Evening star., 1940-12-21
BIuckout
Continued From First Page)

automatic safety device which shuts
them off when the electricity is
stopped.
Servicemen were swamped with
orders to turn the burners back on
A few minor eXplosions-cailed
''puffs blew doors of burners of all
old type not equipped with the
safety device. One company said it
had 5000 calls for service and an
other had 600.
Radio Stations Off the Air.
Another explosion occurred in the
Lincoln National Bank at Seventh
and D streets NV, but did almost
no damage. The third explosion was
reported in residence at 1921
Swami street NV.
The power failed in the dark be-
fore dawn, and street lights in many
parts of town dimmed or went off
altogether Radio stations were off
the air Is TO nearly As minutes.
The power failure extended to the
Maryland counties which lie across
the District line and to Baltimore
Areas in nearby Virginia served by
the Potomac Electric Power Co were
likewise affected.
The White House was included in
the blackout, but it was reported
that members of the presidential
family and the staff suffered little
inconvenience because of the early
hour.
Post Office Work Halted.
The machinery of the District
Post Office was stopped for As
minutes. Postmaster Vincent Burke
said. causing a serious delay"
Letter carriers-regular rs we'll as
temporary workers employed for the
Christmas rush-stood idle. while
machinery used for canceling and
handling mail was shut down. Post
Offices were in darkness. Mr.. Burke S
record showed the post office power
failure lasting for As minutes-halt-
ing the work of 5000 employees.
Many persons whose kitchens are
equipped with electric ranges were
forced to 60 without breakfast. De-
liveries of food to restaurants and
hotels were delayed and breakfast
menus were hastily revised.
Electric clocks went off in thou
sands of homes. causing many
people to be late for work.
A 10000 horsepower generator
blew out at the State Harbor plant
of the Consolidated Gas g. Electric
Co., causing trouble in varying de-
grees throughout entire territory
served by that station. The plant
superintendent there said some ef-
feet was felt throughout Eastern
Pennsylvania. Maryland and the
District, although the Washington
area seemed to be the most seriously
crippled.
The superintendent said the cause
of the failure had not been deter
mined by 10 o'clock and that the
difficulty in dismantling the gen.
orator would delay discovery of the
trouble source for hours.
The plant. he said. has seven such
generators. but failure of one is suff1-
cient to cripple, to some extent, the
entire system.
The Potomas Electric Power Co.
was able to give little information
about either the cause or the extent
of the power failure j. II. Ferry,
chief engineer, summoned all de-
partment heads to his Office early in
the morning in an effort to gather
all information.
Extra Load Here Causes Failure.
Mr.. Ferry said that he understood
that trouble had developed in gen.
orators in Safe Harbor station and
spread to Baltimore and then to
Washington. An extra load of elec-
tricity was suddenly thrown on the
Washington stations, he said, caus-
ing failure of the machinery in the
plants at Buzzards Point and Ben
ming.
These two steam generating plants
supply most of the electric power
for Washington, being supplemented
by power from the Safe Harbor sta
ton. The Safe Harbor failure
knocked out" some of the generat-
ing equipment in the local stations,
Mr.. Ferry said.
At no time were there a complete
power failure throughout the en-
tire CITY. he said