1,845 Comments Posted by Joe

Welcome to the world of working on hydro turbines and generators. These are smaller tools. Mechanics and millwrights used them routinely during maintainence and overhauls. Those particular wrenches were furnished with the generator and turbine as "service tools". The wrenches were forged by a blacksmith using a steam or power hammer.

The flat box wrenches laying on the plastic sheet are "slugging wrenches". they are the most basic powerplant wrench out there. Slugging wrenches are box wrenches specifically made to be struck with a sledge hammer (AKA "Beater"). Once a nut or bolt is run up tight using plain muscle power on the wrench, it often has to be "slugged up". This is where the slugging happens. The slug wrench has a softer portion of the body designed to take the blow of a steel sledge. At least a 16 lb sledge is used, sometimes a 25 lb.
Three people often are required to slug: one places the wrench on the nut or bolt head and may jam it there with the sole of their boot or with a hunk of wood. The next person has a rope tied thru a hole in the hammer handle, and pulls hard on the rope. These two people have to keep the wrench hard against the bolt or nut and "take the bounce out". When they have the wrench "solid", the third person wales it with the beater.

There are two criteria for how much slugging is needed. If it is possible, an engineer (such as myself), will calculate the "stretch" of the studbolt to produce a given clamping force. Measurements are taken with micrometers or dial indicators once the bolt is snugged. Then, it is slugged and measurements taken again until the required "stretch" is had. The other method is "ring of the wrench", how the wrench rings and how the hammer feels.

Nowadays, slugging and using heavy "cheaters" (pipe extensions) on wrench handles is vanishing. Hydraulic wrenching systems make "breaking" or "making up" big bolting an easy and consistent proposition. I've worked many tubine overhauls where we slugged, and it wore out even the strongest people. We used to rotate the three people, so each took a turn holding the rope while the next person took a turn swinging the sledge. I've seen mechanics and millwrights of all shapes and sizes take their turn slugging. On one turbine overhaul, we had millwrights whose average age was over 65. I was in my 40's at the time. As engineer running the job, I was not supposed to handle the tools. I saw the older men wearing themselves out, so I used to take a turn slugging to give them a rest.

Turbine work is special- the parts are huge, but the degree of accuracy is quite tight. Even those old units would be built to tolerances down in the thousandths of an inch. A human hair is about 0.0015", paper is about 0.,004", so big as those parts are, that is how accurate the work is. A misplace blow of the sledgte can do untold harm when you are working on the turbine or generator, massive as they may be.

You've seen some of the wrenches, but you've not seen the "rigging" to take a unit apart and put it together. The cable slings and shackles even for these smaller old units are bigger than what most people might be used to. Makes the wire rope and hook on a tow truck winch look like a light fishing line.

The desk is the chief operator or shift supervisor's desk. The instrument with the white dial and single pointer sticking out from the switchboard face is the "synchroscope". It was used to "synchronize" a generator to "parallel" it into the grid. AC power makes a sine wave, and if the sine wave of the power made by a generator does not line up with the sine wave made by the grid power, the generator is "out of phase" with the grid. The grid would try to force the generator into phase and usually destroy the generator and alot more in the process. Synching a unit required adjusting the governor so the unit was in phase- the synchroscope needle would linger at "12:00" when in phase. Youa lways made sure the needle on the 'scope was moving in a "fast" direction ( it has a slow and fast direction). This insured no reverse current from the grid would try to motorize the generator when you closed the generator breaker. Done it a number of times, and you have to be quick. You have one hand on the speed control switch (which works a small motor down on the governor to raise or lower speed), one hand on the breaker, and you also adjust generator field voltage. Once the unit is "on line", you load it from right at the "board".

In any powerplant, you never just walk up and touch any controls. You assume all circuits are live and all equipment can move or start unless you see that it has been locked/tagged out and electrical equipment and conductors have to have grounding cables hung. If you are in someone else;'s plant, unless you have some specific work to do, you touch nothing short of maybe doorknobs and perhaps the water cooler or a cup of coffee. Just because some piece of equipment looks dead, in a running plant, there is a chance of induced voltages, so you treat everything as if it were "live".

