The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1896-11-16
NIAGARA FALLS IN HARNESS
The Great Power Company Starts Up
Its Business.
POWER TRANSMITTED TO BUFFALO
Street Cars in That City Being Propelled
by the Force of the Mighty Cataract.
The Power to be Increased to Fifty
Thousand Horse Power.

BUFFALO. Nov. 16.-At midnight the
of q switch in the big power house
at Niagara Falls completed circuit which /
caused Niagara river to flow up hill, so tC .
speak, by returning fraction of its re
sistless energy, which had already swept /
past the gates of Buffalo back into that |
city, twenty seven miles distance. The /
harness was buckled that bitches the fac !
tory wheels of Buffalo to the greatest cat /
aract on earth This morning the street /
cars of this city started running by Falls /
power Hereafter the Falls must work
enough to earn their living
The buckling of the harness could have |
been done as we'll twelve hours earlier,
but owing to the fact that the father OF
William b. Rankine, of New York, secre.
tary of the Niagara Falls Power company,
is clergyman, and in Difference to his
wishes the Niagara Falls power was not
turned into the transmitting system at
noon, as had been expected. The Connec.
tions We're made at midnight The force
of experts having the work in charge were
busy all of Saturday night and until late
last evening testing the various connec'
tions and going over the machinery &c
make sure that everything was in proper
order. When everything was in readiness
for the switch to be thrown open the elec
tricians were confident that there need be
no cessation of the current set flowing
over the wires of the Buffalo Street rail.
way system.
The distance covered by the line between
Buffalo and the Falls is twenty-seven
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 much exceed .. Care
full tests are to be made in this connection,
the tests covering both night and day in
clear as we'll as rainy weather. The cleo
tricians are paying particular attention to
this test as on the perfect insulation of
the carrying line depends much of the fu-
ture success of the undertaking.
The line that has been built to carry
the current bearing wires is of most sub
stantial nature. Unlike the ordinary tel
egraph line, the poles are placed very close
together, and are braced in such a manner
as to be proof against heavy storms. At
curves the poles are set double, and are
slyed to numerous smaller poles to pre-
ven sagging. The overhead line extends
from u" power house at the Falls to the
city limits # Buffalo, where the wires
enter cement csnduits On the overhead
line glass insulato., re found uneoual TO
the strain and porcela,. '-,sulators were
made specially to hold the wIns. These
insulators were subjected to c.rrent of
3d. 600 volts before being put in use.
There are at present on the poles eight
cables each with Il carrying capacity OF
5000 horse power, or 10000 horse power in
ALL The poles are of such n substantial
character, however, that this number of
cables can be doubled without subjecting
them to greater strain than is cOnsd.
cred safe
The only contract made so far for the
delivery of power in Buffalo by the power
company is that with the Buffalo Street
Railway company for 1000 horse power.
Under the contract with the city the COM
pletion of the undertaking of delivering
power in Buffalo was not obligatory before
next June 1t was in order to secure the
contract with the street railway company
| that the work was hurried through so far
ahead of time. Contracts with Others de-
string to use the electrical power will now
be made and it is thought that by the
opening of spring the power will be well
distributed throughout the city.
Since the inception of the undertaking
and during its carrying out the company
have frequently called upon Messrs. Edi'
son and Tesla for advice, and these famous
masters of electricity 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 10000 horse power
per year until the maximum of 10000
horse power has been reached
At Buffalo the switches in the street
railway power house were turned on ex
actly at midnight by w L. r. Emmett
chief engineer Of the General Electric com
pany. Mayor Jewett was present, ant
held the watch. Everything WORKED
smoothly.