The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-12-01
Water Power and Electicity.


The closing years Of the nineteenth
century a century which has been SO
full Of change and marked by progress
in so many directions ushcring
in change perhaps more important
in its significance for our own country
than any that has preceded it, even in
this century Of progress. This change
is forcshadowcd BY the striking dcvcl-
opmcnts Of water power for industrial
purposes that have been witnessed in
both Europe and America during the
last six acknowledgements which
would appear to point to the substitu-
ton Of watcr-powcr for steam power
in industry at some future dat" and
to the transfer nf the chief manufac
turing industries from those countries
rich in the possession Of coal to those
rich in the possession Of this modern
rival of coal. namely, water. The va
ter wheel has been replaced By the
turbine which can be adapted to any
head Of water, and b. means Of which
watcr.powcrs Of the greatest magni
tndc may be successfully developed
for industrial purposes. The head Of
water under which the old mil wheels
were worked rarely exceeded twenty
feet, and was generally much below
that limit; day heads Of water Of
one hundred and forty feet and two
hundred and ten feet are being used
at the two power plants at Niagara
Falls, and ut Fresno. in California.
there is a water power plant working
undcra head Of 400 feet. When it
Is remembered that the height or head
OF water is one Of the factors which
determine the amount Of energy de-
vclQpcd, the significance Of these fig
urcS is apparent. AS regards the
amount of power developed under the
old system, one hundred horse power
might be regarded as Il maximum: to-
day there are at Niagara single tur-
bincs which produce 5000 horse pow
cr, and there is 10 proof that even
these enormous wheels represent the
limit in size which may not be safely
exceeded.
Even more important than the re-
suits which have come from the in
stitution Of the turbine for the older
water-whccl are those which have been
produced by the introduction Of clcc-
trio transmission. In the older sys-
tenn the machinery in the mill had to
be coupled directly to the water-whccl
by shafting and gearing, and hence
these old mills were necessarily built
upon the banks Of the rivers and
streams which provided them with
power. In the modern system Of
transmission by alternating electric
currents, the mechanical energy de-
velopcd by the turbine is converted on
the spot into electrical energy by
means Of the dynamo, and this cleo
trical energy is then carried by air
line to the locality where it is to be
used. Thus the modern factory or
mill driven by water power need not
necessarily be situated in mountain
locked valleys. miles from the nearest
railway and remote from the industrial
centres of the world.
The significance Of this new step
forward in the application of water
power to industrial purposes is start
lihg. On the one hand it signifies
that man has at last learned how to
ctfectually master and utilize one Of the
mightiest natural forcaa of the earth
Coal is On cxhnustiblc possession,
and tho day must como when the coal
fields Of the world will be worked out
Our rivers and falls offer, on the other
hand, an inexhaustiblc supply Of en-
ergy; 1for SO long as the heat of the
sun cvaporates the water of the sea
and causes it to fall again as rain up
on the hills, or as snow upon the
mountains, this source will be availa,
bic for the supply of man wants, and
the arrival Of the time when the
earth 5 coal fields will BE- exhausted
need no lor be awaited with mis-
givings- don Spectator.