Electricity at the St. Louis Exposition
orig. published May 15, 1904 THE AMERICAN INVENTOR
By CHARLES ALMA BUERS
The part played by electricity at the St. Louis Exposition is an important
one. In fact, it is electricity that gives the exposition its life. Were
it not for this mysterious power, which man has brought down, as if from
the sky, the greatest World's Fair ever held on, the globe would lie inert;
for not a wheel would turn nor a light be seen. It would repose in quietness
and darkness like that which envelops some isolated tomb. The materials
of the exposition are in themselves sombre, but with electricity they pulsate,
throb and vibrate with an energy that is truly life itself. With it the
lifeless materials have been endowed with vitality like that possessed by
man.
And why should not this exposition receive its "vital spark" from
electricity? Why should not this be an electrical fair ? This is an age
of things electrical, and to fittingly keep abreast with progress, naturally,
a display of that, in science, is now most important. An exhibit of the
progress in science and in invention of recent years must necessarily include
the progress in the use of electricity, for it is around the latter that
nearly all things pertaining to either of the former center. Each year,
too, sees the use of electricity increased and improved upon more and more.
Edisons, Teslas, Marconis, Roentgens, inventors and investigators without
number startle us with new discoveries every year, and what the future is
to bring forth not even a dreamer like Jules Verne can anticipate.
The cost of endowing this exposition with "life" is enormous.
The sum of money required for this purpose far exceeds that ever made use
of at any other World's Fair. For electrical power alone an outlay of $2,ooo,ooo
was made. This sum went only to the manufacturing and distributing department,
and the various amounts required for the purely electrical displays will
equal an even greater total.
When one considers the great power necessary to move all the wheels of this
unprecedented exposition, the cost cannot be said to have been unnecessarily
enormous. Four times the power required at Buffalo is utilized at St. Louis,
and the Buffalo exposition was also electrical in character. For the operation
of the many departments of this fair a total of something over 45,000 horse-power
is required. Only two plants exist any-where in the world to-day with a
greater horse-power. One of these is the Manhattan Elevated Railway power
plant in New York, and the other is the Metropolitan Street Railway power
plant, also in New York.
The 45,000 horse-power, however, does not represent the total engine capacity
at the St. Louis Exposition.
There is an overload or reserve of at least twenty-five percent which can
be utilized in case greater power is needed for some special occasion. Therefore,
the grand total, it may be said, is about 56,000 horse-power. And as an
engine horse-power is really one-fifth greater than the average power of
the ordinary draught-horse, the total engine capacity can be made to equal
the power of something more than sixty-seven thousand horses-or a line of
horses one hundred and twenty-eight miles long.
A condition of very great importance that has added considerably to the
necessity of using so much money for electrical purposes at St. Louis is
found in the fact that only a very small amount of power could be rented.
The power thus obtained was only 7,500 kilowatts, which is furnished by
the Union Lighting and Power Company. 'Temporary plants, therefore, had
to be built to supply the remaining amount of power required. The contract
for this work was awarded to the Westinghouse Company, of St. Louis, and,
in consequence, what is the largest temporary power station ever erected
anywhere in the world is now in operation at the St. Louis World's Fair.
This plant contains four 2,ooo kilowatt direct-connected generators. Westinghouse's,
Church's, Kerr & Co.'s vertical compound engines are the types used.
In addition to this plant, there is an exhibitors' power station, which,
of course, is also temporary.
The lighting of the exposition, which is done entirely by electricity, presents
an almost unsurpassable spectacle. The main illuminations are made on the
Hall of Festivals, the Colonnade of States,
and the restaurant pavilions terminating them. Twenty thousand electrical
lamps ,is the illuminating capacity of these several departments. The lights
are arranged over the buildings fifteen inches apart, and on the colonnades
and restaurants are so made and governed that the color of light alternately
changes from white to amethyst, from amethyst to emerald and from emerald
again to white. These lamps are of eight candle-power and are supplied by
ten independent feed wires. The lighting of Festival Hall is pure white,
and with its steady glow at night resembles a huge diamond, with an alternating
effect of amethysts and emeralds.
All of the buildings on the exposition grounds are brilliantly illuminated,
as are also the cascades and gardens. The Palaces
of Electricity and Education are decorated
with 24,000 lamps, and at night from the top of each of these buildings
a powerful searchlight is made to play upon surrounding scenes. The three
cascades, one leading from Festival Hall and one from each of the restaurant
pavilions, are 290 feet in length, and each contains fourteen falls. Over
these cascades 90,000 gallons of water every minute pour into the Grand
Basin,. The entire water display is brilliantly lighted by electric bulbs
from beneath.
The power plant occupies practically all of the western half of Machinery
Hall, a space six hundred feet long by three hundred feet wide. In this
space are found installed engines and generators representing not only the
best engineering ability of America, but also of England, Germany and France.
For the operation of these engines steam is generated in a fireproof structure
three hundred and thirty feet long by three hun-dred feet wide. A tunnel
seven feet broad and eight feet deep leads from one building to the other,
which contains the pipe-lines conveying the steam from the boilers to the
engines and returning the condensed water back to the boilers from the condensers.
When all the boilers are in full operation, something over seven hundred
thousand pounds of water per hour is evaporated. Therefore, it is seen that
three hundred and fifty tons of water is hourly converted into steam.
The part played by electricity at the St. Louis World's Fair, however, does
not consist in supplying power alone. The Palace
of Electricity, which is five hundred and twenty-five feet wide by seven
hundred and fifty feet long, contains exhibits of all the uses of electricity
yet discovered. Here demonstrations are made in the application of electricity
for motive power, 'for lighting purposes, for treating all kinds of diseases,
for telephony and telegraphy, and for many other purposes. And in the exhibits
of this department, which is under the management of Prof. W. E. Goldsborough,
nearly all countries are represented. Besides the United States, creditable
exhibits are made by England, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and a few other
nations. There is also an historical exhibit made by B. F. Wasson, which
is indeed interesting to him who cares to study the progress made in things
electrical.
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