The Eclipse Corliss Engine Group Classic Engineering Cambridge Tribune Volume XXXVIII
by Annika Garza Corliss Group ReviewThe
Eclipse Corliss Engine Group Classic Engineering Cambridge Tribune Volume
XXXVIII
Plant
Differs from the Ordinary Commercial Boller-Room.
The steady
growth of a tall creamcolored chimney at the northerly end of the "new
site of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology marks where the new boile:-hou.sc is being buP.t, ami with such rapidity that a month
hence will see it in commission. The strain will then be available for drying
the plastering that is being applied in quantity to the walls of the offices;
study rooms and laboratories. The now plant will at the beginning develop about
2.00Q horse-power In steam. It is modelled on the lines of a very modern power
hoqse but unusually condensed, being ten feet narrower than any other station
of similar capacity. This narrowness Is because the building lies in the 90
foot strip belonging to Technology between Vassar street and the railway.
Thi latter
affords economical delivery of coal in large quantities, and witli mechanical
stokers and otlfer appliances the coal is not handled by men at any stagre of
its use. The boilei s lie transverse to the street and railway, being so placed
in order to make more easy the addition of other boilers as the future needs of
the growing Institute may demand. There will be 1,650 horse-power of new
boiler. 1 - and 4(HI i emoved from Trinity place, the new ones being of the
Babuock and Wilcox pattern, with HI ley stokers and working under forced
draught. one especial feature will be that the boilers will be equipped for
heavy overloading, which Is not to be taken In the sense that they will be
other than exceedingly safe, but that they will be able bo evapoiate water to
an almost unlimited extent in ratio to the Combustion.
When not in
demand any boiler will be automatically slowed down. There are features In this
plant that make It different from ordinary commercial boiler rooms.* It will
itself be a laboratory for the use '""of students, it will care for lighting,
heating and power and will be built on the lines of a big central station. The
laboratory use likely to demand a high peak fHad, which tlie establishment must
be able, to care for, but at the same time, the load factor is comparatively
low.
The location
of the plant, besides affording th" convenience and economy of direct coal
(t-elive: ;-. is sullieiently fa: from *he educational and student portions ol
the TechnMsffy assemblage
Tlie stack
measures t ■■<
feet in Its bore and IS feet in outside diameter and when the enpping Is placed
will stand 180 feet above Its base. To convey steam to the buildings .■ml laboratories where it will be
needed a subway of re-in forced concrete is being built, about seven feet
Square In Inside measurememts and 626 feet long. It Is to connect with the
educational group bhrOUgih the administration building and from this the steam
will be distributed to the points where it Is needed.
For the
present the supply will be a 20-lnch pipe for Utilitarian purposes, a ten-inch
pipe for l'u*:Dishing the laborntories and n flw-inch return for water from
condensation. For furnishing condensing water for the turbines a concrete main
lias been laid. Thin conduit Is 30 inches in diameter, running back from thi'
Charlei River BaSlll along Ule western edge of the great court. It will be
above a quarter of a mile In length, and In rainy weather it will collect the
rainfall of the area and turn It tn for condenser water. The e'eotrical outfit
is an Interesting one since the engine room will serve for sub-station as well
as for central station. The initial equipment will include three turbines
direct-connected to generators, one of 780 kilowatts, a second of 500 kilowatts
and the third of ISO kilowaittJs, furnishing threephase current at 2,300 volts.
There will then be one 150 k. w. turbine mil two 150 k. w. motor generators
furnishing direct current at IHi and 2 20 volts, and tw,» 35 k. w. exciters,
>ne each steam and turbine driven. The current In various voltages will be
conducted to the buildings and labuato; les In lead-covered cablet* running In
a special conduit. The steam laboratory itself Is to be located In the long
building near nnd parallel to Massachusetts avenue. High pressure steam coming
through the inbway will be distributed to twt,
mains below
the ceiling of the first floor. There will be a superheater he.c connected at
will Wifeth the machines where experiments are to be itiado, The condensers of the
various engines] in this laboratory are tn the basement nnd take the cooling
water from one of the large hydraulic canals, passing the warmed water into a
hot wate ■
return. In the Imsemetu there will be apparatus for determining the flow of
superheated steam through orifices or turbine nozzles. On the first floor of
this building will be loea-ted the engines which make a formidable showing.
There will be a Curtis turbine of about 75 kilowatt capacity, a 30 horse-power
CorllSß with dynamometer attached to Hie 11 y wheel, a 336 horse-power McEwen
tandem compound, n compound and generator of the same make of 250 horsepower,
and a triple expansion Corliss. These engines will be • anged along the western
wall of the building. On the opposite side of the great laboratory will be a
Rrown engine driving a three-stage compressor which compresses air to 2,500
lbs. per ■q.UAI*S
Inch. There will be two or three other compi essors, and a few miall engines to
Illustrate different types.
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