El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-08-01

more power than may be
found at any other water plant in the
world, and this is transformed into
electric power in a remarkable power
house built out in the river, close to
! and parallel with the Iowa shore. The
power house is a part of the one gi-
gantic concrete monOlith that forms
| the whole project, and of itself is 1,718
/ feet long, 1872 feet wide and ~ feet
! high From 1t power is transmitted
! to st. Louis, IA miles away.
In this giant house are to be installed
J 30 of the largest turbine water wheels
/ in existence, Is of them being already
: centers the interest in the whole NAM
! moth project.
/ The generators revOlve above the tur-
/ bines, being fixed to the same shaft
] The turbine and the generator together
( Welgh more than 55O,OOO pounds, and
/ this enormous weight of metal revolves
/ at about the speed of so revolutions a
/ minute The bottom of the turbine
/ wheel IS disk with plane surface
/ SIX feet IN diameter. 1t rests on
/ another disk of the same diameter,
! which is fixed in the bottom of the
pit, and the whole weight of more
7 than half million pounds revOlVes
/ on this plane bearing. If it were not
for perennially effective fabrication
| this installation would not last 10 sec
onds, for the friction would destroy
| both plates.
Oil is forced in between these two
disks under such pressure that a film of
! oil always keeps the two faces separ-
ated, and, as a matter of fact the whole
! $4,000 pounds of the revolving part
rests on the oil. But suppose something
should happen to the oil pumping ma
chinery? Should this oil film fall away,
! then the upper part would drop down
on a set OF roller bearings continually
Immersed in oil, which are set in the
surface of the lower plate Thus the
engineers believe they have taken
every possible precautiOn against injury
TO the plant by the failure of lubrica-
ton, since either method would be suf-
ficient, and it is highly improbable
that both would fail at the same time
Largest Turbines Ever Made.
The turbines are the largest wheels
ever made They had to be cast at
some foundry in the central plain of
the continent as the railroads could
not carry them over the mountains
They were cast at Akron, Ohio, and as
II was the railroads were severely
tested in transporting them to Keokuk.
Water tanks and coal chutes between
Lake Erie and the Mississippi had to
be moved, the car carrying he wheel,
NOnly one was shipped at a timel had
to be routed over many different rail-
roads in order to make the journey
without crossing any but the new style
Of concrete bridges that have no upper
works across the tracks. and executive
officers of the railroads had to ride
with the wheel so as to give the neces-
sary orders for moving a freight house,
or some other obstruction, along the
route when occasion demanded. Each
turbine was a casting of iron weighing
over % tons, being Is - feet in di-
ameter and II IA feet high.
In the power house each wheel Is
set in a concrete chamber of its own.
q chamber built in scroll fashion with
-FOUR openings, each OF different size,
presented to the up stream sweep OF
the water, the partitions between these
openings being OF odd and curious
shapes They are so designed that the
water coming through these openings
viii be swept by the curved surfaces
Of the inner part of the scroll chamber
so that the water will attack every
inch Of the circumference Of the water
wheel with exactly the same force
Then the water is taken off through a
drain at the bottom of the chamber so
that its suction power when leaving
is almost as great as its power when
rushing in against the wheel
Vanes Regulate Power.
Inc actual eXert1On of power on the
buckets on the wheel is regulated by
system OF guide vanes which surround
the wheel and which are so regulated
that when wide open they viii ex-
pose the wheel to the full power OF
the Mississippi and when closed cut
regulated by a sensitive governor, an
automatic device so ingenious that
when street car stops to take on a
passenger in the city Of St Louis. near
~ $50 miles away, and therefore a
little less power is required for a
fraction Of a minute, those vanes will
close Just sufficiently to cut down the
power that much, opening again as
the far away street car again makes
demand for power.
The shaft on which the turbines re-
YolVe is more than two feet in diameter 1
and to the upper part is attached a
huge wheel which is the revolving part |
Of the electric generator This wheel
over 20 feet in diameter, having fixed |
to its rims coils Of wound wire Of /
miles and miles in length This re-
volving field turns within the arma-
ture which is a huge rim fixed to !
the floor of the power chamber above |
the turbine pits The entire genera ]
tor In its case is 81 feet in diameter,
II feet high in the center and over
seven feet high at the rim. When /
the plant is complete there will be 80 I
Of these giant cheese boxes on the |
floor Of the greatest Of all power
plants.
Sends Power IA Miles
The city of st. Louis, IA miles away,
receives its power from KeOkuk over
a transmission line built with the most 1
elaborate precautions against accident |
or interruption of current. The cables |
are made of 10 strands of wire, much |
stronger than ever before used for l
this purpose. They are designed to re-
sist a pull OF $4,000 pounds. giving a |
wide margin Of safety as compared !
with the load of 1000 pounds that !
would be exerted were the cables en- |
cased in half an inch of ice, the tenn |
perature at zero and the wind blowing I
sixty miles an hour.
These cables are carried on steel |
towers, each one of which, on the /
straight sections Of the line. measures !
70 feet in height and twenty feet /
square at the base, the corners OF 1
this square each carrying one leg of 1
the steel tower bOlted to an indie |
pendent reinforced concrete foundation |
weighing two tons, and extending six /
feet into the ground
Electrical and hydraulic engineers |
all over the world have watched with !
intense interest the successful install |
alton Of this greatest OF all power !
plants, and they have willingly crowned /
Hugh L Cooper, the chief engineer
and creative genius of the euterDrise /