GREAT GAS ENGINE INSTALLATION.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 116, 8 February 1908, Page 14

GREAT GAS ENGINE INSTALLATION.

- ••'1 lie first section of the great'gas'.engine • slectricity geiiorating station of the California • -Gas and Electric ..Corporation has; just. been. . ■ put- into, service.- It will .be .remembered' that, this corporation: owns nearly 1000 miles'6f '6().OUO*y<ift '-'.MnsmissioiV ; '''li.'nes In "tlio.' . v ViQinity of'SaVi.Francisco..' -The-'plant (says .' -an; exchange);: has-- been :■ ;built; by-the-Snow- .-. fvfccam Pump Works, ajid is unique in several - respects. .• Its units are the largest-gas-.cn-■ ... gines m America. These engines aro directly- . ■ , connected to alternating current- generators, . ■ -....which .must not 0n1y,,• synchronise.with each - . -. other, but. also wathlJiov.current: from tho hydro-electric plants of: the same company. ■-.- ihe gas is ovolved from erode oil. ! ' ' v : In'tho ongine-houso three of the ultimate : , /six complete units have beeniinstallod:-'>Each.i , :generator is provided with a .balance .wheel ■ and two cranks, each crank connected wsth a - horizontal,- four-cylinder tandem, 'double-act-' ■ wg, four-syclo. gas .' engino. The cylinders r i ./ aro each- 42in. m diameter ,by 60in atroko, and .were designed ;for an initial ipressuro of ,-1501b per square inch.-. They were-designed !. to run at 88 revolutions per minute, and : at,this: speed are rated >at 4000ybralco horee-.-power, though thov aro capable'of a 35 per : oent. overload, which is vtno' eqmvalent of 5-100, brake horse-power. Tho crank shaft lia« wrist pins 17in. .in diamoter by 18in. in , length, journal boanngs 30m diameter by .fiGia: in length, a rotor fit 37m. in diameter,- '. and weighs 99,7341b. The floor space occu- . piod by each pair of engines is 600 toijs, of which .186 tons are in the main frame -I oastmgs. The valves, .pistons, piston .' , rods, and cylinders are air arranged for a', r. . water cooling circulation. Tho speed -is - re- • • gulafced by a governor working on both com- ' prcssion and the mixturo, and the regulation C i« said to equal, the best stoam engines 'in; parallel working: ' The engines aro started by compressed air,' and are started.and' the' gonoMtor afcoppod in less than two minutes/ rho generators aro 13,200 - volt;-' 25' cycle, Uiroo-phaso, .'..with /. rotating fields.- v-Tbo utator fnnnes are approximately 20ft.: in •I'ameter, with 34 Doles-. - .