Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1907-01-07
COMPRISING AIR
BY TIDAL POWER
Interesting Tests Now Beinc Conduct
ed on the Maine Coast.

Interesting tests are being made at
South Thomastown. Maine, in the
hydraulic COMPRISING of air by tidal
power. A working model has been in
experimental use for some months,
preliminary to the establishment of a
large plant that Is planned t~o'develop
2,000 horse power. The power will be
distributed for Industrial purposes in
neighboring cities and w ahrough
pipe lines. This general system Of
COMPRISING air by falling water is al
ready in commercial use in several
places in this country and Canada, an
streams where a waterfall produces
the same results that the South Tho
maston experiments would indicate
can be accomplished by the tidal cur
rents. II is the Taylor system which
has been established to develop power
at Norwich. Conn. Magog, Que, near
Ainsworth, -. G., and at Peterborough,
Ont. The tidal plant will remove one
great objection which exists N
streams: There will be no necessity OF
shutting down because of low wateG
for the tidal current passes in and
out twice every day.
The plant at South Thomaston, q
suburb of Rockland, Maine. is the first
to air by the fan Of salt wa
ter. Under this system the rise an |
fall Of the tide are not used for power
purposes in the accepted meaning or
the term, but for s~yphoning. To out
line the proposed plant, which Will
follow tho experimental model, a SHAFT
will be sunk approximately 100 feet
deem and 40 feet in diameter, belliad
out to iarger diameter at the bottom.
Within this win be the inflow shaft
and the outflow shaft. The intlo"
shaft opens into a bellied chamber.
corresponding in form to that Of the
main shaft, though not filling il. ~
the base of the inflow shaft is a conf
cal stone altar. upon which the water
impinges, and is SO divided as to Lbs
crate the entrained air. which rises -
a storage chamber in the rock. The
water, freed OF air, continues on, ris-
ing through the outflow shaft and
emptying limo the tailrace. Special
mean are ~providtd for entraining the
air in the water as 1t enters the inflow
shaft. The air exists in the water n
the form of bubbles. As they descend
their continued air is compressed by
the weight of water above them.
When the air is separated from the
water in the South Thomaston plant i;
will have a pressure of 50 lbs to the
inch.
\ Double Equipment.
This being a tidal plant, it must
have double equipment to a certain
extent. in order that the difference in
level of the water may be taken d
vantage OF on both the ebb and flow
of the tide. These plants will work
on q fall. or difference in level, of n
foot. on the coast of Maine the dif
ference in the tidal level is IL feet.
There is, Of course, n hour in every
twelve that the plant is imperative.
but as tho air storage will run the
plant "a hours without the generation
of additional air the loss from the per-
iod OF idleness is overcome.
This power cannot De developed
everywhere that the tide rises and
There must be a formation
natural or artificial, hat viii
allow the tide to flow through an inlet
passage narrow enough to be damned
at not too great cost and thence on
into an upper basin or reservoir. The
amount of power that can be develop
ed depends entirely upon the area OF
the upper basin. 1t should never be
large for the tide to fill, hut the
IT is the more water viii flow
into it and out of it. and hence the
more 1t is stated that salt wa
ter carries much more air than fresh
water. as may be noted by observing
the difference between the wake of 4
steamboat in salt and fresh water
The coast Of Maine has many of
these natural reservoirs, probably
more than any other state of the un-
and ii is estimated by engineers
that if these different natural powers
were harnessed as units of a system
resultant effect would be over
/ 900. zoe horse power enough to fur
nish more power. after transmission,