The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-11-16
NIAGARA NOW DOES WORK.
At Midnight Last Might it Began to
Generate Power

GG4GI&kG rover.
Bunalo. N u, Nov. 16.-At midnight
last night the turning of a switch in
the big power house at Niagara Falls
completed a circuit which caused Nj
agara river to low up hill. so to speak
by returning a fraction of its resistless
energy, which had aIread swept past
( the gates Of Buffalo, back into that
I city, twenty-seven miles distant The
! harness was buckled that hitched the
/ factory wheels of Buffalo to the great
est cataract on earth. This morning
/ the street cars of this city moved by
/ falls power. Hereafter the fails must
! work enough to earn their living
The buckling of the harness could
4 have been done as well twelve hours
! earlier, but owing to the fact that the
i father of William b. Rankine Of New
York, secretary of the Niagara Falls
4 Power company. is a clergyman, and
4 i'm Difference to his wishes, the Niagara
/ falls power was not turned into the
transmitting system at noon yester-
i day as had been expected The cOnnec-
I lions were made at midnight last night.
! The force of experts having the work
i in charge We're busy all of Saturday
night and until late yesterday evening
/ testing the various connections and go
Z ing over the machinery to make sure
! everything was in proper order. When
4 everything was in readiness for the
I switch to be thrown over, the electrl-
4 clans We're confident that there need
! be no cessation of the current set flow
ing over the wires of the Buffalo street
railway system.
The distance covered by the line be
4 tween Buffalo and the falls is 24 miles,
and the expert electricians who have
the work in charge estimate that the
loss of energy will be less than 10 per
cent, and may not exceed 5. Careful
tests are to be made in this connection
the tests covering both day and night
and clear as well as rainy weather the
tention to this test, as on the perfect
insulation of the carrying line de-
ponds much Of the future success Of
The line that has been built to carry
the current bearing wires Is of the
most substantial nature. Unlike the
/ ordinary telegraph wire, the poles are
placed very close together ana are
braced in such manner as to be proof
against heavy storms. At curves the
poles are set double and are guyed to
numerous smaller poles to prevent sag
cling. The overhead line extends from
the power house at the falls to the city
limits of Buffalo, where the wires enter
cement conduits. On the overhead line
glass insulators are found unequal to
the strain. and porcelain 1NSulalOE5
We're made specially to hold the wires
The insulators We're subjected TO q cur
rent of 30 900 volts before being put IN
use There are at present on the
poles eight cables, each with a carrying
capacity of 5000 horse power, or 10000
HORSEPOWER in all The poles are of
such a substantial character, however,
that this number Of cables can be dou-
bled without subjecting them to a
greater strain than is considered SaIe
The only contract made SO far for the
delivery of power in BuHalo py the
power company is that with the Buffalo
Street Railway company for 1000 horse
power Under the contract with the
city. the completion of the undertaking
of delivering power In BunaIo was NOT
fort
order to secure the contract with the
street railway company that the work
was hurried through so Tar ahead OF
time Contracts with others desiring 10
use the electrical power Will now pc
made and it is thought that by the
opening OF spring the power Will pc Wen
distributed throughout the city
Since the inception OF the undertake
ing and during its carrying out lne
company has frequently called upon
Messrs Edison and Tesla for advice,
and these famous masters Of electric
ity have been frequent visitors to the
Niagara Falls power house to solve
technical problems.
The power Will sell in Buffalo for S36
a horse power per annum, and under
its contract with the city the company
must increase its capacity TO- 600 horse
power per year until the maximum q
so 600 horse power has been reached
Niagara Falls, N. Y, Nov 16--Ihe
fact that at midnight was TO begin the
transmission of electrical power from
the 4eI1S TO 9nlAaA0 AOA liz AAA1A -4AAAI
drew a very large crowd Of people to
the power house of the Niagara Falls
Power company last night. So many
were trying to gain admission to the
place that at 8 o'clock the doors were
closed Those present in the power
house were. Messrs. w. B. Rankine,
secretary of the company; w. A. Breck-
inridge, resident engineer; Paul M Lin
coin. electrical superintendent; 4 r.
EdmOnds of the General Electric com
pany, and the Hon. TT. w Ely. Mr.. Ed
monds had charge Of the transformer
house
AT 11.45 AGessrs. Rankine, Breckenridge
and Lincoln took positions on the raised
platform in front of the switchboard
on the main floor of the power house 4
and arranged the switches. Shortly be-
fore IL o'clock Mr.. Breckenridge noti- 4
fed Mr. EdmOnds in the transformer !
house that the electricity was ready
for the transformers and a moment lat
err the switch was thrown and the pow !
er was rushing through the transform /
eTs, out on the line and away to Buff !
falo Mr.. Edmonds pronounced the ma /
chinery all right and formerly delivered /
it to Mr.. Breckenridge for the power /
company It was accepted and then /
the current was shut off for a brief /
space Communication was had with /
the street railway company in Buffalo /
and word received from them that ev- I
erything was in readiness at that end 1
of the line. Mr.. Rankine then stepped 4
and Niagara's power was in Buffalo. I
terry stationed near the power house.