The Greeley tribune., 1906-01-25
Power Current, Etc, Discussed
by an Expert

system of electric light and power
transmission, the central station OF
which shall be at Louisville or
Lafayette, an article upon this sub
ject by S. Morgan Bushnell in The
Technical World. may be of inter-
est. Mr.. Bushnell makes two some
what surprising statements. The
first is that it is really cheaper to
haul coal to power plant in city
than to transmit current the same
distance. The second is that steam
power is really cheaper than water
power for the manufacture OF cleo
trical current. He says:
1.-The question Is sometimes asked
why do not the great central station
companies, which depend on steam
generating plants for their power,
locate these plants at the mines
where coal can be procured at a
minimum of cost, and then transmit
the electricity at high voltages to
the cities and towns? The answer
to this lies in the fact that the cost
of coal is only small fraction of
the total cost of producing electric
power; and, Furthermore, the cost of
transporting the coal where the dis
tance Is only 100 or 200 miles is only
a fraction Of the total cost of min
ing and delivering the coal.
''On the other hand, the supplies
for a great central station can be
more easily secured at or near the
city; and the cost of transformers
and expensive pole-line construction
is so great that it will largely offset
any saving in the cost Of coal. The
net saving, therefore, would be so
small that it would not enable the
central station to make enough diff
erence in its rates to have any appre-
c.able effect on the volume of busi-
ness. For example, where current Is
sold at 10 cents kilowatt-hour, a
saving in cost of lilo of cent per
kilowatt-hour would enable the CEN
trail station to make reduction Of
only per cent in price.
But the main point of disadvan-
tage in locating plant near the
mines would be decreased reliabil-
ity in the service, especially in the
larger cities. In cities like New
York. Chicago and Boston, the con-
ductors for supplying current to con-
sumers are run underground, and
consequently there is less chance for
interference in the service than
there is In the case of pole lines,
which not only are exposed to danger
from lightning and storms, but are
more likely to be intertered with in
other ways. 1t is the absolute re-
liability of central station service
which appeals most strongly to the
current consumer In a large city {;
and in comparison with this, a differ
ence Of per cent or even 2 per cent
in the price of the current would
hardly be considered.
Furthermore, the modern central
station is we'll equipped in it's ar
rangements for coal supply. Coal is
shipped direct from the mines, in
hopper. bottomed cars, to the tracks
leading alongside the central station.
At this point it is dumped into hop
pers which lie directly below the
track: and from these hoppers it
runs into buckets on a travelling con-
veyor which carries the coal up to
the top of the building. At the top
OF the building. these buckets are
tripped at various points by trip
ping device, which can be located
wherever it is desired to unload coal.
In this way the coal is loaded into
great hoppers often having capacity
Of more than 100 tons each. From
these hoppers the coal is fed down
to the front Of the boilers into NOV
able chain CRATES, which act as auto
matte stokers and supply the coal
automatically to the boilers.
From the above it may be seen
that the amount of labor expended
in delivering the coal to the boilers
after it leaves the mines, is reduced
to minimum, and that the cost per
unit of power must be correspond
ingly reduced. So thoroughly have
the methods of handling coal and
utilizing steam by the most efficient
processes, been developed, that some
of'the large steam power generating
stations Of today can produce power
as cheaply as some hydraulic power
stations, especially where the water
power station has been compelled to
make immense investments in dams,
sluiceways, and other controlling ap-
paratus, thereby entailing a high
nrpnprfjnr Of Evnl