Spitzbergen - Arctic Coal Company

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• This photograph the Arctic Coal Company’s powerhouse. The chute carried coal to the building from a stockpile above. The steam pipe seen on supports running out of the front of the building connected to a nearby winch house which propelled rail cars along the dock.The manager’s report of 1910 describes the work made on the powerhouse that year: “The power house which was started in the fall of 1909 was completed”, “The following machinery was then placed in the power house, which had by this time been completed:- Two British Westinghouse Generators of seventy five K.W. capacity each, driven by Browett Marine Engines, generating three phase current, fifty cycles and a voltage of twenty two hundred. Complete switchgear for controlling the above machines and a small transformer to transfer the current to four hundred volts for use in the power house, driving condenser and shop motors and for lighting purposes. Two one hundred H.P. Scotch Marine Boilers carrying a steam pressure of one hundred and fifty pounds and tested for three hundred pounds per square inch. Two large iron water tanks (capacity about 20,000 gallons) for the purpose of storing water for use during the winter. One Surface condenser, capable of condensing the steam from one generator while working under full load. One machine shop containing lathe, shaper, emory grinder and press drill.”This source is available in the MTU archives. Reference: Arctic Coal Company General Manager’s Report for the year ending October 27th, 1910. Jno. Gibson, Jr. General Manager, Arctic Coal Company, November 5th, 1910. Michigan Technological University Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections, Longyear Collection, MS-031, Box 4, Folder 23.
3/5/2008 1:52:32 PM by cchartne, Svalbard Researcher