Barrie Historical Newspaper Archive

Barrie Examiner, 29 May 1976, p. 10

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AL KELLER of Ontario mdm points out the code mmber denoting an Essa lOThe Barrie Examiner Saturdo M°1394l9l Station installation on one the oil breaker switches in the quartermillion volt yard at the Essa Station transformer yard from which Barrie and other centres the throughout Georgian Bay area are served Baker Photo Essa Station hydro transformer setup heart of Georgian Bay regional system By BRIAN BAKER ESSA STATION The most fantastic electrical in stallations to be seen in this part of the country is the Essa Station hydro transformer station operated by the On tario Hydro Electric Com mission just west of Grenfell on the Sunnidale Road of Vespra Township Well described as the heart of the Georgian Bay Region Hydro system this station ac complishes variety of missions including stepping down high voltage to value that can be sent to local sub stations monitoring power requirements and con trolling the transmission of power throughout the entire region With technician Al Keller as guide and wearing har dhats we step out into the main transformer station yard covering what looks to be 10acre field It is covered with bewildering array of gleaming silver towers and frames and poles and huge square and round machines that are painted in yellow green black and red and look like Martian devices and descending webs of conductor cables Above all is an ominious to the outsider hissing growl of high tension electricity being led this way and that to and from transformers and generally whipped into obedience To fully understand this installation you would have to pend days here remarks Mr Keller This even ap plies to people who know something about hydro Different visitors have spent day here and left com pletely bewildered by it all Mr Keller pointed over to the northeast corner of the yard where two giant extra high voltage hydro lines carry power some 250 miles from north of Sudbury from gathering station for power lines coming from generating stations on the James Bay watershed such as Otter Rapids and Abitibi Canyon An engineering feat in it self this double line of power lines is carried on 10ton steel towers up to 150 feet high and up to 1400 feet apart The look like giant Vs with single crossarm framing and rabbit ear tops held upright on their single foot pivots by cables They bring power in at half million volts which requires that the three fourcable bun dles of conductor cables on each of these threephase Enes must be carried on porcelain insulator strings over 12 feet long AREVERSE It is interesting to learn that these lines which go on to big transformer station at Kleinberg to supply Toron to and which is hooked up to the Ontario Hydro grid system not only bring power down from the northern generating stations but at night when electrical con sumption is down in southern Ontario actually carry power back to Sudbury to power huge smelters Before we can fully ap preciate the work done by transformer station we must learn why it is necessary to reduce the voltage of power from main lines Voltage is similar to water pressure so supposing your home water system is sup plied at 60 pounds and then it was suddenly stepped up to 1000 pounds It would blow every fixture out of your house For the same reason elec trical power must be stepped down through series of tran sformers usually ending up at your house at 110 volts Mr Keller explains that to prevent undue resistance heatup in long distance tran smission lines power is sent through at the highest feasible voltage resulting in the least possible power loss BUSWORK He pointed Skyward to where the high voltage cables looped down to terminal frame and from which heavy ables known as droplines came down onto 100footlong aluminum pipes six inches in diameter called busbars with the system being called buswork These pipes are hollow ac cording to Mr Keller because 80 per cent of high tension electricity travels along the outer surface of conductor anyway and the hollow core keeps it cool From the buswork more power lines drop into special air breakers which can be electrically actuated to slam the contacts apart at 1000 pounds pressure in fraction of second without setting up an arc effect thus instantly breaking the circuit From the breakers it oes through another series of us work conductors and in sulator stacks into three great transformers that look like small houses and weigh over 250 tons each In these nonflammable oilfilled aircooled tran sformers the power is reduced from 500000 volts to 230000 volts by means of special induction windings around massive metal cores the number of windings determining the outcoming voltage SIEPPINO DOWN By means of overhead bus lines the 230000 power is taken into the adjacent 230000 volt yard where it is further reduced to 115000 this time using oilfilled cir cuit breakers Mr Keller points out automatic thermostatically controlled fans which cool the oil filled ventilating radiators looking something like sophisticated air conditioner This removes the internal heat residue of the tran sformer operation On the terminals of the high tension lines Mr Keller poin ts to