In article ,
Christopher Tidy wrote:

I was told a long time ago, by an engineer working for Brook Crompton,
that a static phase convertor was sometimes known as a Steinmetz convertor.

I assume that this refers to Charles Steinmetz. Possibly it was him who
first figured out how to run a three phase motor on single phase power,
although I have never been able to verify this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Proteus_Steinmetz

Steinmetz invented the classic capacitor-start single phase induction
motor. He also invented a kind of static phase converter in the
process, but he appears to have been interested only in starting. See
US patent 620,988, granted in 1899, which is cited in 5,454,965 to
Smith, so I would assume that this is the most applicable Steinmetz
patent.

Joe Gwinn