[GreenKeys] Fwd: Re: Frequency deviations in Continental Europe including impact on electric clocks steered by frequency

[Bruce Gentry]

On 3/6/18 5:45 PM, Richard Knoppow wrote:
>    Some areas had 25Hz power, good for traction motors. The 
> Pennsylvania RR electric trains ran on 25Hz.

I think some portions of the former PRR northeast corridor are still 25 
cycle. The locomotives operate on 11,000 volts 25 cycle or 25,000 60 cycle.
> I visited the Canadian side of Niagara Falls when I was a kid, the 
> power was all 25Hz and made the lights flicker very noticeably. 
   National Greed finally ended all  25 cycle service in Buffalo around 
2000.



> I have no idea why 25Hz other than there must have been a lot of 
> industrial machinery on it.

> Initially, it was chosen because it was  optimal for the water 
> turbines and generators of 1896. It also turned out to be superior for 
> steelmaking and electric welding at the time. We generated some 25 
> cycles here in Syracuse, but most was brought in from Buffalo, 
> especially after 1951 when  Niagra-Mohawk tore down it's local 
> combination gas works, 25 cycle, and DC generating station.  An old 
> timer at the downtown Western Union office told me they could use the 
> line 120volts DC in an emergency if  their own power supplies failed. 
>   The local steel mill continued to use 25 cycles via the lines from 
> Buffalo until it was shut off. Niagra-Mohawk also had to provide 
> hundreds of motor generators for elevators and theaters so they could 
> continue to use their original DC equipment rather than paying to 
> replace it all.  As for electric clocks, there were quite a few that 
> were mechanical, powered by springs that were automatically wound by 
> universal motors.  If you worked in any heavy electrical craft in the 
> late 40s through the fifties, Syracuse was a very interesting place.

      Bruce Gentry, KA2IVY


>
> On 3/6/2018 1:38 PM, Bruce Gentry wrote:
>>
>> I had plenty adventures with wild frequency in Taiwan in 1970. It 
>> could sag as low as 57 cycles in the late afternoon and evening, and 
>> go as high as 64 after midnight to keep clocks on time for 6:00 hrs.