The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1896-11-19
A GIANT IN HARNESS
NIAGARA FALLS TO SUPPLY ELEC-
TRIO POWER TO BUFFALO.
Mills, and Do the Work of
Myrinds of Men.

Buffalo, Nov. 15--At midnight the turn
Ing of the switch In the big power house
at Niagara Falls completed a circuit
which caused Niagara river to flow up
hill, so to speak, by returning a frdc-
ton of its resistless energy, which had
already swept past the gates of Buffalo,
back into that city. q miles distant. The
harness was buckled that bitches the
factory wheels of Buffalo to the great
csc cataract on earth.
Monday morning the street cars of this
city will move by falls power. Hereafter
the falls must work enough to earn rhelr
living. The buckling of the harness could
have been done as well IL hours earlier,
but owing to the fact that the father
of William Brankin of New York, secre-
tdry of the Niagara Falls Power Com
pany is a clergyman, and in Difference
to his wishes the Niagara Falls power
was not turned into the transmitting
system at noon today. as had been ex-
rected.
The connections were made at midnight
tonight The force of experts having the
work in charge were busy all of last night
and until late this evening testing the
various connections and going over the
machinery to make sure everything was
In proper shape 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.
Little Loss OF Power.
The distance covered by the line be-
tween Buffalo and the falls is q 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 s. Careful
tests are to be made In this connection,
the tests covering both night and day,
and clear as well rainy weather The
electricians are paying particular atten-
ton to this test, as on the perfect N
sulation of the carrying line depends
much of the future success of the under
taking.
The overhead line that has been built
to carry the current extends from the
power house at the falls to the city lin
Its of Buffalo, where the wires enter ce-
ment conduits. On the overhead line
glass insulators are found unequal to
the strain. and porcelain insulators were
made especially to hold the wires. The
insulators were subjected to a current
OF $4,000 volts before being put in use.
There are at present on the poles eight
cables each carrying capacity being 5000
horse power, or 10000 horse power In all.
The poles are of such substantial char
acter that this number of cables can be
doubled without subjecting them to "A
greater strain than Is considered safe
The only contract made so far for the
delivery of power by the power company
4 w ha In
people for 1000 horse power Under the
contract with the city. the completion OF
the undertaking of delivering power n
Buffalo was not obligatory before next
June. 1t was In order to secure the con
tract with the street railroad company
that the work was hurried through so
far ahead of time. Contracts with others
desiring to use the electrical power will
now be made, and 1t is thought that by
the opening of spring the power Will be
well distributed throughout the city
Since the inception OF the undertaking
anu during Its carrying out the company
have frequently called upon Messrs Ed
son and Tesla for advice, and these IA
nous masters of electricity have been fire.
quent visitors to the Niagara Falls pow
er house to solve the technical problems
The power will sell in Buffalo for $50
horse power per annum, and under It's
contract with the city, the company must
increase Its capacity 10000 horse power
Per yoar 4ntH the maximum OF $1,000 horse
power has been reached.
The switches IN the Buffalo street rail-
way power house were turned On exact
" at midnight by w. l.. Remmett, chief
engineer of the General Electric Com
pany.
Mayor Jewett was present and held the
watch. Everything worked smoothly.
Details OF the Ceremony.
Niagara Falls, N. Y, Nov. 15.--The fact
that at midnight was to begin the trans
mission Of electrical power from the falls
to Buffalo for the first time, drew a large
crowd of people to the power house of
the Niagara Falls Power Company TO-
night. Those present In the power house
proper were: Messrs. w. b. Rankin. sec
rotary of the company; A. Breckenridge,
resident engineer; l. r. Edmonds, of the
General Electric Company. and Hon. W.
H. Ely. Mr.. Edmonds had charge of
the transformer house.
AT 11;45 p m. Messrs. Rankin, Brecxln-
ridge and Lincoln took positions on the
raised platform in front of the switch
board on the main floor of the power
house and arranged the switches Shortly
before II o'clock Mr.. Breckenridge inform
cd Mr.. Edmonds, in the transformer
house. that electricity was ready for the
TRANSFORMERS and a moment later the
switch was thrown and the power was
rushed through the transformers out on
the line and away to Buffalo
Mr.. Edmonds pronounced the machln-
cry all right, and formally delivered 1t to
MI. Breckenridge for the power company.
1t was accepted. and then the current
was shut off for a brief space Commu-
n.cation was had with the street railway
company In Buffalo, and word received
from them that everything was in readi-
ness at that end of the line. Mr.. Rankin
then stepped to the platform, threw the
switch over and Niagara's power was I'm
Buffalo.
A salute of 81 guns was fired by bat
terry stationed at the power house.