The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-10-20

poured on TO the wires in tbaSa -
Ills, ana the wires resemble a IaLa !,
"hicH Is stored water to snpnly n;,aa
.hat run in all directions. powar 80
me dam at Buckhorn Falls docs no,
20 10 the mill at Spartanbure hn,
49, hohi ~buckhcrn helps to main
an III the level or the lake If aIac
trlc force, and to back ma to -
sure from all directions
Another Great Adyantaue
lie power plants are on several
rivers. flowing from several water
SiieuS, n IN different storm ceptaro
az ulflerent times. This gives anotbar
great advantage. Suppose a yiolent
ram rails on the headWaters of tho
river, and the stream ie full
20 overlooking. The dynamos az al;
the dams along the stream will he
generating force at the highest degree
o. enciency. Possibly at the same
!ne tue water in the Cape Fear is
~" point ana the generators can
not supply sufficient current to meet
the demands OH them. Power from
me river is crowded on the
wires ana the current forces pressure
ndck on the wires that come ND from
and BleWetts Falls, and sur
Plus power reinforces The scarcity.
AS the storm center moves eastward
AihS waite or the Savannah
river is supplemented by the increas-
ing tide that flows in the Catawha The
Aadkln, the Cape Fear, or whatever
stream may be in the path Of the
ram Iall, n the rains are all uti,iz-
eo. AS the power systems east and
west or the mOuntain are connect
eo, the rain Of Tennessee or Georgia
may be used to fortify the weaker
current of North Carolina, or the
oaroiina rivers may be paying back
some OF the debt Of power owed far
.ner west from their own surplus.
mere is another feature of the situa-
tion here on the Appalachian water
sned. This is a feature practically
Wlthou parallel, at least on such
scale, any where else.
Power AS Needed.
This f1exibility of power is another
answer to the question, What of the
night? The factory that depends on
coal in Ohio for instance. can run if
the a is at hand If a blizzard ties
up the coal supply ,as is sometimes
the case, the Ohio mill cannot turn
on wv from the next station. Some
lines the traveller in the big iron and
steel centers of the North, notices an
enormous mountain Of fuel, thousands
and thousands Of tons, piled up at
the mill yards as a pr~ecauation
against a strike at the mines. This
fuel represents an enormous invest
ment OF money in a wholly useless
dead charge. The mill man at the
South never needs to tie up a fortune
IN that way. He gets his power as he
wants 1T, and there he has a decided
advantage. That is another answer
to question of the night.
But this is not yet all Of the i'm
portance of ~f1exibility. All over North
Carolina, north and west Of the fall
lines, where the rivers fiatten out SO
near the seal level they cease TO have
power OF any consequence, are water
powers Of all sizes. Some are big
enough for many big mills. Some are
too small for n big thing alone,
but big enough to supply some power
to be used with more power from
other places. The wire distribution
system means only to gather all the
little and big power in the common
big pool of power on the lines, and
it can be used any place, no matter
where it comes from. With coal
power, natural gas. or oil. the power
must be used where it is found, or
transported at considerable cost.
Electric power moves of it's own
force after the wires are up. Coal
or oil or gas must be moved by force
outside Of itself. The government,
figures say that above six hundred
million tons of coal and coke are
moved in a e on the railroads.
That movement must cost over half
a billion dollars a year. In North
Carolina moving fuel to make power
is not necessary. except in such cases
as emergencies or where water power
is not yet available.
Another Form of FleXihiIity.
Another answer to the question is
found in another form of fexibility Of
electric power.
A great water power is developed
at Niagara Falls in New York. While
in the case of power development,
such as is available in North Caro-
lima, force can be eXerted over SO
long distance because the balance is
fortified at points all along the way,
it is found that the simple transmits
sion of power oyer q wire a long dis
lance without fortification is expensive
in it's WaSteftllnesS. Therefore,, at
Niagara. the use of the poWer is on
fined largely to the immediate vi
~-~ 14,& D. e. % nj