Formerly known as the Oneida Street Power Plant, this plant served from 1918 to 1920 as the pilot plant in the United States for the development and use of finely pulverized coal firing in the boilers of steam-electric power plants. The results of the Oneida experiences were major changes in boiler design and lower costs of power generation.
Following the early years of central station electric development, experiments at Onieda Street resolved persisting inefficiencies at a time when coal was increasingly expensive and of poorer quality.
Steam
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Image Credit: Image source:1980
Wisconsin Historical SocietyImage Caption: East Wells Onieda Street Power PlantEra_date_from: 1918
This unit, retired from the Belle Isle Station of the Oklahoma Gas & Electric Company, was the first gas turbine to be used for electric utility power generation in the United States. It represents the transformation of the early aircraft gas turbine, in which the engines seldom ran more than ten hours at a stretch, into a long-life prime mover. This redesign was based upon creep-rupture tests of S-816 cobalt-base alloys for turbine buckets. The low-cost trouble-free service led to wide-scale adoption of the gas turbine, over 45 million kilowatt capacity (over 9 percent of U.S.
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Image Credit: Image Courtesy of ASMEImage Caption: Belle Isle Gas Turbine on static display in Schenectady, New YorkEra_date_from: 1949
1984
The unprecedented innovation of the steam-atmospheric engine by Thomas Newcomen (1663-1729) of Dartmouth and his assistant John Calley stands at the beginning of the development of practical thermal prime movers in the early years of the eighteenth century. Spreading through Europe and then to the Cornwall mines in the New World, it was one of the strategic innovations in world history and the single greatest act of synthesis in the ensuing history of the steam engine.
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Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Charles Pence (CC BY-SA 2.0)Image Caption: A surviving example of the Newcomen Steam Engine, in the Henry Ford Museum (Dearborn, Michigan).Era_date_from: 1712
1981
This collection of equipment—all of it maintained in operating condition and used for educational purposes—was established in 1987. It spans the period from the late 19th century to the 1940s, when steam was the prime motive force for most U.S. industries, including rail and marine transportation. The collection of about 25 items (mostly stationary steam) includes a locomotive, switcher, and steam tractor: Locomotive #385 Consolidation 2-8-0 designed for fast freight service was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia in November 1907 for the Southern Railway.
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Image Credit: Courtesy ASMEImage Caption: Locomotive #385 built by the Baldwin Locomotive1994
Works of Philadelphia, PA in 1907 for the
Southern Railway. Now part of the Bergen County Steam CollectionEra_date_from: 1900s
Society: ASMEMain Category: Electric, MechanicalSub Category: SteamEra: 1890-1899DateCreated: 1891Henry Ford MuseumDearbornState: MIZip: 48124Country: USAWebsite: http://www.asme.org/about-asme/history/landmarks/topics-a-l/electric-power-production-steam/-49-marine-type-triple-expansion--engine-driven-dy, http://files.asme.org/ASMEORG/Communities/History/Landmarks/5537.pdfCreator: Vleck, John Van, Joy, David
This machine, which began operation on December 15, 1891, for the New York Edison Illuminating Company, represents the beginning of large-scale electric power generation in the United States. The generator was designed by chief engineer John Van Vleck, David Joy (known in England for his valve gear), and S. F. Prest.
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Image Credit: Courtesy ASMEImage Caption: Engine-Driven DynamoEra_date_from: 1891
1980
This, the first Curtis vertical turbine built, was constructed by the General Electric Co. for the Newport & Fall River Street Railway Co. It operated in the Newport, R.I., generating station until June 1927. It was transferred to the Harding Street Station of the Indianapolis Power & Light Co. for display and later moved to the company's E.W. Stout Station.
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Image Caption: 5,000-kilowatt Curtis Steam Turbine-GeneratorEra_date_from: 1903
1990
Innovations
