Abstract :
When asked to provide an article for this issue of IEEE Industry Applications Society Magazine, which has as its theme power systems, the thought was that it would be most proper to start with the beginnings of the Industrial and Commercial Systems (I&CPS) Department´s Color Book series. The series of books, which today focuses on powering a range of electrical power systems, got its start 67 years ago, with the publishing of a 109-page, 8.5 3 11, soft-covered, committee report by the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) Committee on Industrial Power Applications. The document was titled Electrical Power Distribution for Industrial Plants. For a shortened title, it picked up the name Red Book. The first problem encountered in drafting an article about this document was that I could find few records existing as to why this document came into being. Its publication in 1945 preceded not only the origin of the IEEE Industry Applications Society (IAS) but also IEEE. Hence, the opening classical quote (thank you, Plato). I needed to find a necessity to explain the invention.