twofoot aluminum rings called corona rings When you tr to make high voltage ma sharp turn some of it tries to shoot right on off the end he ex plains At night this can be seen as glowing phenomena something like neon tube around the top of the takeoff insulators These rings quite ef fectively stop this action Sometimes you can feel static shock when you touch metal framework around the yard but it is as harmless as what you get when you walk across rug in your own transmission home and touch ground But dont try climbing around here In yet another transformer complex the east yard we see how 115000 power is step ped down still further to 44000 volts from which it can be sent to other substations throughout the region where other transformers reduce it to 33000 and down to 8000 and 5000 volts as required for rural and urban supply lines CONTROL ROOM Another surprise awaits us as we step into the main con trol room where the regional operator and his assistant sit behind an information packed desk in front of panoramic semicircle con trol panel and console 40 feet long and reaching from the floor to the ceiling the upper portion packed with lightup enunciators the centre with constant inuse data and the lower part with Essa Station and the main substation diagramatic layouts and control switches Regional operator Walter Miller explains to us how as part of the Ontario Hydro grid Essa Station links with all parts of the province into Manitoba and into eastern United States New York State Ohio and south to Florida and other southern states All Ontario Hydro clocks are timed from highly ac curate timing device in Can ton Ohio and thus the elec tric clocks in our homes are kept accurate by speeding up or slowing down the generators according to the Canton clock Mr Keller carefully shows us the panels which show what is going on at all the sub stations throughout the Georgian Bay region in duding Barrie and its Tiffin Street substation Orillia killingwood Owen Sound Orangeville Alliston Stayner and Midland On the Orangeville panel digital meter shows that the power being received at that station is standing at 45 kilo volts fluctuating every second or so between point one to three as consumers switch power on and off PEAK PERIOD In the Georgian Bay area 1030 to 1130 am when the women are doin most of Wedding Photography By Len Marriott For Details Call 7281050 their washing and heavy elec trical work is the peak con sumption period com plicated computercontrolled load shifting system automatically guards against low voltage From this con trol station we can by means of relay switches and remote control direct power anywhere in the Georgian Bay area right down to say closing power off on one street in Orangeville and re routing it back in behind the closedoff section being repaired from another direc tion says Mr Keller Now supposing power line on the 858 circuit bet ween Orangeville and Bruce Peninsula shorts out then relay switches will send trip signal up there and instantly isolate the problem by opening the breakers each side of the short Override switches allow us to open these breakers and close off the power at any point for making repairs Our communications systems is really something too We can immediately reach almost every hydro in stallation in Ontario and Eastern United States We have one of the most modern microwave com munication systems so that our messages and signals get through regardless of ice storms and damaged ground communications KLM Its an exciting life for JoyAnn as By BRIAN BAKER GILFORDFor 19year old JoyAnn Kell daughter of Mr and Mrs Keith Kell of Fennels Corners Gilford life has never been dull but as Dairy Princess of Simcoe County for 197576 she has found life extraexciting and rewarding Born to farm life she gained early ex erience on her fathers airy first helping to feed calves She has driven the tractor since she was 12 and has gained practical experience milking cows for several years putting her in good stead for her present role as dairy princess As 4H member she was awarded provincial honors in homemaking She also has five dairy calf projects For her first year for highest honors she won silver tray Originally she became in volved in the Simcoe County Queen of the Furrow contest on strength of her experience with tractor plowing Five years ago with the en couragement of former dairy princess Margaret Hamny of Bradford she became in volved in the dairy princess contest FAMILY FRIENDS Everyone has really been helpful to me says JoyAnn If it had not been for my sisters filling in for me back home and the help of my parents and friends would have been unable to have we cessfully competed You do not realize how many friends you have until you enter contest such as this TYPICAL OF the duties as Simcoe County Dairy Prin cess undertaken by oy Ann Kell is attending dairy industry meetings and JoyAnn was selected dairy princess from six contestants at Stayner fair last fall Judgin was based on knowle go of the dairy in dustry personality poise and general appearance speech on the im rtance of the dairy industry ad to be made and an interview with the judges was included To demonstrate talent before the audience JoyAnn very capany played guitar The role of