the device that revolutionized the electrical grid

How many cases have there been in history when a person comes up with some device for a fairly narrow task, and then it turns out that a revolution is taking place in a completely different industry? In fact, there are many such cases. For example, Viagra was developed as a means of normalizing high blood pressure, and Coca-Cola was developed to relieve migraines.

Today we’ll tell you about Henry Warren, who simply wanted to make a watch with an electric drive. As a result, he received a device that synchronizes the frequency of the electrical network at 95% of US power plants.

Where did Henry Warren's journey begin?

Not much is known about the inventor’s childhood and youth. He was born in Boston on May 21, 1872 and immediately showed remarkable ability to invent. For example, as they say in his biographyat the age of 12, he came up with a way to automate the feeding of chickens in the yard without getting out of bed 🙂

In 1894 he graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in electrical engineering. And do you know what the first thing he did? I started inventing. In 1895, he and his friend, George C. Whipple (who later became the founder of the Harvard School of Public Health), submits application US540008 for an electric thermometer.

The gist was this: let’s say you need to measure temperature at a distance or in a hard-to-reach place. Obviously, for this you will have to separate the measuring probe and the display device. Warren and his colleague proposed using two materials whose resistance depends on temperature, but with different coefficients – something like a bimetallic thermometer. Each of the resistances is an arm of a Wheatstone bridge, and the thermometer needle is connected to a galvanometer. The higher the temperature, the more different the resistance values ​​are. Accordingly, the galvanometer will show a higher value. All that remains is to apply the correct graduation.

The invention was called the “Thermophone”, but it did not become widespread, although it was installed at the Derwent Reservoir in England and even in the Capitol.

In 1896, Warren went to work at Saginaw Valley Traction Co as an engineer serving railway stations. There, our hero draws attention to mechanical watches, which were in abundance – literally hundreds at every station in the USA. Then the thought arises in Henry Warren’s head: “Why not try to create a watch with an electric drive?”

At that time, electricity was one of the most discussed topics in the United States. Especially after the pompous Thomas Edison's opening of the Pearl Street Power Plant in Manhattan in 1882. By the way, it only worked until 1895 due to a fire. But her work showed how electricity could make life easier for both industry and ordinary people.

In 1902, Warren went to work as an engineer at Lombard Governor Co., where he designed mechanisms with hydraulic drives. And in 1907 Warren moves to AshlandMassachusetts, where he opens a small workshop on the farm where he now lives with his wife.

There he begins to actively experiment and develop a variety of devices, which is what he has been doing most of his life. Some of them can look in this collection. For example:

In total, we are talking about 134 inventions, most of which concerned either clock mechanisms or electric drives. That is, in general, the inventor was, to put it mildly, very “prolific.” But let's get back to our story.

In 1912, Warren developed an unusual pendulum clock powered by a battery. To organize their production, he opens the Warren Clock Co.

The idea wasthat the load in the watch is a permanent magnet – it periodically lowers and rises, switching the supply of pulses from the battery through a special circuit. This would ensure continuous maintenance of the amplitude of the pendulum and uniform movement of the needle. However, it quickly became clear that zinc-carbon batteries of those years in such a pulsed mode of operation quickly lost their properties – the clock began to lie.

And although Warren didn’t succeed with the first version of the watch, in the process of work he came up with a simple way of making small gears (less than 3 mm in diameter) with 12 teeth for a watch – More details can be found in his patent. He even created a separate company, Warren Gear Works, to produce and sell them.

At the same time, Henry did not give up the idea of ​​​​creating a watch with an electric drive. And if they are not powered by batteries, then, obviously, it is possible to organize power supply from a household electrical network. Imagine: no need to wind your watch every time. Just plug it in and everything works. In this case, electric current is supplied to all houses at the same frequency. Consequently, all clocks in the country will be synchronized. However, the reality turned out to be somewhat different.

How Warren Master Station Clock came to be

To begin with, Warren spent about three years developing a synchronous motor that would operate on 60 Hz power, the industry standard in the United States. On the one hand, the mechanism had to be compact and lightweight – unlike industrial machines of that time weighing hundreds of kilograms. On the other hand, a reliable transmission of rotation from the electric motor was needed: the gears would operate under load, albeit a small one, due to the torque on the shaft.

As a result, Henry Warren was able to create a device called type A in 1915. In short:

• The engine operates at a mains frequency of 60 Hz at a voltage of 110 V and a power of 2 W.

• Inside there is a magnetic rotor that rotates synchronously with the rotation of the electric field at a speed of 3600 rpm. The rotor is connected to a vertical shaft on which the first worm gear is located.

• The first worm gear meshes with a 75-tooth brass gear, on the axis of which the second worm gear is located.

• The second worm gear rotates the 48-tooth gear, which is already rotating at exactly 1 rpm.

• Additionally, there is a reservation system. Inside there is a spring mechanism and a pendulum. In the absence of electricity, the latter ceases to be magnetic to the armature and begins to oscillate freely, rotating the drive gears – the result is an ordinary mechanical watch.

Essentially, Warren assembled a gearbox with an electric motor. But all this was very compact and reliable – fortunately, the inventor himself could produce gears with a high tolerance class, thanks to his company Warren Gear Works.

When the prototype was ready, Warren connected it to the mains and everything worked. However, a day later, when the inventor paid attention to the time readings, he was stunned: the clock was 15 minutes behind! How is this possible? The first thought is that the problem is with the watch itself. Maybe there is some play somewhere or the rotor is lowering the speed for some reason? But after a series of tests, Warren became convinced that the problem was definitely not on his side – the current coming from the network was not 60 Hz.

After some investigation, Henry Warren determined that the electricity supplied to his laboratory was generated at the L Street Power Plant in South Boston. The owner was the Boston Edison company. What needs to be done? That's right, call the power plant and point out their mistake.

