Locke building a new high voltage testing laboratory

[Trade Journal]

Publication: Street Railway Journal

New York, NY, United States
vol. 24, no. 15, p. 678, col. 2


THE LOCKE INSULATOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, of Victor, N. Y., is at present constructing an elaborate and extensive fireproof electrical and chemical laboratory. A 200-kw motor generator and an immense transformer are being installed. Current will be taken direct from the railway circuit of the street railway company, which passes through Victor. The main idea of the installation is to conform as closely as possible to actual operating conditions. Current from the railway circuit will be transformed to as high as 300,000 volts to 500,000 volts. With this enormous voltage, new and improved designs of insulators will be tested, primarily to find out how high a voltage an insulator can take before it crumbles or is punctured. After this fact is ascertained, designs of insulators of each particular class is completed, the insulators are manufactured, tested for the particular voltages they are to carry, and shipped ready for use. Elaborate and sensitive instruments have also been installed to test chemically the constituents and elements of the clay and other matter which enters into the construction of the insulators. The mechanical strength of insulators will also be investigated to the fullest extent. The officers of the company state that they intend to have a laboratory, when completed, whose duplicate can not be found in the United States or abroad for the class of work for which it was constructed.

--

Keywords:Locke Insulator Manufacturing Company
Researcher notes: 
Supplemental information: 
Researcher:Elton Gish
Date completed:November 25, 2012 by: Elton Gish;