More Power at Penrose

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 370, 2 June 1928, Page 8

More Power at Penrose

HUGE SUBMARINE PLANT

Engineers Win Race Against Time

YESTERDAY a new and mighty force was added to the agencies of Auckland’s power supply. With a stamp and clatter, steadying to a thunderous drone as the burden was lifted, three powerful Diesel sub-marine-engines joined in to shoztlder a share of the city's growing winter load. Behind the erection of this heavy set. far the largest of its type in New Zealand, is the story of a race against time by Public Works Department engineers.

p>UDOLF DIESEL, despairing inventor of the slow-combustiou marine plant, died only a year before the woi'ld war brought unpai-alleled submarine activity and vindication of his faith in his masterpiece. That is only one phase of the story of the Penrose engines. As the war advanced, with the Germans relying more and more on an instrument shaped to fit their needs, bigger and better Diesel sets were built. Such were three units forged and pieced together, in the irreproachable fashion that has set a seal of quality on Continental engineering, in the large Mann factories at Nurnbrg. Devised to strengthen the hand of Von Tirpitz, and spread further terror upon the seas, they were held from that purpose by the cessation of hostilities; instead, they ultimately reached Chatham, England, as part of the reparation payments exacted in tribute from vanquished Germany. From this point their delivery to

immense size is better appreciated. So is the ingenuity of the naval architects who built two of each such engines within the narrow shells of their submarines. Work of such substance cannot be done for nothing, and the contract i price paid to the builders by the German Government was probably some- j thing like £50,000 for each engine, | By comparison, the New Zealand Government got them for a song. It i paid £36,000 for the full set of engines, £16,000 more for the generators —which were not included —and ; several thousands more for such incidentals as erecting-gear, cranes, and freights, all of which probably brought j the total to about £70,000. No doubt i the plant is cheap at the price, but such a figure is a lot to pay as penalty for the delay at Arapuni. The erection of the plant in time for it to start operations under load yesterday, the Public Works Department having made a. guarantee to the interested power boards that the en- j gines would be ready on June 1, is cm ! epic of engineering achievement that j must be credited to the engineers of j the department. Yesterday, when, without ostentation, the big engines were harnessed in with King's Wharf and Horahora, an effective answer was given to the implied challenge, doubts, and direct criticism that had greeted the depirtment’s assurance that the job would be completed by June 1. To do it, the department—its reputation at stake —spared neither trouble nor expense. The mechanics woi-ced two shifts a day, and worked well. Massive foundations were planted in the naked Penrose lava bed, and a big powerhouse was thrown over the engines as the engines themselves were building. As the foundation beds were not completed until February, the rapidity with which the engines were pieced together is apparent. Operations were in charge of Mr. O. C. Chamberlain, superintendent at Penrose, who was assisted by Messrs. G. J. Mills and M. Manhire.

New Zealand is more familiar history. Delay at Arapunl, Auckland City, faced by a power famine —these were the factors that sent the Government out in search of a handy power unit that could be erected quickly, and the search ended at Chatham. PUBLIC WORKS WINS

First of all, the size of the erected engines is astonishing. As they were landed in Auckland a few months ago. dismembered and encased in bulky boxes, they appeared sufficiently ponderous; but now they are built their

To-day, as the engines stand, monuments of mechanical energy, massive but impotent relics of bitter warfare, and a plan that miscarried, they embody many arresting features. Chief of these is a lofty cooling tower beside the main building. In this tower an elaborate series of slotted pipes and horizontal screens cools the huge volume of water circulating continuously as the engines are running, and functions so efficiently that a conspicuous column of steam rises from the open roof of the tower. On the test beds at Nurnberg, before they went to Britain, the engines showed that each is capable of developing 3,300-horse-power, but at Penrose these giant children of Rudolf Diesel will not be required to generate more than 1,600-horse-power apiece. With that output, they will relieve Auckland’s power worries until Arapuni is completed.