Edwin J. Houston

Edwin J. Houston (Alexandria, Virginia 1847– New York 1914) was an American electrical inventor. He graduated from New York Central High School in 1864. While teaching physics at Central High School in Philadelphia (a degree-granting institution rather than an ordinary high school), he helped design an arc light generator with his former student colleague Elihu Thomson. Together, they created the Thomson-Houston Electric Company in 1879. In 1892, Thomson-Houston merged with the Edison General Electric Company to form General Electric, with management from Thomson-Houston largely running the new company. In 1894, Houston formed a consulting firm in electrical engineering with Arthur Kennelly.^[1] Houston was twice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. He died from heart failure in 1914.

See also

• Thomson-Houston Electric Company

Books by Edwin J. Houston

• E. J. Houston and A. E. Kennelly Electric Arc Lighting (New York : Electrical World & Engineer, 1902)
• Electric incandescent lighting (New York, The W.J. Johnston Company, 1896)
• E. J. Houston and A. E. Kennelly Electro-dynamic machinery for continuous currents (New York, The W.J. Johnston Company, 1896)
• E. J. Houston and A. E. Kennelly The electric motor and the transmission power (New York, The W.J. Johnston Company, 1896)
• E. J. Houston and A. E. Kennelly Electric Heating(New York, The W.J. Johnston Company, 1895)
• E. J. Houston and A. E. Kennelly Alternating Electric Currents(New York, The W.J. Johnston Company, 1895)
• E. J. Houston and A. E. Kennelly Electric street railways (New York, The W.J. Johnston Company, 1896)
• E. J. Houston and A. E. Kennelly Electrical engineering leaflets : advanced grade (New York : Electrical World & Engineer, 1895)
• E. J. Houston and A. E. Kennelly Electrical engineering leaflets : intermediate grade (New York : Electrical World & Engineer, 1895)
• E. J. Houston A dictionary of electrical words, terms and phrases (volume 1) (New York : P. F. Collier, 1902)
• E. J. Houston A dictionary of electrical words, terms and phrases (volume 2) (New York : P. F. Collier, 1902)

References

• "Lighting a Revolution". http://americanhistory.si.edu/lighting/scripts/s19a.htm. Retrieved 2006-02-10. 
• "EDWIN J. HOUSTON DEAD.; Scientist and Inventor Was Chicago World's Fair Electrician.". New York Times. 1914-03-02. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E03E0DE163AE633A25751C0A9659C946596D6CF. Retrieved 2008-08-08.  March 2, 1914.

1. ^ "Edwin Houston". IEEE Global History Network. IEEE. http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Edwin_Houston. Retrieved 08 August 2011.