The age-herald., 1899-10-22
The Equipment


 The Equipment
 The equipment of the plant consists of the following building, machinery and wir- ing:
 Building of brick. with slate roof on iron frame: size 140x110 feet.
 One cross compound Corliss engine; cyl finders 22 and 2S inches in diameter; AS stroke making 80 revolutions per minute; fly wheel 25 feet in diameter and 5-foot face
 Two tandem compound Corliss engines; cylinders IS and 30 inches in diameter; 95 revolutions minute; engines provided with Wheeler surface condensers, with air and circulating pumps.
 Steam supplied by two Babcock & Wil- COX boilers and one Caldwell water tube boiler.
 Engines belted to counter shaft. from which dynamos are driven, each pulley be- ing provided with friction clutches, so that any dynamo may be run or an engine op- erated.
 Dynamos consist of three Brush arc ma- chimes, with capacity each of 125 2,000-can- de power lights.
 Three alternating current genera tors of about il 800 16-candle power light capacity
 One multipolar generator, 50Ovolts, 273 am- Ehsres, for power.
 rhe equipment of lamps and wiring is as follows: For public lighting there are in use 172 arc lamps of 2,000-candle power each which are arranged on three circuits of CO., light capacity each: 300 30-candle power se- ries lamps, arranged also on three circuits, each of which can be controlled separately from the switchboard at the power house. These lamps are arranged on the streets to give the greatest benefit from the capacity used. One arc lamp is placed at the inter- sectioon of streets in the business portion of the town, the blocks being 210 feet one way by 315 the other The series lamps are placed in the less frequented portions of the city, and outside of the principal resi- dence portions.
 1,25O Light Consumers
 The commercial system, from which the income of the plant is derived, includes S5 arc lamps now in use. It also contains 15,- 900 16-candle power incandescent lamps, of which II .0O0 are on metres. The whole num- Der never being in use at one time, 1t is considered entirely safe to overwire the capacity of the plant. These incandescent lamps are divided between four circuits for convenience in handling and controlling.
 There are now about 1,25O consumers or lights and nearly fifty consumers for the power system, which is used for motors, elevators, fans, etc. The distributing of 1855 miles of average No. B. & s. gauge wire and 1000 poles complete the equipment.
 The management of the plant is in the hands of the board of bond trustees, who also t1e trustees or tHe DonuS IOr dii city improvements. The transfer was made from the board of public works by an amendment to the city charter this sum- mer.
 Through the entire history of the munfc- ipal control of public works not breath Of suspicion of political jobbery has tainted the management of this form of public en- terprise Neither party in control has giv- ep occasion for criticism, and the result has been a clean administration of the work that has given the best opportunities for securing the fairest test of the operation of the system
 The idea was first put into practical oper- action by the board of public works of which John N. c. Stockton was chairman. Others who have been intimately connected with the successful demonstration of the system have been J. M. Barrs, city attorney, who was the first to demonstrate the feasibility ofithe plan and to prepare the legal papers by which 1t was authorized by the city au- thorities; Telfair Stockton. chairman of the board under which the greatest development of the plant was made and by whom the enlargement of the plant was undertaken; and B. F. Dillon, who Is at present chair man of the board having control of the plant.
 The installation of the plant and it's wide extension through the city into the resi- dences and along the streets have been un- der the personal suprvision of c. O. Pat. terson. electrical engineer, who has incor- porated into 1t many improvements. The superintendent of the plant is R. N. Ellis, C. E