.