358 



NATURE 



[August ii, 1892 



pointed to the variation of volume of flow of streams as the 

 principal objection to their larger utilization. Since that time 

 the progress made in systems of transporting and distributing 

 power has given quite a new importance to the question of the 

 utilization of water-power. There seems to be a probability 

 that in many localities water-power will, before long, be used 

 on a quite unprecedented scale, and under conditions involving 

 so great convenience and economy that it may involve a quite 

 sensible movement of manufacturers towards districts where 

 water-power is available. 



If we go back to a period not very distant in the history of 

 the world, to the middle of the last century, we reach the time 

 when textile manufactures began to pass from the condition of 

 purely domestic industries to that of a factory system. The fly- 

 shuttle was introduced in 1750, the spinning-jenny was invented 

 in 1767, and Crompton's machine only began to be generally 

 used in 1787. It was soon found that the new machines were 

 most suitably driven by a rotary motion, and after some attempts 

 to drive them by horses, water-power was generally resorted to. 

 In an interesting pamphlet on the Rise of the Cotton Trade, by 

 John Kennedy, of Ardwick Hall, written in 1815, it is pointed 

 out that the necessity of locating the mills where water-power 

 was available, had the disadvantages of taking them away from 

 the places where skilled workmen were found, and from the 

 markets for the manufactured goods. Nevertheless, Mr. 

 Kennedy states that for some time after Arkwright's first mill 

 was built at Cromford, all the principal mills were erected near 

 river falls, no other power than water-power having been found 

 practically useful. "About 1790," says Mr. Kennedy, "Mr. 

 Watt's steam-engine began to be understood, and waterfalls 

 became of less value. Instead of carrying the workpeople to 

 the power, it was found preferable to place the power amongst 

 the people." 



The whole tendency of the conditions created by the use of 

 steam-power has been to concentrate the industrial population 

 in large communities, and to restrict manufacturing operations 

 to large factories. Economy in the production of power, 

 economy in superintendence, the convenience of the subdivision 

 of labour, and the costliness of the machines employed, all 

 favoured the growth of large factories. The whole social con- 

 ditions of manufacturing centres have been profoundly influenced 

 by these two conditions — that coal for raising steam can be easily 

 brought to any place where it is wanted, and that steam-power 

 is more cheaply produced on a large scale than on a small scale. 

 It looks rather, just now, as if facilities for distributing power 

 will to some extent reverse this tendency. 



Let me first point out that water-power, where it is available, 

 is so much cheaper and more convenient than steam-power that 

 it has never been quite vanquished by steam-power. 



I find, from a report by Mr. Weissenbach, that in 1876 

 70,000 horse-power derived from waterfalls were used in manu- 

 facturing in Switzerland. According to a census in 1880, it 

 appears that the total steam and water-power employed in 

 manufacturing operations in the United States was 3,400,000 

 horse-power. Of this, 2, 185,000 horsepower, or 64 percent., 

 was derived from steam, and 1,225,000 horse-power, or 36 per 

 cent., from water. In the manufacture of cotton and woollen 

 goods, of paper and of flour, 760,000 horse-power were obtained 

 from water, and 515,000 horse-power from steam. If statistics 

 could be obtained from other countries, I believe it would be 

 found that a very large amount of water-power is actually made 

 available. The firm of Escber Wyss and Company, of Zurich, 

 have constructed more than 1800 turbines of an aggregate power 

 of 111,460 horse-power. 



With a very limited exception all the water-power at present 

 used is employed in the neighbourhood of the fall where it is 

 generated. If means were available for transporting the power 

 from the site of the fall to localities more convenient for manu- 

 factures, there can be no doubt that a much larger amount of 

 water-power would be used, and the relative importance of 

 water and steam power in some countries would probably be 

 reversed. It is because recent developments seem to make such 

 a transport of power possible without excessive cost and without 

 excessive loss, that a most remarkable interest has been excited 

 in the question of the utilization of water-power. Take the 

 case of Switzerland for instance. At the present time Switzer- 

 land is said to pay to other countries ^800,000 annually for 

 coal. But the total available water-power of Switzerland is 

 estimated at no less than 582,000 horse-power, of which prob- 

 ably only 80,000 are at present utilized. I found a year ago 



NO. II 89, VOL. 46] 



that nearly every large industrial concern in Switzerland w as 

 preparing to make use of water-power, transported a greater or 

 less distance. Besides the great schemes actually carried out 

 at Schaffhausen, Bellegarde, Geneva, and Zurich, where water- 

 power is already utilized on a very large ^cale, there is a pro- 

 ject to develop 10,000 horse-power on the Dranse near 

 Martigny. 



