Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1893-06-23
FOUNTAIN OF FIRE.
Wonderfully Beautiful Effects
at the Worlds Fair.
MARVEL WITH WATER AND WIRES,


MARVEL WITH WATER AND WIRES
Graphic Description of the Method Of Pro.
ducins Hydraulic Fireworks ut Chicago
Flowing Water and Electric Rcilectors
h -Agents-The Great Plant and the
Glorious Results.
WORLDS FAIR, June IL. Especially -
Now the electric fountains play two nights
q week in front of the Administration
building. OF all the contrivances of mar
for the creation of beautiful effects this
electric fountain is the most wonderful.
It is impossible for me or any n else to
describe for you the glorious spectacle pro.
tduced by a combination of water Jets of
changing form and vivid electric lights Of
Kaleidoscope coloring. This is something
that must be seen to be appreciated, or
wen understood. But imagine, if you
can, a bouquet of gorgeous water flowers
Using to a hight of $50 feet and changing
Eheir colors chameleon like as they fall;
showers Of rubies, pearls and amethysts;
great sheaves of golden wheat; ferns in
columns and sprays of water greener than
moss in the woods. You have seen bril-.
liant displays of fireworks. made with com.
'bustibles and explosives. They are very,
very beautiful. But these hydraulic fire.
works are infinitely more graceful, more
alluring.
Though it is impossible FOR me to de
scribe the effect l hope to ei,e you a fairly
satisfactory idea Of the cause. Iwant tc
tell you something of the wonderfully
complicated and ingenious machinery by
(which this rare spectacle is produced. Few
of the multitudes of people who gather in
that most glorious spot of the exposition,
the central court, whenever the fountains
are playing, realize the magnitude of the
machinery and the mightiness OF the
forces that are operating, far away aud
underneath the ground, for their amuse
ment.
Let us go first to the source of power, to
the alpha of the system, and follow it till
pit rises in those brilliant water columns
before which the multitudes stand in de
light. In the eastern end of Machinery
hall is the generating plant for the cleo.
trio light part of this magic factory.
There are four of these big dynamos, set in
a row. You will have no difficulty in de.
ltermining them among the many ynamos
in the vast building, for this quartette are
painted white, the fields OF their generating
cylinders are wound with white cord, and
the switchboard by which thejr forces are
controlled is Of white marble. The whole
plant, as neat as 4 new watch, suggesta
the radiance of it's role.
These four dynamos generate the cur. ;
rent which throws a fierce, white light
from the refectors upon the rising col
umns Of water. Howmuch energy 90 you
suppose is required to operate them? One
a thousand horses is converted into light
There are two engines in this plant, anc
one of them, of the cross compound type
cylinders 20 inches and 80 inches, running
at 224 revolutions per minute develops Cox
horsepower aud is said to be the larges
high-speed engine in the country. This
pair Of engines, painted white like the re
mainder Of the plant, are rs graceful anc
perfect in their operation as If they were
built for beauty and not for power. While ,
not In use for the fountains the engines !
charge the batteries Of the feet Of electric
LAUNCHES which about the lagoons. !
Before following the electric current
generated by the dynan1os to the lamps
which illumine the fountains, it will be !
we'll for us to go to the source of our water,
power; for it must always be borne in
mind that these effects are both electrical
and hydraulic. The water is the body, the
electricity the soul of the perfect creature