Charles LeGeyt Fortescue and the
Method of Symmetrical Components
In this issue we again feature a paper by Jim
Brittain that appeared in Scanning the
Past, a history of electrical engineering and
its pioneers printed by the IEEE. This arti-
cle was initially published in the Proceed-
ings of the IEEE vol. 86, May 1998.
As a postlude to Jim Brittain’s article,
the editor presents Fortescue’s own writing
on the topic of symmetrical components,
which he included in a document he pro-
duced on 8 October 1934, titled “High
Points in My Career.” The typed document
is 17 pages and endorsed with the signature
of A.M. Dudley, a Westinghouse executive.
I was given the document by Ed Harder,
who told me Fortescue had been urged to
write his autobiography but never did. I
speculate Mr. Dudley probably told Fortes-
cue on the morning of 8 October 1934 to “sit
down at your desk right now and start writ-
ing,” and Fortescue had no choice in the
matter. How lucky for our generation.
—FAF
n 1918, the Transac-
I
tions of the American In-
s titu te of E lectrica l
Engineers (AIEE) in-
cluded a classic paper
by Charles LeGeyt Fortescue entitled
“Method of Symmetrical Co-Ordi-
nates Applied to the Solution of
Polyphase Networks” (Fig. 1). The
author was an engineer with the
Westinghouse Electric and Manufac-
turing Company in Pittsburgh, PA,
where he spent his entire professional
career. The method of analysis that
was the theme of his paper soon be-
came known as the method of sym-
metrical components, and it greatly
facilitated the analysis of unbalanced
James Brittain, Guest Author
polyphase systems by converting leagues developed the sphere gap as a
problems into equivalent symmetri- standard means for the measurement
cal systems. Fortescue was elected a of high voltages. He was coauthor
Fellow of the AIEE in 1921 and re- with L.B. Chubb of a 1913 AIEE pa-
ceived the Elliot Cresson Medal of the per on “Calibration of the Sphere Gap
Franklin Institute in recognition of Voltmeter” (Fig. 2).
the importance of his contribution to Fortescue’s research, which culmi-
symmetrical component theory and nated in his milestone paper of 1918,
IEEE INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS MAGAZINE • MAY|JUNE 2002 • WWW.IEEE.ORG/IAS
application. He also made important grew out of his investigations of
contributions to investigations re-
lated to the protection of transmission A
lines from lightning, the design of ∨
high-voltage insulators and trans- Ea
∨
formers, and the development of the Ec′c
ac calculating board. ∨ ∨
Fortescue was born in 1876 at York Ea2 Ec1
∨
∨
Ec2
Factory in Manitoba, Canada, where ∨
Eb1 ∨∨
B′
his father worked for the Hudson Bay Ec Eb2 Ea1
∨
Company. After an early education in ∨ Eb
C Ec′c
England, Fortescue became the first B
electrical engineering graduate from
Queens University at Kingston in C′
Ontario, Canada, in 1898. Soon there-
after, he joined Westinghouse and Phase
worked as an assistant to B.C. Lamme A′ Converter Motor A
C′ C
on the design of armatures for electric
Phase
Single
motors and generators. In 1901, For- B′ B
tescue joined the Transformer Engi-
neering Department, where he did 1
developmental research, including
studies of insulation in high-voltage This illustration from “Polyphase Net-
transformers. In 1913, he published works” shows a vector diagram illustrat-
an AIEE paper entitled “The Applica- ing a method of using phase converters
tion of a Theorem of Electrostatics to
Insulator Problems.” He received to supply a balanced three-phase
more than 180 patents during his ca- electromotive force to a symmetrical
reer, including patents on the design load, such as an induction motor. The
of transformer windings to distribute
configuration shown achieves a low
electrostatic stress evenly and the use
of “faradoid principle” in the design of single-phase power factor (Trans. AIEE,
insulators. Fortescue and his col- vol. 37, pt. 2, 1918). 7
 ing “a more complete presentation”
than his 1918 paper. Other engineers
adopted and further developed the
method pioneered by Fortescue, in-
cluding C.F. Wagner and R.D. Evans,
who authored the book Symmetrical
Components, published in 1933.
