Overview
Tues. May. 6.
My 33rd visit to Mangahao Hydro-electric Works. Fine morning, calm + cloudless. Left on bike at 7.30 for the Powerhouse + Pipe Line. Roads rough with loose
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metal but reached Base Camp at 8.55am. Called on Mr. A. Cameron, representative of Dunedin Engineering + Steel Co. Ltd., (who some time ago requested to see some of my photos) + sold him a dozen views. At the Powerhouse a good deal of scaffolding + debris has been cleared away and the building is beginning to look quite majestic. The concrete roof is now completed and a projecting concrete left-turret has been built above its general level. Panes of glass have been put in most of the huge windows + the glaziers are now getting near the end of their job. Ascended pipe line. Big progress has been made with the lines of piping + with the anchor blocks during the last four months. Both the former + the latter are now nearly complete up to the 6th “Steep”. The anchor blocks are all shapes, sizes + heights according to the calculated thrust of the pipes when filled with water. 1/4pl.[ate] photo (1) of men rivetting [sic] pipes on upper part of “3rd steep” – these pipes are 5ft. in diameter + are made of narrower bore but on the other hand require more rivets. The 6ft. pipes higher up on the Pipe Line are made of still lighter metal + lighter rivets are used but the number of the latter are again greater.
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In spite of this the turn lines of larger bore pipes can be put in position + rivetted up in less time than was expended on the quadruple lines of pipes. 1/2pl. (2) of Anchor Block No8 + the lower part of Pipe Line, the Powerhouse + plain. On the “4th flat” men were engaged in fitting the Muntz-metal strips under the pipes + building up the small concrete piers to fit. In their expansion + contraction, the pipes slide on the Muntz-metal with a minimum of friction. In this connection it was unfortunate that the small piers on which the pipes rest were put in at intervals of 20ft. An 18ft. interval would have spaced the piers to match the centres of alternate pipes + thus completely avoided the lines of rivets. As it is the piers + lines of rivets coincide at certain long intervals + as this would prevent the free movement of the pipes at these spots, some of the piers will have to be discarded + others put in – a very difficult job now that the pipes are in position. I was informed that on the long flat (ie “2nd flat”; 657ft. in length) each of the lines of pipes expanded, on a hot day, as much as 1¾ inches – this, however, is an expansion very much greater than will occur when the pipes are full of water.
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1/2pl. photo (3) of gang of men at work on construction of Anchor Block No10. Mr. Wiggins, the foreman of this phase of the work, informed me that the original design of most of the Anchor Blocks had to be modified by him to fit the various lateral + vertical or compound angles where they occur. On the “6th Flat” two sections of the 6ft. pipes are rivetted together while the other pipes are just lying loose pending the completion of Anchor Blocks Nos. 10 + 11. When completed the Anchor Blocks along the Pipe Line will be twelve in number. From the top of the Pipe Line bed I ascended to the Surge Chamber. The concreting of the lining of this pit has now been carried up to ground level + the principal work at date is the completion of the twin sluice-gate shafts + the construction of the Spillway which leads away from the NE side of the pit to an adjacent gully. 1/2pl. photo (4) of Surge Chamber from top of bank on east side. 1/2pl. (5) of Surge Chamber showing mast, concrete shute [sic] +c from NE side. 1/4pl. (6) of upper part of sluice-gate shafts under construction. 1/4pl. (7) of Spillway under construction. 1/4pl. (8) of delivery of liquid concrete from shute into barrows for construction of spill-
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way. 1/4pl. (9) of the heavy steel sluice-gates + then frames lying alongside tramline at top of Pipe Line. – the bearings on which these gates slide + close are of brass. Descended to Powerhouse + explored same. A big clear-up of loose timber + other debris has been effected + like the exterior of the building, the interior is beginning to give the visitor some idea of its final magnificence + grandeur. 1/2pl. (10) of Transmission Floor looking north showing the huge transformers in position + at the far end a very up-to-date drilling machine. The travelling cranes are now all in position + in working order. The five main Johnston-Boving valves in the semi-detached end compartment of the Powerhouse are now fitted up with their automatic hydrolic [hydraulic] control gear. The Generator Floor is now a scene of great activity – a corps of fitters are engaged in assembling the machinery. The row of five Turbines (3 of 8000 H.P. [Horsepower] + 2 of 4000 H.P.) are now in position + are being carefully adjusted for horizontality, +c, before being cemented in. In this work the 40 ton capacity travelling crane overhead plays a large part in moving these heavy
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two views of Powerhouse + Pipe Line : - 1/2pl. (14) general view 1/2pl. (15) telephoto. It now being about 3.pm I felt that lunch could not be deferred any longer though on days like this meals are a nuisance. 1/4pl. (16) of men on a pendant platform on eastern outer wall of Powerhouse engaged in fixing the louvres providing ventilation + the downpipes which carry away the roof-water. Back into Powerhouse. The ground floor of the building is connected with the higher floors by means of, first, concrete stairways, and, higher up, iron ladders leading to the lift-turret + roof-top. Ascended to roof. The finished roof is a fine expance [sic] of smooth concrete broken at date only by the left-turret, but other fixtures (switches of some sort) are to be set up here, and men are now employed in boring holes into the concrete for the reception of bolts which are rendered immoveable by a filling of molten lead. On descending took 1/2pl. photo (17) of the big crane (40 ton capacity) above the Generator Flow as seen from the projecting balcony of the Switch Gallery. About 30 men will form the permanent staff of the Powerhouse when all
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[newspaper clipping here – advertising an auction to be held at 2.30pm on May 7 1924 for the sale of Adkin’s grandparents’ (the Dentons) house in Wellington on the Terrace, known as ‘Fern Hill’]
is in working order. Today I disposed of photos to value of £2.40. Left Powerhouse at 4.pm + reached Woodside at 5.25. Nancy + Clyde resumed school today after their indisposition. In evening Maud accompanied Clare + Viv to a pantomime – “Sally Horner.”