OUR NATION'S POWER LINES

CD 1966081 E&MP33.009

Electric Power

Feb. 1938

Engineer H.R. Vaughan is shown adjusting a circuit on the calculator of the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, which reproduces in miniature the operations of a big power network.

Meters tell what would happen if a power line were short circuited hundreds of miles away.By throwing midget switches on the panel boards of this alternating current calculator, engineers of the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company at East Pittsburgh can reproduce in miniature the characteristics of any section of a power system.

The switches operate condensers and resistance units which are “plugged in” as a replica of the full-sized system.

additional text found:

SOLAR PLEXUS OF A POWER PLANT

Just as there is a crucial spot in the body which paralyses [sic] all its activity, if damaged; so too is there one spot where an whole industrial plant can now be wrecked. That key point is the main switchboard -- a typical one being shown above.

Original Caption by Science Service
^©Westinghouse