Shaky engine, sound finances

Everybody thought it a marvelous thing when New Iberia installed a new motor at its municipal power plant in late 1918, but it turned out to be a mixed blessing for folks who lived nearby.
According to the New Iberia Enterprise, the plant’s neighbors thought the new machinery was the result of “bad judgement and boneheadism” after they were forced to trade a good night’s sleep for more power and greater water pressure.
“Since the installation at the Electric Light and Power Plant of the new crude 350 horse power engine, the residents within two blocks of the building are unable to get their night’s rest due to the terrible incessant vibration produced by the heavy machine,” according to the newspaper’s report.
The newspaper said that something had to be done before “what was known as a residential neighborhood will be unfit to live in.”
Because of the vibrations, the newspaper reported, “Crockery and other wares cannot remain in one place. In fact, we have been informed that glasses and plates actually work off the tables and fall to the floor while the bedsteads are in a constant tremble at all times.”
Officials had promised that the engine would “effect a great saving to the City in reducing the fuel bill of the Plant,” and the newspaper conceded that it was possible that “it ultimately will save thousands of dollars with which to reimburse the City for the investment.”
But the editors also thought it was “unfortunate that this particular machine will have to be operated both day and night in order to keep up a water pressure.”
They also questioned whether a simpler, cheaper, and less jarring option might have been chosen.
“Years ago a standpipe should have been installed here which could have been kept filled with water during the day hours and smaller dynamos run to supply the electric current,” the newspaper suggested. “In that event we do not believe an engine of this kind would have been needed. Thousands of dollars would have been saved the City which has gone into smoke.”
Or, if the plate-shaking power plant was the right choice, the editors said, “it would have been better had this Plant been set up in some secluded spot outside of the City rather than in a residential neighborhood.”
That‘s where the boneheadism came in, according to the newspaper, since “of course it is too late now to think of making a change of this kind … since the entire Plant is set up.”
Still, residents in that neighborhood were “all up in the air,” and rightfully so, in the editors’ judgement. “The thing is nerve racking and the citizens are entitled to such relief as will not interfere with their rest at night,” according to the report.
That was also the judgment of a group of citizens who presented a petition at the next meeting of the City Board of Trustees asking that the new engine be turned off until “it is so corrected that no vibration will be felt.”
The trustees “asked that a few days more be allowed them, so that they could get an expert here to adjust the machine.”
According to the trustees, “The new engine saves in fuel upwards of $25.00 every twelve hours and it would be deplorable that it would have to be discarded entirely.”
The property owners grumbled, gave the trustees a few days more, but promised that without relief they would insist that the plant be moved to a “secluded point in the rear of town where no one would be disturbed by its awful vibrations.”
That appears to be the final word on the matter.
Maybe the expert stopped the shaking; maybe the neighbors glued their dishes down. I find no further mention of the vibrating engine or complaints about it in the 1919 newspapers. It does appear however that the claims by city officials that it saved the city money were justified. In July auditors reported that “the Light, Power, and Water [department] has been more than self-sustaining” since the installation of the engine and said the department’s funds should be put in a separate bank account to keep other municipal departments from gobbling up the profits.

You can contact Jim Bradshaw at jimbradshaw4321@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.