Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-11-16

ACT ooHsU1nATED At MIDNIGHT,

when the Turning q seos Switches as the
Power Hoass - Nlagssa Get IT, whesls
Goingss shs New Ysrk City rwessy seven
Muss Avuy-One q the G ressess ActSsvo-
messs - AoAeFn scsepcs . success and
Niagara Earning Hts Living.
last night the turning OF . switch In
the big power house at Niagara Falls
completed q circuit which caused Mag
ara river to now uphill. 20 to speak. BY
returning q fraction Of its resistless
energy. which had already swept past
the gates Of Buffalo. back into that city
twenty-seven miles distant. The harness
was buckled that bitches the factory
wheels OF Buffalo to the greatest catar-
act on earth. This morning the street
cars Of this city moved by falls power.
Hereafter the falls must work enough
to earn their living. The buckling Of
the harness could have been done Is
well twelve hours earlier. but owing to
the fact that the father OF william b.
Rankine. Of New York. secretary Of the
Niagara Falls Power company. 10 q
clergyman, and In Difference to his
scruples. the Niagara Falls power was
not turned into the transmitting system
at noon yesterday. Is had been cx-
pected.
Conseesioas Made - Msdaight.
The connections were made at mid
night last night. The force Of experts
having the work In charge was busy
all of Saturday night and until late
last evening testing the various con-
nections and going over the machinery
to make sure that everything was In
proper order. When everything was In
readiness for the switch to be thrown
over the electricians were confident that
there need be no cessation Of the cur
rent set flowing over the wires of
the Buffalo street railway 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
five.
1 should the experimental use OF the
power by the street railway company
prove satisfactory other contracts will
follow rs rapidly as the power company
can supply the energy. The power viii
the Cataract Power Company. which
which deals direct with the Niagara
Falls Power company. The city has
: given q franchise which compeis the
parent company TO furnish 1000 horre
power by June I. 1897. and TO be pre-
pared to furnish 10000 additional every
year for four successive years. The
force OF the falls was utilized by dig
, ging immense pits In the solid rocks
OF the shore. above the cataract. in
I the bottom OF which pits are immense
, turbines that revolve by the force Of
4 the water that falls upon them. d.
vcrted from the river TO the mouth Of
4, the pits by a canal.
How tire lighteiag IL Controlled.
In solving the problem of transmits.
! sion over lines about twenty-five miles
D., long Il was found necessary to trans.
/, form the currents. and this Il done by
a transformer station at the falls
which converts a Quarter-phase 2.2ct
, volt current into q three phase II .0o'
=. volt current. when this modified cur.
rent reaches Its destination In this city
1 Il has again 90 be retransforIned at q
''step-down transformer" and thus en-.
tiers the plant of the railway company
al IL came from the dynamos at tn,
falls. The loss In Transformation and
transmission n figured TO be a yer,
small percentage-not more than II
per cent. and perhaps rs low as pei
cent.
| Hurried the Work for tire Railway.
The only contract made so far for tn.
delivery Of power In Buffalo by In.
power company is that with the Buna
A 10 Street Railway company for LOO
horsepower. Under the contract wit,
the city the completion II the under
taking Of delivering power in Burial,
was not obligatory before next June
II was In order TO secure the contrac
with the street railway company that tn
work was hurried through 10 far ahen,
Of time. The power will seil In Bumai'