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Matt Pyle
posted twelve images with the comment:
For this week’s installation of Turbine Topics, we travel east to Paterson, NJ and the scenic Great Falls hydro station. This small but resilient facility harnesses the power of the Passaic river to generate electricity, but has a few interesting historical elements associated with it. Early on in the late 1700’s, before the town of Patterson was established Alexander Hamilton visited the falls and recognized this waterway’s great potential for powering industry. In December of 1790 Hamilton formed the Society for Useful Manufacturing (S.U.M). This joint venture established a network of raceways on the Passaic to power a wide variety of industry. Through 1838 the waterpower network underwent multiple changes, additions, and realignments as industrial needs expanded, changed, and grew.
In 1912 construction began on a new hydroelectric generation facility at the base of Great Falls. This facility under the direction of S.U.M was completed and began operations in 1914. An adjacent but now long-gone steam generation facility supplemented the station in times of low water to sustain a reliable source of power for the local grid. The station as initially constructed contained 3 units, two units producing 1,720 hp and one smaller unit producing 1,390 hp. Supporting the generators two small 100 hp turbines powered dc generators to produce field power for the large AC generators. Though not initially part of the original installation, the additional 4thAC unit was eventually installed.
In January of 1969 financial conditions became too much to bear and the facility was taken offline, no longer to compete with low oil prices and high maintenance costs. The facility sat boarded up for nearly 15 years before efforts to return the station to service were undertaken. In 1984 the facility was overhauled with all new equipment. These improvements increased the station capacity from 4.8 to 10.95 mw, enough to power 11,000 homes of roughly an increase of 125%. The original double francis turbines were replaced by variable blade Kaplan turbines. The original turbines and associated mechanical equipment were built by the S.Morgan Smith company of York, PA. The tapered 6-8 ½’ generator and 2 ½’ diameter penstocks supply the water for the equipment which operates under approximately 68’ of head.
The Great Falls station overall has a great and very interesting history. The facility appears on the registry of National Mechanical & Civil landmarks, and rightfully so. From humble beginnings as just a power canal supplying 2,200 hp to local industries to the grand facility that still operates today this site is something to behold.
[Note] The area has a very in-depth and interesting history, too much for just this article. If you are interested in learning more and reading over the materials that were reference, feel free to follow the links below.
Matt Pyle
shared with the comment: "Turbine Topic from our group."
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| Matt Pyle commented on his post |
And before they built hydro plants, there were mechanically driven mills and factories. I'm trying to remember which steam locomotive manufacturer was in Patterson.
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Erik Nordberg updated
Our new cover image shows the original Patent Arms Manufacturing Company of Paterson, New Jersey. This company was established by venture capitalists to bring Samuel Colt's first-ever patent for a revolving cylinder multi-shot firearm. The U.S. patent was issued on February 25, 1836. Photo is from the Patterson Friends of Great Falls site, a support organization for the Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park. Erik Nordberg: https://www.nps.gov/pagr/index.htm "In 1792, Paterson was established as America's first planned industrial city, centered around the Great Falls of the Passaic River. From humble mills rose industries that changed the face of the nation." |
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