I know when I go into the control room at our plant, following an overhaul, to "give back the unit" (release it for return to service), I stand at attention and shake the senior operator's hand. It's a kind of tradition that when an engineer "gives back the unit", you stand at attention and shake hands with the operators and thank them. You "release" your clearance (the formal lock out /tag out), go over the record of all the grounds , and all other records of the clearance. The grounds are cables temporarily place on the electrical equipment and out in the switchyard to groudn things so no stray currents or induced voltages can find their way into the equipment while people are working on it or literally in it. When you and the senior operator are done with that last verification, you have "given back the unit". The senior stands up and shakes your hand and thanks you for a good overhaul. You go "down below" to the crew and tell them you've released your clearance and you thank them- they thank you as well. When you are an engineer in a hydro plant and you are assigned to "hold a clearance", you are responsible for the lives and safety of anyone working on the equipment within your clearance. You rely on the senior operator and he sends out operators from the control room to do the switiching and tag things out. You check each tag and you check with the senior operator steadily. Usually, an overhaul finishes late at night, when the senior can get permission to bring a unit into the grid for testing. It seems like you've finished a journey when you walk into the control room to "give back the unit". You feel a little lost, as for the past period of time, your whole work has been the overhaul and the clearance and it had taken on a life of it's own. When you go to the control to give back the unit, no matter how many times you've done it, it carries a nice weight to it. Seeing this old control room makes me realize power plant people are a strict and proud lot, bound by a sense of responsibility that touches people at the furthest reaches of the grid.

You are seeing fairly low voltage control wiring. The bundled wires are tied with waxed twine. It was called "looming", and is a lost art. Wiring was routed and bundled, neatly, then tied in a continuous process with the waxed twine. It had to look uniform and neat. Once the nylon or plastic wire ties (tie-raps or similar) came on the scene, the use of the twine and the art of "looming" was lost.

BTW: I estimate these units at about 15 megawatts apiece given their age and size of the stators. 15 megawatts would provide power to about 1500 modern homes. 15 megawatts needs about a 20,000 shaft horsepower turbine to turn the generator. I've worked on hydro turbines of over 300,000 shaft horsepower, and those are over 40 yrs old. This plant had big units for its day, but that was a long time ago. These are little guys by any standards.

Thank you for posting this gallery. I am an oldtime engineer who'se worked in hydroelectrio plants for many years. Last month, my wife wanted to visit Niagara Falls. We rode there on our old BMW motorcycle. A lot to be said for riding a long trip on a motorcycle you;'ve owned since it was new some 34 years ago, and which has parts in it you;ve made in your own machine shop. We got to Niagara Falls and had a wonderful time sightseeing. We did see the old powerplant in the distance and I really wanted to know more about it. No information is out there for tourists, I guess they figure toursits do not care about old powerplants. Your website is the best tour, something that statisfied my curiousity and was like walking in a familiar place. Any powerplant is special to me as it is a place where electricity is (or was) generated. I cannot help but wonder what the power made in an old plant was used for: who was born in a hospital powered by it, what industries did it power and what did they make ? What were the engineers like who designed the plant ? What was the construction and the times like ? A powerplant is hallowed to engineers like me. Thanks for showing it to me.

I.P. Morris and Cramp Shipbuilding were all part of Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, PA. I.P. Morris became known as "Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton" or "BLH" for their hydro turbines and built them under that name into the late 1950's.

Hydro turbines, with large generators turn very slowly compared to steam turbines. It's all a function of how many poles ("magnets") the generator has. The hard and fast number is 3600, which is 60 Hz current x 60 seconds/minute. RPM x number of poles on the generator must = 3600. Big machinery has to turn slow due to centrifugal force, but the rim speeds are up there. Hydro turbines are built custom for each application based on head of water (height), type of flows, and the turbine runner ("water wheel") determines the horspeower and rpm . Oncet hat is in hand, the generator design follows. A hydro turbine turns slower, so a bigger generator with more poles is needed. I've worked on older units that run at 90 rpm. You stand in the turbine pit and look up and can damned near count the poles on the generator rotor. Steam turbines usually run at 3600 rpm, and the combustion "gas" turbines (derived from aviation turbines) turn faster yet. Hydro turbines are friendly, massive machines. Smooth running and generally quiet at openating speed with a nice "60 cycle hum" from the generators and a little dull background roar of the water.

