Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1894-07-20
NIagnra's Water Power.

A lively discussion is going on among
Electricians ON the subject OF the long
distance transmission Of Niagara water
power. Early In May there appeared
in leading electrical journal an arti-
Gle In which Prof Il. j. Houston and
Mr.. A. T. Kennedy went deliberately
into the question of how far the wates
power of the falls could be transmitted
by electricity. The gist of their conten-
ton was that the power Of Niagara
Falls can be transmitted to radius
Of 200 miles cheaper than 1t can be pro
duced at any point within that range
by steam engines of the most cconomi-
cal type, with coal at So per ton: fur
thermore that "given a sufficiently
large output it might be commercial
" advisable to undersell large steam
powers at twice this distance with no
profit in order to reduce the general
expense upon delivery nearer home"
The article attracted wide attention
not only among electrical engineers,
but also in lay circles, and was prompt
ly noticed by newspapers throughout
the country. DR.. c. Il. Emery, an emil
nent engineer replied to the article
by a series Of figures and statistics
which went to show hat MeSsrs.
Houston and Kennedy had Overest-
mated some Of the points on which
their conclusions were based, ana UNI
derestimated others. For instance, the
Houston-Kennelly estimate regarding
the cost of the hydraulic works is ST.
60 per horse power, ms against Df.
Emery's $40 per horse power. The
former quotes Prof. Forbes, the cleo
trical engineer Of the Cataract Com
pany, as testifying that there can be
little doubt that the efficiency of our
dynamos may reach, ut least, 0S per
cent" and they commit themselves to
06 per cent. DIR. Emery holds that the
efficiency of the 5000 generators will
be only 80 per cent He also makes an
| estimate which puts the cost OF opera
tion higher and the efficiency or trans
mission much lower than those Of the
first estimate. He does not believe, in
fact, that power can be economically
transmitted TO Buffalo in the present
state OF electrical engineering. lie
says: mills, paper MANUFACTURES, etc,
requiring power for twenty-four hours,
can best be located directly ut Niagara
Falls and secure the undoubted low
1t is thought that the first
| transmission installation, which
will naturally be Tor Buffalo,
will cost even more than estimated
above. as time and some tentative
work will be required before the appll-
cation becomes general. The estimate
makes no provisions for subways,
which must be constructed to all points
reached. The costs may rise so high
| that even the transmission to Buffalo,
will pay ony a small percentage Cn
the cost, and conditions better than
| those assumed must be found before
there will be much Of market else.
where" To this Messrs. Houston &
Kennedy have replied that their fig
ures are correct from first to last, and
they mean to stick TO them. In regard
to the efficiency Of the 5000 horse pow.
err generator. they say their own fig.
ures Of 96 per cent is unjustiflably low
and that the efficiency Of the Frank
furtLauffen plant where power is
| transmitted over the conductors to a
distance of 100 miles, is 05.4 per cent
and the dynamo used in that calcula.
ton was only about one-twentieth Of
the capacity of those used ut Niagara.
Another combatant has appeared in
Francis b. Croker, Of Columbia Col
lege, who calls i'm question the Houston
Kennedy figures both in the matter Of
percentage for annual interest, depre-
citation and repairs, and the cost Of
generators. motors and transformers,
all Of which he says are remarkably
low. He thinks the estimates are not
conservative" as they are claimed to
be, and that not enough margin has
been allowed all around, and he ques-
tons whether 1.-THE cause Of long dis
lance power transmission VIII be help
ed by assuming the owest possible
costs and expenses and the highest
possible efiiciencies. 1t is proverbial
that estimates should always be made
with ample margin. and in nine cases
out of ten, it is absolutely required"
And so the fight Is waging. When such
authorities as these take opposite sides
the question in hand is likely to be stiff
cd down pretty thoroughly. and in all
probability before the works at Ma
CARA are in actual operation the theo-
retical status, at all events, Of the long
distance transmission Of power electri-
cally will have been accurately deter
mined.