During the 1920s, Fortescue turned
his attention to the research-related
protection of power transmission lines
from the effects of lightning. He uti-
lized an instrument known as the
“klydonograph,” introduced by J.F.
Peters in 1923, to collect data on volt-
age surges due to lightning. Fortescue
also employed the Norinder oscillo-
graph, credited to H. Norinder, and
special surge generators in light-
ning-related investigations. These in-
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vestigations were reported in an AIEE

2 paper coauthored by Fortescue, enti-
tled “Theoretical and Field Investiga-
Apparatus and circuitry to calibrate the sphere gap in terms of the maximum volt-
tions of Lightning,” published in
age. The transformer (lower right corner) is designated as “T,” condensor terminals 1929. The following year, he pub-
as “CT,” the choke coil (upper right) as “R,” the sphere gap (lower center) as “SS,” lished a paper in Electric Journal that
the air condenser (lower left) as “AC,” and the galvanometer (lower right) as “G” outlined the “direct stroke theory,”
which is said to have “completely revo-
(Trans. AIEE, vol. 32, pt. 1, 1913). lutionized the approach to the light-
ning problem.” This theory held that
problems related to railway electrifica- and led one discussant to comment direct strokes, as opposed to induced
tion, which began in 1913. He under- that the “bewildering exhibit of sub- surges, were the principal cause of
took a study of so-called “phase scripts to be found in it is something lightning outages of transmission
converters” as a special case of motors that will, well, make one pause.” An- lines. This research led to the general
operated under unbalanced conditions other commentator, V. Karapetoff, adoption of overhead groundwires to
and observed that “the most striking stated that Fortescue “deserves the intercept the direct strokes and reduce
thing about the results obtained was gratitude of the profession for bringing the frequency of power outages.
their symmetry; the solution always re- out a new method of numerical compu- Known to his colleagues as
duced to the sum of two or more sym- tation in unsymmetrical polyphase sys- “Forty,” Fortescue was reportedly an
metrical solutions.” This encouraged tems, and also for applying the method enthusiastic storyteller with broad in-
him “to inquire if there were no general to a number of practical cases.” terests, including the humanities and
principles by which the solution of un- Karaketoff also suggested that the social sciences. He died in December
balanced polyphase systems could be term “symmetrical components” was a 1936 at age 60.
reduced to the solution of two or more “more correct and descriptive” expres-
balanced cases.” He disclosed the re- sion than “symmetrical coordinates” In Fortescue’s Own Words,
sults of his inquiry in a rather formida- for the method. from his “High Points in My
ble paper delivered at the autumn Fortescue continued to prefer his Career”
convention of the AIEE in June 1918. original terminology, as evidenced by
The published version of the paper the title of his paper “Polyphase Symmetrical Coordinates or
occupied 88 pages of the Transactions, Power Representation by Means of Components
with an additional 24 pages being de- Symmetrical Coordinates,” delivered The theory of symmetrical coordinates
voted to discussion. The paper con- at the annual AIEE convention in July was developed as the result of an ana-
8 tained some 303 numbered equations 1920. He described the sequel as be- lytical study of the performance of
phase converters and polyphase ma-
chines operating on unbalanced sys-
tems. In simple mathematical terms, it
consists of a system of true generalized
Langrangian coordinates especially
suitable to all types of polyphase prob-
lems. Their use has spread over (many)
of the countries of the world. The
writer has had communications in con-
nection with theoretical problems in-
volving symmetrical coordinates from
the United States, England, France,
Germany, Italy, Russia, Japan, Can-
ada, and Australia. It forms the bases
for system studies of transient stability.
