TO DRIVE THE CARS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 99, 28 April 1909, Page 6

TO DRIVE THE CARS.

DYNAMOS AND SWITCHBOARDS. •'A GLANCE AT THE POWEEHOUSE. Plaiu, unadorned, destitute of architectural distinction, the two-story brick huilding where power is generated for joiir electric-car eystem, does not draw She eye nor compel attention. Except Yet the adjacent, smoke-stack that rears its cylindrical bulk high in air, thisunimposing bare-looking structure would pass without enquiry. But its exterior semblance "belies the immensity" of its importance, and its functions in the great and complex civic organism. Like so many sources of power, it is silent and undemonstrative in its operations, ©ere is a veritable seat of enormous energy, yet no impertinent rattling, no .obtrusive clanging ' nor hammering disturb its serene resistless ways. Here is created that subtle, ti emulous, mysterious power that darts and races through the city and enables loads of humanity to be carried from point to point. This is the great throbbing heart of an arterial system that ramifies from (Karon to Seatoun and Island Bay. THE MAIN ENGINE-ROOM. On entering the machinery room one -is presented with a scene of bewildering !cbmplexifcy, and the uninitiated can but •gaze in blank amazement and admira Son for the products of such inventive ingenuity and perseverance. In this room, where dynamos are whirring and steam engines throbbing with a gigantic vibrant energy, nobody seems to be working very hard. There may be the usual "shift" of three or four men, watching with trained eye the movements of an oscillating index on the am-pere-meter, or listening with equally trained ear to the familiar sound of throbbing engines. Here and there a man may be engaged in pouring the pure dynamo oil to ensure a. freer vacliig. But the human element is iiot prominent. Natural forces of enormous strength have been successfully harnessed, and nothing remains but to allow them an untrammelled course in the "service of man." It has taken many years to bring about such mechanical perfection, and the untutored can but stand aside in thankfulness for the patient labours and fertile ingenuity of such men as Lord Kelvin and others, who have perfected such splendid processes. THE SWITCH-BOAED. At the eastern end of the engineroom is a large number of marble slabs to which are affixed the circuit lines and meters for registering the strength of outward currents. There is a separate metre for each of the separate city circuits of the tramway system, while in the middle of the whole apparatus is a metre through which the total output of electrical energy passes, and is measured accordingly. On an ordinary ■week-night at about 8 o'clock, the output may be about 1500 amperes — an ampere being slightly less than one horsepower. At a busier time, when traffic is heavy and more cars are on the trafks, the output may be double this. Usually about 3000 horse-power is being .generated when people are flocking out of the city between 5 and 6 p.m. On an ordinary week-day, the total output of power would reach from 15,000 to 16,000 amperes for the twenty-four hours, and on Saturday, when hours arc longer and traffic heavier, as many as 17,000 are generated. The greediest section of the system at any time is the track between the Government station and the Basin Reserve — the hardest .worked area of all. THE SEAT OF POWER. The actual source of all this energy is a series of six great engines, placed in row alongside the wall which separates them from the giant boilers. In external appearance these engines are not unlike those used for marine purposes, and in fact are of the same model. Connected with f ach engine is a dynamo | whirring at a prodigious rate. The dynamo develops the electricity, which is then instantaneously whisked away by induction coils to the main switchboard. From there it passes along the wires and copper conductors, until at last it maj spend itself in the motor of a palace car labouring up the Karori hills. The six great panting engines are the real "hewers of wood and drawers of water." Among them, they are capable of developing a combined horsepower of 4000, which is about 1000 more than, as stated above, is "required at the busiest time. One is of 250 horsepower, three of 500, and two throbbing monsters can each develop 1000. In the room where they are housed is a place reserved for yet another, which, it is stated, will before long be constructed. This newcomers is to produce 1200 horsepower, thus bringing the total powerproducing capacity of the station to over 5000. FEEDING THE FUENACES. The same absence of actual human labour as is seen in the engine-room obtains in the adjoining furnace-room. By a cleverly-devised system of travel-ling-buckets the coal is^onveyed to the tops of the boilers, automatically dropped to canals projecting from the mouths oi the furnaces, and thence pushed into the fires. The loal, it is observed, is shoved into the lower part of the fire, which is raked by the same operation. A bright intense glow against the boilers is thus maintained continuously. HARMONY AND OEDER. Notwithstanding the apparently bewildering intricacy of the, system, the appearance of the central power-station is order itself. Copper apparatus is bright with a perfect polishing ; steel bars shine like brand-new nickel-plate. Everything is in its place, and the whole impression is (hat of spotless cleanliness and neat, ordered regularity. To a large extent the whole system is selfworking. Ever if something goes wrong with 'a city circuit, an automatic arrangement shuts olf power at once from the lines affected, and it is stated nobody need long fear the danger of "live wires." On all sides one natural force co-operates with another, and the labour of human hands is almost nil in comparison. System and labour-saving organisation are here triumphant, and the most marvellous and one of the least understood agencies of modern times has been successfully converted into one of the most serviceable.

Since the institution of the Auckland city abattoirs the amount of condemned stock has been co large that the master butchers are seeking to evolve a scheme of insurance again&t loss in this direction. The fire brigade was called out about two o'clock this afternoon to deal with a fire Id a washhouse at the rear of Mr. T. Lyons's dwelling in Abel Smith-street. The damage done was slight. Dunedin Benevolent Trustees had to consider last week the case of an applicant who had allowed his lodge payments to fall into arrears. He had broken his arm, and, having no money, he was obliged to apply for help to the board. The lodge payment he had lost would have beeu 22s 6d a week. Messrs. Shortt, Ltd., remind storekeepers re6tauranters, etc., of their sale of bankrupt stock of groceries advertised for to-morrow, at 2 o'clock, *b five Marfc Willis -street.