Folsom Power House - Generators 1895

Part 1: Generators at the Historic Folsom Hydro Power House in Folsom, California. Tour with Power House Docent Bill Henning. Learn about the forebay, see the turbines, see the original generators built by Elihu Thomson at GE. This powerhouse preceeded the Niagara Falls installation by Westinghouse. Part 1 of 3 videos on the Folsom Power House.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• history
• historical
• historia
• electric power transmission
• power grid
• generator
• governor
• fly wheel
• transformer
• insulators
• coils
• electromagnets
• AC
• alternating current history
• park
• turbine
• dam
• water power

[EdisonTechCenter]

Stay tuned this winter for more videos on other early power sites by GE and Westinghouse!

[bridgetroll9]

So typical.... no mention of Tesla.

[EdisonTechCenter]

@bridgetroll9 Tesla had nothing to do with the Folsom power plant at all. He worked for Westinghouse, not GE, and 3 phase power was the work of Europeans: Galileo Ferraris, Dobrovolsky and further developed by Americans C.S. Bradley, Dr. Louis Bell, and others to reach this point (1896).

[CampKohler]

The turbines were horizontal, driving the horizontally mounted generators. (You can actually put your head inside a turbine through a cutaway.) The govenor of one generator failed, causing an overspeed that resulted in it exploding due to centrifugal force. The man on duty was in a phone booth there and was not injured. To this day you can see parts of the generator imbedded in the vaulted brickwork overhead, two stories up.

Search Folsom Powerhouse State Historic Park for hours.