Kingsbridge Power Station

Allgemeines

FirmennameKingsbridge Power Station
OrtssitzNew York (N.Y.)
OrtsteilManhattan
StraßeNinth Avenue
Art des UnternehmensElektrizitätswerk
AnmerkungenLage: Zwischen 216th und 218th Street an der Ninth Avenue am Harlem River in Upper Manhattan. Versorgte die Unterwerke der mit Gleichstrom betriebenen "Third Avenue Railroad" mit Dreiphasenstrom 25 Hz, 6600 V. Benannt nach der King's Bridge zwischen Manhattan und der Bronx. Die "Third Avenue Railroad" war anfangs eine Pferdebahn an der Oberfläche und wurde später auf Betrieb mit umlaufendem Kabel umgestellt; die Kraftwerke für den Kabelzugbetrieb waren in der 65th Street / 3rd Avenue und Bayard Street im Zentrum von Manhattan. Sie wurden bei der Elektrifizierung zur provisorischen Elektrizitätswerken (4000 kW bzw. 2000 kW) umfunktioniert; die Kabelkanäle wurde dann für die Stromleitung verwendet. Ein weiteres temporäres Kraftwerk (3000 kW) befand sich an der 128th Street / Amsterdam Avenue. Hatte um 1904 8 Maschinen; unsicher, ob jemals Vollausbau auf 16 Maschinen.
Quellenangabenhttp://www.ieeeghn.org [Schimpff: Straßenbahnen in den Verein. Staaten (1903) 134] [New York electr. handbook (1904) 146]
Hinweise[New York electr. handbook (1904) 147]: Innenansicht




Unternehmensgeschichte

Zeit Ereignis
1898 Baubeginn. Das Werk ersetzt ein älteres Kraftwerk an der Kingsbridge Road an der selben Stelle, das nie in Betieb ging, da die Eisenbahn nicht gebaut wurde. Das neue Werk muß auf feinem Sand mit 15.000 Eichenpfählen (Länge: 40 ft. = 12,20 m, Abstand 28 in. = 0,71 m) mit einer 8 ft. (2,44 m) dicken Bodenplatte gegründet werden.
1904 Fertigstellung. Das Werk ist 1902 mit acht Westinghouse-Maschinensätzen zu je 4500 PS angegeben.
1912 Das Kraftwerk wird von der "Third Avenue Railroad Company" an die "New York Edison Company" verpachtet
1913 Die "New York Edison Company" als Pächter verlegt eine Hochspannungs-Versorgungsleitung zur Verbindung mit der "Waterside Generating Station" an der 38th Street und First Avenue in Manhattan. - Diese ist bis in die 1950er Jahre in Betrieb.
nach 1964 Abbruch (1964 sind die Gebäude noch vorhanden). - Danach entsteht dort ein Stadtbusdepot.




Produkte

Produkt ab Bem. bis Bem. Kommentar
Bahnstrom 1904 Beginn   Ende unsicher: 1928 oder in den 1940ern 25 Hz, 6600 V




Betriebene Dampfmaschinen

Bezeichnung Bauzeit Hersteller
Dampfmaschinen 1903/04 Westinghouse Machine Company




