PLUNGED IN DARKNESS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 18 July 1925, Page 8

PLUNGED IN DARKNESS

.ACCIDENT AT SYDNEY DOW EH house In iua report lu the Nelson City l ounc«l, laet evening, the Elect iica.l Engineer JMr C. J?.* 'ftendersom) ni.stre.sumg U:e Necessity for additional plant at H:e Power House, pointed out the fieri on s consequence that might occur if Lie supply was interrupted. 9sc i". perieiiee of Sydney on a recent occasion should prove of interest. In an oilieiai report on the occurrence. -Mr Maekay stated, says the Sydney -Morning Herald, that the iirst cause ot the interruption to supply was the failure of the insulation of one of the teeder cables, by which the electricity leaves the power-house. Such, a failure ot insulation is not infrequent and is usually not a serious matter. Normally, such a failure results in the instantaneous automatic opening of a switch, which cuts the current oil the damaged cable. The damage to the cable is made good as convenient, the switch which has automatically opened is closed again, and normal working resumed. When Hie failure of insulation of the cable occurred. the switch which should have disconnecteo the faulty cable opened automatically, as it should have opened, but it failed to break the circuit. Decause of the switch's failure to break the circuit, an enormous current of electricity rushed through the switch to the short circuit; on the cable, burnt up the contacts of the switch itself. and eventually set up a short circuit in the switch. The switch is connected by short lengths of heavy section copper to the main busbars. into which all alternators feed and from which all the feeder cables are supplied.. The short circuit on the switch was practically a 'short circuit on the busbars. That is, there was for Do instant, in effect, no insulation between the busbars. The only course was to switch the alternators off the busbars, make sure that the standby duplicate busbars were clear, and restore supply using the standby duplicate busbars. The work in the switch house at Pyrmont power-house necessary to allow of llie restoration of supply was hindered and made difficult by great volumes of smoke which were formed hv the heavy arcing in the switch which failed. This smoke made- entrance to portions of the switch house impossible for some time. There was no “fit'e"' in the ordinary sense in the switch house, because special pains were taken in designing and constructing the switch j house to exclude all combustible matter such as timber, etc. SURGEON’S’ DIFFICULT TASK POWER FAILURE Many patients, / lying unconscious, under an anaesthetic, were being operated upon when the explosion at the city' power-house left the city anil suburbs without electricity. In some instances serious results were narrowly' averted. At St. Vincent's Hospital a doctor was in the middle of a major abdominal operation upon a woman when the lights in the operating theatre failed. He hurriedly completed portion of the operation and had to postpone further surgery. At the Crown street Women's Hospital doctors were just finishing an extremely' serious operation when they were bereft of electric light. They sewed up the incision, working by the’ -light that filtered through from a window, and successfully completed their task. In three theatres of the Royal Prince Albert Hospital .important abdominal operations were being performed, and in another theatre a throat operation was in course of completion. 'The auxiliary* gas lighting was brought into use, and candles and lamps were hastily procured. Fortunately*, the operations were not of an extremely delicate nature, and the provisional lighting was sufficient to ensure satisfactory' surgerv. The young inmates of the. Royal Alexandra Hospital for children were amused at the sudden resort to primitive lighting. Candles and hurricane lamps in rows down the wards cast flickering shadowy lights over their beaming features as they had their evening meal. At this institution the last of the operation cases had just been completed when the whole institution was plunged in complete darkness. An operation was also being performed at the Royal Hospital for Women. Doctors were hampered but not seriously. Both the, Royal North Shore Hospital and the Mater Atiserieordiao Hospital were fortunate in that their operating theatres were not in use. Numerous other institutions were reported of doctors and surgeons having to attend to patients in difficult circumstances. At all the big hospitals there was a serious dislocation of organisation. Meals were served in the semi-darkness of the wards by nurses carrying trays in one hand and candles in the other. Refrigerators any’ lifts ceased to operate.