Format War - 19th Century

19th Century

• Rail gauge in North America: Russian gauge vs. standard gauge. During the initial period of railroad building, standard gauge was adopted in most of the north-eastern United States, while the wider gauge, later called "Russian," was preferred in most of the southern states. In 1886, the southern railroads agreed to coordinate changing gauge on all their tracks. By June 1886, all major railroads in North America were using approximately the same gauge.

• War of Currents: In the late 1880s, George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison became adversaries due to Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over alternating current (AC) advocated by several European companies and Westinghouse Electric based out of Pittsburgh, PA. Ultimately, the AC power system prevailed. Three phase 60 Hz at 208/120 volts became the dominant system in North America while 380/220 volts at 50 Hz became the standard in Europe. The UK adopted a number of voltages and frequencies, but 415/240 volts at 50 Hz became the standard. Europe has subsequently harmonised on a nominal voltage of 400/230 volts even though the actual voltage in individual countries has not changed.

• Musical boxes: Several manufacturers introduced musical boxes that utilised interchangeable steel disks that carried the tune. The principal players were Polyphon, Symphonion (in Europe) and Regina (in the United States). Each manufacturer used its own unique set of disc sizes (which varied depending on the exact model purchased). This assured that once the purchaser had bought his music box, he had to buy the music discs from the same manufacturer.