Allgemeines

ZEIT1904
THEMABeschreibung
TEXTThe Kingsbridge Power Station supplies current to the two northern substations on Manhattan Island; to the
Borough of the Bronx, as before stated, and to the substations at Mt. Vernon and Yonkers. The Power Station has only recently been finished, the first unit having been put in operation less than one year ago. In arrangement this station follows the same general plan as the 96th Street Power Station. The electric units are of the same size, 3.500 kW each, and generating three-phase current at twenty-five cycles and 6.600 volts.
The generating units are eight in number and are driven by vertical cross-compound condensing engines directly connected to the generators. The steam is supplied by water tube boilers of the inclined tube type. These boilers, thirty-two in number, are arranged on the first and second floors of the boiler house and are set in batteries of 1.000 H.P. each. The coal bunkers are in the top of the boiler room, the coal being delivered to them by conveyors and fed from the bunkers by gravity to the automatic stokers with which the boilers are equipped. The condensing plant of this station is of the type known as the central jet condensing, and is arranged in duplicate, as are all of the station auxiliaries. All auxiliaries are steam driven. This station is not at present, and never has been,
fully loaded. The space required per kW of capacity in this station is 1,16 sq. ft. for boiler and engine rooms together. Of this 58 sq. ft. is in the engine room and 58 sq. ft. in the boiler room.
In the Kingsbridge Power Station, as well as the 96th Street Power Station, the arrangement of the apparatus is such that they are practically several power stations under one roof. This subdivision holds from boiler room to switchboard. While the separation of the various groups of apparatus in the power house may be complete, if necessary, in ordinary operation all are connected together. In these two power houses the Railway Company
has ample power provision for any possible requirements for several years to come. The mechanical force in the power stations is directly in charge of the Mechanical Engineer of the Company, and the electrical force is in charge of the Electrical Engineer; both of whom report to the Chief Engineer of the Company. Each power station has a First, Second and Third Assistant Engineer, who stand watches of eight hours each, and are in direct charge of the operation of the power house during the eight hours. Under them are watch engineers, oilers, pump men, stokers, coal passers, water tenders, and so on; all working in eight-hour shifts. The high tension feeders laid from the power stations to the substations are arranged in groups so that no substation is dependent upon current from any one
feeder, as there are always several feeders connecting each substation with the power house. These feeders take different routes through the streets and, entering the power house from different directions, terminate in different sections of the feeder board. This subdivision of the power station, and the feeders therefrom, provides all the practical advantages of several separate power stations. Any mechanical or electrical trouble with any of the power-house apparatus can hardly extend further than the group in which it originates, except temporarily.
The possibility of fire is practically eliminated by the fireproof construction employed throughout the power
stations. The coal used at these power stations is partly anthracite, buckwheat size, approximately 12.000 B.T.U.'s
per lb., and partly semi-bituminous coal having a heating value of 14.500 B.T.U.'s per lb. The average amount of water evaporated per pound of coal throughout the twenty-four hours, as measured by water meters, is about eight and one-half pounds. Water required per kWh at the switchboard is about twenty-two pounds, including all the auxiliaries about the power station. The cost of coal is sixty-seven per cent, the cost of repairs to power plant is seven and six-tenths per cent, and the cost of labor is nineteen per cent, of the total operating and maintenance cost; while the yearly cost of repairs is about one and sixty-one-one hundredths per cent, of the first cost of the plant.
The location of both these power stations on the river front is such that coal is delivered to them directly by
boats ensuring a proper supply of fuel at the lowest possible cost for handling, and ample water is available for
condensing purposes. The substations throughout the city have been located on property owned by the Company. In most instances the substation building is part of a car house. It so happens that the property owned by the Company is so
situated that the substations are not far removed from their theoretically proper positions. The electrical conductors in the conduit are divided into sections isolated from each other so that difficulties in the way of electrical grounds, etc. are confined to the section in which they occur. These sections average, approximately, one-half mile lengths, and each has its own set of feeders leading directly to it from the substation. This localizes trouble on the lines and facilitates quick repairs. Switches are provided - located in suitable boxes in
manholes - at the points of division of various sections, so that in case feeder trouble should temporarily disable traffic on one section, power can be quickly furnished to the disabled section by connecting it through the switch to the adjacent section. It has been found that this provision against power failure is so effective that delays of more than four or five minutes to cars through feeder troubles are quite rare. The electrical troubles met with in operating this system can be roughly grouped under three heads: Troubles with feeders between substations and conductor bars ; troubles with the conductor bars themselves, and troubles with electrical equipment of cars. Nine-tenths of the feeder troubles occur at the manholes and are due to some mechanical injury to the feeders by men while working in the manholes, or by men working in other excavations alongside the company's duct line. It sometimes happens that in manholes containing a great many feeders a feeder low down in the rack may short-circuit or ground to the lead cover, from some cause or other, and burn not only itself, but other feeders above it until
every feeder in the manhole is more or less damaged; the attendant at the substation meanwhile knowing nothing of all this until advised from the outside by the Inspector. Troubles with conductor bars come mainly from
three causes:
1st. Short-circuiting of plows or current collectors carried by the car. When this occurs the conductor rails are burned and buckle from the heat developed by the burning plow. Such rails must be removed and
new ones put in their places.
2nd. Troubles due to accumulations of snow or ice in the conduit.
3rd. Troubles caused by boys putting metallic articles, wire, chain, etc., through the slot and thereby short-circuiting the conductor bars.
The methods of prevention of troubles from the last two-named sources are obvious. The trouble from the first cause can never be entirely prevented, but only mitigated. For the proper care of the feeders and electric conductors in the conduit the city is divided into eight sections, and all the cable and electric conductors in each section are in the charge of a section foreman who has a force of men under his control and who is responsible directly to the Superintendent of Lines and Feeders for the condition of the electric cables and conductor bars in his section, and for the proper handling of his men. The Superintendent of Lines and Feeders reports directly to the Electrical Engineer.
QUELLE[New York electr. handbook (1904) 146]