The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-06-05
Street Railway Company to
Spend Between $6OO,OOO and
$3.50, 900 at Once.
CAPACITY TO BE ELEVEN
THOUSAND HORSEPOWER
Gigantic Contract for Reserve
Steam Plant on Jordan Goes
to New York Firm.

nounccment is officially made by Presi-
dent William H. Bancroft that contracts
have been let to Westinghouse. Church.
Kerr & Co. OF New York for the II, 600
horsepower reserve station. 1t Will be
located on the Jordan river, near the
company'a present transformer station
and steam plant, and work is already
under way on the prelimlnaries. Inc
cost is not made public, but 1t VIII be be-
| tween 5000. 900 and $3.50. 600.
This plant Will DC Installed for the
purpose OF providing absolutely con-
tinuous supply of electricity for lighting.
power and street railway operations In
Salt Lake and Ogden. IL will be Il re-
serve or emergency plant and II any
thing happens anywhere on the lines IL
ear pick up and carry the entire load,
President Bancroft, Secretary knlcKer-
booker and Assistant General Manager
Hunt left for the east yesterday on busi-
ness pertaining to this gigantic contract:
Ever since the present owners secured
| control of tho Utah Light g. Railway com
pany the annual appropriation has been
for improvements. Extensions have been
planned and more are forthcoming, eie-
CANT cars have been provided; poles have
been removed from the streets; heavy
rails laid and streets paved In line with
the civic betterments. For years II mas
been steadily increasing its efficiency
until this contract puts the finishing touch
upon its plans for generating power 10
meet the requirements OF this growing
city.
Manager Wells Pleased.
General Manager Joseph 5, Wells was
| thoroughly pleased when seen Saturday
| for he has been connected with the conf
pany for twenty-five years, and from the
very first day Of the operation OF the
electric plants has fully realized the nc
cessty OF reserve plant such as now
planned. 1t ~ most important move
| In every way.
The contract has been let TO Westing
lOnSn. Church Kerr * Co. of New YORK,
engineers and contractors This firm has
| an enviable record for rapid and efficient
execution OF engineering works of mag
| nltudc. Perhaps the most important
monument TO their skill and enterprise Is
| the immense new terminal depot con-
structed for the Pennsylvania system In
| the heart OF New York City and Just re-
Gently completed They built the South
Terminal station at Boston and have de-
! signed and constructed several OF the
largest electric generating plants In the
country, They have a complete orsaui-
zatlon for handling work OF this charac-
| ter and can be depended upon TO COM
| plete the job in record time.
The first unit OF this reserve steam
| plant will consist of an 1000 horsepower
electric generator, which will be directly
| connected to and driven by a mammoth
tinuously 1880 electrical horsepower.
This combined unit Is the largest piece
of electrical generating apparatus be-
| tween the Mississippi river and the coast.
|
pump condensors and auxiliary apparatus
| TO make it one of the most efficient
steam plants In the country. Six boiler
| units OF sufficient capacity to provide the
be Installed In building separated from
| the main building by fire wall.
Interesting Feature.
An interesting feature OF this plant will
| be the expense which has been neces-
sary to automatically handle the coal
| from The fine IL leaves the nnin
reaches the ash pile. The steel battle.
ship cars Of the railroad companies win
be run on an elevated ,restle
| concrete storage bins. From this
point the coal will he carried by link belt
conveyors To storage hoppers above the
! boilers, II is dropped as required into
the smoke consuming stokers. These
| stokers are entirely automatic In their
action, and feed the coal into the boilers
in exactly the correct amount to supply
| the necessary steam. II the amount OF
steam required by the engine should in
crease or decrease for any reason the
rate OF supplying the coal would be
| changed accordingly almost before the
| change in pressure could be detected on
| the cages.
| From the stokers the ashes fall into
the cars of an industrial railway system
by means of which they are conveyed to
| tho dump. A fun condensing equipment
| VIII be provided and the pumps used In
| connection with this apparatus are SO ef-
4 ~
solute vacuum will be secured. The ther-
modynamic principles OF the steam tur-
! bne arc such that its efficiency in
crcases with the Increased vacuum and
| the thousands OF dollars which are spent
| to procure this almost perfect vacuum
are returned by the decreased cost OF
the coal consumed.
Piles to Be Driven.
In order TO secure an adequate foun-
dalton for the power house To contain
| this steam and electrical generating
| equipment II will be necessary 10 drive
several hundred piles on the site OF the
| structure. These piles VIII be capped with
| u four-foot bed OF concrete which Will
| insure an absolutely rigid foundation on
| which to erect the structure and set the
machinery. The building will have
steel frame work and brick walls. II
will he OF pleasing design with the same
] style OF architecture as Is used In build
I ings of "A similar character In the east.
| Particular attention will be given to the
| lighting OF the power station and boiler
room, The highest principles OF tumi-
| mating engineering have been used In the
arrangement OF the natural and artificial
| light The floors and roof OF the building
will be OF concrete and the whole con-
| Structioh Will be fire proof.
A masonry stack, twelve feet in diam
| cter and 200 feet in height. viii be
erected just outside OF and adjacent TO
the boiler room to provide the draft for
| the six large batteries boilers.
While the first unit TO be Installed will
be OF 1000 horse power capacity the
building is designed To be expanded I'm
| both directions and space has been pro-
| vided for an ultimate capacity of IS 900
| horse power.
Control Arrangement.
| Perhaps the most interesting OF the
entire design is the switch board and
| switch control arrangement AS has been
| referred to above. the switching OF the
company's entire system of water power
and steam plants and transmission and
| distribution lines has been centered at
tho switch board in this plant
This Is so arranged that any trouble
| from any OF the transmission lines can
be detected and al a moments notice by
merely turning Il switch the reserve power
at this new plant can he placed in opor-
alton and no delay in the street car
movement will result. As is generally
known the company has two generating
plants In Cottonwood canyon. one In Og1
den canyon and one on the Bear river
II" new water power een"r IN,
which II is installing in Weber canyon
Will be completed in couple of months
This new steam plant Will have a capa-
city equal to any two water power gen
Grating stations so that any trouble which
might occur spontaneously to two of
these plants would not impair the com
panys service since the reserve steam