Mr. John T. McDonald, who has a farm about five miles from Delhi,
Delaware county, N. Y., some ten years ago began making good use of a
power development from a small stream on his farm. He lights his house
and buildings, runs saws, grinders and various machines in a little
shop on rainy days and in the winter. His dam was made from stone and
earth from the nearby fields and cost very little. It forms a pond,
covering, when full, about four and one-half acres of land. The pond is
well stocked with trout and other fish, and each winter Mr. McDonald
cuts about 500 tons of ice from it. Mr. McDonald turns on the water
at his dam by means of an electric switch at the house and regulates
the voltage also in a similar manner. From the pond the water is led
through a hydraulic race, or canal, about 900 feet long, to one of the
farm buildings where the waterwheels are installed. The head, or fall,
at this point is about 15 feet and there are three waterwheels of the
turbine type: one that develops 25 horsepower, another that develops
6 horsepower and a third that develops about 3 horsepower. The large
wheel is used to run a sawmill and feed mill. The 6-horsepower wheel
drives an electric generator, or dynamo, which furnishes the electric
lights, and also electricity for driving the small motors about the
place. The 3-horsepower wheel runs the small saws, machine tools, etc.,
in Mr. McDonald’s shop.
A few miles east from Mr. Van Wagenen’s farm in Schoharie county is
another small power development owned by Mr. Frank Caspar. He has
installed two waterwheels on a small creek and uses the power from
them to drive the machinery in a table and furniture factory. He has
another small waterwheel of the turbine type driving a little dynamo
which generates electricity for electric light. Mr. Caspar lights his
factory buildings, his home, a neighboring church and the main street
in the village with electricity from this little dynamo. An ingenious
device of his own invention makes it possible to start and stop the
power from the house by simply pulling a wire which operates a valve
in a small water pipe, from which water under pressure is let into a
hydraulic cylinder. This causes the piston of the cylinder to rise,
and the piston being directly connected to a gate in the water pipe
inlet, allows the water to flow into the waterwheel. When it is desired
to stop the plant, a pull on the companion wire causes the reverse
operation to take place and the power is shut off.
[Illustration: Farm Power Development of John T. McDonald, Delaware Co.,
N. Y.]
Near the village of Berlin, in eastern Rensselaer county, N. Y., there
is a small power development owned by Mr. Arthur Cowee. His source of
power is a small trout brook which flows through the farm. Mr. Cowee is
a producer of fancy gladiolus bulbs, on a large scale. His principal
power development, consisting of a 36-inch impulse waterwheel, under
a pressure due to a fall of about 210 feet, is used mostly for the
purpose of operating a circular saw and other machinery connected with
a sawmill. The water is diverted from the natural channel of the brook
at a considerable distance from the place where the waterwheel is
installed and is carried in an artificial channel, about four feet wide
and three feet deep, around the side of the hill, where it runs into
a shallow basin which has been excavated by Mr. Cowee at a suitable
location. By means of this basin, or artificial pond, practically all
of the flow of the brook may be stored during the night and used to
operate the waterwheel during the day. In this manner the full power
value of the brook is realized. There is a ten-inch, cast-iron pipe
line, about 1680 feet long, which runs from the pond down the side of
the hill to the waterwheel. This pipe line was placed under ground from
three to four feet in order to avoid freezing in the winter. Mr. Cowee
estimates that the development, including the diverting dam and canal,
pond, pipe line, waterwheel, circular saw and accessories, cost him
a total of about $7000. He states that he can saw about 4000 feet of
lumber in a day with this power.
In addition to this development, Mr. Cowee also has a small impulse
waterwheel in his bulb house. This wheel is operated by water furnished
from the system of the local water company. It is directly connected
to a small electric generator which furnishes electricity sufficient
for 157 sixteen-candle-power carbon-filament lamps which are installed
throughout the bulb house. The generator does not produce enough
electric current to run all of these lights at the same time, but it
will operate as many as forty-five or fifty lights at one time, which
is all that is necessary to meet the requirements.
Mr. D. F. Paine of Wadhams, Essex county, N. Y., has a dam at the
outlet of Lincoln pond. The water surface, when the pond is full, is
about twelve feet above the normal and spreads over an extensive tract
of low, marshy land. The pond thus formed is about three miles long
and from one-quarter to three-quarters of a mile wide. The water is
conducted from the dam to the penstock, a distance of about a mile
and a half, securing a fall of 320 feet. At this point Mr. Paine has
constructed a power house, where he generates electricity which he
transmits to Mineville for use in the mines. This power is transmitted
a distance of about eight miles.
At Chazy, N. Y., near the western shore of Lake Champlain and at a
point about fifteen miles north of the city of Plattsburg, there
is located a modern stock and dairy farm which, in its operation,
exemplifies the manifold advantages to be derived from the use of
hydro-electric power for electric lighting and for the various power
requirements of the farm. This farm, which is owned by Mr. W. H.
Miner and is called “Heart’s Delight,” covers an area of 5160 acres.
About 1200 acres are cultivated, 1200 acres are in pasture and the
remainder in woodland. The output consists of live stock and dairy
products, all crops grown on the farm being fed to the stock and only
finished products being shipped out. The live stock includes registered
Percheron and Belgian horses, pure-bred, short-horn Durham and Guernsey
cattle, Dorset sheep and high-grade hogs for the production of sausage,
hams and bacon. There are also poultry and squabs, and a fish hatchery
for the propagation of trout. The entire output goes directly to
high-grade hotels in New York, Washington and Chicago.
[Illustration: Power House, “Heart’s Delight” Farm]
Two streams pass through the southern portion of the farm, the smaller
one being known as Tracy brook and the larger one as Chazy river. It
was decided to provide the farm with electricity for light and power.
Enough water power was found in these streams to furnish a cheap and
reliable source of energy. Accordingly, a hydro-electric plant was
installed several years ago and has given such satisfaction that
the equipment has been increased from time to time, and some novel
applications have resulted. Three small concrete dams were built across
Tracy brook to form storage reservoirs. A concrete penstock, or pipe,
44 inches in diameter and 670 feet long, carries the water from the
downstream reservoir to a concrete power house, where a fall of 19 feet
is secured.
[Illustration: Alternating Current Transmission Line, “Heart’s Delight”
Farm]
The power house equipment consists of two water turbines automatically
governed and directly connected respectively to one 30-kilowatt and
one 12½-kilowatt, 220-volt, direct current generators. The current is
transmitted over a pole line, a mile and a quarter long, to a central
station in the main group of farm buildings.
[Illustration: Electric Cooking Outfit]
Another dam was built across the Chazy river. This is of concrete, and,
after passing through screens at the intake gate house, built into the
dam, the water flows through a concrete penstock, 48 inches wide by 60
inches high and 630 feet long, to the power house where a fall of
30 feet is obtained. There are two turbines here, belt connected to
alternating current generators, and the current is transmitted over a
pole line, nearly three miles long, to the central station.
An auxiliary to the water-power development consists of two hydraulic
rams, pumping water from one of the Tracy brook reservoirs to a
60,000-gallon tank, 100 feet above the ground, for fire protection for
the buildings.
There are in all about twenty-five motors installed in the various
buildings. The electric current actuates these motors, which are used
to drive or operate numerous machines and labor-saving devices.
[Illustration: Motor-driven Vacuum Pump