New-York tribune., 1896-11-15
FIRST GENERATOR IN POSITION IN THE HOUSE AT NIAGARA

perceived possibilities Of usefulness IN this store
of energy before him which no one else had yet
recognized. In order rightly TO estimate the
boldness and epoch making character OF sir
William Siemens's suggestions made the follow
ing year in his presidential address to the iron
and Steel Institute of Great Britain one should
remember that he proposed not merely to utilize
the power of Niagara in the immediate vicinity Of
the river but to transmit that power TO dls-
tance For centuries man had used waterfalls.
large and small. to grind corn to spin and weave
cotton and to saw lumber. This same outflow
from the great inland seas, too. had already
been utilized by the Porters to their paper
mills wears before the famous English engineer
listened to its roar and bathed in its msts.
Hence a development Of the water power or
Niagara which should make available ten. fifty
or even a hundred times the amount actually
being utilized two decades ago would be mere
matter of multiplication. But TO place even q
small fraction Of that energy at the disposal OF
manufacturers 4 score more miles away from
the scene would be vastly more original and
revolutionary undertaking.
FETTERED INDUSTRIES.
The significance Of this idea appears distinctly
when one considers how industry had previously
been fettered in its employment Of Natures In
animate forces. The factories Of Lowell. Holyoke
and Cohoes stood close to the streams which
drove their machinery. The pumps that re-
claimed Holland from the sea sucked away pa
tiently under the very shadow Of the windmills
which operated them The power which Erics-
son strove to derive from sunshine. and other
men sought to obtain from the waves and tides.
was In every case to be applied (or stored for
future application In the immediate vicinity Of
the Transforming mechanism. Even when coal.
itself portable had once been employed for the
same purpose, its service was similarly limited:
for steam would become condensed and would
thus lose its efficacy If sent through more than
a few hundred feet Of pipe carefully wrapped TO
reduce radiation.
Other methods Of transmitting power to some
what greater distances had been discovered. but
they were inadequate to the purpose Sir William
Siemens had in view. Impelled to extent
by a fear that the worlds coal supply might
soon run low. he urged. in the address just re-
ferred to. the wisdom Of utilizing the water
power OF continental countries having high
plateaus, like Sweden and the United States;
then he discussed Niagara in particular and
estimated the force Of its principal fall at 49,
100000 horsepower. Said he
In other words all the coal raised throughout the
world would barely suffice to produce the amount of
power that continually TO waste at this great
falls 1t would not be difficult. indeed to realize
a large portion OF the power 20 wasted by means OF
turbines and water-whees erected on the shores OF
the deep river below the falls. supplying them
from races out along the edges. But II would be
impossible to utilize the power the spot .
In order TO render available the force of falling
water Of this and hundreds of other places smi-
larry stua ted, must devise a practicable means
OF transporting the power. Sir William Armstrong
has taught how To carry and utilize water at a
distance, II conveyed through high-pressure mains
and compressed air has been used for the same
purpose. At Schaffhausen, IN Switzerland. we'll
at some other places on the Continent power Is
conveyed by means Of quick-working steel ropes
passing over large pulleys: by these means 1t may
be carried to distance of one or two miles with
out difficulty
AS regards electrical transmission. suppose water
power to be employed to give motion TO a dynamo
electrical machine. very powerful electrical cur
rent will be the result. which may be carried to
great distance through large metallic conductor
and thus be made to impart motion to electro
magnetic engines (motors) TO ignite the carbon
points OF electric lamps. TO effect the separation
OF metals from their combinations A copper rod
three inches In diameter would he capable OF trans
mtting 1000 horsepower distance of. say. thirty
miles. an amount sufficient TO supply one-quarter
of a million candle e-power which would suffice to
illuminate a moderately sized town.
The biographer Of Sicmens. after quoting the
foregoing plea, adds:
This statement startled tho audience considsra-