Rouge: Pictured in Its Prime

3. Powerhouse

3 POWERHOUSE Steam powerplants were dear to Henry Ford. Ever since he saw his first steam traction engine on a country road at age thirteen, he was charmed by them. He loved to display his powerplants as he had in his “Crystal Palace” at Highland Park. At the Rouge, however, a powerplant of gigantic proportions was necessary, and brute strength was the objective. The first powerhouse at the Rouge was the small one built for Eagle boat production and torn down at the end of the Eagle contract. For the mammoth steel plant planned by Ford, a much larger one had to be built. Construction of this main Rouge powerplant started in 1919, with operation beginning in May 1920, just ten days before the first blast furnace was put into operation. Unique for its time, the plant utilized considerably higher steam temperatures and pressures than normal in order to provide greater generating efficiency. Also unusual was the use of pulverized coal as fuel. Henry Ford, as well as Thomas Edison, preferred direct current to alternating current because it operated at lower voltage, so this initial powerplant was designed, built, and operated solely on direct current. After installing and operating no fewer than 27,000 direct-current motors, however, it was found that the uncovered motors became clogged with dust and grit in the dirty factory atmosphere. At tremendous expense, during 1930 and 1931, the direct-current motors were exchanged for those operating on alternating current. In the process, Ford insisted that all his electric motors be totally enclosed. Some DC power was retained, however, for operating equipment such as for welding. William B. Mayo, who had designed the Highland Park power equipment , was responsible for all Rouge Plant power requirements. Working under Mayo, William F. Verner was responsible for powerplant construction, and put in charge of powerplant operations was William W. Dulmage. With cooperation from equipment manufacturers such as General Electric, Combustion Engineering, and Foster Wheeler, significant upgrading of equipment from time to time became routine. Particularly in the mid-1930s, the investment of $5.5 million in three new turbo-generators kept the plant up to date. During May 1935, for example, records show a total of 51,349,863 kilowatt -hours of power produced and distributed to twenty-five departments in the Rouge Plant. The major user was the production foundry, with 11,236,890 kilowatt-hours, followed by the steel mill, the spring-and-upset building, the motor building, and the B building. In addition to distributing power through its 200 or more substations within the Rouge complex, the Rouge powerplant, by means of 23,200-volt transmission lines, also supplied power to the Highland Park Plant, the Lincoln Plant, and the Flat Rock Plant, all of which were in the Detroit area. At times, surplus Rouge power was sold to the Detroit Edison Company. 35 36 Eighty feet behind the powerhouse is the pulverizing building. In it, ten high-speed mills pulverize the coal, and two ball mills grind the coke breeze and coal. Capacity is 180 tons per hour, pulverized to a fineness of 65 percent through a 200-mesh screen. As much as 900,778 tons of coal would be used in a peak year such as 1929. This amounted to approximately thirty carloads a day. (833.32500) Producing power in stages, the main Rouge powerhouse under construction in December 1920. (833.31648) 37 Above: Interior of the main powerhouse turbine room containing three steam-driven turbine units in October 1929. (833.54041) Left: Interior of the main powerhouse generator room with its three 30,000-kilowatt turbo-generators operating in 1931. (833.56199) 38 The high-pressure boiler control room in May 1937. (833.68302) Opposite, top: An enlarged Rouge powerhouse in 1934. Now its eight stacks, each serving a boiler, reach a height of 333 feet and measure 13 feet across the top. Each boiler produces steam for the operation of a turbo-generator that in turn generates electricity equivalent to 62,500 horsepower, the ultimate goal being 500,000 horsepower. (833.59281) Opposite, bottom: A control panel in the main Rouge powerhouse in December 1931. These two operators control the turbines and the switching of power from the main powerhouse to Rouge substations and to outside Ford plants. (833.56683) 40 One of the new General Electric...