The Washington herald., 1921-03-13
sICANTIC POWER
SYSTEM ERECTED
AT DODGE PLANT
sreat Water Problem Is
Solved in Its
Erection.

The man who goes shivering to
lis cellar moSning after morning
o lay on a few shovels Of coal and
th<xe the crate" will look with
Envious eyes on the immense new
hover plant now being completed
,Dodge Brothers, Detroit motor
u manufacturers. Tons and tons
coal will be consumed there be-
|eath eight huge boilers. but not
Inc shovel will be in sight. It Is to
3 a "shovel-less" plant from be-
mining to end. No coal will be
hoveIed In and no ashes will be
hoveled out. Everything IL to be
|utomatic- A car dumps its fuel
argo into q hopper and passes on.
oon another car comes and receives
load Of ashes-and no human
land will have touched the coal In
he entire process Of transforma-
ion.
There are other equally remark
BILE features of this up-to-date
liant which make a strong appeal
o anyone interested in seeing how
nanufacturers today are solving
problems which would have been
put aside as impossible less than a
generation ago.
The power plant Is designed for
In installed capacity OF 10000 K w.
nd II requires approximately $4,000
kallons OF water a minute for each
XIV. unit There Is no natural water
{uppiy within miles of the factory.
70 take water from the city mains
Npd then waste 1t after passing
bhce through the condenser would
ts out Of the question. Not only
pvould the cost be prohibitive-it
Sould be about 10 cents a thousand
Abic feet or $3.50 an hour-but the
frain Of the city's supply would be
ar too heavy. In other instances
|Fhere similar problems presented
themselves, the solution has been
found in a cooling pond. a large
reservoir where the water was
ltored and used over and over
Eain. In this case, however, 30
large q tract was not available
Not only are property prices ex-
|remely high. but there was danger
hat the spray rising from such a
bond would damage newly-manu-
{actured cars and parts. So this
Ian also was abandoned.
From this problem or eonglomera-
ion of problems grew the plans for
fvhat has now become the largest
pooling tower In the worlds struc-
fure 14s feet long. % feet wide and
"a feet high. It Is capable Of cool
Ing $4,000 gallons of water a minute
from a temperature of los to IS de-
Erees when the outside temperature
u degrees and the relative hu-
fnidity Is 50 per cent. With other
atmospheric conditions, the water
lTfll be cooled to within IS degrees
kf the existing dew point with
ninimum temperature Of As degrees.
This tower effectively disposes of
|he problem which confronted Dodge
Brothers. construction engineers. It
makes possible the repeated use of
fhe same supply of water, with
Ioss Of only per cent due to evapo-
ration. The tower Is of the most
substantial type capable of with
standing wind pressure Of 30 miles
In hour.
Four immense smokestacks. each
s70 feet high and 13 feet in dame
Ier. are being erected. They will be
among the largest in the country.
A1though the power house was not
Itarted until May Is, 1920, II is now
Practically ready for operation. The
rst fire was started February 1.
fany of the factory executives were
present to observe the ceremonies.
Built at cost of $780, 900, the
,pwer plant is without question one