The Pearl Street station began in 1881 and was delivering power to customers in 1882. It was far more advanced than Hammond's which strung a few overhead wires to arc lamps, and Hammond's work never went further and was a dead end. Edison's company evolved into General Electric. By 1884 it was serving 508 customers with 10,164 lamps at 110V.
see "Edison" by Josephson starting page 251
Quoting from page 256:
More than fifty years had passed since Michael Faraday had discovered the mechanical production of induced electricity and had been possessed by a vision of the future electric power. It needed Edison, however, as well as Faraday, Ampere, Arago, and other scientific explorers, to make the Electrical Age.
"Scientists and inventors have more in common than in difference," James G. Crowther has written in discussing the relation of invention to science. A Faraday might discover far more new scientific facts than Edison, and in this their roles were different. "But the importance of
Faraday's discoveries cannot be explained without reference to the work of Edison... This is why Edison is truly a 'man of science.'"83
It was Edison who had finally applied the knowledge of electrical science that had been accumulating during those fifty years in a decisive form (his "system") and boldly imposed it upon the "new" commodity, electricity, which thereafter was introduced to practical usage on a large
scale. Thenceforth, the mass production and sale of electric current was to be carried on in all the world's markets. His successful carbon filament lamp, taken together with his System of electrical distribution, constituted the key invention in this technological drama. More than any other
individual, he gave impetus to the advance of this new art, creating new wealth immeasurable, new convenience and enjoyment, and a new tempo of life.
see "Edison" by Josephson starting page 251
Quoting from page 256:
More than fifty years had passed since Michael Faraday had discovered the mechanical production of induced electricity and had been possessed by a vision of the future electric power. It needed Edison, however, as well as Faraday, Ampere, Arago, and other scientific explorers, to make the Electrical Age.
"Scientists and inventors have more in common than in difference," James G. Crowther has written in discussing the relation of invention to science. A Faraday might discover far more new scientific facts than Edison, and in this their roles were different. "But the importance of Faraday's discoveries cannot be explained without reference to the work of Edison... This is why Edison is truly a 'man of science.'"83
It was Edison who had finally applied the knowledge of electrical science that had been accumulating during those fifty years in a decisive form (his "system") and boldly imposed it upon the "new" commodity, electricity, which thereafter was introduced to practical usage on a large scale. Thenceforth, the mass production and sale of electric current was to be carried on in all the world's markets. His successful carbon filament lamp, taken together with his System of electrical distribution, constituted the key invention in this technological drama. More than any other individual, he gave impetus to the advance of this new art, creating new wealth immeasurable, new convenience and enjoyment, and a new tempo of life.