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Rotary Converter, IRT Subway Substation 13, Midtown Manhattan, 2017. (fedia.io)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

9 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Rotary Converter, IRT Subway Substation 13, Midtown Manhattan, 2017.

All the pixels, no Metrocard required, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/32992380451

#photography

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (4 children)

NYC's IRT subway, opened in 1904, is powered by a 600 volt DC third rail running alongside the tracks. Power is fed to the system via a number of substations throughout the city, where high voltage AC is converted to the lower voltage DC used by trains.

Until recently, this was done with electromechanical rotary converters (essentially a combination AC motor and DC generator). They are now supplanted by solid state rectifiers, but a few of the original rotary converters remain operational.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

If you like this stuff, there's a sadly out of print book, "New York's Forgotten Substations", with some excellent photos.

https://www.chrispaynephoto.com/books-1-2-1

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

@[email protected]

Wonderful photo. I suspect those rotary converters are very reliable!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

@[email protected] those rotary converters were pretty amazing.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

@[email protected] haha I came to this thread thinking "didn't they use mercury arc rectifiers, like DC elevators and such?" and learned that they didn't!

So thanks for that. 😋

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

@[email protected] I hadn't had my morning coffee and my first thought when I saw this photo (of the rotary converter) was "oh, that is a top view of a Curta calculator." (I used to be pretty good on a Curta.)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

@[email protected] a very, very large one.

Curta Type II mechanical calculator

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

@[email protected] @[email protected] continuing the theme of misunderstanding what you're seeing, I saw that and was thought it was a clockwork camera lens for a second (not that I think there is such a thing, but my brain isn't that quick today).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

@[email protected] always pleased to see this one come round again on your feed