The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-08-25


water. which has passed through the
No. / plant, is discharged into a
small reservoir, is then supplemented
by another creek, and then again TAX
en- up and carried through tunnel
over four miles long; then through a
pipe line which again descends hill
side to Power Station No. :, 1850
feet below.
The turbines. instead of being the
type used at Keokuk, are of the So
called Pelton or impulse type and
are simply fly wheels equipped
around the rim with buckets or pad
die wheels. The ends OF the pipe
lines end up in suitable MOBILES, and
the water from these MOBILES squirt
against the paddle wheels, turning
the generators. Each unit requires
two nozzles and the size Of each
stream of water. when the unit is de-
veloping 10000 horse power, is
each 5k inches in diameter. The
stream as it leaves the nozzle travels
with velocity of over 300 feet per
second and is as hard as steel bar.
II you have never seen a Jet under
these conditions, it may be very diff
cult to comprehend how hard it is
and the amount of energy it contains.
i have myself stood alongside OF
such jets of water and chopped at
them with an axe without making
any Impression whatever. have al
SO takea a pair OF ordinary machin-
lists calipers and obtained the diam
eter Of such a stream of. water. 1t
is said that by steadying ones self,
1t is possible to stand on such a
stream of water. / have never tried
this myself, however.
Power Station.
K Each of the above mentioned pow
er stations has two such 10000 horse
power units installed. the intention
being to ultimately install two more
in each power station The units run
at speed of 375 r. p. M, as COM
pared with Keokul's generator speed
of 57.7 r. D. M. and the impulse water
wheels, the same as the Keokuk wa
ter wheels, are the largest ever con-
structed of their type
Tie power station buildings,
which are built large enough to con-
tain the ultimate number of three
units. together with the necessary
switching apparatus, are each III
feet long by 81 feet wide, and are
built of reinforced concrete.
. ssAll of the apparatus in power
house No. was furnished by the
General Electric company, and in
power house NO. . by the Westing-
house Electric G Manufacturing Co.
Thus it will be possible to make
direct comparison between the ap-
paratus Of the two lorgest electrical
manufacturing companies in the
United States.
THE energy is generated at $500
volts, and stepped up through large
transformers to 10000 volts. The
frequency is fifty cycles as compared
with twenty-five cycles at Kcokuk.
THE energy from these two power
houses is transmitted at 10000 volts
for PAL miles to the city of Los An
geles. Tho route crosses two noun
tain ranges at an elevation OF about
5000 feet. Each OF thetwo circuits
are carried on separate tower lines.
The total number of towers is !, 400
LOO for each line) as compared
with 1,041 for the Keokuk's LAG miles
OF st. Louis line. The conductors
are composed Of steel cored alumni
mum.
There are a great many details
concerning the Big Creek develop
ment which are very interesting and
cannot be gone over without taking
too much time, and I will refer any
one who wishes TO learn more of this
remarkable development. to read the
October and November numbers OF
the stone & Webster Public Service
Journal. The magnitude of the enter
it is noted that before the work
could be commenced, it was necessary
TO construct fifty-six miles of stand
ard gauge railroad, from a point near
Fresno Calf. to the site OF the work
The motion pictures will show TINS
railroad, which was built along the
side of the hills, and is naturally
crooked. In the fifty-six miles the
railroad climbs up 400 feet and the
work Of building the railroad was nm
ished complete in less than ffve
months. A special type of geared en-
CINE is necessary in order to climb
the steep grades 1t was also neces-
sary to construct an incline railroad
about a mile and half long up the
side of a hill, having grade OF 50
per cent, the cars being hauled up
this track by an electric moist anu
use of cable"
After the Address.
After. the address by Mr. Sears, X.
B. Rowland. president Of the High
Tension club, took occasion to ex-
Press on behalf of the club, the appre-
citation of the courtesies extended by
c. H. Dodge in helping make the mo-
ton picture part of the program
success.
All plans and arrangements for the
meeting were made by the program
committee consisting of Messrs. J: J.
Mjley, Glen Carlson and j. V. Dev:ne.
Decorations and preparation Of the
v. NJ. C. A. auditorium were taken
care of by the house committee con
sisting of Messrs ]. P. Donovan, w.
q Hemphill and H A. Turner. MT.
Lumberg operated the moving picture
machine.
The officials OF the Y. NJ. G. A. ana
Mr.. Durgee, the secretary Of the asso-
citation were especially courteous IN
their treatment Of the club.