UTILIZATION OF WATER POWER AT NIAGARA FALLS. I 3 



The wheelpit for the first installation was a slot excavated in the 

 solid rock to a depth of 178 feet, the width being 18 feet and 

 length 140 feet. This was completed in 1893 and in 1896 work 

 was commenced on the extension of the pit to a length of 425 feet. 

 The original wheelpit was excavated in the ordinary manner but 

 in the extension the sides were cut from top to bottom with chan- 

 neling machines, thus preventing the shattering of the rock beyond 

 the desired limits. When the excavation of the extension was 

 nearly complete grave apprehension was caused by a slight inward 

 movement of the wheelpit and fears were expressed that such 

 movement might continue and so ruin the installation made at so 

 great an expense. It is a satisfaction to record that a very careful 

 series of measurements covering a period of nearly six years show 

 that such inward movement has now entirely ceased and it may be 

 confidently stated- that it will never occur again, being probably 

 caused in the first instance by the blasting operations in the wheel - 

 pit extension. 



As before mentioned, the first installation of the Niagara Falls 

 Power Co. consisted of three units and a description of one of these 

 will suffice for all of the machinery in the first wheelpit as the ten 

 units now installed there are practically alike. Water passes to 

 each unit from the canal through a masonry inlet 14 feet wide to 

 the mouth of the steel tube, or penstock, 7' 6" diameter, through 

 which it passes down the wheelpit to the wheel case, 141)4 feet 

 below the Power House floor. This wheel case is a huge casting 

 about 10 feet in height and 6 feet in diameter and is filled with 

 water under a pressure of 59 lbs. per square inch. The only escape 

 for this water is through openings in the circumference near 

 the top and bottom. The form of these openings is such that 

 water passing through them comes in contact with the wheels 

 placed immediately outside of them at exactly the proper angle to 

 produce the required power. There are thus two wheels attached 

 to each shaft, the water acting on them to produce 5000 H. P. 

 From the above description you will note that the wheels are of 

 the Fourneyron or outward discharge type. The water discharged 

 from the wheels drops into the bottom of the wheelpit and thence 

 goes into the tunnel. 



The shaft to which the wheels are attached rises 155 feet to the 

 top of the generator where it connects with the revolving field 

 ring. Suitable bearings are of course provided to preserve the 

 alignment of this shaft. 



