New-York tribune., 1899-01-10
A MATTER OF TUNNELS.
WESTINGHOUSE MACHINERY AND IT'S
TRANSPORTATION
PrTTsBURG's POSITION AS AN ELECTRICAL
CENTRE.

P1TTsBURG's POSITION AS AN ELECTRICAL
CENTRE.
The making of gigantic electrical generators or
dynamos has reached that stage IN this city where
the limitation Is merely matter OF railway tun-
nels In other words. when the main castings
which go to make up one of the monster gener-
ators made at the works OF the Westinghouse
Electric and Manufacturing Company attain a
height OF sixteen feet all they have just two
inches Of leeway In the railway tunnels through
which they must pass This is the extreme limit
from rail to roof and II the machines are larger,
as TO their component parts. they must either be
shipped by tunnelless route the tunnels must
be enlarged. Neither OF these conditions being
possible the evolution OF the Pittsburg made dyna-
mo seems up against" interesting phase Par
ticulary Is this the when 1t is recalled that
this limit Of size has been almost reached In the
5000 horsepower generators recently ordered and
now In process OF building ut the wonderful West
inghouse shops at East Pittsburg.
There are men prominent In the arts and sci
ences who have come thousands OF miles by land
and ocean to visit the cluster Of shops which
stretch from East Pittsburg to Wilmerding. and
which include the machine company. the Electric
and Manufacturing Company and the Airbrake
Company-all with tho prefix of westinghouse" ="
These men have gone away expressing themselves
frankly as full Of amazement at what they saw.
There are very few Pittsburgers Of the hundreds
of thousands that dwell within short ride OF
these works who have a clear idea OF what IS
done there though the average Pittsburger
possesses n feeling N pride that such big con-
Germ fourishes here.
Whether Pittsburg is art centre or music
centre are as yet open questions But there is no
manner OF doubt as to this city's supremacy in the
Industry which has for its object the making OF
electrical mechanism. from the most delicate meter
20 a dynamo by far the most potent built In the
boIa ,ovif MI thotf Had thaSa
great industries is that pertaining to a Pittsburg
man. the bright young men whose brains are con-
stantly employed in developing and perfecting the
varied AMI intricate mechanism bearing the West
nghousc name plate virtually Pittsburgers the
machines designed and built here, and nearly
every part Is a Pittsburg product. In short. every
dynamo or motor sent out from East Pittsburg Is
a part OF Pttsburg; essentially product OF this
wonderful cit.
The electric generator dealing as It does with
force utterly unlike that which Is evolved by a
steam engine II. perforce. wholly unlike that IA
miliar machine. The processes followed in its con-
structcn are therefore entirely at variance with
those which result in modern engine whose
motive power is steam. Hence in the Westing-
house shops there is not a shape or form assumed
by metal which is suggestive OF the engine builders
art. and should good old Watt or Stephenson. or
Fulton. once again come to earth they would see
nothing in the East Pitts5urg establishment which
they could understand Even modern machnist
who had known dynamo only a completed de-
Vice would be puzzled before the queerly shaped
and ponderous masses ~ steel ranged about the
great establishment The latter in itself Is a
der OF its kind Its stretches along tho shores ot
turbd Turtle Creek for a length of 754 feet and It's
width is 23l feet 1t IS doubtful II in the whole
world OF Industrial enterprises there is afforded
such n sight as is presented by the central aisle
of this shop. It appears. full OF the intense
and well directed activity caused by tremendous
orders captured from the most powerful
petitors in this line OF industry this continent
To this place are brought the castings made by
the company's foundry in Allegheny. The most
impressive Of these the massive arches. which.
when boted together form the "feld" OF each
generator and as such encrcle the rapidly
volving heart and soul Of the machine. the "arma-
ture" In these two main features are comprised
some six hundred parts. and the completed
chine Is without doubt triumph Of modern me-
chanical art the rerfectns OF those generators'
ponen Pc 1 parts 50 as to Yield the best results in
electricity to render It most potent and ser.
vceable have been employed the best efforts OF
which this century has produced In comparison
with the perfected dynamo. the best steam engine
The reason that the vapor OF boiling water is as
different from the electric current as the light
over placid lake. 1t is the mission Of the dyna.
mo. generator TO convert the power evolved
trcal energy and to send this through long or
short distances the place where it's services are
required When hundred years ago, Ben Frank
lin drew an electrical spark from the string Of his
kite he proclaimed the dawn Of new era. But
Franklin in the widest flights of his imagination.
never dreamed OF the coming Of time when In
his own State there should be built machine
capable OF developing the energy ~ thunderbolt,
and Of SO controlling and continuing that energy
as to make 1t the equivalent 70 the strength of five
thousand horses
But In East Pttsburg to Braddocks stored
ha mir
hourly and four thousand human beings labor
with skilled brains and hands to create machines
bv means Of which the might OF Niagara does
mems bidding or the power OF steam serves man
in hundred ways. The machines born on the
banks OF Turtle Crock are propelling cars and
lighting cities in all parts Of the world. and while
so doing establishing the fact OF Pttsburg's peer
lessness in this line Of manufacturing activity.
The great shop is no less admirable as such than
are its products. The most casual glance must
note the system which prevails. and the con-
sciousness follows that here the highest grade OF
skill IN every department hnds employment The
place in Itself is vast, perfectly balanced ma
chine in which and through which the triumph
OF mind over matter is perfectly accomplished and
whereby there IL created that which makes OF cleo
triciy long unfettered and untamed. willing and
most tractable servitor.-Crhe Pittsburg Dispatch
CREG4N RETNSTlTED.