The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1906-09-11
Il STORY ABOUT
TgRBI :.
q! e. MINERS TELLS HOW THEY
WORK AND GIVES PLAIN
ILLUSTRATIONS.

The following article, written by MI
G. Edwin Mayors, Of this clty, apepars
in the current issue of the Mononga-
hsla Valley Trade Journal:
Perhaps some Of my learned and
erudite engineering friends, who have
long since grown somewhat hiase IN
this hustllng era of marvellous tnven-
tfons, viii smile when decant at this
late day ofthe steam engine at Jayenn
turning the street car wheel at Clarks,
burg. twenty-five miles away Yet 1
have heard OF electrical engineers.
graduates Of polytechnic Institutes,
ask Farmer Spruceby how often he
sheared bis hydraulic rams ii order
to get mineral wool for the market.
The steam turbines at JaEenn are
now turning street car wheels at
sbinnston and later on will furnish
the power to carry the people over the
streets Of Clarksburg and Warrington
and may be at no distant day will tur-
nfsh power to other municipalities.
Who knows?
"And how does the engine do this?'
my Irish friend asked. Well. now, Pat,
suppose we had great. big long
,lachshund, His head is in Clarksburg,
his tail at Jayenn. This is "a pretty
doggoned long dog. know Now
when we pat him on the head IN
Clarksburg with sufficient force. we
cause him 10 wag his tail at Jayenn.
This is a better Illustration than to
talk kilowatt, step-down transformers,
high potential, volts and amreres, all
in one lesson.
We will take up arithmetic and ge-
ometry and some other branches OF
mathematics before we graFrle with
lifferential cacnlus, quarternt'us, and
rotary transformers. etc. So we will
assume that there are no polytechnic
graduates in our class, and will pro-
coed, in a general way to discuss some
of the unique features Of this great
electric plant.
I have seen some large electric
plants in Chicago and in other cities
Int there are some features Of the Jay
enn plant which are certainly unique
For instance, with all the abundance
Of coal that the Fafrmont Coal Com
pany will have at it's Robinson Run
mine in Harrison county, the power to
RIM the plant will be generated at Jay
enn. many miles away, and the Jay
enn plant uses natural gus for fuel
So here we are mining coal with nat
nrat gas as a fuel. Many pl9nts are
larger than the one at Jayenn. but
there are none more upt:o date IN
equipment and have in use so many re-
Gently adopted electrical devices. and
so few have natural gas to NC as fuel
The site OF the plant is the old NJ
r round house, about mile south OF
Watson. The local gas "ompany,s
main runs 10 the plant with IS pounds
nressnre. Just outside the building II
ia reduced to eight ounce pressure. al
which pressure it goes to the three
main batteries of boilers. Two drums
and one nest of water tubes constitute
one boiler, and there is 500 horse pow
err to each boiler, or 5000 horse power
in all, with easily so per cent overload
The usual steam pressure is l5o
pounds. and the steam is slperheated
$50 degrees higher than the tempera
ture due TO the pressure. This is done
in order to prevent condensation. IN
other words the hot gas flame plays
AGAINST nest of steel pipes contain
J ing steam, but not water. Ill or the
main piping is steel with welded stee
flanges. All elbows, rs and valves are
likewise of steel. The feed water pip
ing is made of extra heavy brass.
For the first time in the history o.
west Virginia steam turbines are EN-
Moved, and there are four Of them;
two 1000 X. W. or about 1900 horse
mower each, with a guaranteed over
| load capacity OF 100 per cent. These
machines are the Curtis-G"nsral Elec
trio Company type and The smaller
size turbines alone cost In the neigh
borhood of seventeen thousand dollars
which offers a slight cue to the great
cost at which this modern plant Is be
I
ing built.
The steam is admitted into the
steam chest of the turbine through
eight magnettca1ly contro'ied valves
and the speed may be controlled. from
the switch board, many feet distant
These valves are controlled Ivy electro
magnets and are called pilot valves
which. in turn, control tho main ad
mission valves, eight in number. The
number of valves, and the frequency
Of their closing form the governor
The governor is based on the centri
fugal principle and is located on top Of
the turbine. The load may vary from
zero to one thousand amperes, but the
voltage remains constant, and Sc
slight a variation as enc ampere
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