The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-01
NIAGARA'S MIGHTY FORCE.
The Addition 10 he Made to the EIcc-
tric Stnti0n at the Fails.

From the New York Tribune
Within few months there will be avail
able in the central power station of the
Niagara Falls Power Compeny, at Mag
ara Fails, no less than $4,000 electrical
horsepower, This is an immense amount
Of force. and il is impossible to conceive
what il would be possible TO accomplish by
its application to the industrial field
The additional amount of power men
toned will be made available through the
extension of the plant of the Niagara Falls
Power Company, and this work is one OF
the most interesting in the engineering
line now in progress In New York state
The present power station of this com
pany has three 5000. horsepower genera
tors in operation, making 15OOO-horse-
power in ALL and when the
extension is completed there will
be total of ten great 5000 horse-poW
er turbines and the same number of gem
orators of the same capacity at work turn
ing out their invisible force TO give life to
the factories and railroads for miles
around.
The Illustration in connection with this
article Is view of the deep wheel pit
excavated nearly to It's full depth, which
is l19 feet. The solidity of its walls is
well displayed cut as they are out of
solid rock The width of the pit aver
ages twenty feet but at the top this was
extended in order to provide room for
masonary walls six feet wide carried
down to rock, the width between the walls
being twenty-one feet. Channeling ma
chimes were used to cut the rock which
was then blown out in benches by dyna-
mite, care being taken to see that too
much of the explosive was not used to
disturb the turbines already in place AT
the far end is seen the steplike appear
ance left by the removal of the rock in
han phae ~ IaFt
10 be seen the huge penstoek mouthpieces
fitted into the walls of masonary. and
ready to be connected TO that part of the
penstock which leads down into the pit TO
the turbines. Here and there along the
walls of the pit project the castings on
which the girders of the pit will rest.
This placing of the castings is feature
new to the pit. as in the cd section the
ends of the Orders were placed right in
the walls. The length of the pit extension
is about 294 feet, making the total length
sfbot 4334 At the bottom II being
bricked up to hight of about 40 feet, with
a wall 30 inches thick. This wal Is to
protect the soft tratum of rock at the
bottom from being undermined by the
action of the water and 20 make the rest
ing-place of the turbines more safe. The
old section of the pit is likewise bricked.
and il will be recalled that the tunnels
is bricked the entire length
DR.. Coleman Sellers, the chief engineer
of the Niagara Falls Power Company. has
suggested a notable change in the manner
of supporting the turbines in the pit and
it will be adopted In the old section of
the pit the wheels are supported on inn
mense Orders, but the wheel cases aud
lower penstock elbows in the new pit will
have projecting ribs to support them on
castings. The supports of these ribs Will
be bricked into the walls. In the present
11astf
of the generators is obtained from rotary
transformers, which stand at the end of
the switchboard structure, but with the
competition of the new installation it is
proposed to place four small turbines in
the pit TO operate a like number of excit-
ers inthe powerhouse above. This direct
operation of the exciters will be in the line
of an Improvement which will give an in
dependent source Of supply of current for
the exciters.
The pOwerhouse at Niagara is a big
building as it stands to-day, but its pro-
portions will be greatly enlarged by the
addition, which will cover the wheel pit
and afford room for the installation of
seven more 5.OO0-horse- power generators
The same style of architecture which has
made the power-house 50 much admired
will be closely adhered to, and when il is
completed 1t will be one Of the most i'm
pressive and imposing structures at the
falls. Its entire line of roof will be unbrok-
en- by single chimney, as the power house
will be heated entirely by electricity, the
same as the old building.
The broken rock, or muck" taken from
the wheel pit extension has been used for
filling in beneath the trestle of the Niagara
Junction railway, which is owned by one
of the allied companies Of the Niagara
Falls Power Company. This work of it.
self is a notable Improvement. When the
first section OF the pit was built the
muck was used for filing in and re-
claiming land under water on the Upper
Niagara. In this way many acres were re-
claimed, and on some OF it large factories
stand to-day.
II means much TO the scientific. indus
trial and engineering worlds that the Nj
agara Falls Power Company has thus ear
ly seen the advisabiity of extending and
enarging the capacity of their great pow
reproducing plant When the idea was
first conceived, and II was announced that
the development would be undertaken. the
electric field was far more limited than il
is to-day. Recent years have been years
of wonderful progress, and the movement
of the Niagara Falls Power Company and
its research in many fields have been ma
terial factors in developing electrical mat
ters