The Portland daily press., 1897-04-20
ELECTRIC TRANSMISSION,
The Practicability of Water Power
Transmission Fully Demonstrated.

(William Baxter, Jr., in the Scien-
tifc Americana
Everyone who is familiar, in a general
way, with the operation of electric Orr
rents realizes that they afford means for
the transmission of power over great dis
tances at a moderate expense. and there
for believes that eventually, through
this agency, every water power OF any
magnitude will be made available. There
are very few, however, who do not labor
under the impression that this phase OF
electric development is still in the exper-
mental stage. The only work In the
line of water power Transmission tnat
has come prominently before the pubic
is that Of the Niagara enterprise. inns
has attracted world wide attention,
owing to the magnitude OF the power
available, the general belief being that
in the course of time the energy supplied
from that source will be counted Ivy the
hundreds of thousands, if not by the mil
lions, of horse power. This undertaking
is generally looked upon as On expert
ment, sort Of crucial test, that will de-
termine whether electric transmission
can be made successful with or present
Knowledge OF the science, or whether e
shall have TO wait until some time in the
future when, by furher development, the
barriers that block the way TO the at
tainment of our ends may he removed.
Such impressions, however, are entirely
wrong; the experimental stage Of long
distance power transmission has bean
passed. and at the present time the man
ufaciurs of machinery for his branch OF
the electrical industry is of as much i'm
portauce, If not more, than any other
branch, and the Indications ave that in
the very near future il will become as
Important as all the others combined.
1t may prove surprise to many to
learn that work in this line has been car
ried OIL, more OF less extensively, since
1892. In that year one of the large cleo
trio manufacturing companies installed
about fifteen thousand horse power of
water power transmission apparatus.
Last year the business of the same con-
Germ, in this line, was about sixty thons-
and horse power.
One of the first instauat ions of maQni-
tude WAS that of the Hartford Electric
Light Company, which WAS commenced
in 1892. TIE capacity of this plant is
over l, 500 horse power, and the power is
transmitted over a distance of about
eleven miles. Among the large plants
installed since that time may be mem
toned one at Sacramento, Cal, which
has a napaoity of nearly 1000 horse
power; one at Plezer, S. c., OF 1900
horse power; Salt Lake City, about ZOO
horse power; Columbia, s. c., ,230
horse power: Bakersfield, CAL, 8, 420
horse power; Montreal, ~, coo horse pow
er; Ogden, Utah, 1l,000 horse power;
hooksat N. H., 5000 horse power; Bres-
no, Cal, z, 800 horse power; Portland,
Ore, 4,6GO horse power; Minneapolis,
Minn,. H. coo horse power, and several
others.
These plants, as will be noticed are al.
of large capacity, and represent III the
aggregate nearly $4,000 horse power.
There are great MANY smaller installa-
tions, ranging from 2, 900 down TIC as low
as 30 or 60 horse power, thus showing
that this form of power transmission il
not limited to large units. The total
number Of water power plants now in
operation, or in process of construction,
cannot be ascertainsdsa with accuracy,
blu t is known that there are over two
h ca light, power and electric rail-
way stations that derenh exclusively
upon this source of energy, and many
others in whirh it Is used in connection
with steam engines Wdter powers, as
is we'll known, arc not uniform; the flow
of water varies at different periods OF the
year, and in some inst ,nces the variation
between the maximum and tbs mini
mum capacity may he as much as go or
20 per cent. When the minimum power
is sufficient to meet ihe requirements,
water plant alone is usei, but in other
cases it is supplemented By a steam
plant, tho latter being brought into re-
QUESTION rs fast as the water supply falls
snort. In some cases even the maximum
capacity of thu water power is not
sufficient to meet the requirements, SO
that at all periods Of tine wear steam has
to be used. In these composite plants the
total capacity of TIE water power at all
seasons of tire year is fully utilized, and
the steam engines are used TO supply
ONLY the difference, between the energy
thus obtained and the total amount re-
quireh.
What has been accomplished SO far
demonstrates oonclusiyely the feasibility
of transmitting power over long dis
tances on a comm e. chilly successful ba-
sis. At Sacrament Cal, the distance of
transmission is ~ es, at Fresno, Cal,
it is So miles at Ogden Utah. 81 miles.
The distance from Niagara to Buffalo is
81 miles, which is less than the distance
in either Of the thTe, cases above cited
therefore, there can BIS no doubt ms to the
success OF transmission in the latter case,
SO far as the engineering features are
concerned.
Heretofore there has been some Doubt
in the minds Of engineers as to the prac-
ticabllity of long distance transmission,
because 1t WAS doubted whether on cleo
trical pressure sufficiently high to red uce
the cost of copper in the conducting lines
could be used successfully, but 1t has
been shown br the actual operation of
the installations already named that
there is no difficulty to be encountered in
this direction. In n large number OF
cas's the pressure Of the liDeecurrents ia
10000 volts, and in Ogden Utah, Is, 900
will be used. With such pressures the
cost of transmission lines can ba reduced
to point well within permissible limits,
for distances as great as twenty-five
miles, and where the price of fuel is high
enough to increase the cost OF steam
power to a point that will justify
greater loss Of energy in the line, the
distance can be considera My increased
There IS no reason to believe that in a
pressure of ten or fifteen thousand volts
we have reached the limit. If this can
be handled successfully now, 1t is more
than probable that before long twice as
much will be within the possible range
and sunf mn inrraaga in DrGeSura GjIun v