Publication: The Electrical Engineer
New York, NY, United States
THE GENERAL ELECTRIC CO.'S EXHIBIT AT ATLANTA.
THE central space in Electricity Building at the late Atlanta Exposition was occupied by the compact and well-arranged exhibit of the General Electric Company, illustrating the latest developments in the fields of electric lighting, railway and power.
The exhibit which is illustrated in the accompanying engraving, was erected on a raised platform surrounded by a cornice supported on columns of white enameled iron. The cornice was decorated with a row of miniature purple lamps breaking into groups of amber lights over the caps of the posts. The side of the cornice facing the exhibit was ornamented with a line of frosted lamps.
The railing was an exhibit in itself, made of lengths of one inch brush-holder cable, stretched between standard insulated railway turnbuckles. It was supported on posts capped with General Electric insulators. At the ends of the platform the place of the cables was taken by nickel-plated trolley wires supported on high tension porcelain insulators of the double petticoat pattern, similar to those used for the Sacramento Folsom plant. The roof of the office, which stood in the center of the space, was decorated with a large model of an Edison lamp socket, three feet high. In the construction of which not less than 700 standard sockets were used.
The office stood under an arch—one of the most interesting features of the exhibit. It was a model of the upper field of one of the large 800 k. w. monocyclic generators now running in the station of the Edison Illuminating Company. St. Louis. Mo. The model is full size, 21 feet in diameter. These generators are the largest that have ever been constructed and operated. As erected here, the armature could be set upon the floor and just fit the field frame in its present position. The supports for this model were two large pyramids, the four sides of which formed display boards on which were artistically arranged fine selections of the many lines of railway, power and lighting supplies made by the company.
While the visitor was impressed with the model of the great monocyclic generator field, an opportunity was also afforded him in viewing the monocyclic system itself in actual operation. A monocyclic generator of 250 k. w. capacity ran day and night in Machinery Hall and supplied current for the illumination of a large portion of the halls and buildings, as well as for the operation of 30 and 50 h. p. induction motors. The visitor was thus enabled to judge of the flexibility of the system from personal observation.
One corner of the exhibition space was occupied by a 30 horse power three-phase induction motor driven by current from the monocyclic generator just mentioned. The motor is started by the closing of a switch and comes to full speed quickly. This motor drove a 20-kilowatt, 125-volt, four-pole, slow-speed generator, furnishing current to illuminate two signs, each forty feet long, conspicuously hung below the balconies opposite each end of the exhibit. The name of the General Electric Company was spelled in eight-candle-power lamps and stood out prominently in neat white script against a black ground.
A full set of the latest type, plain and ornamental, arc lamps for incandescent circuits were shown hanging from a stand of wrought iron scroll work. Several arc lamps intended for use, ten in series, on 500-volt railway circuits, were also shown. This display of arc lamps also included the alternating current arc lamp, reported to be meeting with success throughout the country. The arc lamp exhibit was further increased by a full display of the apparatus and devices necessary in arc light service.
The marine work of the General Electric Company was represented by a small plant, consisting of an engine and a generator, directly connected, and a switchboard adapted to marine requirements. The complete plant illustrated the compactness necessary in all electrical work on shipboard.
One corner of the space was devoted to railway appliances, including, of course, the trio of G. E. motors; the G. E. 800 for ordinary street car service, the G. E. 1,200 for suburban service and the G. E. 2,000 successfully used on electric elevated roads and those branches of steam lines fortunate enough to have adopted electricity. Car controllers of the well-known "K2" style were shown, together with a large "L" controller, designed for use with the G. E. 2,000 motor. A well-arranged panel switchboard with full equipment of automatic circuit breakers, quick brake switches, indicating and measuring instruments rounded off the railway exhibit.
The line of transformers was represented by a sample of each size, from the small 350 watt transformer for six lights to the 30,000 watt transformer for 600 lights. A 250 k. w. transformer of the air blast type was also shown. This type of transformer has been introduced for sub-station work to transform up to, and down from, very high voltages in long-distance transmission work. Many are now in successful use at Portland, Ore., Sacramento, Cal., Niagara Falls, N. Y., and Lowell, Mass.
Samples of wire and cables made by the company in its works at Schenectady were shown in mahogany cases, and the system of underground tubes, used in Boston, Chicago, New York and other places, was exemplified by many fine samples of tubes, conductors and subsidiary appliances.
Thomson recording wattmeters occupied a small department by themselves and every size was shown, from the smallest to the largest, including some fine samples of the large station meters which record an output as high as 8,000 amperes. Samples of fan motors, small bi-polar generators and motors with cylindrical field frames were also exhibited.
Hung around the exhibit were a number of enlarged photographs, illustrating the work done by the General Electric Company. Each enlargement was framed in white and an examination of these pictures alone would give an excellent idea of the extent of the General Electric Company's factories, as well as the important installations throughout the country in which its apparatus is used. From these pictures the visitor also gained a good idea of the recent developments in electrical practice, as the photographs Included the interior of the Portland (Ore.) power station, the conduit railway system on Lenox avenue, in New York City, the Nantasket Beach (Mass.) road, the elevated roads in Chicago, and the great electric locomotives now operating on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
In addition to the exhibit in Electricity Building some standard machines were in operation in Machinery Hall. These included the monocyclic generator, already referred to, a single-phase alternator, a Thomson-Houston arc machine, and a large bi-polar generator.
The searchlights on the roof of Machinery Hall and on the tower of the Government Building, the lamps which operated the electric fountain and its complete electrical equipment, the Tower of Light which floated in splendor on the lake, were all parts of the comprehensive exhibit of the General Electric Co.
The following awards were made to this company: Two gold medals for (1) photographs and description of the Baltimore and Ohio locomotive and (2) generator, motors and lamps operated by the monocyclic system; 0 silver medals for (1) T.-H. arc light system; (2) T.-H. alternating light system; (3) Edison lighting system; (4) street car system; (5) Thomson recording wattmeter; (6) Brush arc light system. Honorable mention for (1) portable alternating measuring instruments; (2) direct connected marine set; (3) searchlights; (4) insulated wires and cables.