History of Undergrounding Electrical Wires in Center City

[gren]

I'm curious about when then electrical, cable, etc. wires in Center City were buried in Center City. Any information you can tell me would be great.

[bobvila]

all the electric was buried from the get-go. much of the philadelphia secondary distribution is actually two-phase/5 wire. this comes from the early days before they fully understood why three-phase was better (primarially for motors). for residential customers the two-phase distribution doesn't have any impact, but for the small commercial / apartment buildings with motors, it requires custom motors (or rewinds of the existing motors when they fail).
Two-phase electric power - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Three-phase electric power - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Hal]

I'm curious about when then electrical, cable, etc. wires in Center City were buried in Center City.
Any information you can tell me would be great.

Well, authorization process for burying utilities in City Streets requires an ordinance from City Council -

In Center City, this would be the era when Philly had a House/Senate style division, aka Select and Common Councils.

"Journal of the Common Council"

There's an ordinance #78 from the Select Council, January 2, 1895, authorizing the Standard Electric Company, to lay underground electrical wiring
between Vine and South, Delaware river to 7th.


Seems that Philadelphia City Council created an "Electrical Committee" to decide what areas were electrified, that should be a start.


Hal

[Beutelratte]

Thank you!!! I learned about this from an older engineer I worked for when I was in college, but ever since, whenever I've told someone that Philly has unusual electric in some areas, and call it "2 phase 5 wire", they either tell me I don't know what I'm talking about, or look at me like I'm crazy. Now I know I'm not. At least, not on that subject.

B.

[Moonraker]

While manually excavating in the 2900 block of Poplar, for a water line, the excavator exposed a 8-9" wooden conduit. He always made it a practice to keep it clear & visible, fearing it is electric.

Houses tHere are circa 1895-1900. No one knows why this conduit icould have been there. Brewery was nearby, Poplar stopped @RR tracks until about 1922-ish, when bridge over RR was built. Also found RR tie w/spikes. Only known Poplar St. Trolleys there were horse drawn.

[bobvila]

While manually excavating in the 2900 block of Poplar, for a water line, the excavator exposed a 8-9" wooden conduit. He always made it a practice to keep it clear & visible, fearing it is electric.

hollowed tree trunks were also used as water mains (i believe there are even a few still in service). the franklin institute has one on display. they were also used for electrical conduits, as your excavator knew...

this site has some examples of the old wooden water mains...
Sewer History: Photos and Graphics

[londoner]

IT"S ALIVE! Comcast is so concerned with its image over hte past few years, if we started some concerted movement to "fight the blight" of this insane invasion...they probably could be motivated to do something. It's getting ridiculous though...

Just south of south, over about 50 feet of walking:

[Gladys]

thanks this is fascinating info! never knew why or how the underground wires were installed.

wish we had them south of south too!

Had no idea bout tree stumps. I'm going to go over to the franklin and check it out!

[ArcticSplash]

Thank you!!! I learned about this from an older engineer I worked for when I was in college, but ever since, whenever I've told someone that Philly has unusual electric in some areas, and call it "2 phase 5 wire", they either tell me I don't know what I'm talking about, or look at me like I'm crazy. Now I know I'm not. At least, not on that subject.

B.

Philadelphia was also the first city to get Thomas Edison's DC network. I wonder what vestiges of that era are still lying underneath Center City streets.

[Hal]

Philadelphia was also the first city to get Thomas Edison's DC network. I wonder what vestiges of that era are still lying underneath Center City streets.

Initial guess would be to look at the oldest industrial sections of Philly, down near Delaware Ave, also along Chestnut.

IIRC, 1880s is when electricity really started showing up in insurance company lawsuits - so there should be a discussion about DC vs AC for safety.

For Philly, 1880s newspapers and Insurance journals have a few reports of newly laid underground electric wires being blamed for igniting gas leaks from the street light system.

Delaware Ave had underground electric wires, kept shorting out and fusing the sand into glass, where replaced with aerial wires.


That "fusing the sand into glass" sounds more like Edison DC than AC...



Hal

[dcss1205]

Philadelphia was also the first city to get Thomas Edison's DC network. I wonder what vestiges of that era are still lying underneath Center City streets.

Where did you find that fact?

I just read AC/DC the Original Standards War, and it discusses NYC's system; as the original.
Any idea where the abandoned infrastructure lies?
The only DC in Philly, I know of, is for the Trolleys.

[Sharkfood]

Where did you find that fact?

I just read AC/DC the Original Standards War, and it discusses NYC's system; as the original.
Any idea where the abandoned infrastructure lies?
The only DC in Philly, I know of, is for the Trolleys.

aren't pretty much all phone lines DC?

[bobvila]

aren't pretty much all phone lines DC?

the traditional us telephone system uses a mix of AC & DC. the ac generates the ring, the dc is for the rest (i don't know much of the particulars beyond that).
Tip and ring - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Where did you find that fact?

I just read AC/DC the Original Standards War, and it discusses NYC's system; as the original.
Any idea where the abandoned infrastructure lies?
The only DC in Philly, I know of, is for the Trolleys.

Edison's Pearl Street generating station typically gets credit for being the first central station direct current distribution system.
History

I'm not sure how much direct current distribution there was in Philadelphia, but some buildings definitely had their own independent systems. City Hall had its independent system. I heard rumors the direct current system was in use until somewhat recently, but couldn't find any sources.
http://www.structuremag.org/OldArchi...rt-web-ver.pdf

The only DC in Philly, I know of, is for the Trolleys.

DC is used for the trolleys and the subways. The regional rail runs on a separate 25Hz AC system which is another throwback from the early days that is now to expensive to go back and eliminate...
SEPTA's 25 Hz traction power system - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia