The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-10-03
ONE HUNDRED MILES OF POWER.

If there is anybody who doubt
whether electric power could be success.
fully transmitted from the Missouri
river to Helena he will no longer b
skeptical after reading of the practices
demonstration that recently has bee
made at the great electrical exhibition il
Frankfort, Germany. A correspondent
Of the New York Tribune, writing from
that city, gives full details of the sus-
cessful attempt to convey the water
power Of the Neckar river at Lautfen, ir
Wurtemberg, over a wire to Frankfort
a distance of more than n hundred
miles, and its successful utilization in
the latter city. By way of comparison.
he says, it is as if n had proposed to
gather power from the Hudson river nt
Albany, transmit it by telegraph to New
York and there set it to running ma
chinery, making a turbine wheel at
Albany run an engine in New York with
only a telegraph wire connecting them.
Yet that is practically what is being
done at the Frankfort exhibition before
the assembled electricians and mechani-
cal engineers OF the world, who with one
accord declare the experiment an un-
doubted success, the beginning of a new
era in mechanical science. The motive
power is supplied by a system Of turbine
wheels placed in the Neckar river, or in
a raceway at the side of the river. They
have a head of water Of twelve or thir-
teen feet, which furnishes about 1000
horse power of which only 900 horse
power is used. A turbine, having 300
horse power, making thirty revolutions
in q minute, drives an electric dynamo
at the rate of $50 revolutions a minute,
and thus generates the power that is
transmitted to Frankfort. The trans
mission of the power and it's reception
at Frankfort are thus described: Nv
From the dynamo the current is conveyed
by means of two brass wire ropes to the
transforming machine, passing on the way
er-regulator. The transformer. for perfect
insulation, is placed in a tank Of oil. 1t
has a capacity of 200kilowatts. and it trans-
forms the compound low-pressurs current,
having a force of 5000 volts at twelve or
thirteen ampers. And this is the current
that is sent forth On the 100-mile Journey
to Frankfort. 1t traverses this distance by
way of three copper wires, each about four
millims in thickness. These wires are
not covered with any insulating sheath or
coating, but are entirely bare. They are
carried across the country like ordinary
telegraph wires in America, strung along
on poles twenty-five feet high and 1875 feet
apart. The insulators by which the wires
are fastened to the poles are, however, of a
special kind. They are made of porcelain,
in the usual manner. But on the surface
of such insulators moisture is apt to be
condensed. thus greatly impairing their
efficiency. To prevent this, each insulator
10 provided with three troughs filled with
oil, and thus 40 fraction of it's usefulness ia !
lost.
Thus the potent and mysterious fluid is
from Lautfen to Frankfort. Here
it is received by an oil transformer like
that at Lauffen, and is turned into q low
current again, of about 100 volts.
then part of it goes to the electric lighting
apparatus, and furnishes the current for
LOO ~incandescent lamps. The rest of it
goes to three motors and there takes the
form OF mechanical energy. The largest of
the three motors drivers u huge centrifugal
pump. which supplies the stream for a wa
.terfall, some thirty odd feet high.
The first question every practical man
will asks, what is the percentage of loss
in transmitting this power one hundred
miles! Not quite twenty-five per cent.
Flo every one hundred horse power of
energy sent out from the works of Lauf-
fen, seventy-five horse power is deliv-
cred in Frankfort one hundred miles
away. This result has been attained
not once merely, but steadily for more
than two weeks, under the constant
working OF the machinery. This is the
greatest triumph Of electrical skill that
has yet been achieved and it means q
in Industrial conditions. 1t
the building up of manufacturing
industries at points scores of miles dis
tant from water power and 1t means for
inland centers like Helena, especially,
possibilities greater than the most san
guine have dreamed of.
.