WATER POWER AND ELECTRICAL DEVELOPMENTS 5 



from a steam-driven Gramme generator. The application of 

 water power for driving dynamos followed shortly, and the same 

 year a water- wheel-driven generator was installed at the Shaw 

 Chemical Works, Eng., and power supplied to a motor 150 yards 

 distant for driving miscellaneous tools. In 1882 the first com- 

 mercial central stations for lighting began operation in London 

 and New York, and the same year marked the building of the first 

 hydro-electric central station in the United States at Appleton, 

 Wis., Figs. 1 and 2. 



In the above systems, and several others, the electric current 

 was transmitted for very short distances only but in 1882 Marcel 

 Deprez built the first long-distance transmission line from Mies- 

 bach to Munich, a distance of 37 miles. It was built purely for 

 experimental and demonstration purposes, 2400-volt direct- 

 current being used. The results proved to be very encouraging 

 and financial support was obtained for a larger project. Thus, 

 in 1884, Deprez began preparations for the Criel-Paris trans- 

 mission, which was completed in 1886. In this 20 amperes direct- 

 current was transmitted the 25-mile distance at a potential of 

 7500 volts, the transmission efficiency obtained being about 32 

 per cent. 



The first A.C. transmission system was the one at Cerchi, 

 Italy, made in 1886 and known as the " Cerchi Tivoli-Rome 

 Plant." The equipment of this station consisted of two 150 H. P. 

 steam-driven, single-phase Ganz generators designed to operate at 

 112 volts. Transformers having a ratio of 1 : 18 were used to 

 step from this voltage up to 2000, at which voltage energy was 

 transmitted to Rome, a distance of 17 miles. In 1889 the capac- 

 ity of this steam plant was increased to 2700 H.P. 



In 1887 Tesla, Ferraris and Bradley pointed out the advan- 

 tages of the three-phase over the single-phase system, but it 

 was not until 1891 that the first commercial three-phase trans- 

 mission line was put into operation. This was the 112-mile 

 Lauffen-Frankfort line supplying a lighting load to the City of 

 Frankfort. The power-house installation consisted of one 225 

 Kw. three-phase generator, direct connected to a water wheel 

 operating under a head of 10 feet. The line voltage was 12,000. 



In the United States the first A.C. hydro-electric installation 

 was the one at Oregon City by the Willamette Falls Electric 

 Company, now owned by the Portland Railway, Light and Power 



