The record-union., 1891-10-15
CONVEYING ELECTRIC POWER.
What Sacramento May Expect in the
Near Future.
An Account of the Successful Trans.
mission Of Power for One Hun
dred Miles.

l
| The following letter will be read with
deep interest by the people of Sacramento
and vicinity, as it indicates what may be
expected from the great water-power at
Folsom in the near future:
SAN FRANCISCO, October 13, 1891.
EDS. RECoRD-UNIoN So many ques-
tions are being asked of this company by
residents in Sacramento with reference
to the practicability Of making available
in Eacramento City portion of the water
| power now being created at Folsom, on
| the American River, twenty miles distant
| from said city, that we have thought il
desirable, in the way of general answer
| to all such inquiries, and for information
to all the people of Sacramento interested
/ IN the matter Of motive power and light,
| to bring to your attention the inclosed
| slip, cut from the New York Tribune,
giving detailed account of the very in
| tereStlng ana most successful transmits
sion of electric power from the water
! power at Lauffen, on the Neckar, in Ger
many, to the city of Frankfort, dis
| tance of upward of one hundred miles.
We suggest that its publication i'll your
valuable and widely read journal would
| be the best possible means Of answering
| the aforementioned interrogatorieS
which are being addressed to this COM
pany concerning the future availability
OF its power in Sacramento, and would
| also be matter of great Importance to
| your general readers.
1t Will be observed that the conditions
| existing between the power of the Fol-
som Water-power Company, at Folsom
and the city OF Sacramento, are vastly
more favorable than those existing be-
tween the water power at Lautlen, in
Germany, and the city Of Frankfort,
| where such complete success has just
| been achieved.
| THE Folsom WATER-PowER Co.,
HoRATIo p. LIvERMoRE, Manager.
From the New York Tribunel
! FRANKFORT, Sept. 9th.-PTobably the
most interesting and important feature
OF the electrical exhibition here is the
| great experiment III transmitting power
over long distance. No other feature
| has attracted so much attention. 1t is
said that never before was so striking an
attempt made in this department of cleo
rectIy concerned in it, but electricians
and mechanical engineers all over the
world have watched the progress Of the
/ work with intense Solicitude. The re-
suit of the great experiment would, they
| believed, mark a new era in mechanical
| science.
What was the problem? To convey the
waterpower of the Neckar River at
| Lautlen, Wurtemburg, over q wire to
| Frankfort and utilize it there. From
| Lauffen to Frankfort is something more
than 100 miles. 1t was therefore as if one
had proposed to gather power from the
Hudson River at Albany, transmit it by
telegraph to New York. and there set it
to running machinery, making a turbine
wheel at Albany run an engine in New
\ ork with only a telegraph wire connect
ing them. One would say this is a hard
thing to achieve. But these German en-
| gineerS went at it in earnest. So did the
statesmen, for tho line of transmission
passed through the territory of three
States-Wurtembu burg, Baden and Hesse
But the three Governments not only
gladly gave permission, but did all in
their power to facilitate the work.
Lautfen is an interesting little town, on
| both sides of the Neckar. There is one
picturesque but rather ruinous old bridge
across the river there. The chief in
dustry is the manufacture OF cement, in
which the place leads all other towns of
| Europe. A fine system of turbine wheels
supplies the motive power for the works;
or rather utiliZes the power of the Neck
ar's current. They are placed in race
way at the side of the river, a mile or SO
above the town, and have head of water
of twelve or thirteen feet. The water
furnishes about 1000 horsepower, of
which only 900 horsepower is used. The
cement works have two turbines of 300
| horsepower each, making thirty revolu-
tions minute. A third turbine, of SINH
lar action and power, drives an electric
dynamo at the rate of 150 revolutions per
minute, and thus generates the energy
that is to be transmitted to Frankfort
The dynamo is coupled directly with the
watermelon and produces what is called
a "multple-phase' or rotation cur
rent. This is really a combination Of
alternating currents. Each of. the three
| components-each of the three constitu-
ent currents which, blended together,
form the current that is transmitted to
kfort--has an electromotiVe energy OF
80 volts and 400 amperes. The total
force, therefore, is $50 volts and 4,200
amperes, or 200 kilowatts. No collector
and no brushes are used: Cheapness and
simplicity are attained in a remarkable
degree. And the working of the whole
apparatus is made as safe as that of an
ordinary telegraphic battery.
The line of transmission begins at
Lautfen, and passes through Heilbronn,
Jagstfeld, Eberbach. Erbach, Baben-
hausen and Hanau, to Frankfort 1t be-
gins with the falls of the Neckar at
Laufen, and it's energy is finally ex-
pended in the production of an artificial
waterfall at Frankfort. From the dynamo
the current is conveyed by means of
two brass wire ropes to the Transforming
machine, passing on the way through a
switchboard and automatic power-regu-
lator. The transformer, for perfect insu-
lation, is placed in a tank of oil. 1t has a
capacity of 200 kilowatts, and it trans
forms the compound low-pressure current
above described into a high-pressure
current, having a force of $1,000 volts at
| twelve or thirteen amperes. And this is
the current that is sent forth on the hum
| dred-mile journey to Frankfort. 1t tray
| of
| per wires, each about four millimetres i'm
| thickness. These wires are not covered
with any insulating sheath or coating
but are entirely bare. They are carried
across the country like ordinary tele-
graph wires in America, strung along on
poles twenty-five feet high and a hun
dTed and twenty-five feet apart The in
sulators 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 con-
densed. thus greatly impairing their
efficiency. To prevent this, each insu-
lator is provided with three troughs
filled with oil, and thus no fraction of it's
usefulness is lost.
Thus the potent and mysterious fluid is
conveyed from Lauffen to Frankfort.
Here it is received by an oil transformer
like that at Lauffen, and is turne into a
low pressure euITeIit again OF ABOUT l0U
volts. Then part of it goes to the electric
lighting apparatus, and furnishes the
current for 200 incandescent lamps The
rest of il goes to three motors and there
takes the form of mechanical energy.
The largest of the three motors drives a
huge centrifugal pump, which supplies
the stream for the waterfall above men,
toned, some thirty-odd feet high. The
actual loss of power of transmission is
! scarcely one-fourth Therefore. for every