Ancient stick welder

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On Friday I was working out in Niagra Falls at the old power generating facility and ran across this old USL welder. Thought I would post some photos for interest. The unit is about 61/2 ft. long and over 3 ft tall. No leads on it, but that also makes it easier to see. Sorry for the lousy quality fotos, a phone can only do so well, especially while the boss is yelping to get the work done so we could get back to the city. Enjoy!   Attached ImagesLast edited by bearston; 10-14-2012 at 01:17 PM.When a welder tells you to "stick it", what do they really mean?"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." - George Orwell
Reply:Here are more fotos, somewhat better quality. Also a couple of fotos for context, these generators are about 12 ft tall and 20 ft dia. The green water is twhere the water used to go in to drive these guys. Plant decomissioned circa 1995.  Attached ImagesLast edited by bearston; 10-14-2012 at 01:16 PM.When a welder tells you to "stick it", what do they really mean?"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." - George Orwell
Reply:Ha HAH! I bet it still works!! City of L.A. Structural; Manual & Semi-Automatic;"Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore."Job 28:1,2Lincoln, Miller, Victor & ISV BibleDanny
Reply:The place looks clean enough to still be running. We have a hydro electric facility that has to be as old as that one where I work that is still operating.Wonder why they are not still generating power there?JasonLincoln Idealarc 250 stick/tigThermal Dynamics Cutmaster 52Miller Bobcat 250Torchmate CNC tableThermal Arc Hefty 2Ironworkers Local 720
Reply:Thanks for the picts. I love old industrial buildings like that.They have an elegance even though they were "functional". Just because some place is used for work doesn't mean it has to be "ugly"..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Now that's some "Green Energy".TA Arcmaster 300CM3XMT 304S22P12 suitcase feederX-Treme 12VSOptima pulserTA161SMaxstar 150STLHypertherm PM45OP setupStihl 020AVP, 039, 066 Magnum
Reply:A museum relic!  Beautiful!Any info on how that machine worked?  It looks like a motor drives a dynamo (is that redundant)?  AC motor driving a DC generator for DC welding current?  Or is it the other way around?- MondoMember, AWSLincoln ProMIG 140Lincoln AC TombstoneCraftsman Lathe 12 x 24 c1935Atlas MFC Horizontal MillCraftsman Commercial Lathe 12 x 36 c1970- - - I'll just keep on keepin' on.
Reply:I think USL went out of business around 1914."USMCPOP" First-born son: KIA  Iraq 1/26/05Syncrowave 250 w/ Coolmate 3Dialarc 250, Idealarc 250SP-175 +Firepower TIG 160S (gave the TA 161 STL to the son)Lincwelder AC180C (1952)Victor & Smith O/A torchesMiller spot welder
Reply:I was in that plant about 10 years ago. My buddy (and his class)  got a grand tour from one of his students (I tagged along). It was an amazing building. The place was being paid to sit there and not produce power. The large plant (owned by the government) farther down river paid them not to produce power, because they were buying the water rights that was alloted to this facility. (Only so much water can be removed from the niagara river at any one time, During the day, at night, in tourist season and out of season are all part of the equasion too).  Just so you know the facility across the road is supposed to be the sister of that facility but the pit is caving in so it's closed to all. It's a cooler looking building from the outside. That whole piece of land was streams and wet lands originally and was filled in the build there. The other building was built too close to the river though. What is it that your doing there? Oh and thanks for the pics, I never thought to take any.Miller thunderbolt 250Decastar 135ERecovering tool-o-holic ESAB OAI have been interested or involved in Electrical, Fire Alarm, Auto, Marine, Welding, Electronics ETC to name a just a few. So YES you can own too many tools.
