Harvard May Install Generators; Blackout Cause Remains Mystery

University officials' are considering installing generators that would provide light for Harvard buildings even in a massive power failure like Tuesday's.

The gas-run generators--similar to those now used in Radcliffe Quad--would switch on emergency lights at the beginning of a blackout. "They've been under consideration for several weeks. I expect the power failure will trigger action very soon." William Murphy, engineering manager for the Department of Buildings and Grounds, said Wednesday.

Might Happen Again

The blackout itself remained a mystery yesterday and federal investigators admitted they might never be able to trace the origin of the 80,000 square mile power failure.

"I do not think we can give any guarantee that this could not happen again." Joseph C. Swidler, chairman of the Federal Power Commission, who is heading the government's investigation, said at a news conference Wednesday. But he added that there is "a very high order of probability" against it.

According to Swidler, it is still uncertain whether a mechanical failure or a human error started the power drain along the network systems from Maine and Pennsylvania.

But the sequence of events that darkened lights in Cambridge and Boston for over four hours was becoming clear yesterday. A spokesman for the New England Gas and Electrical System sketched the failure as follows:

At about 5 p.m. two high-power lines, perhaps in the Rochester-Syracuse area, faulted simultaneously. Generators in surrounding areas, all linked in the same power grid, automatically tried to supply the missing electricity.

Won't Welcome Network

But because the faulted lines had such a high capacity--1 million kilowatts each--and because it was a peak hour, the systems around them were drained of power and the demand was passed on to others.

Cambridge and other communities would probably not have lost all their power, the spokesman said, if they had been joined to the network by weaker lines.

"But they wouldn't want to weaken the network," he said. "They won't be cowed into displacing an idea that has taken years to build and cost millions of dollars.

"The network insures an area against power failure by supplying it quickly with electricity from outside. It may need improvements, but it shouldn't be sacrificed."

Several states and cities yesterday called for immediate action to prevent the network from falling again. In New York City, where some sections were without electricity until 7 a.m., Mayor Robert F. Wagner said that the city's power supply must be set up to make any break "of short duration."