[AMPS] 50hz? 25Hz???

[Phil (VA3UX)]

It's been fun reading about 25 cycle power.  It may well have it's roots
just a 15 minute drive from here where Tesla and Geo. Westinghouse built
the first hydro electric generating station at Niagara Falls back in 1899 (?).

I know that the Cyanamid plant in Niagara Falls, Ontario had some 25 cycle
power in their plant up until about 1989.  All the lighting in the Steam
Plant was 25 cycle and you could see the lights flicker when you first
walked in.  You didn't notice it anymore after about an hour. All the
electric drives in the Steam Plant (and almost everywhere else in the plant
too) was on 60 cycle. But some areas stayed on 25 cycle.  It was fun seeing
these old antique electric motors - one H.P. and they weighed about 50 lbs.
 I don't remember the reason for the split in supply frequency but there
was some reason for it. That plant was built in 1941 to serve WW 2 and it
was all 25 cycle when first built. It was a huge munitions plant that made
all kind of nasty warefare type things (chemicals, flashless gun powder,
etc).   Ontario Hydro maintained a small supply of 25 cycle power for some
of these really old plants up until just a 3 or 4 years ago.

Phil

At 01:26 PM 4/9/2001 -0700, you wrote:
>
>>
>>Have a receiver here and power supply is marked 25Hz. USA made for USA
>>market.
>>Who knows when and where in USA 25Hz was so common that 'consumer
>>electronics'
>>was manufactured to operate on it.
>>
>At one time, 25Hz was used to power steel-making furnaces. 
>
>-  Rich..., 805.386.3734, www.vcnet.com/measures.  
>end
>
>
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