Sidney Howe Short

Sidney Howe Short (October 8, 1857 – October 21, 1902) was an electrical engineer, inventor, physicist, professor and businessman. He is known for the development of electric motors and electric railway equipment. His inventions were so successful that even his competitors dubbed him "The Trolley King". He also developed telephone equipment much like that of Alexander Graham Bell. As a businessman he was president, key engineer, or advisor of different companies related to electrical equipment. It is claimed that he had nearly as many electrical innovations as Thomas Edison.

Early life

Short was born on October 8, 1857, at Columbus, Ohio. He was the second son of John Short (a manufacturer) and Elizabeth (Cowen) Short. He attended the Columbus public schools as a child when he grew up. He followed in his father's footsteps in mechanical technology through his father's manufacturing business in his preteen years, as he showed that he had an aptitude towards electrical and mechanical technology at this time.

Short experimented with various electrical devices at his home. One such item was a central distributor station that wound all the house clocks at the same time electrically. One day lightning hit the house and burned out his ingenious device and destroyed all the house clocks. During this time he made an elaborate model of a railroad locomotive that was adored by his students. He taught electrical engineering and physics at Ohio State University for two years. He did many things related to electrical and streetcars. He designed and produced the first electric motor that operated a streetcar without gears. The motor had its armature direct-connected to the streetcar's axle for the driving force thereby eliminating energy-wasting gears.

Short pioneered the use of a conduit system of a concealed electrical third rail and cabling thereby eliminating the necessity of overhead wire, trolley poles and a dangerous exposed electrified third rail of street cars and trolley railways. While at University of Denver he conducted important experiments which established that multiple unit powered cars were a better way to operate trains and trolleys. He later resigned his professorship at the University of Denver and gave his entire attention to street railway work. He built a number of street railway lines in the western cities of the United States using both the underground conduit and overhead electrical trolley systems.

Short interested the electrician Charles Francis Brush into investing into his electrical inventions and electrical machinery improvements. They formed a new company called Brush Electric Company in 1883. In 1885 he pursued an interest in electrical apparatus construction, and development of electric railway equipment.

Society membership

Short was a Fellow of the American Society for the Advancement of Science, a member of the Cleveland Electrical Society, the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the Institution of Electrical Engineers in London, the Engineering Society of Liverpool, and the New York Electrical Society. from appendicitis.

Legacy His inventions, innovations and appliances were so successful that even his competitors dubbed him "The Trolley King". It is claimed by The Dayton Herald that he had patented nearly as many electrical innovations as Thomas Edison.