From Water to Electric Power in New Jersey in 1890: Engineering, Creativity and Economies of Scale

In 1890 in northeast New Jersey,  the manufacturing capacity of Paterson,  had created both power and human demands that limited one another.    Electricity and the electric grid was the “game changing” technology that prevented the power and human demands for water from limiting manufacturing capacity.    The economics of scale were as important as the engineering and creativity essential to develop this “game changing” technology.    This paper will review the framework for the next "game changing" technology from the perspective of engineering, creativity and economy of scale of the power generation and the electric grid at the beginning of the 20^th century.