UTILIZATION OF WATER POWER AT NIAGARA FALLS. 7 



In 1 88 1 the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing 

 Co. installed their first plant for supplying power. This consisted 

 of a shaft 20 feet by 40 feet sunk to a depth of 80 feet, 200 feet 

 back from the edge of the cliff, a discharge tunnel being carried 

 from the bottom of this slot to the face of the high bank. Water 

 from the canal was led through iron penstocks to two wheels loca- 

 ted in this pit. These wheels have vertical axes, one being of 

 1,000 H. P. and one of 500 H. P., the head employed being 75 feet. 

 The power from these wheels is transmitted to customers by rope 

 drives and belting, the length of such transmission being incon- 

 siderable. A third wheel with a capacity of 600 H. P. with hori- 

 zontal shaft has since been placed in this wheelpit. 



In 1892 the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing 

 Co. commenced to enlarge their canal to a width of 70 feet and a 

 depth of 14 feet. In the same year a change was made in the 

 plan of development and a system inaugurated which was in many 

 respects similar to that now employed. The Cliff Paper Mill de- 

 sired additional power for grinding pulp and as the capacity of the 

 original canal was exhausted and they were not willing to wait for 

 the completion of the canal extension, it was determined to use 

 the discharge water from the wheels then installed in the wheelpit 

 above described. Accordingly a new tunnel was driven from the 

 face of the cliff to connect with the bottom of the wheelpit and the 

 discharge water was thus led to a steel penstock 8 feet in diameter 

 laid on the same slope as the talus. In case sufficient water is not 

 discharged from the upper wheels an arrangement is provided for 

 admitting water from the basin directly into the upper tail race. 

 The loose rock was cleared from the top of a layer of red sandstone 

 lying just above the water of the lower river. On this surface was 

 built a two-story pulp mill, the lower story containing four water 

 wheels having a total capacity of 2,500 H. P. These wheels are 

 fed from a ten foot receiver connected with the penstock. Three 

 of these are directly connected with the wood grinders and one 

 wheel is used to drive a generator operating the paper making 

 machines in the upper mill. This was one of the first, if not the 

 first instance of electricity being used for operating paper making 

 machinery. The wheels operate under a head of 125 feet, are 66" 

 in diameter and are of the inward flow type on horizontal axes. 

 Like all the turbines used by the Hydraulic Power and Manufact- 

 uring Company, these wheels are of American design. An in- 

 clined conveyor is used for transportation of men and materials 

 between the upper and lower works. 



