Induction electricity meter (Shallenberger)
Contador eléctrico de inducción (Shallenberger)
- Date
- 1888-1894 · confidence medium
- Place
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
- Credited to
- Oliver B. Shallenberger (Westinghouse)
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A device with an aluminium disc driven by the rotating field of two induction coils, so its revolutions are proportional to the energy consumed. It allowed alternating-current electricity to be billed by the kilowatt-hour.
Hermann Aron presented a pendulum meter in Berlin (1883-84) for direct current. Shallenberger's (1888) is based on Ferraris' principle and was the first induction meter for AC; Elihu Thomson improved it in 1889.
What it led to
- billing of electricity by the kilowatt-hour
- Ferraris-Thomson meters and their mass production
- smart meters