Gaulard-Gibbs secondary generator and the Turin-Lanzo line
Generador secundario de Gaulard y Gibbs y línea Turín-Lanzo
- Date
- 1882-1884 · confidence high
- Place
- Turin, Piedmont, Italy
- Credited to
- Lucien Gaulard and John Dixon Gibbs
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
The 'secondary generator' (open-core transformer) let high-voltage alternating current be distributed over some 40 km in 1884, from Turin to Lanzo, feeding lamps connected in series. It was the first AC transmission line, though poorly regulated.
In 1888 a US court invalidated the Gaulard-Gibbs patent because of prior contributions. The Hungarians at Ganz solved the series-connection flaw with parallel transformers (1885).
What it led to
- Ganz's closed-core transformers (ZBD)
- patents purchased by Westinghouse (1885)
- parallel AC distribution