-------=====The=====------Aberdeen Mechanical Society
(Instituted 1888)
Minutes of Meeting
Date:-
7th December 2000
Venue:-
Lecture Theatre C601, Robert Gordon University
Chair:-
Mr. A Mess, President
Present:-
16 Society members and guests
Item 1:
Opening
The President, Sandy Mess, opened the meeting at 6 p.m. and accepted apologies for absence
from Messrs. D Barber and J Mortimer.
The minutes of the previous meeting were taken as read.
Item 2:
Frying Tonite - The Story of the Electric Chair
The President introduced Dr Doug Leith who is Head of Research at Business Lab. Doug has
a PhD in artificial intelligence and has worked in the development of systems for learning. He
is a member of the I.E.E, whose 100th anniversary in Scotland was recently celebrated with
this lecture.
The story starts in 1889 in New York State with the advent of distributed electricity and the
drive for a “less barbarous” method of execution to replace hanging or garrotting. Although
people have been killed for thousands of years by lightning, the first death caused by
industrial electricity was in 1879 in Lyon, when a musician was killed. Electricity was first
used as a punishment in Ohio prison as a substitute for flogging. Electricity was first
considered for execution following the hanging of Rosie Druse for the murder of her spouse,
which took ½ hour for her to die causing widespread public concern. The Death Commission
was charged with coming up with a means of execution, and they recommended that powerful
electrical current would kill instantly without any chance of resuscitation.
Harold Brown, an employee of Thomas Edison, first demonstrated the lethal potential of AC
current when comparing his employer’s “safer” DC product with that of Edison’s great rival
Westinghouse. This developed into the first specification for an electric chair as capable of
delivering 300 Hz, at 1000 to 1500 volts for 15 to 30 seconds. This was confidently predicted
to cause an instant and painless death. Following trials on animals, the first chair was used on
William Kemler, sentenced to death for the murder of his wife. Westinghouse supported
Kemler’s appeal on the grounds that the method was unproven and unreliable due to the wide
range of human resistance to electrical current e.g. 1,300 to 10,000 ohms. Experiments
showed that frogs are virtually indestructible, while dogs are particularly susceptible.
Doug showed pictures of various chairs and read from the 1989 instructions for contemporary
models, still made in the USA by Fred Lecter. The instructions require that the victim is
sedated via drugs or alcohol. Power is delivered in 2 doses, the first for 1 minute which
knocks out the nervous system, and the second which causes asphyxiation. In 1889, Kemler's
appeals failed and execution was performed in front of 25 witnesses including medics and the
press. After 1 minute breathing stopped, but not Kemler’s heart. Power was restored and
eventually Kemler was pronounced dead. An autopsy showed that his internal organs had
carbonised, i.e. Kemler burned to death. Despite press and public indignation world-wide,
New York State continued with a modified design by Brown to execute people by
electrocution, a word minted for the occasion. The method was “improved” and was
eventually adopted by up to 25 states.
In the battle between Edison and Westinghouse, an international committee chaired by Lord
Kelvin was formed to determine if Niagara Falls power station should be AC or DC.
Westinghouse got the US president to switch on his lighting system at an exhibition,
demonstrating its safety, and the committee chose AC. Both Westinghouse and Edison (now
General Electric) exist today. At present 10 of the 40 US states still executing people use
electrocution, and the most common method is lethal injection, with gassing, hanging and the
firing squad also used. Only Georgia, Nebraska and Florida have used the electric chair
recently, and the former pair are phasing it out. Florida however just bought a new one. No
other nation uses electrocution for state executions. In conclusion, the choice of the electric
chair was not technology driven, but mainly political.
Item 3:
Vote of Thanks
Sandy Mess offered the vote of thanks, complimenting Doug on his electrifying talk on this
barbarous topic which is riddled with contradictions. If hanging was from the dark ages, is
electrocution from the light age?
Item 4:
Next Meeting
The President noted that the next meeting would be a joint meeting with the I.Mech.E. on
Wednesday 17th January on Sustainable Energy Developments by Professor Ian Bryden.
President: _____________________
Joint Secretary: _______________________
Date: ____________________