JuLy 4, 1912] 
NATURE 
465 
Content of Price 
| nitrogen per ton 
Per cent. su a 
Sulphate of ammonia from gasworks... 19°75 1g) 0) 0 
Nitrate of soda from Chile ... 15°50 915 0 
Nitrate of lime made by electricity 12°75 8 10 0 
Calcium cyanamide made by electricity 18:00 LOO <O 
The Rjukanfos Installation. 
The Rjukan installation is situated in Vestfjord- 
dalen. The saltpetre factories are situated 
Saaheim, and the hydro-electric power-plant on the 
Maane River, half a kilometre away. The power 
installation utilises part of the well-known “ Rjukan- 
fos,’ and has a working head of some 274 metres 
and a discharge of water of 47 cubic metres per 
second. The total power plant in the generating 
station is about 140,000 horse-power, divided into ten 
units, each of 14,450 horse-power. Each unit is, 
however, capable of producing 16,500 horse-power, 
and they are thus the largest hydro-electric units 
which have yet been constructed. 
In the factory most of the furnaces are of the 
Schonherr construction, Fig. 3 (Badische Anilin und 
Soda Fabrik), each of tooo kw. They are 23 ft. 
long, and require 40,000 cubic feet of air per hour. 
The other furnaces are of Birkeland-Eyde’s construc- | 
tion, similar to those at Notodden (Fig. 1), but of 
3000 kw. each. 
The annual production will amount to 70,000 tons | 
of nitrate of lime and 8000 tons of nitrite. 
Mr. Sam Eyde wrote on February to last :—‘‘ The 
results now at hand from the trial management are 
not sufficient to entitle us to judge which of the two 
systems—the Badische or the Birkeland-Eyde system 
—is the most profitable one. For the present it may 
be declared that the proceeds by both systems very 
likely will turn out to be approximately the same. 
*“A second power-plant is now under construction 
at Rjukan, intended for the installation of some 
120,000 horse-power, which will likewise be used for 
the manufacture of nitrate of lime. 
“Our company is further constructing a_ third 
power installation, Vamma on the Glommen River, 
by which will be produced 70,000 horse-power, of 
which 50,000 horse-power will be utilised for the 
manufacture of nitrate of lime. Including the factory 
at Notodden, we will thus in a short time utilise in 
all 370,000 horse-power for the manufacture of nitrate 
of lime.” 
The present plant consists of ten generator turbines 
of 14,450 horse-power each, five of which were con- 
structed by J. M. Voith, of Heidenheim, five by 
Escher Wyss and Co., of Zurich, and one exciter 
turbine of rtooo horse-power by Kraerner Brug, of 
Christiania. The three-phase electrical generators 
were made by the Allmanna Svenska, of Vasteras, 
Sweden, and by Brown, Boveri and Co., of Baden. 
The turbines are fed by individual pipe-lines of 
1250 mm. inside diameter at the top end and 1000 
mm. inside diameter at the bottom end. The length 
of each pipe is 720 metres (2360 ft.); the upper 300 
metres consist of riveted pipes, and the longer lower 
part for higher pressure consists of welded pipes. 
The turbines are provided with twin Pelton wheels, 
each of which is driven by two nozzles. In the 
Escher Wyss turbine the lower jet does not strike the 
buckets until the latter have cleared the upper jet. 
The maximum increase of speed was 15 per cent., 
whilst the increase of pressure above static head did 
not exceed ro per cent. 
The Escher Wyss turbines are each coupled to 
NO. 2227, vol. 89| 
at | 
/ and two nozzles to each runner. 
three-phase generators made by Brown, Boveri and 
Co., of Baden. 
At a power factor of 0-6 each machine gives 17,000 
Kva. at 11,000 volts, fifty periods per second. One 
of the machines gives the whole of the 17,000 Kva. 
Four of the units are of the double-generator type, 
with a shaft common ‘to the two. The two arma- 
tures are separated by a fireproof partition, so that if 
a coil of one should be burnt out, the coils on the 
other machine are not affected. 
Allowing for windage and friction, the guaranteed 
efficiency is 948 per cent. for the double generator 
and 95:3 per cent. for the single generator. This is 
at full load and with a power factor of 0-6. 
The total weight of one generator is 205,000 kg. 
(200 tons); 92,000 kg. going to the rotating field and 
shaft. The armature weighs about 90,000 kg. 
The outside diameter of the armature is 6 metres 
and the inside diameter is 4-4 metres. The radial 
depth of the armature lamination structure is 21°5 
cm. 
The magnet wheel has a cast-steel hub and arms, 
and the periphery of the wheel is made up of solid 
forged steel rings. To these rings cast-steel poles are 
fixed, the inner ends of the poles being dovetailed and 
held by cotters. 
The field poles are wound with bare annealed copper 
on edge, and all the pole windings are in series. 
The slip rings are of cast steel, and carbon brushes 
are used. The exciter is direct coupled, and gives 
130 kw. at 220 volts. 
Every rotor was tested for mechanical strength by 
being rotated at 1-8 times the normal speed for half 
an hour, that is, at 450 revolutions per minute. 
The bearings are supplied with oil under pressure, 
and the oil is cooled by water coils. 
The other five turbines supplied by J. M. Voith are 
very similar to the above, with double-runner wheels 
i At the official tests 
all the guarantees were exceeded. Coupled to each 
| of the Voith turbines is a double 8400 Kva., 11,000 
volts, 50 cycle three-phase generator made by the 
Allmanna Svenska Co. 
(To be continued.) 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 
CampripGe.—Dr. H. K. Anderson, F.R.S., has been 
elected to the mastership of Gonville and Caius Col- 
lege, in succession to the late Rev. E. S. Roberts. 
Tue University of Manchester on June 29 conferred 
honorary degrees of Doctor of Science upon Prof. 
D. H. Scott, F.R.S., and Mr. Dugald Clerk, ReRaSs 
On the same day the University of Durham conferred 
honorary degrees of Doctor of Science upon Prof. 
P. C. Ray, of the University of Calcutta, and Prof. 
L. P. Anderson Stuart, of the University of Sydney, 
delegates attending the Congress of the Universities 
of the Empire, which is being held this week. 
Tue May issue of this year of the Johns Hopkins 
University Circular takes the form of the ‘ University 
Register” for to11-12. The historical statement with 
which the volume of 267 pages opens points out that 
the original endowment of the University amounted 
to rather more than 600,o00l., which has since been 
supplemented by several large gifts. The income- 
bearing funds now have a ‘book value” of 916,000l. 
The real estate and buildings, books, scientific appa- 
ratus, and general equipment are valued at 380,000. 
The assets of the University have thus a total value 
of something like 1,300,000l. By the act of the Legis- 
lature of Maryland, at its session of this year, the 
