New Orleans IEEE Section
Celebrating 75 Years
John MeredithRegion 5 History Chair
August 21, 2008New Orleans
Malcolm L. (Mac) Hurstell
1927- 2007
VP of Energy Delivery NOPSI and LP&L (Ret. 1988)
Mac was first Chair of New Orleans
IEEE Section (1964)
Order of Presentation
History as relating to IEEE fields of interest with focus on New Orleans
History of Section Electrical engineering history in New Orleans Availability of additional information (web links)
Presentation of 75th year banner by IEEE Region 5 Director David Pierce
Introduction
New Orleans Section is celebrating its 75th year as an IEEE Section. Section established in 1933 as New Orleans
AIEE Section. New Orleans IRE Section established in 1953. Both societies
merged in 1963 with AIEE/IRE Sections becoming New Orleans IEEE Section.
Origins of New Orleans IEEE Section
AIEE Section established on 12/8/1933 AIEE District 4 32 members Chairman J.M. Todd; Secretary F.E. Johnson
IRE Section established on 11/11/1953 IEEE Section established 7/1/1963
IEEE Region 3 Chairman M.L. Hurstell; Secretary E.S. Dobbs 850 members
Joined Region 5 January 1, 1987
AIEE Information from 1934/1936 Roster
Section Dist. Org.Date
Mbrshp. 1934
Mbrshp. 1936
Dallas 7 5/18/1928 78 87
Denver 6 5/18/1915 130 138
Houston 7 8/7/1928 53 65
Kansas City 7 4/14/1916 138 134
New Orleans 4 12/8/1933 32 44
Oklahoma City 7 2/16/1922 77 110
St. Louis 7 1/14/1903 175 182
San Antonio 7 5/23/1930 40 26
Historic Timeline 1850 - Telegraphic communication established with St.
Louis and New York City 1851 - New Orleans & Jackson RR (outlet northward) 1854 - Southern Pacific RR (outlet westward) 1884 – Hosted World’s Fair called World Cotton Centennial
(beginnings of tourist industry) 1886 – Electric lighting introduced 1890s – Much of city’s mule-drawn streetcars were
electrified 1893 – City passed ordinance for complete and
comprehensive plan for draining city 1896 New Orleans Public Library formed
Historic Timeline (cont’d) 1910s - Engineer/inventor A. Baldwin Wood enacted plan to
drain city using pumps of his own design (Wood Screw pump)
1922 New Orleans Public Service (NOSPI) established as sole provider of electricity and transit service to New Orleans
1922 – WLW commenced broadcasting from Loyola campus
1948 – WDSU-TV went on air Middle South corporate headquarters moved to New
Orleans; changes name to Entergy in 1989
Electrification of New Orleans New Orleans Gas Light Inc. provided gas for lighting in 1820s (origins of
NOPSI) Southwestern Brush Electric Light and Power first company to generate
and distribute electricity (incorporated 6/11/1881) Brush began operating on 1/8/1882 (12 generators and 480 brilliant arc
lamps) Edison Electric Illuminating Company first to provide incandescent lighting
(chartered 8/17/1886) Chaotic years into early 1900s with many companies competing in electric
generating and distribution market; in 1922 city passed ordinance requiring one company (NOPSI)
New company in reality 6 corporations; consolidated as a single corporation in 1926
NOPSI combined with 3 other utilities in region to form Middle South Utilities in 1949; changed name to Entergy in 1989
Entergy merged with Gulf States Utilities on 12/31/1993; NOSPI one of 5 subsidiaries of Entergy
New Orleans Mule Drawn Streetcar, circa 1890s
New Orleans Electric Streetcar, circa 1900
Site of First New Orleans Electric Plant
Single story building on lake side of Dryades opposite Union housed city’s first electric plant. This plant began operation
On January 7, 1882 lighting forty-five 2000-candle power lamps.(reprint photograph from Transit Riders Digest April 20, 1959)
Details About the First Electric Plant
Atlas Corliss steam engine (18 by 41 feet) Flywheel (14,000 pounds) Two steam boilers (5 ½ foot diameter, 13 feet long, 121 flues in each boiler) Generators (“of the largest size”) 45 arc lamps (burned a carbon pencil one foot long, lasted eight hours) Foundation in place for second engine; room for two additional
generators) Brush Electric President, W.A. Bell led “christening” ceremony with
engineer J.M. Powers present. Powers was presented a handsome nickel-plated oil service with the
inscription: “We’ve oft read the Word of God, The child is spoiled to save the rod; therefore take heed and while you toil, Don’t hesitate to use the oil.”
