3249 Sprague Hill Road, Falconer, New York 14733
These are copies from an old magazine, ‘Power,’ that
I’m sure has been long out of print. Their subscription rate of
$1.00 per year does tell us something about inflation, doesn’t
it?
The engines shown are quite unique in that they are two cylinder
‘Otto’ engines, with the cylinders in a piggy-back
configuration. As stated in the text, both connecting rods were
connected to the same crank throw, with the crank shaft midway
between the two cylinders. These engines were rated at 90 HP.
As the attached copy is from the ‘Power’ magazine dated
August 1894, it’s apparent that these engines were built prior
to that date. Interestingly, these engines do not even appear in
the ‘Yellow Book.’
Instances have multiplied of gas engines in sizes which entitle
them to consideration as prime movers in work of some magnitude
which have run at an expense for fuel much less than that required
by the best steam engines of the same capacity. Most of the reports
of such tests have come from abroad, but some two years since the
Danbury and Bethel (Connecticut) Gas and Electric Light Company, in
considering how best to meet the demand for electric lighting,
concluded to test the adaptability and efficiency of gas engines,
using producer gas for this purpose. For two years, the experiment
has been going quietly on, and at length we are able to describe
for the readers of Power the apparatus used and the
results obtained. A general idea of the plant will be gathered from
the engraving and the plan on page. Three engines, each 14? inches
in diameter of cylinder by 24 inches stroke, and running at 165
revolutions per minute, are used. They are of the Otto type,
furnished by the Otto Gas Engine Works, Philadelphia, and rated at
90 horsepower each. Two horizontal cylinders are used on each
engine, placed one above the other, the connecting rods from both
taking on to a single crank pin. The center of the main shaft is on
a line midway between the cylinder centers. The engines are
normally run with producer gas, but the illuminating gas is also
piped to the cylinders in such a way that the attendant can, by a
simple movement of the cam shaft, set the valve cam to trip either
the producer or illuminating gas supply while running and without
losing a stroke. The charges are ignited in the cylinder by
electric sparks. The six-foot driving wheels of the engine are
connected by 16-inch Underwood cotton belts, faced with leather, to
25-inch pulleys upon a main line of shafting, from which the
dynamos are driven.
The method of throwing an engine into or out of connection with
the line is ingenious and effective, and will be apparent from the
photographic reproduction and drawings. Each belt is supplied with
a tightener, carried in bearings on a crosshead moved in a vertical
frame by means of a leading screw operated by a crank through bevel
gearing as shown. The same crank which raises and lowers the
tightener turns two horizontal shafts with worms working into worm
gears on both sides of the driven pulley. Extending between these
gears on one side are four rollers, as shown, upon which the belt
is supported when the worm gears are turned in such a position as
to bring the rollers between the pulley and the belt. When the
rollers are turned toward the engine side of the driven shaft the
belt rests on the pulley and the tightener is run down to take up
the slack. By means of a simple nut in the cross-head of the
tightener the latter may be thrown into or out of motion when the
crank is being turned, so that the belt supporting rollers may be
adjusted independently of the tightening pulley. On starting an
engine up in this way the pulley upon the shaft is temporarily the
driving pulley, it being necessary to turn the gas engine over a
few times before it will run of itself. The switching in is
therefore done with the engine idle and the shaft in motion. For
turning the shaft before the first gas engine is started a small
Westinghouse steam engine is provided, as shown in the engraving.
The shaft carries also a heavy flywheel, to preserve a uniformity
of rotation despite the intermittent character of the moving force,
and there is no noticeable fluctuation of speed even when only one
engine is in use. When two or three engines are run the
distribution of effort can of course be made more even. As the
engines are set side by side, with their crank shafts in line, the
latter are connected up by flexible couplings when running, with
the cranks 180 or 120 degrees apart, according to whether two or
three engines are in operation, the governors being connected so
that the plant acts as one four or six cylinder engine. This
distributes the strain of each impulse among the two or three units
in operation.
A THREE HUNDRED HORSE-POWER GAS ENGINE POWER PLANT
The transmission machinery was put in by the Geo. V. Cresson
Company of Philadelphia, the engineer of the work as a whole being
A. W. Burchard, M. E., of Danbury. The cylinders are kept cool by
circulating water from the gas holder through the jackets. A
considerable body of water is used in the holder, and being
circulated through the cylinder jackets and back to the holder does
not become unduly heated during the continuance of the run. The
steam boiler used in making the producer gas and for heating,
supplies steam for the fifteen horsepower starting engine. No
attempt is made to recover any heat from the exhaust, which passes
through ‘exhaust pots’ which are simple enlargements of the
exhaust pipes, to deaden the noise, and makes its final exit
through a small brick stack.
The electrical equipment consists of one 1500 and one 1750 light
Westinghouse alternating dynamo, with separate exciters, three
45-light Schuyler arc machines, and two 40-light Schuyler
commercial machines. When it is desired to stop a dynamo its belt
is shifted to a loose pulley carried on an extension of a journal
box independent of the shaft, an arrangement of great
simplicity.
The building was constructed with the intention of making it
virtually fireproof. The walls are of brick, the floors of cement,
the trusses of iron, planked and covered with slate. The dynamos
rest on a brick and iron foundation, the wires being carried in a
conduit underneath the floor to the switch boards, thus avoiding
any exposed wires in the station.
So successful and satisfactory has been the operation of the
plant that the company have given up the use of their former steam
plant, depending altogether upon this station.
