Phedotikov / 1 / FreeEnergy_27.01.08 / !Информация / Nikolo Tesla / Tesla's science of energy

In regard to the comparative cheapness of power in

Buffalo

he

said

that

were

electricity as high in price as steam it

would

be

cheaper

for

use,

as

there

was

nothing

required

in the way of skilled

labor

to

use

it.

Anyone

could

shut it

off

and

turn on

an

electric

current,

but

only

a

few

could

run

a

steam

engine.

Then

the

convenience

of

electrical

power

over

steam

power

in

manufacturing

was

so

great that its value was manifold

in

this

direction.

The

cost,

however,

in

Buffalo

for

electric

power

transmitted

from

this

city,

he

did

not

know

as

he

was

not

connected

with

the

power

company.

Secretary

Rankine

came

to

his

aid

here and said, "You can say it will cost one half what steam power cost there."

"Mr. Tesla, what is your opinion of the effect

of

this

development

of

power

on

Buffalo and Niagara Falls," was asked of

the

great

inventor

as

he

was

turning

away.

"The

effect

will

be

that both

cities

will

stretch

out

their

arms

until

they

meet,"

he said

in

an

enthusiastic

manner,

which

indicated

the

true

characteristics

of

the

man so clearly.

Secretary Rankine stated that the object of the

party

here

was

purely

one

of

a

personal nature. The company has adopted

Tesla's

system

of

a

two

phase

current for transmitting power and they

also

use

two

of

Tesla's

motors

for

starting

the

big

dynamos

and

Mr.

Westinghouse

has

made

all

of

the

machinery

for

the

company and

consequently

both

men

were

interested

in

the

plant

here.

The visit of Commodore Melville

of

the

navy

was

one

of

inspection.

That

officer is deeply interested at present in

improving

in

every

way

possible

the

electrical

machinery

on

the

new

warships

now

being

built

He

was

the

guest

of

the Power Company's officials and took great interest in all he saw here.

The visitors departed yesterday afternoon on the

West

Shore

for

New

York

at

5

o'clock.

The last article that I

discovered

was

printed

during

the

time

of

celebration

of

the

great accomplishment of AC power generation and transmission

to

the

distant

city

of

Buffalo.

Dated

January

11,

1897, this

article

from

the

Niagara

Gazette is

entitled,

"Are Coming

to

This

City"

with

subtitles,

"Many

prominent

men

who

are

interested

in the big power development; Important

meeting

to

be

held;

The

directors

of

the

Cataract

Construction

Company

will

probably

take

some

important

steps

regarding

new contracts. The visitors will attend a great banquet in Buffalo tomorrow night."

Knowing the

historical

value

of

this

last

article

to

mention

Tesla,

let

me

take

the

liberty of quoting it in its entirety:

Tomorrow

morning

a

special

car

will

bring

to

this

city

from

New

York

nearly

all

the

directors

of

the

Cataract

Construction

Company,

also

officers

of

the

Power

Company

and

some

of

the

most

noted

electricians

in

the

world.

A

meeting

of

the

Cataract

Construction

Company

is

to

be

held

here,

an

inspection

of

the

work

in

progress made and some important steps

are

to

be

taken

regarding new contracts, etc.

Tomorrow

night

Buffalo will formally celebrate the coming

to

that

city

of

electric

power

for

commercial

purpose.

The

celebration

is

to be

in

the

form

of

a

banquet

given

at

the

Ellicott

Club, and

to

which many

distinguished

guests

are invited and will be present. This banquet is the only method

Buffalo

has

of

celebrating

and

to

those

who

are

to

be

present

it

is

a

glorious

way.

The menu is

to be fine, in fact

it is to be the

very best that any 350 men ever

sat

down

to,

and

the

main

feature of

the

occasion

will

be

the

toasts

and

addresses

made

by some

of

the

greatest

men

of

the

day

in

advancing

electrical

science

and

turning

it

into

Swinging around the Canadian

l u l l s , also referred to

as the "Horseshoe

Falls"

because of their shape, we see

the land mass between

the Fal l s called

"Goat Island"

collapse

of

the

cliff

above

the

#3B

and

#3C plants occurred. The wall

was

never

finished

with

the fine masonary work that

still covers the #3A cliff on the

left

to

this

day. The entire Schoellkopf facility was

rated at 365,000 kilowatts before disaster

struck

and

part

of

it

was

restored

to

95,000

kilowatts

for

a

couple

of

years

afterwards.

Within

three

years

after the

Schoellkopf

Plant #3A was razed, the Robert Moses

Niagara Power Plant was opened, with a

capacity

of

1,950,000

kilowatts,

enough

to

supply

a

city

the size

of

Chicago

today

with

electricity.

Its thirteen

generators

are

the

largest

of

their

kind

ever constructed

by

an

American

manufacturer.

For

comparison,

the

Grand

Coulee

generators

are

rated

at

108,000

kilowatts.

Tesla

was

right

when

he foresaw the enormous power potential of Niagara

Falls. The

Robert

Moses

Plant

required 3,650,000 cubic yards of concrete and 284,000,000 pounds of

reinforcing

steel.

Power

is

produced

at

13,800

volts

and

stepped

up

to

the

current

high

voltage

limit

of

365,000

volts

for efficient

long-distance

transmission.

The

Power

Plant

structure is 1840 feet long and 390 feet high. No

rock slide

could

ever

disturb this installation!

Now

that

we

have

seen the entire progression of electrical

power

development

at

Niagara Falls, let's go back now to the first

Adams Plant and examine some of

its

details.

In

Figure 7,

we see

the

actual

plant.

The

next

figure shows

the

interior

of

the

plant

with

Board

of Directors of the Cataract Construction Company, all wearing

the

same

style

hat,

including Edward

Adams

himself,

(the

shortest

man

with

the

biggest

moustache).

Notice

the

relative size

of

just

one

of Tesla's

generators,

lowering above the men.