Hence it is easy to see that problems of distribution of power 

 — that is, the transformation of energy into forms easily trans- 

 portable and easily utilizable — have now a great interest for 

 engineers. 



Besides the power required for manufacturing operations, 

 there is a steadily increasing demand for easily available 

 mechanical energy in large towns. For tramways, for lifts, for 

 handling goods, for small industries, for electric lighting, and 

 sometimes for sanitation, power is required. Hitherto steam- 

 engines, or more lately gas-engines, have been used, placed 

 near the work to be done. But this sporadic generation of 

 power is uneconomical and costly, especially when the work is 

 intermittent; the cost of superintendence is large, and the risk 

 of accident considerable. Hence attention is being directed to 

 systems in which the mechanical energy of fuel or falling water 

 is first generated in large central stations, transformed into 

 some form in which it is conveniently transportable and capable 

 of being rendered available by simpler motors than steam- 

 engines. 



Just as in great towns it has become necessary to supersede 

 private means of water supply by a municipal supply ; just as 

 it has proved convenient to distribute coal-gas for lighting 

 and heating, and to provide a common system of sewerage, so 

 it will probably be found convenient to have in all large towns 

 some means of obtaining mechanical power in any desired 

 quantity at a price proportionate to the quantity used, and in a 

 form in which it can be rendered available, either directly or by 

 simple motors requiring but little skilled superintendence. 



Telodynamic Transmission. — First, then, let me say a few 

 words as to the modes of distributing power which it is possible 

 to adopt. In 1850, at Logelbach in Alsace, M. Ferdinand 

 Him used a flat steel belt to transmit power directly a distance 

 of eighty metres. Subsequently a wire rope was used on grooved 

 pulleys. This worked so well that a second transmission to a 

 distance of 240 metres was erected. The details of the system 

 were worked out with great care with a view to securing the least 

 cost of construction, the least waste of energy, and the greatest 

 durability of the ropes. So successful did this system of 

 telodynamic transmission prove that within ten years M. Martin 

 Stein, of Mulhouse, had erected 400 transmissions, conveying 

 4200 horse-power, and covering a distance of 72,000 metres. 



Just at this time a very able and far-seeing manufacturer at 

 Schaffhausen, Herr Moser, had formed a project for reviving 

 the failing industries of the town by utilizing part of the water- 

 power of the Rhine: Hirn's system of wire-rope transmission 

 rendered this project practicable. The works were commenced 

 in 1863. Three turbines of 750 horse-power were erected on a 

 tail which varies from 12 to 16 feet, created by a weir across the 

 river. From the turbines the power is transmitted by two 

 cables, in one span of 392 feet, across the river. Similar cables 

 distribute the power to factories along the river bank. In 1870 

 the transmission extended to a distance of 3400 feet. Power is 

 sold at rates varying from ^^5 to ;^6 per horse-power per annum. 

 In 1887 there were twenty-three consumers of power paying a 

 rental of ^{,'3500 per annum for power. The project has been 

 financially successful, and is still working. At Zurich, Freiberg, 

 and Bellegarde there are similar installations, and a large scheme 

 of the same kind has recently been carried out at Gokak in 

 India. Wire- rope transmissions are of great mechanical simplicity, 

 and the loss of power in transm.ission is exceedingly small. 

 They are extremely suitable for certain cases where a moderate 

 amount of power has to be transmitted a moderate distance, to 

 one or to a few factories. On the other hand, they become 

 cumbrotis if the amount of power transmitted exceeds 600 or 

 1000 horse-power. The wear of the ropes, which only last a 

 year, has proved greater than was expected, and is a source of 

 considerable expense. 



The practical introduction of a system of distributing power 

 hy pressure water is due to Lord Armstrong. Such a system in- 

 volves a central pumping station, a series of distributing mains, 

 and suitable working motors. From its first introduction the 

 peculiar advantages of this system for driving intermittently 

 working machines, such as lifts, dock machinery, railway cranes. 



