William Stanley was born in 1865 in Brooklyn, NY. After completing his schooling he became involved with the nascent incandescent light industry where he invented an improved method of removing the air from within the bulbs. As part of his work on electric lights he discovered the advantages of alternating current power, and in 1885 created the country's first AC distribution system; he was only 20 years old. In 1890-91 he established Stanley Electric Manufacturing Co. in Pittsfield, MA. In 1892 his firm began manufacturing induction motors.

In 1903, Stanley's company was acquired by General Electric Co., but continued operating as a separate entity. In 1905, the Stanley Electric Manufacturing Company was merged with a maker of lamps and electric motors, General Incandescent Arc Light Co., creating Stanley-G. I. Electric Manufacturing Co. In 1907, the Stanley-G. I. Electric Manufacturing Company was absorbed into General Electric, and in 1910 Stanley-G. I. Electric Manufacturing Company was formally dissolved.

From article in September 1906 Canadian Machinery

Information Sources

• 1905-05-13 Electrical Review.

  Consolidation of the Stanley Electric Manufacturing Company and the General Incandescent Arc Light Company. The Stanley Electric Manufacturing Company, Pittsfield, Mass., and the General Incandescent Arc Light Company, New York city, have consolidated. The new title of the combined interests will be "Stanley-G. I. Electric Manufacturing Company." The Stanley company, as engineer and manufacturer of the well-known "S. K. C." system, has acquired the reputation of turning out only absolutely reliable electric apparatus. The "S. K. C." system embraces the latest developments and improvements in generators, transformers, rotary converters, motor-generators, switchboard apparatus, induction motors, etc.

  The General Incandescent Arc Light Company is well known as the builder of high-grade arc lamps, incandescent lamps, alternating-current and direct-current motors, and general electrical supplies. The engineers of this company have for years made a special study of electric lighting.

  The officers of the Stanley-G. I. Electric Manufacturing Company are William Murray Crane, president; C. C. Chesney, first vice-president; M. D. Barr, second vice-president; M. J. Insull, third vice-president.

• 1905-12-28 Manufacturers' Record, in an ad for Stanley-G. I. Electric Mfg. Company.

  The Stanley-G. I. Electric Mfg. Company is a consolidation of the Stanley Electric Mfg. Company of Pittsfield and the General Incandescent Arc Light Company of New York. The Stanley Company's product, marketed under the well-known trade name of the S. K. C. System, comprises Generators, Transformers, Rotary Converters, Motor Generator Sets, Switchboard Apparatus, Induction Motors, etc.

  The General Incandescent Arc Light Company has been favorably known as builder of the high-grade G. I. Arc Lamps, Arc Lamp Regulators, Incandescent Lamps, Alternating Current and Direct Current Motors, and General Electrical Supplies.

• August 1907 Cassier's Magazine.

  Cummings C. Chesney
  A biographical sketch

  CUMMINGS C. CHESNEY, first vice-president and chief engineer of the Stanley-G. I. Electric Manufacturing Company, of Pittsfield, Mass., is a Pennsylvanian by birth. He entered the Pennsylvania State College in 1881, and was graduated therefrom as a chemist four years later, after which he spent three years in teaching at the Doylestown Seminary and Pennsylvania State College.

  In 1888 Mr. Chesney joined William Stanley's laboratory force at Great Harrington, Mass., where he devoted himself particularly to experimental chemistry and to electrodynamics. The following year he went with the United States Electric Lighting Company, in Newark. In 1890 he removed to Pittsfield. Mass., where he was one of the original incorporators of the Stanley Electric Manufacturing Company. He also continued one of the members of the Stanley Laboratory Company.

  After the incorporation of the Stanley Electric Manufacturing Company it soon became apparent to those associated with Mr. Chesney that his broad general knowledge and clear, conservative judgment indicated him as the man to guide the electrical departments of the manufacturing establishment, and the future demonstrated that this estimation was not at fault. As the company's chief electrical engineer, with his associates and staff of assistants, Mr. Chesney early perfected the inductor type of revolving field alternator to a point far beyond anything before reached in this country and not surpassed in the world. To him likewise is due the credit of having laid out the first polyphase power transmission plant to be put into successful operation in America. This plant is at the present day supplying light and power for use in the towns of Housatonic and Great Harrington, Mass. When Mr. Chesney and those around him contended that alternating-current generators could be run in parallel under conditions prevailing in practical operation, their ideas were scoffed at by almost all other American engineers of standing. To-day, however, the paralleling of alternators has long since passed the theoretical stage. When others were ready to prove that the winding of 10,000 to 12,000-volt generators was an impracticability, Mr. Chesney designed alternating-current generators for such voltages with great success.

  When it became apparent that transformers of large capacities would be a valuable addition to the electrical plants of the time, notwithstanding predictions to the contrary by those presumably in a position to know, he, with his associates, again realized their convictions in a most satisfactory manner, and to him is due the design of the first commercial 100-light transformer ever used in this country. This transformer was made by the Stanley Electric Manufacturing Company in 1891. A long list might be given of electrical developments in which Mr. Chesney has been a pioneer. Among other work, switchboard instruments, high-tension arc-breaking devices, frequency indicators, indicating watt-meters, lightning protection for high and low-tension circuits, and many other appliances have all had a share of attention, and always with satisfactory results.

  He is a member of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the Engineer's Club, and a director in a number of electric lighting and power companies throughout the country.

• From the 1910 edition of Poor's Manual of Industrials, in a footnote on the General Electric Co.:

  On Feb. 1, 1907, the properties of the Stanley G. I. Electric Manufacturing Co. ("Pittsfield Works") were consolidated with those of the General Electric Co.

• The 1911 edition of Corporations of New Jersey: List of Certificates Filed lists "Stanley G. I. Electric Manufacturing Co., Dissolved Oct. 22, 1910".
• 1921 EMF Electric Year Book.

  STANLEY. WILLIAM.—An American electrical inventor and engineer, born at Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1865. He was educated at the Williston Seminary at East Hampton, Mass., and at Yale University. In 1881 he became assistant to Edward Weston and in 1882 he was connected with the Swan Electric Light Co., where he invented and perfected a method of exhausting incandescent lamp bulbs. During 1883 and 1884 he conducted a private laboratory at Englewood. N. J. In 1884 he Installed and equipped a lamp factory for the manufacture of incandescent lamps at Swissvale. Pa., and designed some d-c. machines adapted to operate incandescent lamps. Th« first a-c. system with transformers and parallel distribution built in this country was constructed in 1885 at Great Barrington. Mass., by Mr. Stanlev. In 1890-91 he organized the Stanley Electric Mfg. Co. at Pittsfield. Mass. The first successful Stanley motors were completed in 1892 and in 1894 the company installed the polyphase transmission svstem at Housatonic. Mass. Later Mr. Stanley organized the Stanley Instrument Co. for the manufacture of a new form of wattmeter and for several years devoted his energies almost entirely to the development of this enterprise. In 1912 he was awarded the Edison medal by the American Institute of Electrical Engineers.