The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-06-09
LIGHT FOR ALL.
City Plant Will Soon Have 500
Light Capacity.
No Longer Need For Darkness
ANY Where.
NEW ENGINE IN PLACE
Topeka Will Be In Darkness
For Ten Days.
NEW ENGINE IN PLACE
Ex-Governor Leedy Purchases
the Old Engines.

The people of Topeka may think that
the city electric lights do not run just
to suit them at present, but the service
will be so much improved in few
weeks as to much more than make up
the present deficiency. In fact, the
trouble at present is caused by the i'm
provements that are being made in the
city plant at the corner of Second and
Adams streets.
If the city officials had known that
Jupiter Pluvius was to be so rampant
this spring they would not have had
the work of putting in the new ma
chinery at the plant begin so early, and
it would not have been necessary to
keep one dynamo still so long. A new
engine has been put in, and in order to
get it in place one of the three dynamos
which light the city had to be taken
out. This cut down the city's street
lights just one-third. The work at the
plant has been greatly delayed by the
wet weather, and if it had been known
that the weather would interfere with
the work to such an extent, the dyna-
mo need not have been taken out until
last month, instead of in March.
The new engine which has just been
put in place at the plant is a Corliss
engine of 500 horse power. There is
not a larger engine in the city. Here
tofore there have been three engines of
rs horse power each, so that the plant
gains 275 horse power, and the new en-
CINE can be run more economically
than the other three.
The f1y-wheel on the new engine is 10
feet in diameter and weighs 10 tons. 1t
rotateS at the rate of 20 revolutions per
minute on shaft II inches in diameter.
The energy which it will contain when
it once gets into motion will be some
thing enormous.
A belt AZ inches wide will connect
this wheel with the shaft on which will
be the belt that will run the dynamOs.
This shaft will be 80 feet long and will
be placed where the engines now stand
that run the dynamos
In order to get this shaft into place
it will be necessary to remove the en-
gineS that now run the dynamos, and
while that is being done the plant will
be shut down entirely. That work will
will be giving considerable 1ight-pro-
Viding it is not too cloudy-and will
continue about ten days.
In the meantime the work of getting
the new engine into shape will be COM
pleted. In order to make room for it,
the building had to be extended out to
the paving line on Adams street, and
this necessitated a great deal of work.
When the plant is shut down on Fri
day of next week. the streets will be
dark unless the city authorities can
make arrangements with the Edison
company to light part of the city. An
effort is now being made to bring this
about. The city officers wish to light
Kansas avenue at least from one end to
the other. However, if the nights are
clear there will be very little need of
electric lights during most of the time
the plant will be shut down, as the
moon will be full.
The three engines which are being
taken out have been sold to ex-Gov-
ernOr Leedy, and will be used by him
in his mining operations down at Ga
lena.
When the new plant is completed To-
peka will have one of the best lighting
plants in the west. 1t will have a ca
pacity of 300 arc lights of 1000 candle
power each. Room has been provided
ed when they are needed, which will
give a capacity of 200 additional lights.
There are nearly 60 miles of wire and
upward of 1.400 poles.
There are six circuits and at present
276 lights are used. Circuit No 1 is in
the western part of the city; No. is
in the west central, taking in the terri
tory just west of Harrison street and
it also supplies the vicinity of Wash
burn college; No. 3 takes in the entire
length of Kansas avenue south of the
river, with a few lights on Jackson and
Quincy; No. 4. takes in the Santa Fe
shop district: No. takes in North To-
peka, and No. the southeastern part
of the city.
During the time that only thirds
of the circuits have been available Su-
perintendent Goodrich has tried to treat
all parts of the city as fairly as posi-
Bile. 1t was necessary to keep circuits
3 and D running all the time, as they
Kansas avenue and North To-
peka- The other two circuits have been
and this is the reason that
one set of lights may be burning one
night and out the next.
The lights which the city has been
running have been costing on an aver
age about $40 each per year, and the
cost will probably be reduced beneath
that with the new machinery. Many
cities and towns that depend on plavate
for their lights pay as
high as 800 a year for them, and have
poor service at that.