Years ago, powerhouses were built as temples as the production of electricity and the benefits to society were seen as a momentous thing. The part that has "General Electric" on it is the stator of one of the generators. In the days when a plant like this one was in operation, the house crew kept the plant "spit shined". I work in a plant build in the 1970's, and we have terazzo floors and marble in the lobby. A powerplant is "mothership" to those of us fortunate enough to work in one. We are proud of our plant and the fact we produce the power. We stick tight as a cohesive crew and we do our own engineering and overhauls in house. Any real powerplant had this sort of ethic to it. A hydroelectric plant is even more special as it can "
black start" itself. If the grid power fails, a hydroelectric plant can be "black started" with no outside power. The older plants like this one could be started by the crew using manual means. A modern plant like a "fossil fueled" (oil, coal or natural gas) generating plant or nuke uses tremendous amounts of power to black start. A hydro plant is most often what jump starts the other powerplants. A hydro plant has big, slow turning machinery and it is kept spit shined and well maintained. A well aligned and maintained hydro unit with bearings properly adjusted will run so smoothly you can balance a nickel on edge up on the generator housing, even when the unit is tripped off line. Been there and done that.

You are seeing what we call the "spider" or bearing bracket and generator lower guide bearing. Above it, where you see a little dim light seeping thru, is the generator field. The field rotates. The light is coming thru air slots in the stator (the stationary part of the generator which has "General Electric" on it). The rotor has a series of vertival fins on it that are also partially visible. As the rotor turns, aside from inducing a current in the stator to produce power, the fins ont he rotor act as a cooling blower to move air thru the windings in the stator and rotor. Generators get hot when producing power. This old unit is air-cooled.


This is a little guy as generators and turbines go. I work at a plant where the generator rotor alone weighs 500 tons and turns at 257 rpm.

You are seeing the turbine shaft . Below the floor is the actual turbine. The bell shaped housing may contain a guide bearing for the shaft. The weight of the rotating parts (generator rotor, shaft and "wheel"- which is known as the turbine runner) would be carried by a Thrust Bearing. The bell shaped housing is a bit small for containing a thrust bearing. Chances are the thrust bearing is located between the exciter and main generator, up on top. A thrust bearing for a unit this size would proably be about 4 feet in diameter, and run in an oil bath.

You are looking at the exciters. These are Direct Current Generators . They are stacked on top of the big AC power generators. The exciters make DC current to magnetize the field (rotor) of the big AC generator under them.

You are looking at the governor for one of the tubines. The governor regulates the speed of the turbine, using oil hydraulics to pen or close wicket gates to admit water to the runner ("wheel") as required to maintain speed. Once the generator has been synchronized into the grid, the speed is held solid by the frequency of the grid power, so the governor just controls load. Very similar to cruise control on a modern automobile. The "dispahn" on top is a shroud covering the governor ballhead. The ballhead spins, as speed drops off, the balls drop down and open a pilot valve- which ports oil to the distributing valve- which sends massive flows of pressurized oil to work hydraulic cylinders (servomotors) which open or close the wickets. The gauge with the dark face and single pointer is a wicket gate position indicator. The white faced guage is the tachometer. The rusted lever arms on top are part of a very sensitive mechanism to take the small movement /low force of the ballhead and use it to work the pilot valve.

The governor is an extremely sensitive and incredible piece of work. Very fine machine work needede build a governor. To maintain a ballhead hydraulic governor took the finest mechanics. Each unit had its own governor. Without a governor, there is no controlling a turbine's speed so it 's generator could be synchronized into the grid.

love how the glass is broken on the doors, and yet they are opened up. Maybe this missed a piece of glass

could I have a popcorn, soda, and a box of M&Ms; please?

that is really weird

love the light in this photo