Details

Photograph of a group discussion where the central individuals are holding a plan titled, 'Cataract Construction Company: 5000 HP alternator: vertical section'. Individuals shown are: F Jaynes; Professor G Forbes; W H Preece; Major A H Bagnold; J Fletcher Moulton; Captain A J Saltren-Willett; Colonel Clowry; Major H C L Holden. [Note: The 5000 HP AC generators were part of the Edward Dean Adama Power Plant, the first large-scale, alternating current generating plant in the world, built in 1895. The Adams power plant followed an 1886 plan by engineer Thomas Evershed to tap the power of Niagara Falls, which involved a "hydraulic canal" and a 7,500 feet (2,300 m) brick-lined tunnel, when the Niagara Falls Power Company was formed. The Cataract Construction Co, a new company formed to exploit the opportunity, led by president Edward Dean Adams, first formed the International Niagara Commission in 1890 to come up with a plan for harnessing the Falls. The Commission favored electricity, but could not recommend a solution to Cataract. In 1892, George Forbes (shown in this photograph) was hired as a technical consultant and in May 1893 he convinced the company to build a hydroelectric system based on polyphase alternating current. Westinghouse Electric was subcontracted to build 5,000 horsepower (3,700 kW) 25 Hz[4] AC generators, based on the work of Nikola Tesla and Benjamin G. Lamme, while the I. P. Morris Company of Philadelphia built the turbines based on the design of the Swiss company Faesch and Piccard.]