The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-08-30
|kE0kUk'S COLOSSAL WATER POWER
ne q the greatest Achievements History Building
River to Make New Gigantic Manufacturing
bed, and bungalow could be placed
in each one of these outlets.
The Giant Turbines,

The Giant Turbines.
The turbines here compare in d.
mansions with the turbines built hith-
erto as the giant of the story of little
Jack compares with the ordinary man
who is reading this. These turbines
are great masses of steel moulded
and curved In intrivate form. looking
like huge tops as large as a smoke
house spinning upside down.
They work on the principle OF the
screw propeller Of steamship, only
here the moving water turns the
wheel, instead OF the turning wheel
moving the body to which 1t is at
! tached.
These turbines are of new design.
i for the old designs would not WORK
well here and In the gigantic size re.
CURED, and utilize one-tenth more Of
the force in the water than the usual
design of turbine wheels
The Mammoth Lock.
! The Keokuk lock promises to main.
tain the attention of engineers and
/ the world for some time. 1t Is the last
word in lock building and some of Its
features are very interesting to both
engineers and laymen.
The lower gates are of the usual
j pattern opening from the middle back
: against the side walls--but the great
width here of no feet makes them
!, monsters In size and strength to stand
against the forty feet lift and still
| move easily every day to permit the
) passage OF boats.
; The upper gates are entirely new in
!. design and in principle. There are
. two Of them, the gate proper and a
5 guard gate just above 1t for safety's
Q sake. The upper gate is long,
i straight mass OF steel beams which
q will sink down under the water to the
e bottom of the river and allow the
e boats to steam over 1t, after which Il
j. will rise to close the lock again.
e Providing For Contingencies.
t.. The guard gate to the lock is but
e one Of many provisions against ever,
IS possible contingency in these works
n They are built to last thousands o
lie years, and nothing but an earthquake
such as never occurred on this cont
,r nent will ever faze them. The oldes
Of concrete structure In existence toda'
h. is one in Egypt known to be $50
u AL hot 70
er as good as that being used here i
the Mississippi river.
~ One contingency to provide agains
nj is logs. snags and ice floating dow
to the river which must be kept out c
rk the turbine wheels. This done chic
in ly by long ice fender which is
he very ingenious device as big as
xt large railroad bridge. 1t is exactly
concrete bridge with its top Away
above water and the top Of its arche
always below water-the surface
the water will always be at the CO.
- crete line between the top of tt
bridge and the top of the arches, s
i's that logs and ice will be stopped, q
g will all floating bodies; but the watt
will flow unobstructed through III
= spans below exactly as it does in tt
- case of railroad bridge of concret
% This fender is about half mile Tor
70 stretching in long curve from II
- power house to the Iowa shore whel
! there is timber floating boom to {
=, low boats to pass in the summer.
~ And thus Keokuks long drea
=, through forty years, and her siren
q Gus work of almost decade, Is beir
sel made into concrete reality here
- the Mississippi river by her man
W the hour, Hugh L. Cooper. builder
~ great water.powers all over the wes
W. ern hemisphere, who while still on
in' forty-odd years old crowns life
'se achievement by this unparalleled fe
IA of Harvesting the hitherto irresistib
10 Mississippi at its widest, stronge
CT