dairy princess puts her in line for many in teresting experiences like at tending meetings and banquets related to the dairy and agricultural industry in general visiting schools and taking part in parades Although she will probably appear in the parades of the Bradford Salad Festival and the Alliston Potato Festival the main duty of dairy prin cess is to get out and meet the people and visit schools PLOWMEN One of her more exciting experiences was making speech at meeting of the On tario Plowmens Association in the Royal York Hotel in Toronto attended by num ber of delegates from Simcoe County who hope to persuade the association to make Sim coe County the site of the 1981 International Plowing Match She is particularly looking forward to the weekend of June 25 when special dairy weekend open to everyone will be held in the Georgian MallBarr1e This will include presen tation dance displays and educational programs related to the dairy industry banquets Here she presen ts Don Bell Elmvale with the High Breed Class Average herd award for AN ATTRACTIVE BROCHURE FULL OF IDEAS FOR YOUR EUROPEAN VACATION USING EXCITING AMSTERDAM AS YOUR STARTING POINT PHONE US TODAY FOR YOUR FREE COPY IEiravetwerld IDowntown Barrie 41 Maple Avenue 7263971 At this time new experience for JoyAnn will be television interview Miss Debbie Rogers the Ontario Dairy Princess will also be present Debbie Rogers is fan tastic person just out of Grade 12 says JoyAnn This is one of our bigger ef forts in making contact with theconsumer hope everyone will come and help us celebrate the promotion of milk All in all it looks like very exciting weekend SCHOOL VISITS It is in the area of visiting schools and meeting the children that JoyAnn feels she is accomplishing some of her most important and rewarding work She notes that it is sur prising how many children even in rural schools who know little about cows milk and the dairy industry She is received en thusiastically by children from Kindergarten and up She talks to them about the different aspects of the dairy industry answers questions describes the dairy farm and talks about cows and calves which the children love She even takes samples of hay dairy ration and en silage to show what the cows eat few dont altogether ap preciate the smell of corn en silage she laughs and have to convince them that cows have different tastes and reallylikeit We are constantly being brainwashed by all the soft drink advertisements and North Simcoe at the Huronia Dairy Herd Im provement Association banquet at Minesing HOLLAND AND EUROPE DOING ll YOUR WAY CPA people tend to forget about the good guality and wholesome foo value you get withmilk My effort in trying to im ove the dairy industry has en in promoting better un derstanding between producers and consumers JoyAnn is student at the Toronto Institute of Medical Technology which is spon sored by the hospitals and government She is training in respiratory technology As part of her training she will spend next year in Hamilton For this reason alone she would not recompete for the title of Simcoe County Dairy Princess the travel distance istoo great ONTARIO PRINCESS However she will compete this fall at the Canadian National Exhibition for the Ontario Dairy Princess title This is highly competitive One of the tests dropped from local competitions but still insisted upon at the ONE is that each contestant assembles milking machine prepares the cow milks the cow dismantles and washes the machine ac cording to approved methods The winner is employed for full year by the Ontario Milk Marketing Board This could mean travelling throughout Ontario and probably to the United States and Britain In her present county level role she has an expense ac count which helps her to take care of entertainment travel and clothing As she explains there are lot of things to consider that you would not have thought of before like the necessity of buying clothes to match the princess shoulder sash Being County Dairy Prin cess is good experience and think it is something like farming it will stay with you all your life definitely think the experience will be helpful in my work It puts me more at ease with all types of people and allows me to get up and speak to crowd find that far COME mastitis Elmvole lumber Co ltd ELMVALE Home Builders Supply STAYNER BUIEDINGEFNIBE Dairy Princess of Simcoe County mers have great outlook on life because they have seen all sides of life and lot of life The responsibility and discipline of farm life is also great asset You never forget that when you live on farm no matter what you must do the chores twice day She urges other girls bet ween the ages of 15 and 21 to take the opportunity to enter this or similar contests She advises that these girls should enjoy meeting people and remember that most people are for you and want you to do well and will not criticize you Dress well because first appearances are most important With Interest Taken ANNUAllY Member Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation WCTORM and GREY TRUST COMPANY SINCE 1889 MIKE BENVENUTI Manager LEO MIRTITSCH Accountant 35 Dunlop St 737l4l Bertmm Bros ltd BARRIE Spence lumber Co ltd BRADFORD

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