By Casey Ballard and Richard Marek

Dry-type transformers were among the first electromagnetic devices created in the very early days of developing electricity applications. They were easily studied and then manufactured by the pioneering power engineers. According to the Edison Tech Center, the name "transformer" was created by Ottó Bláthy. He and two other Hungarian engineers, Miksa Déri and Károly Zipernowsky formed a company called ZBD, which comes from the initials of their names.

In 1885 the ZBD model alternating current transformer was invented as a crude prototype. That same year, William Stanley Jr. working for George Westinghouse built his prototype which eventually became the production version. George Westinghouse, Albert Schmid, Oliver Shallenberger and Stanley then made the transformer inexpensive to produce.

Now they look quite different than they did in the late 1800s. Today dry-type transformers mostly operate in obscurity, in the presence of most of the general public, but hidden in electrical rooms and light gray boxes. However, they serve an important function in the distribution systems of today's power distribution grid serving to transform the utility voltage to levels where it safely interacts with the general public.

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This article was originally published in the June 2019 issue of the The Dry-Type revolution magazine.

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