Treatises on the subject have appeared
in English, French, Germany, Italian,
and Japanese. It is thoroughly estab-
lished as preeminently the only effec-
tive method of analyzing general
polyphase network problems. It is of
great importance in the analysis of
phase converters single phase ma-
chines. It is absolutely general and rig-
orous and can be applied to transients
as well as steady state problems. The
writer received the Elliot Cresson Gold
Medal of the Franklin Institute on ac-
count of his development of this the-
ory, and I was assured by my sponsors
that a very thorough investigation was
made of anyone to whom the medal
was awarded.
Practical Results
When the Norfolk and Western Rail-
way locomotives were designed, it was
erroneously thought that the induction
motor had the best characteristics for
use as a phase converter. Symmetrical
coordinates completely dispelled this
error and it is known now that not only
is the synchronous phase converter
better in performance but it can be used
to correct the power factor of the load up
to a certain point without increasing the
unbalance. With an auxiliary series
phase balancer almost perfect balance
can be obtained automatically without
the necessity of adjustment.
The Virginia Railroad locomotives
use synchronous phase converters as did
the F.F.1 experimental locomotive built
for the P.R.R. (Pennsylvania Rail-
road—Ed.) but none of them use the
auxiliary phase balancing machine,
probably because our engineers did not
appreciate its advantages. By its use the
complete theory of the induction motor
is extremely simple. Engineers usually
in the past have concerned themselves
only with motor performance under
balanced conditions, but in practice,
motors operating under unbalanced
conditions are frequently met with.
This condition was encountered in our
own designs of starting auto transform-
ers. It was found for some unexplainable
reason that our autos would not “stand
the gaff.” The writer looked into the
matter and found that the tap arrange-
ment of the autos created such a large
unbalance that large negative sequence
currents flowed through the autos. This
negative sequence current instead of in-
creasing the torque, created a negative
torque which further overloaded the au-
tos. When this situation was corrected,
the auto transformers functioned prop-
erly and were not overheated.
A trouble case came to my atten-
tion in which a three phase motor was
operating on a monocyclic system and
was unable to carry the load and was
overheating badly. Symmetrical coor-
dinates showed that there was a large
negative sequence current in the mo-
tor due to the unbalance caused by the
monocyclic system. I told the cus-
tomer to use the monocyclic system
only for starting and after the motor
had reached its maximum speed to
disconnect the teaser winding and op-
erate on the main phase only, the mo-
tor would then operate at a better
power factor, give more torque, and
require less current from the circuit.
It would take a treatise to cover all
applications of the theory to rotating
machines, but it is perhaps well to
mention that the currents in damper
windings of single phase machines
used to be calculated by empirical for-
mulas. In a recent study of stability of
the machines for Fifteen Mile Falls, a
more difficult problem was worked
out by Wagner and Evans with abso-
lute assurance, something that would
not be possible by any other method.
Designers are not much concerned
with unbalance, but when it comes to
the application of their machines, un-
balance assumes a great deal of impor-
tance. Practically all system faults are
unbalanced. As a consequence, with-
out this theory the modern system of
relays could not be realized. We
would be where we were some fifteen
years ago. It is a sad fact that the ad-
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vancement of an art is so frequently
taken for granted and not assigned to
the right cause.
The writer perhaps may lay himself
open to accusations of being biased,
but feels safe in asserting that most of
the progress of the last ten or fifteen
years in system design may be cred-
ited to symmetrical coordinates.
When his paper was presented be-
fore the AIEE in 1918, Dr. Steinmetz
gave a very complimentary discussion
of the theory and stated in public that
he would incorporate it in his next
book on polyphase currents. Since
then it has been the basis of many the-
oretical treatises of polyphase systems
all over the world in many different
languages. The GE engineers have for
some reason always been careful to
give the writer full credit for this the-
ory. Messers. Wagner and Evans have
written an excellent book on the sub-
ject, but outside of my immediate col-
leagues and people outside who have
to do with complex polyphase net-
work problems, few in our company
realize what a revolution this theory
brought about in design of ac
polyphase systems. IAS