Reply:I do lighting/electric and SPFX in film. That day we were de-rigging the lighting setup for Warehouse 13, a TV show. Ironically, we brought in a 1500 amp genny to power the setup. For reference, it's getting close to the end of the season, don't recall which episode. Don't know much about the facility other than it was decomissioned around 1995 and preserved as an historic site. I'm sure that tours are done for schoolkids etc, I ran around as much as I could with the boss sniping on my tailbone. The way the facilities were built is incredible, white Marble all over the place, massive cast parts like those blue generator covers, railings, staircases, dams, etc. I'm fortunate to get to be in/work in some unusual places that the general public never sees, but it's always difficult to get fotos in. For a more thouough history go here and see the Canadian Niagra Power Company link.http://www.niagarafrontier.com/power.html  Here is a foto of a control panel, well about 1/10th of it. This entire panel is circular marble and up in a back room up on the "2nd" floor about 30 ft. of control. Also a foto of what I believe is an oiler for those big blue power generators, there's a step to jump up on for monitoring and it stands about 10 ft. tall. Enjoy!   Attached ImagesLast edited by bearston; 10-15-2012 at 11:58 AM.When a welder tells you to "stick it", what do they really mean?"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." - George Orwell
Reply:I am pretty sure that that is an overspeed governor, but not positive. I was told but forget. There where pictures there of when it was being built, of guys hanging on the end of a crane with just 1 foot in the hook being lowered long distances. Just like the safety guys let you do today....NOT. It sounds like you have a very interesting job as part of hollywood north. Congrats. I was in the control room and all the way to the bottom of the pit (no time limits) with an employee. Very interesting place, and it was privately owned. Fort erie power?? I forget. My dad used to know a spfx guy (probably 25 years ago) in TO that owned a gun shop. VERY interesting guy. Apperently he was the guy that figgured out how to replicate a nuke explosion on tv and film. He was also the guy that you contacted to arrange wepons and men to fight any thing, anywhere in the world ( if you had enough money). ANYTHING. VERY interesting guy. HE suddenly dissapeared but that was long ago. I met him a few times. I feel sorry for the guy that ended up with his shop after he left. There was razor wire all over above the t bar and in walls . Not to mention the weird peaple that would show up there. Dad got pulled over by the RCMP one nite to find out who and why etc after leaving.Last edited by dumb as a stump; 10-15-2012 at 11:04 PM.Miller thunderbolt 250Decastar 135ERecovering tool-o-holic ESAB OAI have been interested or involved in Electrical, Fire Alarm, Auto, Marine, Welding, Electronics ETC to name a just a few. So YES you can own too many tools.
Reply:Yup. Bottom frame is the governor.I've done work in the former Ford (now Brookfield) plant in St Paul, MN. Construction started in 1923. It's still on line today and looks mostly like it did when built.Interesting to see the "old" tech of machine builds. Massive castings on everything. Bearing surfaces "ride" on oil film instead of roller bearings (low RPM's).  Probably why it still works today. Switchgear has been upgraded/integtated of course for the grid. The old stuff is still in the original panels. Knowing what I know now, it's flat out uncomfortable (for me) to think someone actually put their hands on that stuff to close the switches. The annual maintenance is little of  nothin' compared to coal, gas and especially nukes, but the trade off is the power produced. So I guess the bean counters/investors win.
Reply:Hey DAS, that generating station was privately held and included investment by JP Morgan and Willie Vanderbilt. It was known as the Rankine generating station named after the pres of the holding company. Thhe name on the building currently reads Canadian Niagra Power and here is a link with more fotos including the pit and some of the history. http://www.vanishingpoint.ca/rankine-generating-stationI couldn't help but laugh when you were talking about your father's buddy in film. I'm convinced that the real characters in any production are on the crew, not the screen, they sure can be a colourful lot! Your observations are right on the money, Millrat. I was taken by the sheer size of this generating plant, but blown away when I took a closer look at how that place was built. Plenty of huge cast parts everywhere. Even the door opening mechanisms are all cast, mind you these are BIG doors, but the scale of the castings and the precision in this device alone, are mind boggling. Here's a foto of the acme screw of the door opener, that screw is 6 in dia.  Also the next foto is of a motor or generator, 7 or so ft tall, 4 ft long and each one's (two connected together) housing, the white part, is all cast at about 1/2 in thick. Attached ImagesLast edited by bearston; 10-17-2012 at 10:30 PM.When a welder tells you to "stick it", what do they really mean?"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." - George Orwell