Powerhouse: (
Satellite)
John de Sousa
posted three photos with the comment: "Bulls Bridge Hydro Powerhouse generators that were installed in 1903 and still running today on the Housatonic River in Connecticut. General Electric's 1,150V, 60 cycle, three-phase alternating current generators at 400 RPM, 1,000 KW capacity governed by Lombard governors. Transformers then up the voltage to 33.5KV to power to it's transmission line to Waterbury and New Britain. This was the largest hydroelectric powerhouse east of the Mississippi at it's time. The last picture shows Reddy Kilowatt still overlooking the generators."
Frank DeWitt: Great history but Niagara Falls Adams plant was Maximum Power Output: 37 Megawatts: 50,000 horsepower (1896)
Mechanicville Power Plant 1897
The world's oldest 3 phase power plant still in operation
Built by by C. P. Steinmetz, it was in the first generation of 3-phase AC power plants in the world
Sam Brown: 18 pole generators run at 400 rpm. Formula is speed = 120 x frequency/ poles.
Frank Furthur: My father worked building those back in the 1950's. He said they had a 100- years warranty. THAT was the GE Jack Welch destroyed.
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Keith Osborne: Their original exciters are gone. Bob Adams: Solid state dc power for the rotor fields !! Less maintenance. Jeff Follin: Keith Osborne We still have the water wheel driven exciters at LA Power Plant 1. Can black start units that way. |
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Ståle Randa: What are the chimneys for? Ian Foster: Ståle Randa Surge towers perhaps. VonFricken Kurt: Ian Foster What is a surge tower? Hal Wright: Provides a pressure relief from sudden changes in water pressure that can cause water hammer, a pressure multiplying effect. Robert Oppenheimer: VonFricken Kurt In a similar hydro plant I had seen in Potsdam, NY, plant was located downstream of a dam and fed by a large pipe. Valves between feed pipe and turbines were closed abruptly and caused high back pressure in pipe. Rather than burst pipe, water surge was allowed to overflow the stacks. [I did not realize that they were open at the top. I thought the water just compressed air like it does in a house.] Samuel White: Wow. That plant runs off a very high head. Pelton wheels? |
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John de Sousa commented on Ian's comment
Correct and still being used. |
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| Robby Valck commented on Photo 3 |
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John de Sousa commented on John Freitag's comment
Connecticut also had several first generating plant. 1896 Oil City hydro with a 3 phase 11KV line from Windsor to Hartford for street lighting. Developed with the help from GE and Thomas Huston. Another interesting hydroelectric powerhouse was Tariffville, 1899 that was the first eastern transmission line using aluminum conductors to feed Hartford, CT. Oh, another one was Taffville, CT built by GE were the first power insulators developed by GE where used. If your interested in powerplants on the Farmington River, see my article in the March 2018 Crown Jewels magazine. |
I found this covered bridge while looking for the powerhouse.
I couldn't decide which barrel photo was better, so I used both of them.
I'm glad they put up not only plenty of warning signs, but also a steel beam that will destroy a truck before the truck has a chance to destroy the bridge. And they stop the truck before the bridge where it still has a chance to turn around.
Back to the powerhouse. I easily found Diversion Dam 1, but I could not find the powerhouse. I noticed this structure, which looks like a gate house and headrace.
So I followed the headrace downstream and found the powerhouse.
So, the headrace stays up on a bluff while the river goes down in a gorge. I got a topo map so that I could study the contour lines. The map marks the power canal.
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| 1958 Kent and 1958 Dover Plains Quads @ 24,000 |
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PowerMag
"Bulls Bridge delivers about 8.2 to 8.4 MW of generation at full capacity, with a discharge capability of 1,200 cubic feet per second. The plant annually generates about 30.8 GWh of power, ranking it third in hydroelectric output, and 38th overall among Connecticut power plants of all types....The plant today utilizes six horizontal double-runner Model F-1 Francis turbine units that were originally installed in 1903. Each unit is coupled to General Electric generators (one of those units has replaced the original equipment). The turbine-generator units are fed by water routed through a power canal that is just more than two miles long, with water carried through 420-foot-long penstocks that take the water under about 105 feet of hydraulic head down to the powerhouse."
[The mention of the horizontal shafts reminded me that the Kingsbury Thrust Bearing was not invented until 1904.] |
This source specifies an annual production of 45gwh.
This powerhouse was the first one built of several along the river.
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PowerMag
In 2025, the old downstream breakers were replaced. |
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PowerMag
The new breakers use a vacuum interrupter to quickly distinguish the arcs. And, of course, all the high-voltage components are now contained in cabinets for safety. |
Ira Fink
posted two photos with the comment: "Bulls Bridge Hydro Plant. Just upstream from the bridge."
Billy M Edwards: There's a video of it tripping and water coming out the surge tower.
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hvatoday
In addition to hydropower, there were blast furnaces and marble & limestone quarries along the river. |
