Chapter 23 Let There Be Light!

Poul, Jonathan, and the rest of the engineers ran outside the office. There, they saw a row of horse-drawn carriages pulling cargo covered in a thick brown covering. In one of the horse-drawn carriages, whose exterior design is intricate and ornate, a young man in his twenties stepped outside and wore his black top hat.

The man noticed a group of people. Thinking that they may be the ones who ran this place, he walked over to them and introduced himself while extending his hand forward, offering a handshake.

"Hello, my name is Sam Insull. Mr. James Russel's personal secretary. Whose one of you here is Jonathan Axelsen?"

"That would be me," Jonathan stepped forward and shook his hand. "Took you two months huh?"

"Well, we have to deliver this thing all the way from New York, you gotta give us some slack," Insull chuckled and released his hand from Jonathan's.

"So…that's quite a lot of carriages you got us for here?" Jonathan noted as he glanced over to the row of carriages parked on the side of the street.

"Oh, those covered are just parts for the DC dynamo. I have brought a team of electrical and mechanical engineers who will assemble the parts, the copper wires, the boilers, everything. The bulbs are also there, prepared exclusively for your company's use." Insull said.

"Thank you," Jonathan said.

"To be honest, Mr. Russel doesn't want to launch the bulb yet but Mr. Morgan forced him, saying that you are business partners?" Insull asked, raising a brow.

"Yeah, he invested a huge sum of money in our start-up. Did Mr. Morgan invest also in Mr. Russel's venture?"

"Oh yeah, Mr. Morgan provided funds for the research and development of the bulbs and the dynamo," Insull confirmed. "So, where would you like us to install the dynamos?"

"Mr. Insull, let me introduce you to my partner here, Poul Nielsen. He is also an electrical engineer who will be designing the electrical systems of this town," Jonathan introduced Poul, who walked forward and extended his hand.

"I'm Poul Nielsen, a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Insull. I'm excited to see the dynamo in action. Though may I ask if Mr. Russel already created practical DC motors for industrial applications?"

Insull tilted his head to the side, surprised at Poul's first question. He regained his composure and answered.

"Technically we have one but it needs a lot of improvements. For now, electricity can power light for now. When the time comes, we'll move on to motorized tools and equipment."

Poul was kind of sad hearing that. Electric lights may save them the cost to light up their company town but he is after productivity. Well, if they don't have a working electric motor, then he'll make one himself.

"I understand. Let me get the development plan in my office and get everything started."

After saying that, Poul rushed to his office and grabbed a blueprint. He quickly returned outside and showed it to Insull.

"Here, I want the DC dynamos in this vacant space here in the factory. The other one is placed next to the apartment…" Poul pointed at the map and Insull listened attentively and nodded understandingly.

"Understand, we'll start right away,"

Insull turned around and faced his men and waved a hand, signaling them to start moving.

"Can we help, Mr. Insull," Poul asked. "You know, I have some experience dealing with electrical equipment."

Insull turned and faced Poul, whose smile plastered on his face reached his ears.

"Fine by me," Insull agreed and started walking away and headed towards the factory to inspect the factory where they'll be installing the dynamo.

Watching as Insull's figure disappeared into the distance, Poul faced his engineers and spoke.

"Who's here who has experience or technical knowledge about dynamos?"

Four of them raised their hands.

"So Walter, Timothy, Bryan, and Jake. You'll help me assemble the parts, and study their dynamo. If there is an improvement to be made to increase its efficiency, we will modify it once they are gone, understood?"

"Yes sir!" the four intoned.

***

Inside the factory, a cacophony of noises can be heard. The pneumatics and hydraulics hissed as it moved above the company, the clanking of the hammers, the screeching of metal as the steel rods were pushed in between the gears, and the buzzing of welding guns powered by gas.

A large crowd of engineers and workers gathered in front in the middle as they watched the hoist of the crane lower a wooden box carefully that contained Russel's dynamo.

Ten seconds later, it touched the ground. Insull's men pried the box open with a crowbar. A second later, the side of the wooden box fell to the ground, revealing a machine made of metals.

