Only few months after the end of the Exposition Internationale d’Électricité held in Paris in 1881, where Edison displayed his system of electric lighting, a syndicate was created in Milan with a view to setting up an Italian Edison company. What the promoters envisioned was not only the sale of isolated installations and electrical equipment but also the creation of a commercial power station, similar to the plant that Edison was building in New York. By the end of 1883 the power station, set up in the centre of Milan, was in operation, and in 1884 the Società Generale Italiana di Elettricità Sistema Edison was incorporated. The aim of the essay is to examine the debate on the opportunity of adopting electric lighting which took place in early 1880s, the negotiations with the Edison headquarters in New York and Paris, the actors involved and their diverse agendas. The essay offers also a reassessment of the role played by Giuseppe Colombo, professor of mechanical engineering of the local Istituto Tecnico Superiore, in launching the company and steering its course in the first decisive years. It was under his direction that already by 1886 the Società Edison began turned to alternating current and became a pioneer in the new long distance high tension technology.

“A Bold Leap into Electric Light. The Creation of the Società Italiana Edison, 1880-1886”

GUAGNINI, ANNA
2014

Abstract

Only few months after the end of the Exposition Internationale d’Électricité held in Paris in 1881, where Edison displayed his system of electric lighting, a syndicate was created in Milan with a view to setting up an Italian Edison company. What the promoters envisioned was not only the sale of isolated installations and electrical equipment but also the creation of a commercial power station, similar to the plant that Edison was building in New York. By the end of 1883 the power station, set up in the centre of Milan, was in operation, and in 1884 the Società Generale Italiana di Elettricità Sistema Edison was incorporated. The aim of the essay is to examine the debate on the opportunity of adopting electric lighting which took place in early 1880s, the negotiations with the Edison headquarters in New York and Paris, the actors involved and their diverse agendas. The essay offers also a reassessment of the role played by Giuseppe Colombo, professor of mechanical engineering of the local Istituto Tecnico Superiore, in launching the company and steering its course in the first decisive years. It was under his direction that already by 1886 the Società Edison began turned to alternating current and became a pioneer in the new long distance high tension technology.
2014
Italian technology from the Renaissance to the twentieth century
155
189
Anna Guagnini
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11585/396121
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