Motor Generator

Motor Generator. . , Motor Generator, The Hertner Electric Company , Cleveland, Ohio , Serial No. 2528 , 15 hp 220v 30 60 Hz , 37A 1750 RPM , 400 C Continuous Duty, Throughout the history of Seminole Lodge various equipment was used to supply or produce power. This motor generator and housing came to the property in 1928. A cable connected to the motor extended down to the riverbank to recharge Edison’s battery-powered boat; an electric launch named Reliance. It may have also lit the lights along the pier, as well as the lanterns hanging in the Summer House situated at the end of the pier. In 1928 all overhead electric wiring was placed underground. Henry Ford financed these improvements and other projects in the 1920s, in exchange for Edison’s donation of the 1886 Fort Myers laboratory to Ford’s Greenfield Village museum., Edison’s invention and business life included extensive and successful work with integrated power systems. Edison placed an “isolated” power system on the south end of the 1886 laboratory as part of the original plan for the Fort Myers Estate. The local newspaper reported that some 350 townspeople came out to witness the new technology light up the site on March 27, 1887. Though Edison was interested in bringing electricity to the rest of Fort Myers, a number of reasons prevented the project. Years later in 1898, local resident A.A. Gardner franchised the first electric plant to the city., The electrical lines extended beyond the Edison property by 1919. At that time Edison disassembled the original power system components and sent them to his New Jersey laboratory. Today one can view them at the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan.