In article ,
Al A. wrote:
On Wed, 13 Jul 2005 15:35:36 -0500, "Robert Swinney"
wrote:
I recall
reading that early watt-hour meters were electrolytic devices. Not sure how
they worked, though. Maybe someone can help.

Boib Swinney

I may not remeber this 100% correctly, but I seem to recall reading
that at one point, one type of meter was a sort of electrolytic cell
with copper bars in it, in which as the customer drew power from the
line, it would cause material to be plated onto the copper bars.
Periodically, the "meter reader" would drop by and weigh the rods to
determine how much to bill the customer. Drawing a blank on the
details and source, so this could be all wrong. G

This sounds believable -- at least for a DC supply. AC would
plate things back and forth at 1/120th second intrevals (here in the
USA), or at 1/100th second intervals in the UK.

Wasn't it Westinghouse who was the proponent of the DC power
distribution system, and Tesla the proponent of AC distribution?

And, as another followup mentioned, there were tiny
hours-of-operation meters which worked on this principle -- back in the
1970s, IIRC. I had some of them at work, for certain projects.

Enjoy,
DoN.
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