Evening journal., 1912-01-13
POWER HOUSE
INSPECTION
City Officials FavOrably I'M
pressed With Trolley Gem
pany Facilities

company's power houses. while they
arc being remodeled and enlarged,
Oscar r. Crosby. president of the
Wilmington and Philadelphia Trac-
ton Company, together with several
other attaches of the company, cs-
corted members Of the Street and
Sewer Department, and its executive
stan over the properties last We'd
nesday afternoon.
Mr.. Rudolph who was interviewed
as TO the inspection gives the follow
ing account of the visit
The first plant visited was the large
one below Lea's Mills on The Brandy
wine, which is now known as number
one Here the visitors were shown the
different large generating units etc.
and We're much interested in the mod
ern machinery.
"The addition to this plant was next
visited This is being made into a con-
tinuous building with the old one, but
the construction is different, as the
new building has a concrete roof,
steel window frames and an entirely
different arrangement OF the boilers.
etc. One of the things which at
tracted attention here was a new
large brick stack to carry the smoke
from the boilers and give good draught
under them. This stack is probably
the largest and tallest Of any here
abouts and impressed each Of the
party as a splendid piece of work. In
this plant, the new turbine driven al
ternating dynamo large enough TO
make 4400 kilo-watts at one time is
just being placed
"1n another portion of the same
building and directly facing the
Brandywine. the new boiler plant was
inspected. There are six boilers. each
good for 500 II. p. made by the Edge
moor Iron Co. They are all equipped
with new mechanical automatic stok-
ers to feed the coal into the boiler,
instead of placing it there by hand.
From here the older boiler house
Of this plant was visited, which con-
tains a long row of boilers of about
four thousand horsepower Upon
questioning. Il was learned that II was
not practical to apply the new methods
of firing. as is being done in the pres
ent addition to the power house, tc
this older boiler plant, as the boilers
were placed to low and near the river
and not sufficient room overhead. The
party then passed from the No I plant
to what is known as No. plant
about 500 feet further down She
stream, and in covering this space, the
party noted an immense amount o.
coal stored for future use The eX
PLANTATION of this large storage OF Goa
was that while Il costs considerable
to carry the investment, il is highly
necessary to insure the railway ant
electric lines against shortage Of Goa
i'm case of labor trouble at the mines
OF transportation difficulties.
From the Brandywinc plant the i'm
spection party was taken TO the fiftl
street plant, which for a number O
years was the main generating station
of the Wilmington City Electric Com
pany but is now being turned into
central sub-station. Until recently
there were three power boilers, 10
gether with all the piping, pumps, etc.
five engines and their dynamos. Al
this machinery has been disposed of
] the space being used for converter sets
which change the high voltage alter.
mating current from the plants on
the Brandywine. into low voltage di-
rect current used in the heart Of the
city
Attention was also called to the
fact that until recently. all current
coming into this plant from those on
/ the Brandywinc had been by over
head wires of considerable number
and high voltage, but that recently
conduits and cables have been laid in
the streets complete from the Bran
dywine plant to the Fifth street plant
This was done to further safeguard a
continuous supply of current from
Fifth street and to eliminate some of
/ the overhead high voltage wires from
/ the heart Of the city
The removal of the steam plant from
Fifth and Tatnall streets eliminates
one of the sources of smoke from the
heart Of the city, besides a certain
amount of fire risk. Ii was also ok
planned by using the stokers In con-
nection with the large new stack al
| the Brandywine plant. there win be
very little smoke coming from this
stack
"The directors Of the Street and
Sewer Department were very much
interested i'm the process of evolution
and especially at the amount of work
and material going into portions OF
the plants, which are hidden from
view after a plant is completed.
Everything is being dohe in a most
| permanent manner and will be good
] for years to come: and with the new
machinery being installed and fur
| ther provision for additions the city
will have an abundant supply OF
electricity for all its needs from these
power houses"
Those in the party were Charles
/ A. Rudolph, NJ. d. Murphy. directors
of the Street and Sewer Department; F;
L. " Christy. secretary; Alexander
J. Taylor. city engineer: Frank w.
! Pierson. street commissioner; T..
Crosby, president of the company
| b. O. Ellis. constructing engineer;
f. J. Hensel. superintendent of con-
strucfion of the Traction Company.
George w. Sparks. president of the
Street and Sewer Department. was
absent from the city and conseduent-
! ly unable to accompany the other
members of the department.
ETCH ITpCETC.