NOPSI advertisement 1930
Drainage of City
Drainage major concern since founding city in early 18th century Original city built on natural levees of Mississippi River; artificial levees
and canals used initially to drain water into lower areas As city grew built more canals and used steam-driven pumps In 1893 city formed Drainage Advisory Board to define better solutions to
drainage problem Work commenced; city hired A.B. Wood who supervised plans and
developed improvements in pumps Wood famous for developing Wood Screw pumps; Wood pumps were very
successful; designed 12 and 14 ft. models Constant speed powered by 6000 volt, 3-phase, 25 Hz synchronous motors
(up to 600/1200 HP, can lift up to 9,600 cps) City’s today has 22 main and 10 underpass pump stations with capacity of
47,500 cfs under peak operating conditions (50 of A.B. Wood’s old pumps are still in service)
Archimedes Screw (click to observe operation)
Interior of Drainage Pumping Station #6 (showing 14’ Wood Screw pumps)
Wood Screw Pump (14 ft. dia. 1929)
WWL History Started broadcasting as a 10 watt station on 833
kHz on March 31, 1922 Located on Loyola campus In 1924 increased power to 100 watts; moved to
1070 kHz After several frequency changes and power
increases ended up with 50 kW (1937) and 870 kHz (1946)
Several historic photographs on Region 5 web community courtesy of Joseph Pollet, WWL Director of Engineering
WWL photos from the past (slide show)
Television Broadcasting
12/18/1948 WDSU-TV commences broadcasting 9/1/1953 WJMR (now WVUE) goes on air 1955 first color broadcast by WDSU-TV 9/7/1957 WWL-TV on air; owned by Loyola
University for many years.
Congratulations
To members of
New Orleans
IEEE Section
on your
75th Anniversary!
Acknowledgements
Donna McClelland – IEEE MGAB staff Dan Toland – IEEE MGAB staff Robert Colburn – IEEE History Center Joseph Pollet – WWL Director of Engineering Don Preston – Region 5 IEEE Treasurer Francis Grosz – Region 5 Charlie Scheffler - Entergy Stephen Bourg – New Orleans Section Chair
New Orleans History Web Links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drainage_in_New_Orleans http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes'_screw http://appl003.lsu.edu/cperc/cperc.nsf/$Content/News/$File/Press-release-TPP-pump-12-
16-05.pdf http://web.mst.edu/~rogersda/levees/Ch%204-HISTORY%20OF%20THE%20NEW%20ORL
EANS%20FLOOD%20PROTECTION%20SYSTEM-5-20-06-embedded_figures.pdf
http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/pao/history/NO_Drainage/NO_Drain_chap4a.pdf http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/pao/history/NO_Drainage/NO_Drain_chap4c.pdf http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/pao/history/NO_Drainage/NO_Drain_chap5.pdf http://blog.nola.com/stormwatch/2007/05/no_pump_stations_ready_to_face.html http://blog.nola.com/times-picayune/2007/05/outage_reveals_pumping_system.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumping_station http://www.collectstocks.com/neworpubseri.html http://dnr.louisiana.gov/sec/EXECDIV/TECHASMT/electricity/electric_vol1_1994/003b.htm
New Orleans History Web Links (cont’d)
http://www.entergy.com/about_entergy/history.aspx http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_New_Orleans http://dnr.louisiana.gov/sec/EXECDIV/TECHASMT/electricity/electric_vol1_1994/001.htm http://dnr.louisiana.gov/sec/EXECDIV/TECHASMT/electricity/electric_vol1_1994/002.htm http://dnr.louisiana.gov/sec/EXECDIV/TECHASMT/electricity/electric_vol1_1994/003e.htm http://www.bmen.tulane.edu/pdfs/biomedattulane.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Armstrong_New_Orleans_International_Airport http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetcars_in_New_Orleans#Historic_lines http://tulane.edu/about/history.cfm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulane_University http://www.uno.edu/history.asp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWL_(AM) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWL-TV http://www-sal.cs.uiuc.edu/~friedman/canal/Canal.htm http://mysite.du.edu/~jcalvert/tel/morse/morse.htm http://www.atlantic-cable.com/Article/1861ORielly/ http://historywired.si.edu/detail.cfm?ID=324