Niagara Falls 100.000-Hp. Development

4] Niagara Falls 100,000 Hp. Development unit to the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company, two waterwheels to the I. P. Morris department of the William Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Building Com- pany, one generator to the General Electric Company and one generator to the Westinghouse Electric & Man- ufacturing Company. On account of the urgent need of this work by the War Department, A-l priority orders were given by it to the builders for the obtaining of materials neces- sary for manufacture and construction, and sympathetic and effective assistance was rendered by all govern- ment departments in carrying out this work. The contracts for the building of these waterwheels as those manufacturing valves, bearings, etc, have mutually taken this step in advance without fail- ure in any particular. The construction work was carried out in the face of unusual obstacles in procuring both labor and materials, yet in al] cases the manufacturers of the principal parts of the apparatus lived up to their agreements as to time of completion. If the and generators were not placed on a basis of com- petitive prices, nor were specific guarantees of effi- ciencies exacted. As all of the power companies on the American side were to be- come one, it was deemed advisable to allow all of the larger manufacturers of this class of apparatus to have an opportunity to show what they could do in the production of these new units, which were expected FIG. 1—THE NEW AND OLD AT NIAGARA NO. 3 At the top are the three new generators rated at 37,500 hp. but capable of developing 40,000 hp. Their magnitude is indicated by comparing them with the desk appearing just above the top of the nearby unit. In the lower left-hand view is a long hall of horizontal shaft generators driven by waterwheels on the oppo- site side of the wall. These wheels are shown in the right-hand view. All of these units are in the Hydraulic Plant No. 3, which is shown in Fig. 5. to be the last word in hydro-electric design. All of the manufacturing companies approached their tasks with enthusiasm and patriotic endeavor to produce the best, and now, when all three of these units are in operation, it is impossible to say that any better apparatus could have been constructed under the most minute specifications and inspection. All of these com- panies not only co-operated fully with the War Depart- ment and the power company in meeting with dispatch the emergency requirements of rush production, but at the same time gave such careful and efficient attention to the whole design and manufacture that the resulting machinery was of the highest class known to the art. Although the machines are of different manufacture, the builders co-operated to produce similarity in their exteriors, thus giving a uniform and pleasing appear- ance to the station. Although the official efficiency tests have not as yet been completed, it is apparent from those already made that the hydraulic efficiency will equal or slightly exceed 93 per cent, and that the efficiency from forebay to the switchboard will be over 90 per cent. The units have each demonstrated their ability to operate continu- ously at 40,000 hp., although the combined operating station output is considered as 100,000 hp. These are at present the largest hydro-electric units in the world, and it is a subject for pride in our Amer- ican manufacturers that these four companies, as well construction and installation had been pushed with the same vigor after the armistice was signed as it was before, it is probable that the first unit would have been put in operation in fourteen months after the word was given by the Secretary of War, but, under the re- duced schedule as to progress, the first unit was not put in operation until nineteen months after authority was received to proceed. The writer wishes to express his appreciation of the loyalty and efficiency of the engineering and con- struction staffs of the Niagara Falls Power Company, which were obliged to make the plans at the same time that the work was in progress, and whose ability and efficiency may be measured b.v the fact that in spending about $8,000,000 less than $1,000 was wasted in changes