The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1922-11-30
Chat On Electricity
CONTINUED from page three)

solid column of water sinking thru
the wheel by its weight. The higher
the penstock, and the column Of
water, the more force exerted upon
the blades. II the blades are not
curved right, If a certain part Of the
passage thru the wheel is smaller
than the rest or IL the curve Of the
blades is too great at certain
place, the terrific weight or pressure
Of the water at that point does
something to the metal-it exerts q
pressure, a friction and a suction
that are SO great that it makes pores
in the metal somewhat like peck
marks. If it keeps on operating, 1t
increases the depth of those peck
marks until they extend thru the
blade. When it reaches that stage
it is on the swift road to ruin. If
the shape of the blade is exactly
right, it will not take this damage
at any one place, but may by long
service become SO all over.
Water Wheel and Generator
The water wheel turns the gen.
orator, both being on the same
shaft. The whole equipment may
be likened to merry-go-round, the
water wheel being at the bottom of
the mast and few feet below the
floor, with the penstock delivering
water to the wheel from the side be-,
meath the floor and there being a
canal or tunnel to draw the water
away from the lower end of the
wheel. The seats on the merry-go-
round correspond to the magnets in
the generator, and they are made Of
copper wire, metals and shellac
bound together in Jumps and con-
nected across with wires. The
magnetic field is the whole space
they whirl in, including, believe,
some space and a ring of apparatus
just outside Of the swinging
magnets.
On the same shafting is a section
Of copper band with creases cut
lengthwise on it and as it turns
around, it is in contact with blocks
of carbon called brushes-you have
them on your automobile generator,
and the wires connected with the
brushes lead the electricity away.
In the case of the merry-go-round
the weight of the mast and the seats
and everything attached to it, is
resting on the bottom of the mast
and on a circular track beneath the
seats, but the shafting Of the gen.
orator rests its weight on single
ring or circular plate near the top
end of the shafting. The shafting is
held in place by bearings at different
places, but the down weight is car
ried by the plate, and it rests on an
other plate that is supported by steel
columns connecting with the foun-
dations below. The generator at
the Thousand Springs plant weighs
thirty-seven tons, and the one at the
Shoshone Falls plant forty-five tons,
and there is no roller bearings nor
ball bearings nor timpan bearings
between the two plates that bear
this great weigh thruout the year
with the, shaft whirling all the time.
They work within a. heavy casing
and are supplied with oil that Is
forced in with a pressure LOT 500
pounds per square inch, The two
plates really never touch each other,
for there is always a film of oil be-
tween them. The shafting in the
Falls plant was installed in
the summer Of 1921 was put to OPP
Grating in September of that year
and has never ! stopped whirling
since nor has ever heated. It has
run cool all that time with the
forty-five tons OF dead weight whirl- |
Ing on those two plates that are
about foot and half across. and