The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-12-28
POWER FROM NIAGARA.
How It, Is Watched And Guarded On i&fafE Mh@ Tfe Way to R1,ffa1O


 It's Way to Buffalo.
 The iong-distance distributing plant, by means of which power is delivered to Buffalo, the Tonawandas and Lock- port, consists of three tri-phase, 22,000- volt circuits carried on two seperate poles lines, each approximately twenty two miles long. In North Tonawanda, midway between the power-house and the terminal house in which the cur rent is reduced to a pressure of 11,0O0 volts for underground distribution in Buffalo, is a sub station where the lines are tapped to supply the Tona- wanda Power Company, and where \ fifteen mile branch transmission line, delivering power to Lockport tenants, Is supplied with energy. The care Of ssthe overhead transmission lines is entrusted to a chief lneman living in North TonaWanda His force consists %of two patrolmen and an emergency lineman stationed at the main poWer- house at night and a night emergency 1ineman living at La Sale, about five miles from the power-h house. The lines are inspected daily by two patrolmen, each taking half of the line. while the
 
 on duty on the line at night. two men start from Tonawanda-one toward Buffalo, the other toward the power- house. A man is sent from the termi- nal house at Buffalo to meet the man s from Tonawanda, and the emergency a1tnennan at La Salle follows the line un- SSatt he meets the other man from Tona- wanda. The linenan from the power- house proceeds along the line to La Sale, and reports from there. In this way the entire line can be covered i'll a Nery short time. Reports from the men X are received by means of telephones located in patrol boxes at various { points along the linss
 An emergency wagon, with com plete& equipment of all the appliances and material required for every kind of line repair is stationed at Niagara Fails. in stable whose proprietor is under contract to have the wagon horsed and delivered at the power- s house, ready for a quick trip to any part of the line, at any hour of the night or day, within fifteen minutes after receipt of notice. Another wagon, Similarly equipped, is stationed at ys snnnawanda under the same arrange
 nent.
 5as The night emergency lineman at the sa saan saapo,wer-house has been ordered out for < sftle purpose for which he was appointed < aorfly once in more than two years of service, and in order to keep him occu- Spied fe is made responsible for the { cleanliness of the step-up transformer plant and the cable subways in the poWer-house. The. emergency lineman Fat La Salle has also had a sinecure so lar as night work is concerned, but is employed by. day at one of the electric filters, The maintenance of a line or this character demands constant watch hflilness, and the sometimes dangerous work of remedying defects requires ln- telIigence, nerve and good judgment M A record of more than thirteen con- sec1ltfve months without interruption Aof service due to line trouble. in a re- rion infested with mischievous kite- Hving. stone throwing boys and hunt Aaers. to whom an insulator is shining mark. Is the best evidence of the care and Vigilance with which the work has been performed Among the tasks which the line force has been called f6poiiSto perform are the replacement or broken insulator on a Hive line,' and the removal and replacement of pole or1 the line while in service. Both Of Y these feats were repeatedly performed with conductors charged to potential sof H. GOO volts and each of them has recently been accomplished without &C., gcfdent or Interruption of service with lines in operation at 22,o00 volts.-Phillp VB. Barton in "Cassier's" for January.