In response, the engineers said that this could not be: their instruments were accurate. A conflict arose, and Warren hung up the phone in anger. But the company's chief engineer, Robert Hale, called him back and asked him to meet to test his theory. When everything became clear, a puzzled Hale suggested building a test rig and testing it directly at the L Street Power Plant to eliminate any interference with long-distance power transmission.

Henry Warren set to work with enthusiasm: this is how a device appeared, which he called the Warren Master Station Clock. It was based on a type A synchronous motor, but had three dials:

• Lower dial – This is an ordinary clock driven by mechanics with a pendulum. The adjustment had to be made twice a day, in accordance with the data, received from the Naval Observatory.

• Central dial – has two arrows superimposed on each other. One is the black hand, driven by mechanics, and the second, the gold hand, is driven by a synchronous motor. The dial is divided into five sectors of one minute each. Both hands move at the speed at which a second hand would move.

• Upper dial – here the arrow is driven by a second, backup synchronous motor. Just in case something happens to the main engine.

They were very easy to use. The operator must ensure that the hands on the central dial rotate in sync with each other. If there is a mismatch, then you need to change the frequency of the generator in one direction or another – and achieve a frequency of exactly 60 Hz.

The demonstration took place on October 23, 1916, at the L Street Power Plant. The assembled engineers were able to see with their own eyes that the frequency of the power grid was floating. Henry Warren recalls:

“Once the clock was installed, I explained to the operators and engineers what it was for and how it could be used to regulate frequency. I never dreamed they would use them. However, everyone was curious to try to adjust the frequency using my watch.”

Representatives from other power plants across the country became interested in the problem – they all flocked to Ashland to buy the Warren Master Station Clock for themselves. After all, the uneven frequency of the current, taking into account the exponential growth in the number of consumers in the United States in those years, did not allow: a) distributing electricity consumption between different stations, b) ensuring accurate operation of devices like the same clock. Once there is a standard, it must be adhered to.

It got to the point where Thomas Edison through its General Electric bought 49% of the shares Warren Clock Co. and was actively involved in distributing its products to most power plants in the United States. In total, more than 400 copies were sold at a price of $400 apiece (about $10,000 in today's prices).

But besides the standard, the power plants were also driven by banal greed. If Warren's electric watch reaches millions of people, running it 24 hours a day will generate additional revenue for energy companies. As Warren himself believed, with hundreds of thousands of people continuously using the watch, the companies could earn about $75,000 (about $1.6 million by today's standards).

The Rise and Fall of the Warren Clock Era

In 1918, Warren applies for an automatic frequency control system (patent 1,450,620 from 1923)to make things easier for operators and engineers in power plants.

In 1920, Warren introduced a second version of the electric motor clock, the Type B. Although it had more gears, it was significantly cheaper than the Type A ($150 versus $400) and more reliable. Over the next 10 years, more Type C appeared (for DC networks), as well as experimental models Type D and Type E, which did not become widespread.

But importantly, thanks to General Electric's funding and the distribution of the Warren Master Station Clock (by 1947 it was about 95% of all power plants in the United States), Warren now has the financial opportunity to realize his long-time dream. So that electric clocks begin to appear en masse in American homes.

And he succeeded. In 1926, the company changed its name to Warren Telechron Co, which was more in tune with the Telechron brand, which appeared on all watches. And by that time, more than 20 million units (!!!) had been sold, which operated on 60 Hz networks – synchronized, among other things, thanks to the Master Station Clock.

Although several dozen companies emerged that also began producing watches with synchronous electric drives, Telechron was ahead of the competition and dominated the market. The reason is that Warren's watches were distinguished not only by their reliability (synchronous motors have proven themselves to be excellent), but also by their chic Art Deco design. Just take a look at some models:

Moreover, in addition to the aesthetic appearance, Telechron watches were also inexpensive. For example, the 7H117 alarm clock retailed for $2.95—about $30 at today's prices.

In 1943, Henry Warren resigned as CEO of Warren Telechron Co. and retired, selling his remaining interest to General Electric. Until his death in 1957, he was involved in investments and philanthropy and, of course, his favorite activity – invention. His widow gave it to him in 1957 40 acres of land for Northeastern Universityand in 1967 another 104 acres. Now located here Warren Convention Center.

However, the Telechron watch had obvious problems:

• If there is no electricity, they will not work. And if the Master Station Clock had a backup mechanism, then household watches did not have it. To solve this problem, all Telechron watches have an “indicator” – a round window in the middle of the 12 o'clock position (clearly visible in the photos above). When there is a power outage, a red dot appears in the window. When power is restored, the user needs to set the correct time and “reset the status”.

• You can't put the clock anywhere – it must be close to the outlet.

• The watch has an electrical cable, which somewhat spoils the aesthetic appearance.

Largely for these reasons, when an alternative, a watch with a quartz oscillator, appeared in the 50s, the popularity of Warren watches sharply declined. General Electric separated production into a separate Clock and Timer Division and tried to do something: for example, reduce the price by replacing wood with plastic. But nothing could be done – the last plant was sold in 1979, and production was finally stopped in 1992. Moreover, the company Electric Time Companyfounded in 1928 by a former Warren Telechron Co. employee, still exists today, specializing in tower and street clocks.

The same fate befell the Warren Master Station Clock: with the advent of more advanced, digital options automatic frequency control in electrical networks, they are a thing of the past. Warren's last watch fell out of use in the mid-50s and can now only be found in museums.

We also recommend reading on the topic:

However, it is amazing how Henry Warren's original idea – to make a household clock with an electric drive – led to the discovery of a massive frequency problem throughout the US electrical grid. And most importantly – to its solution.

What discoveries can you remember made by chance?

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