TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION G. 879 



of water-power in the neighbourhood of places where electric plants would prove 

 commercially profitable ; but it is also largely due to the relative cost of fuel. We 

 do not possess abundant natural sources of water-power in or near our large manu- 

 facturing districts, and even if we did it is not probable that with coal at the 

 average price of the last ten years water-power would prove much cheaper when 

 the capital invested, interest, and cost of maintenance of the electric plant were 

 taken into consideration. But we may with reason pause to ask two questions : 

 Will coal at such a price be always obtainable ? And do we make the most of 

 such water-power as we have and can profitably use ? Let us look at the second 

 question first. Liverpool is supplied with water from Lake Vyrnwy, in North 

 Wales, the total difierence of head being about 500 feet. There must be a consider- 

 able quantity of power in the conduit. Is any of it utilised ? And if not, does the 

 3'eason lie in the fact that fuel at present is so cheap? Could the Manchester 

 Waterworks, which form a magnificent series of artificial lakes, be utilised to 

 drive turbines and give electric energy for lighting the various towns in their 

 vicinity ? Again, the watershed behind Greenock has a fall of many hundred 

 feet, and the water is only partly utilised to drive mills. These are only a few in- 

 stances in which water-power might perhaps be advantageously used for driving 

 turbine dynamos. There are, of course, numerous mountain streams which could 

 be dammed, and thus converted into reservoirs for feeding turbines. 



There is still much misconception on the part of the responsible advisers of 

 manufacturers and mineral owners as to the possibilities of electricity for the 

 transmission of power. But the experience gained during the last decade is 

 gradually making itself felt, and the most conservative must admit it has given us 

 the means of iitilising natvu-al water-power in a far more efficient manner than was 

 formerly possible. 



Various plants, typical of Continental practice, were then referred to by the 

 writer. They diflPer widely, both as regards size, method, and details ; but they 

 are all designed on the broad lines of utilising waste water-power, and transmitting 

 its energy electrically to towns where it can be usefully expended. 



The writer says that alternate currents appear to be generally selected, perhaps, 

 because they ofi'er more advantages than direct currents for high pressures, and 

 are generally more easily managed; and in several cases it has been deemed 

 advisable to use a direct-current distribution with an alternate-current transmission, 

 as at Cassel. 



The LaufFen-Heilbronn plant is at present the only important instance of a 

 rotary-current system, and there considerable difficulty is found in balancing the 

 load on the two circuits. 



In England there are only a few installations which derive their power from 

 water, such as the small central station for lighting Lynmouth and Lynton, and a 

 few private installations. A scheme, on [a large scale, for electrically lighting 

 Worcester by means of power derived from the river Severn is in hand, and will, 

 no doubt, lead to similar plants. 



One of the most important instances of the application of water-power for 

 electric power transmission in Great Britain is that at the Greenside Silver Lead 

 Mines in Cumberland, which was designed by the writer about three years ago. 



On the east slopes of Hellvelyn lies a small natural lake called the Red Tarn, 

 and on the north-east the impounded water of Keppel Cove. Between the 

 two waters rises the hill of Catstycam, at the base of which the two overflows 

 join, and near to which the Greenside Silver Lead Mining and Smelting Company 

 have erected their turbine-dynamo station. Tlie water is led from an elevation of 

 1,750 feet above sea-level, and flows through an open watercourse 1^ mile in 

 length to a large reservoir, from which it is conveyed down the hill-side for a dis- 

 tance of .360 yards in 15-inch cast-iron pipes. The fall at the station is equivalent 

 to a vertical head of 400 feet, and the effective horse-power is about 200. 



The generating station contains one of Gilkes & Co.'s vortex turbines of 

 100 horse-power, driving a four-pole compoimd dynamo. 



The electric current is conveyed by two bare copper conductors on poles for 

 six furlongs, and then enters the mine at an elevation of 1,850 feet above the 



