Los Angeles herald., 1909-06-05
HUNTINGTON BEACH
GETS A MOTOR PIER
CONTRACT is LET FOR NEW
STRUCTURE
Seashore City viii Be First One to
Benefit by Plan to Draw Power
from the Ocean
Waves
Branches: 9th and Main
2426 South Hoover Street

Contracts have been let for 500-foot
pier of an advanced design to be erect
ed at the foot of Twenty-tirst street,
Huntington Beach. The California
Wave Motor company has awarded the
contract to the Mercereau Construc-
ton company and the pier will be COM
pleted by July 10.
According to the specifications the
wharf will be one of the most substan-
tial structures ever erected in Calltor-
mia waters The outer 800 feet of the
pier is of special design, and when
completed, the contractors declare, VIII
be one of the strongest and most rlgld
fabrics of the sort ever finished. Inc
company intends to place on the outer
end of the pier twenty wave motor
units, each one capable of developing
from twelve to twenty-one horse
power. With these motors connected
to dynamos electricity will be gener-
ated in sufficient quantity to supply
the needs of Huntington Beach and
other nearby cities. After the first
twenty units are producing heat light
and power for the smaller cities and
towns, the directors of the company
declare twenty more motors Will be
placed in the water. at the end of the
wharf. Within a year, it is predicted,
Long Beach councilmen will be called
upon to consider the proposition of the
wave Motor company to furnish illu-
mination and power to that enterprise
ing municipality and to private par
ties for factories and domestic use.
1--WE will soon be turning the wheels
of Southern California, and after that
the rest of the state, the coast and then
the entire world" said Alva l.. Key
nolds. the inventor of the wave motor.
"Tt is now an established fact that we
cc, produce unlimited power at cost
60 small that the fuel consumers do not
dare figure it out.
'T,ong before the power in the form
of electricity is brought down from the
owens river aqueduct we will be here
with an unlimited amount and Los An
geles people will be the first to bene-
fit by the cheaper power 1t VIII lower
the cost of transportation and the cost
of manufacturing power. This will, of
course. give local manufacturers an
advantage over other localities. 1t is
our intention first to develop power on
the Southern California coast, then to
go up the shore"
Asked about the comparative cost of
production between electricity pro-
duced from steam and from the ocean
waves, Mr.. Reynolds said:
"That is a matter engineers have
considered very carefully. OF course
the fuel burners have little show in
such comparisons Every one will ad-
nit that a motor such as ours, of
cheap and simple construction, will
produce power at an infinitesimal cost
far cheaper than any plant operated
by any kind of fuel consuming engine.
favorable comparison can be made
even If we figure with only ten horse
mower units, and that is the minimum
we have produced under the most un-
favorable conditions According to the
report of the Philadelphia Rapid Tran
sit company, the fuel cost for a 1900
horsepower plant figures between $45,-
900 and $5O,O0O per year, while operating
expenses will double this amount. Now
that fuel bill in our case will be clear
saving and the cost of establishing our