History Page 2

Jose built a concrete wall on the existing rocky bar at the top of the falls. He then built a U-shaped aqueduct from the top of the falls across to the inlet pit. It was designed to let the water fall 30 feet through natural gravity, well within the capacity of the turbine which was designed for 500 feet falls. It was capable of generating far more than the 25KVA capacity of the alternator.

A sophisticated English model turbine was acquired:

• it had variable pitch inlet valves to control the flow
• It ran at 500rpm

A 24” discharge pipe was to bring the outlet water to the base of the building. A DC generator was bought from the army for a good price. The Governor controlled the speed of the generator which controlled the frequency of the current and voltage. This was belt driven and changed the angle of the flow of water over the turbine blades to maintain a constant speed of rotation. It all ran automatically.

The turbine was shaft-connected to a steel flywheel which drove a 415 volt AC 3 phase alternator and its 110 volt DC exciter.

Most difficult of all was the construction of the 12 steel reinforced concrete pillars for supporting the building and foundation of the turbine house. These had to be set into the rock at the base of the falls.