HISTORY OF THE CONSTANT-VOLTAGE SYSTEM 41 



ably without stating quantitatively the large propor- 

 tionate economy. So also, synchronous motors have 

 been used in the past for overcoming line regulation by 

 their frequent adjustment, and probably the automatic 

 voltage regulator has contributed considerably to their 

 success in this application. The writer believes, how- 

 ever, that only within the last year or two have the 

 principles of constant-voltage transmission been urged 

 as being immediately commercially profitable on a 

 large scale, and only within the same recent period have 

 transmission lines been constructed which not only would 

 not carry their rated load without synchronous phase 

 modifiers, but which have such heavy conductors and 

 high reactance that they would be utterly uneconomical 

 if operated according to any other method than the 

 constant-voltage method. 



One of the first enunciations of the constant-voltage 

 method was very clear and definite. In a paper by 

 B. G. Lamme entitled "Synchronous Motors for Regu- 

 lation of Power-Factor and Line Pressure," Transactions 

 A. I. E. E., 1904, page 481, synchronous motors were 

 advocated, not only for changing the power-factor of a 

 system, but for regulating the voltage and increasing 

 the output of a transmission line. 



In the discussion of the above paper, F. 0. Blackwell 

 referred to a 6,ooo-horse-power plant in India which 

 transmitted power ninety miles, and where, by ins-tailing 

 a i,ooo-Kw. rotary condenser, 50 per cent more power 

 was transmitted over the existing line, and the building 

 of an extra transmission line, which had been contem- 

 plated, was postponed. 



In the same discussion, W. L. Waters referred to the 



