Thirty Years of New York, 1882-1892: Being a History of Electrical Development in Manhattan and the Bronx

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Press of the New York Edison Company, 1913 - Electric power - 264 pages
 

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Page 116 - There was also a total absence of a central switchboard, as each dynamo had its control switches located at the dynamo; the feeder connections were concentrated at the front of the building, and the voltage control was on the floor above. The pressure was regulated from the indications of an automatic indicator, consisting of an electromagnet connected across the main circuit, and whose pull was opposed by a heavy spring. The armature of the magnet carried a contact which engaged two relay contacts...
Page 46 - ... original plan I had 200 by 200 feet. I thought that by going down on a slum street near the waterfront I would get some pretty cheap property. So I picked out the worst dilapidated street there was, and found I could only get two buildings each 25 feet front, one 100 feet deep and the other 85 feet deep. I thought about $10,000 each would cover it; but when I got the price I found that they wanted $75,000 for one and $80,000 for the other. Then I was compelled to change my plans and go upward...
Page 13 - We have a greater demand for the light than we can supply at present, owing to the insufficiency of men to put down the wires. We have to educate the men to the use and management of our machinery. We have only one experienced engineer here now. A man came down from our machine shop in Goerck Street the other day and put his oil can between two conductors. He was a badly frightened man a second later, for the can melted away as quickly as the oil that it contained.
Page 17 - The electric lamps . . . were as thoroughly tested last evening as any light could be tested in a single evening, and tested by men who have battered their eyes sufficiently by years of night work to know the good and bad points of a lamp, and the decision was unanimously in favor of the Edison electric lamp as against gas.
Page 16 - ... as much as from gas, the inventor says. The light was soft, mellow, and grateful to the eye, and it seemed almost like writing by daylight to have a light without a particle of flicker and with scarcely any heat to make the head ache.
Page 116 - ... through a horizontal shaft and bevel gearing, a number of horizontal contact arms over contacts connected with copper wire resistances wound on wooden frames. This will be clear from an inspection of one of the views, which adequately illustrates the enormous space occupied by this pioneer equipment. It may now be interesting to state that when this pioneer station was started, and in fact for some little time afterward, there was not a single electrical instrument in the whole station — not...
Page 116 - ... previously unheard of capacity. It was operated by throwing the weight of the body on a long handle pivoted at one end, and released by heavy steel springs held by a trip pawl. In front of the main contacts, and carried by the switch handle, was an auxiliary blade— the field circuit contact — making contact before the main line contacts engaged, and breaking after the main circuit was broken.
Page 46 - It occurred to me one day that before I went too far with my plans I had better find out what real estate was worth. In my original plan I had 200 by 200 feet. I thought that by going down on a slum street near the waterfront I would get some pretty cheap property. So I picked out the worst dilapidated street there was...
Page 65 - ... who only contrive in what manner they can stow the greatest number of human beings in the smallest space.
Page 137 - The paper insulation shall be one eighth (£) inch thick around each conductor and one eighth (£) inch around outside insulating jacket. Lead covering shall be 3-32" thick. Total diameter of cable when completed not to exceed 1.52". The open spaces between conductors to be filled with dry jute saturated with an insulating compound to exclude air and moisture. The test pressure between copper conductor and lead covering to be eleven thousand (11,000) volts AC for one hour. The insulating resistance...

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