Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-12-01

10 warm the Capitol the Library, the OF
fice buildings and the proposed new SG T.
four large turbine generators and sixteen
big boilers. The water for these boilers
is furnished through an Independent
pumping plant built In the Potomac river
and operated by electricity from the pow
er station.
There are three big centrifugal pumps.
located several feet below extreme low
water mark,
Millions Of Gallons which can deliver
Every Hour. Of Water an hour.
special sewer leads from the power
plant to the river and a thirty six-inch
pipe carries the water from the river to
the boilers. Between the power plant
and the various buildings is big con-
duit 5000 feet long, seven feet high and
four and a half feet wide Inside of this
conduit is fourteen-inch steam pipe.
which brings to the legislative buildings
all the steam needed for heating the
I, 400 rooms and also for the cooking and
baking plants Of the restaurants of the
various buildings.
This pipe line is a thing of wonderful
construction. At intervals Of $50 feet
joints have been made which are steam
lisut anu yet permit lIlc pipes " lCH6lh
en- out or shorten up as occasion may re-
Quire For efficiency Of operation the
plant has been a surprise to those who
planned it. They thought there would
be enough condensation of steam by loss
Of heat between the power house and the
Capitol to return a constant stream OF
water. But SO perfect has been the in
sulation that there IL no water to come
back. The steam makes Its long journey
and comes back drier than 1t leaves the
Dlant in many power house.
There are some remarkably ingenious de-
vices connected with the plant. 1t is ex
pected to use about 25.OoO tons of coal
year, and every ounce Of it is unlOaded,
weighed, placed in boilers. stocked and the
ashes removed by machinery. A railroad
switch brings the coal cars to the door: a
Strengthening scale weighs 1t, a ma
chine brushes 1t to the proper size, and
hoppers above. Here 1t flows by gravity
into the chutes which admit it to the fur
naceS, and the feeding attachment is so
arranged that the efficiency Of each boiler
may be followed every day. The mechan-
ical stokers insure peri ct combustion. and
the ashes are carried out by a conveyor
system and dumped directly into waiting
cars.
To make sure that the power plant will
never face an emergency which cannot be
Provisions Made has been spared.
for Emergencies storage " hatte1v
kept fully charged at all times. If any
thing goes wrong with the dynamos. an
automatic switch cuts out the genera
tors and hooks up the cables with the
storage batteries, and everything goes on
as serenely in the substations as though
nothing had happened. Then there arr
two big cables to the buildings, wherr
one would be deemed sufficient in the or
binary commercial plant.
Deducting the cos: OF heating tn group
Of buildings from the total cost of main
tanning the new plant, it is expected that
the igures will show that the gov rnmenl
gets it's lighting current CHI aper than
any. commercial plant in America can
produce 1t. The production OF electricity
is almost q by-product of the heating
plant. and adds comparatively little to
the expense of constructing or maintain
ing tho big power plant Here, as in
every other part Of the big legislative
Institution. nothing Is left undone that
would be conducive to good and whole
some legislation for the American peopl.
TOuorrow-MEETXNG OF CONGRESS-.
u.-PREPARING FOR THE
OPENING.