Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1899-03-06
NEW BIG POWER HOUSE.
Vast Plant Designed For a New
York Railroad Company.
WILL BE THE LARGEST KNOWN.

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company Of New York have recently
been made public. The power house
will he the largest structure of its kind
in the world and within it's walls will
be generated a greater amount of power
than has eve been produced before at
any single station. The most enormous
engines that man uses for single pur-
poses are those which drive the ocean
greyhounds that ply between New York
and Europe. Of these the biggest de-
velop about 80, 900 horsepower.
Within the walls of the new Third
avenue power house there will be massed
engines and boilers capable of producing
more than three times as much power
as this and clustered about them all the
needed devices for sending that power
out over many miles of tracks to propel
street cars. From this one center cars
will be propelled from the p~ostoffice to
the Harlem on Third avenue, from the
East river to the Hudson and we the
miles Of ~ramifcations of the routes of
the Forty second street, Manhattanville
and Amsterdam avenue line, for miles
over the tracks of the One Hundred and
Twenty-ffth street and Tenth avenue
route to Fort George and again above
that to the city line at Yonkers owe the
new routes to be built and finally over
the vast Huckleberry line above the
Harlem and the many extensions which
are likely Don to be made in connection
with these various systems now con-
trolled by the company.
The Third avenue plant will have a
number of features, involving economy
of operation, that are superior to any
in the world. The designing Of the house
has been done by Westinghouse, Church,
Kerr & Co., engineers for the Westing-
house Electric and Manufacturing COM
pany, which has the contract to supply
the whole electric and power plant. The
location of the plant and many other
important matters were determined by
President Elias and Superintendent ].
H. Robertson of the Third avenue road,
while the designing and construction of
the system for distributing the electrical
power are intrusted to DR.. Louis Dun
can, who has been appointed chief en-
gineer of the road. The power house
will stand on the west side Of the Har-
lem river, accessible by water from Ell
ther way, and it will cover the two
blocks between Two Hundred and Six
teenth and Two Hundred and Eigh-
tenth streets. 1t will be $40 feet long
and $50 feet wide. Within it will be
divided lengthwise into two portions,
each Of about the same shape and area,
n to be used for boilers and the other
for engines and generators, and these
two portions will be marked in the outer
design of the building.
The half nearer the river, measuring
about 800 by 1875 feet, will form the
boiler house, having above the boilers a
great 10, 900 ton coal bin. This portion
Of the building will be about 100 feet
tall. At each corner will be a low,
square tower, while above the whole
will tower four steel stacks, each an
other hundred feet high. The other half
Of the building will be about half as
tall, with its roof taking the form of it's
round arched steel girders, while for
architectural effect the higher portion,
although rooted in the same way struc-
turally, will be built up to a square con-
tour. The site Of the structure is of al
luvial sand, and over the whole area of
nearly two acres q foundation of piles
and concrete must be laid. The super
structure will be of steel frame, with
walls Of stone, brick and terra Gotta,
and much skill has been employed to
design it in such a way that it shall not
be a public eyesore.
The economies Of design begin at the
water side, where wharfage facilities
for receiving coal are to be provided.
Coal will arrive in barges OF %schooners,
and by means of mechanical hoists and
conveyers it is expected to put it into
the bin at the boiler house at a cost SO
small that it will be just about equal
to the money saved on demurrage Of
vessels. Few persons realize the enor-
nous amount of coal which such a
plant will consume. Under the best
practice, where the loads on engines are
constant, it takes ~ pounds Of coal
for each horsepower an hour. If the
station were run at it's full capacity "a
hours q day, the daily consumption
would be about 1, 800 tons.
It is estimated, however, that the
loads will require an average of about
$40, 900 horsepower, and this at two
pounds of coal an hour will require
nearly l, 900 tons Of coal a day. Once
in the bin at the top Of the boiler house
the coal is never moved again except
by gravity. It flows down shoots to
pockets at the front of each boiler, and
from these pockets it is thrust into the
furnaces by strong hands Of iron and
then moved forward from CRATE bar to
crate bar Of the furnace by mechanical
stokers until finally at the end the ashes
and clinkers are dropped through a
trapdoor and sent through other shoots
N their way to waiting boats, which
carry them of.
There are so boilers. each rated at
$40 horsepower, and these are arranged
in double rows two tiers high. There
are two furnaces to q boiler, and if the
boilers were cared for in the old way IL
would require n man to stoke each
boiler. Working "a hours q day and al.
lowing for q number Of boilers being
out Of use part Of the time, about 100
fremen would be required to feed then.
Notice for Publication.