Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

.300 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. POWER-HOUSE NO. 2, NIAGARA FALLS POWER COMPANY. from which the necessary volume of water can be diverted ; penstocks or pipes through, which this diverted water falls; a General lower level into which it can Principles. be discharged; and suitable means—turbines, or water-wheels, placed at the lower end of the penstocks—for convert- ing the kinetic energy, or momentum gained by the water during its fall, into a form of power readily controlled and utilised. This being so, it is quite possible to classify in two more or less well-defined groups the great hydro-electric installations of Niagara. In the installations of the first group, in order to secure the required head of water, deep pits are sunk in the rock for the reception of the turbines, and these are coupled by vertical shafting with their respective gener- ators placed immediately above on the lower floor of the power-house. Where, however, the power-house is built on a level consider- ably below that of the intake chambers, wheel- pits are dispensed with, the turbines are installed on the lowest floor of the power- house, and are coupled direct to generators placed alongside or on an upper floor. For purposes of illustration, let us consider, as especially typical of the first group, the installations of the two associated enterprises —the Niagara Falls and Canadian Niagara Power Companies. Ground was broken at Niagara Falls, New York, in October 1890 for the initial power installation of the American company, and five years later energy was delivered commercially from Niagara Falls .. -*t i i i • , Power its JNo. 1 power-house, which ~ r Company. then had a capacity of 15,000 horse-power. To-day, however, the aggregate amount of power developed by the same com- pany and its allied company on the Canadian side is 220,000 horse-power, with a loss to # the Falls themselves of not more than five per cent, of their total discharge. In these plants the same general design has been followed. The water is drawn from the level of the upper river through intake canals, and is thence distributed to inlet chambers at the head of each penstock, the latter, in the case of the American plants, being 7'5, in that of the Canadian installation 10'2, feet in diameter. The chambers are protected along the front by iron gratings which keep out floating ice, logs, etc., and also, in two of the plants, by an apron wall so built that the water passes from the intake canal into a covered rack chamber through arched openings placed below the surface. ENCLOSED FORE-BAY, SHOWING ICE RACKS, POWER- HOUSE NO. 2, NIAGARA FALLS POWER COMPANY.