Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1911-10-06
POWER FROM BIC PLANT IN VERNON
Story of How It Is Developed, Where Transmitted, and Some Of Its
Large Consumers in Many Cities

house between Vernon and Hinsdale ever
written Is given in the October number of
the General Electric Review. The ar
ticle Is by j. b. Mahoney, station super
intendent, and is illustrated with eight
halftone pictures. 1t begins with a his
torical setting, mentioning the abrupt
turn in the river just before the junction
point of Massa chusetts, Vermont and
New Hampshire, and continues:
Just before the river sweeps around
the short curve previously mentioned, it
breaks into quick water. 1t was long
realized that this fall in the river, togeth-
er with the immense water shed of
| nearly $500 square miles and the prox-
unity Of Massachusetts with its numerous
factories, offered an unparalleled site for
an hydro-electric installation. In the
years 1902 and 1908, a number of public
spirited citizens of B~rattleboro, six miles
up the river, organized a popular sub
scription for the funds necessary to de-
fray the expenses of an investigation to
determine the feasibility Of building a
dam and power house on this site, and in
the same years secured the necessary
charters from the state of New Hamp-
shire. Later they succeeded in interest
ing some Boston capital, and the year
1907 saw active work on the proposition
well under way. In June, 1909, seven
years after the matter was first agitated,
power was first delivered.
The dam prope which also forms the
| SUBWAY, is vi llt OBee type, OUu lttl
long and built of reinforced concrete on
solid rock foundation. For about two
thirds of is length it is hollow, thus pro-
viding for the necessary space required
for flood gate gearing. These gates,
of which there are ten, are motor operat-
ed and made of steel. Each gate Is nine
feet by seven feet and capable of dis
charging 1920 GU. IT. of water per second,
or a grand total of 25, 200 second feet,
which, together with the capacity of the
spillway, will take care of any flood with
out endangering properties bordering the
river. With water at the crest of the
dam, a lake 16 miles long is formed, and
with four feet of flashboa rds in position,
the water is backed up about 80 miles.
The power house is located in the bed
of the river and forms the connecting
link between the dam proper and the
west, or Vermont shore. The substitute
ture is of reinforced concrete and the
superstructure of brick with steel skele-
ton framework. There is one main floor,
216 by SO feet, on which are located the
generators, exciters and switchboard. a
gallery extends the full length of the
building and on this are placed the high
tension switches and busbar. Directly
under this gallery and leading off the
main floor are compartment in which
are installed the transformers, consisting
of four 5000 XIV. and one $500 XIV. units.
A basement on the north side contains
INV III boN - AAAop
bearing pumps, and all necessary shaft
ing for driving them. A second basement
on the south side contains the 1900 volt
busbars and switches, as well as a stor-
age battery transformer oil treating
tanks, and storeroom.
On the east wall of the power house is
located a log sluice for convenience in
passing logs by the DAM, the water pass
ing through this sluiceway being con-
trolled by means of a bear trap dam.
The Connecticut is one of the largest
logging rivers in the country and some
extremely large drives have been made.
on it. This year the drive contains
As, 900. 900 feet Of lumber.
Each generator has a normal capacity
of 2500 XIV. at so per cent power-factor
and is wound for 2300 volts at 60 cycles;
the speed of the generator being 1873 rpm.
The e~xciters are of 300 XIV. capacity and
deliver current at 10 volts. All units
are of the vertical type and are of Gen
eral Electric manufacture. There are a
total of S generators and 2 exciters.
The w~aterwheelS were manufactured
by the S. Morgan Smith Co., each unit
being made up of two so in. runners and
one 81 in. runner. The two lower, or 90
in, runners are used in normal water
conditions and develop the rated power
of the generator under the prevailing
head of 80 to 81 feet. These runners are
regulated by a Type n Lombard govern
or, specially designed for this installa-
ton and capable of full gate travel in
1Ha seconds. The upper, or 81 in. runner
is controlled by means of a handwheel
located on the main floor and is ormall
run idle. In times of flood conditions,
when the effective head is reduced,
these top runners are put in service, thus
compensating for the reduction in head
and equalizing the available power. the
gates on all the wheels are OF the wicket
type.
The entire revolving element Of each
main unit is supported by a thrust bear
ing located in the thrust bearing cham
Der, between the generator and water
wheel. Each unit has al Independent
chain driven tripleX pump, which pumps
the oil direct from an individual settling
tank to the thrust bearing, In addition
to this, a common oil header is provided
with an auxiliary pump driven mechani-
cally from the eXciters for purposes OF
starting and stopping. a second auXil-
larry pump is provided for emergency
purposes. The thrust bearings are OF
very liberal design and support the re-
volving weight of some 40 tons without
any undue heating of the oil, and no
artificial means of cooling the oil is
necessary.
A lignum vitae step block is located at
the extreme lower end Of the shafting to
support the revolving element when at
rest. AS soon as the oil is turned on the
thrust bearing, this step block is reliev-
Ell. The only bearings DeSlueSs tneSe are
the lignum vitae steady bearings In the
waterwheel and two babbitted steady
bearings in the generator. fabrication
is provided for the latter by means of
an electrically driven pump which raises
the oil from a settling tank in the thrust
bearing room to an overhead tank locat-
ed on the high tension gallery, whence
1t flows by gravity through a common
header to the different bearings, A me-
chemically driven pump Is also provided
for emergency purposes.
The eXciters are supported on bearings
of the roller type fabricated from the
same system as that which supplies the
steady bearings OF the generators.
The entrance Of water to each wheel is
controlled by means of two wicket gates
and one large steel gate. This latter
gate is hinged on the bottom and opens
upstream. Its operation is controlled by
means of a chain which extends up to
the main floor, where an electrically OPP
Grated crane may be attached to 1t. The
racks are placed in front of the gates
and in front of these a concrete curtain
wall Q feet in depth is located. About
1900 feet north OF the power house the
shore line extends far out into the river,
thus providing a natural canal for the
station. This, together with the unusual
depth of the pond in the immediate vi
cinity of the installation, has made an
Choir ice and ordinary rack trouble un-
known quantities.
IIIarA fpI1puyo n loonrtption In data n nf