Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-06-13
NIAGARA SET TO WORK.
Expect the Wheels of the Great Plant
Will Start Next Summer.

VIII Start Next Summer.
New York letter to Philadelphia
Press: SO many announcements have
been made of the date of the ceremony
of the opening or beginning of the
great work at Niagara Fails that a
good many persons have become rather
doubtful about the progress Of the
work. 1t was announced, for instance,
a year ago that upon the LIST of June Of
1891 the governor would touch the but
ton which would set the gigantic tur-
bine and monster dynamo at work
Then it was said that there was post
pOnement until the fall, and when the
frost came announcements were made
Of a further pOstpOnement until winter,
and so on again and again date has
been set fC. this ceremonial, followed
by a statement that it has been post
poned.
This morning / asked one of the first
of those capitalists who took a imam
cial interest in this work, a man who
is and has been, perhaps, the most en-
thusiaStic Of any Of the rich men asso-
ciated in it, whether there was any
foundation for the suspicion that the
company had met with setbacks or dis
covered some unsOlyed problem which
made 1t by no means certain that the
work would ever become commercially
profitable. And | said that this Slls-
piciOn was partly due to the fact that
the lnaugurating ceremonies had been
very often postponed, although it was
also due to the criticism OF some OK
perts, who Will never believe that this
work Is ITO be successful until they see
it demonstrated a success.
He replied that the company had
been somewhat embarrassed by the
frequent ana unauthorized announce
ment OF dedicating ceremonies. No
time has ever been fixed for such cere-
monies. And you can easily see how
impossible ii would be to set a time,
since we must know for a certainty
that all Of the machinery will do its
work perfectly. Now that can only be
demonstrated by experiments. The
construction of the gSeat dynamo or
transformer was a work of prOdiglouS
difficulty and great delicacy. No such
task has ever been accepted by any
electrical manufacturer. Therefore the
work Of building that machine pro
crossed very slowly, because it went
on with the utmost care, and it was
only last winter that the first of these
transformers WAS set up i'll its place.
We could not tell when to make the
formal opening until that dynamo was
connected with the turbine wheel, end
until very careful and thorough eX-
periments had been made with it.
When these are completed, as We hope
that they will be very soon, then an
authoritative announcement Will be
made of THE day when the wheels will
be set in motion, which, if successful,
! will unquestionably in some degree
| revOlutionize the commercial Use Of
| motive power"
| The experiments which have been go
! ing on at Niagara Falls have been as
| delicate, as carefully conducted, us Gre
| those which the chemists or scientists
| make in the field of original research.
! The human intellect can scarcely con-
ceiye Of the enOrmity of some OF the
results already obtained and Of others
which are expected. In the harness
ing of a majestic implement which is
to be used to develop an electric cur
rent of enormous power to IN other
! colossal machine, which is to receive
the prodigious power that is in The
! Niagara current and convey it to this
| electric transformer, work was neces-
slrily as delicate as that which the
matchmaker has need of. The eXpec-
| tation is that the revolutions of this
dynamo will be so rapid that only by
comparison can they be understood.
Therefore, it has been necessary to
test, and with gradually increasing
speed, the relations of the various
parts of this complicated whole ma
| chine to one another. Suppose there
had been a deviation Of a fraction Of
an inch i'll measurements, or some
| chance for friction, which had been
| overlooked, and, therefore, unprovided
for, or some variat ion from the quail
fty of the bearings of the machine;
| then there was danger that after a GER
! tain rate of speed was reached there
might come one mighty crash inyoly-
| ing the whole machinery in destruc-
| ton.
"A few days ago some Of the capital
lists and d few scientists went TO Nj
J agara to see how far the tests had been
made. Their going and coming was
not known by the public, nor have
| they felt free to give any detailed in
! formation of their experiences. l was
] told SO much as this, that the number
! of revolutions of the dynamo was run
up to about 100 and with perfect sue
cess. The wheels spun with the beauty
! and evenneSS Of top, upon which
| only the laws of nature operate. One
! hundred and fifty revolutions a minute