CHAPTER IV

POWER PLANT FROM COAL PILE TO SHAFTS OF ENGINES AND TURBINES


From the minute and specific description in Chapter III, a clear idea
will have been obtained of the power house building and its adjuncts,
as well as of the features which not only go to make it an
architectural landmark, but which adapt it specifically for the vital
function that it is called upon to perform. We now come to a review
and detailed description of the power plant equipment in its general
relation to the building, and "follow the power through" from the coal
pile to the shafts of the engines or steam turbines attached to the
dynamos which generate current for power and for light.

[Sidenote: _Coal and Ash
Handling
Equipment_]

The elements of the coal handling equipment comprise a movable
electric hoisting tower with crushing and weighing apparatus--a system
of horizontal belt conveyors, with 30-inch belts, to carry the crushed
and weighed coal along the dock and thence by tunnel underground to
the southwest corner of the power house; a system of 30-inch belt
conveyors to elevate the coal a distance of 110 feet to the top of the
boiler house, at the rate of 250 tons per hour or more, if so desired,
and a system of 20-inch belt conveyors to distribute it horizontally
over the coal bunkers. These conveyors have automatic self reversing
trippers, which distribute the coal evenly in the bunkers. For
handling different grades of coal, distributing conveyors are arranged