Omaha daily bee., 1899-12-15

AILY BEL FRIDAY, ID
transformer house and there is run through
step-up transformer by means OF which
the voltage is increased to il COO That. of
course, means corresponding decrease in
the volume 1t has been found more eco
nomi.al to transmit electricity long dis
/ tances at high pressure in small volume.
! A transformer in its simplest form Il,
| simply two coils OF wire, one within the
other. II 1t is desired to increase the volt
age the current enters the coil composed (
the smaller number Of wlndings and an in,
duced current is created in the other coil.
/ the increase being in proportion to the
ratio of windings. In the transformers
| which change the voltage Of the Buffalo
| curreut at the Falls the ratio is five to one.
! The current as 1t leaves these TRANSFORMS
ers is what is known as a three phase.
which is transmitted to Buffalo on two sets
Of three wires, each one being reserve.
Twenty-four miles OF overhead line have
/ been constructed to deliver the power at
the city line where it is received by the
Cataract Power and Conduit company which
is the lC7al company for the distribution
and eale Of Niagara Falls power in Buffalo
At the terminal house, situated on Niagara
street near the city line. the cables are
placed underground. This underground
construction is of the most perfect charac-
ter known The three copper cables which
carry the current from th. Falls are ioinI.
on one large, thoroughly insulated crple on
cased in lead. There are now Isl 600 feet
of this heavy cable laid in Buffalo The
cables are run through tile conduits laid in
concrete, with manholes every few hun
dred feet, so that they may be easily
reached for repair, for new connections or
for any other purpose. Practically the en-
tire system is underground. There are only
a few exceptions, where some customers
are supplied with the current by overhead
wires running from the various transform
ers stations of the company located at con-
venieut parts of the city.
Electrical Industries.
Around the main power houee at Niagara
has grown up number of industries oper-
ated by electricity and others are projected.
The most important feature of those in oper-
alton is that they are, with one or two oX-
ceptions, the outgrowth of electrical mower
development. They could not be operated
by steam power. Electricity is their life.
Among them are the making of carborun
dunn, alkali, carbide of calcium. carbide of
silicum and many chemical compounds.
The largest of the industries is the Inter
national Paper company, adjoining the
power house Hundreds of cords of spruce
logs are ground up into pulp every day
and from that the product goes from tank
to tank and from machine to machine until
it runs out in great rolls, completed sheet
OF white paper, with never a touch of human
hand from the time the spruce log is put
in the crusher until the white paper, dried
and ready for market winds itself in a big
roll, not to be unwound until it reaches
a newspaper Office This mill turns out 125
tons of finished paper day and it grinds
over a hundred tons of wood into pulp.
There are thirteen buildings in the plant.
Paper making at the Falls was followed
by aluminium making and in the use of the
electric power the aluminium plant has led
the paper mill by years. The Tittsburg Re-
duction company plant is as big as the pa
per mill and suce the discovery OF the elec-
trolitic process of making aluminium this
concern has used the electric heat. Next to
the making of aluminium Genes the making
of carborundum. The Carborundum COM
pany has one big plant there and has a
great deal larger factory in the process of
building. The new building will cover al
most a city block and there will be employ
ment for several hundred men. OF all
known carbons carborundum is the hardest
next TO the carbon in diamond. 1t is made
by mixing powdered carbon and silica and
then subjecting them to a tremendous de-
gree of electric heat that is obtained in an
incandescent furnace made of mixture of
powdered coke, pure sand, salt and sawdust,
in a box made of firebricks, at either end
of which is a carbon rod. The electricity
turned into this produces an intense heat,
which brings about the chemical changes
and produces the crystals of carborundum.
n takes a thOuSand hOrsepnwpr Of aleptrir-
ity to produce the heat that is necessary and
this is continued in varying degree for
thirtysiX solid hours. When the crystals
are made they are crushed and put in huge
tanks with sulphuric acid which is heated
up to the boiling point. This removes the
impurities from the crystals 1t takes sew
eral days to do that work. Next the sui
phuric acid is washed out and the product
is dried and graded and finally pressed into
wheels that are harder than emery-harder
than any known substance save diamonds.
There are a hundred grades OF the wheels
made The whole process is dry to tell
about at length, but it is of very great in
terest to watch and there is so much detail
in it that the watcher marvela at the pa
tience that it has taken to work it, out.
While the heat required is intense IL must
not be above a certain degree. If it gets
above that degree the material used decom-
poses and is spoiled 1t is as exact bust
ness as the pudding and rolling of iron or
steel plates.
Chemical Compounds.
Another industry has grown up near the
carborundum works. 1t is known as the
Mathieson Alkali works. 1t is the property Of
a young man only few years out of college.
He has a process of making caustic soda and
bleaching powder out of common salt and
he's doing business of $1,000 a day with
scarcely any labor. The electric current
and electric heat do the whole thing and
labor is the minimum item in the cost of the
product.
Two other industries that have developed
through the electric power are the making of
sodium by the Niagara Electro Chemical
company, and the making of chemical com
pounds by the Oldbury Electro Chemical
company. Each OF the concerns has erected
large plant and each employs many labor
ers.
The making OF carbide of calcium is still
another industry at Niagara. Carbide OF