Poul removed his glasses to get a closer look, and he blinked his eyes.

"Oh it looks primitive," Poul commented. His words were heard by Jonathan, who leaned to the side and replied.

"It indeed looked primitive but once assembled, they can generate six thousand watts."

"How much money did we spend to get this thing?" Poul asked in a whisper.

"Hmm…about fifteen thousand dollars," Jonathan whispered back.

"For both of the dynamos?"

"No, each," Jonathan corrected.

"You got to be fucking kidding me!?" Poul cursed nonchalantly but quickly controlled his tone when everyone's heads turned to look at him. He chuckled his way out before continuing. "So we spent thirty thousand on these things?"

"What did you expect? You said you wanted electricity and now that we got it you are complaining about the price?"

"I didn't just expect it to be expensive."

Jonathan chuckled. "It's the first of its kind and a prototype on top of that. Of course, it will be expensive until Mr. Russel finds a way to mass produce them cheaply."

"So, do you like it?" Insull asked the two.

"Yeaaaah…it's good," Poul nodded his head and shrugged.

"Okay, we will start installing them now in your designated place," Insull smiled. "You are going to help us right?"

Poul faced his workers and engineers. "Those four I called earlier, come with me. The rest, the show is over, get back to work!"

And the workers did just that, returning to their station and starting assembling parts of the air brake and locomotive draft gear.

Jonathan supervised the production while Poul and the four engineers helped Insull's team to build the direct current electric system.

But how does the dc generator work if you might ask? The dynamo or an electric generator converts mechanical energy to electrical energy. In Russel's design, they used steam to generate mechanical energy by harnessing the power of coal that is burned in the boilers. Boilers create superheated steam that is then supplied to the pistons then rotates the shaft. And at the end of the shaft, a belt was connected which will then rotate the rotors of the generator.

According to Faraday's first law of electromagnetic induction. Whenever a conductor is placed in a varying magnetic field, an electromotive force is induced. What is this varying magnetic field? Imagine a magnet entering a loop of copper wires, as it passes through, the magnetic field around the magnet pushes electrons, causing it to flow. Why? Because voltage is induced. Moving it back and forth also induced voltage.

The one that is pushed in one direction is called direct current, and the one that moves back and forth is the alternating current.

But imagine a scenario where the magnet is not moving. It won't induce any voltage at the conductor, and hence no electricity is produced.

Back to the generator. There is a rotor and stator. The rotor is a rotating magnet and the stator is a stationary magnet. The belt rotates the shaft connected to the rotor, which distorts and cuts through the magnetic lines of flux of the stator. And once magnetic flux is cut, electricity is generated. But what type of current will it produce? Simple, it produces alternating current.

But you are now wondering, it's a direct current generator, why does it produce an alternating current? It doesn't make sense. Well, generators can produce dc or ac power, what sets them apart is how it is harnessed. As the rotor rotates, it produces a sinusoidal wave from positive to negative, which is basically an alternating current. But to turn that into a direct current, commutators are used.

Commutators are simply mechanical rectifiers that turn ac into a pulsating direct current that flows in only in a positive direction. A generator can be differentiated easily if it has a commutator. If it has one then it's a dc generator, if not, it's an alternator.

Insull's team and Poul's team worked together to finish the dc generator. It took them two days to assemble it. The first light bulbs were installed in the factory, where everyone gathered inside.

"So, Mr. Poul, please do the honors," Insull offered as he beckoned Poul to step forward to a podium. A switch rests atop it.

Poul stepped forward and glanced at his workers who were filling the factory at the moment.

"In the bible, god said let there be light. Well, god, please forgive me as I will have to steal your line," Poul placed his hand on the handle. "Let there be light!"

He pushed the switch and suddenly, the lightbulbs overhead glowed in bright yellow, illuminating the building completely.

The workers cheered and clapped, mesmerized at the sight. They all looked up, amazed by the sudden brightness. It was brighter than the gas lamps they have been using until now.

"Thank you for your patronage, Sir Poul and Jonathan," Insull said.

"Pleasure doing business with you," Jonathan and Poul intoned together as they shook Insull's hand.