Frank J. Sprague - Wikipedia

Frank Julian Sprague (July 25, 1857 in Milford, Connecticut – October 25, 1934) was an American naval officer and inventor who contributed to the development of the electric motor, electric railways, and electric elevators. His contributions were especially important in promoting urban development by increasing the size cities could reasonably attain (through better transportation) and by allowing greater concentration of business in commercial sections (through use of electric elevators in skyscrapers).[1] He became known as the "Father of Electric Traction".

He was commissioned as an ensign in the United States Navy. During his ensuing naval service, he first served on the USS Richmond, then the USS Minnesota. While in Asia, Sprague wrote stories he filed for the Boston Herald.[2][page needed] While his ship was in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1881, Sprague invented the inverted type of dynamo. After he was transferred to the USS Lancaster, flagship of the European Squadron, he installed the first electric call-bell system on a United States Navy ship. Sprague took leave to attend the International Exposition of Electricity of 1881 in Paris and the Crystal Palace Exhibition in Sydenham, England in 1882, where he was on the jury of awards for gas engines, dynamos and lamps.

Engineer for Edison
In 1883, Edward H. Johnson, a business associate of Thomas Edison, persuaded Sprague to resign his naval commission to work for Edison.[2]:81 Sprague, who begun at a salary of $2,500, was neither happy with his salary nor his assignments. Sprague wanted to focus on motors, while motors bored Edison he was consumed to make his incandescent lighting work. Edison sent Sprague to run the construction departments where Edison had built central stations for the lighting system. Sprague was sent to Sunbury, Pennsylvania and Brockton, Massachusetts.[2]:85