Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-12-19
CITY AND DISTRICT.
PUTTING TIE WIRES UNDER.
GROUND.
The Successful Result of Experiments
with District Lines.

TIE LEAD-ARNoRED CABLE AND HOW 1T IS MADE
a CABLE WHICH, 1T Is CLAIMED, WILL LAST
TILL TIE NEW zEaLANDER COMES TO GAZE
on OUR RrINS-FIRE ALARM AND TELEPHONE
SERVICE CONDUCTED UNDERGROUND THE BUG
BEAR OF INDUCTION SAID TO HAVE BEEN PRO-
PITnTED.
There is nothing that can disturb that except
an upheaval of dynamite" observed Mr.. W. J.
hCElroy, of the Standard Underground Cable
Company as he contemplated with pride the
termini in Superintendent Miles Office. of the
three underground Waring cables recently laid
fer the District government. These cables carry
SIX wires each, and are of the same pattern as
that laid between the Capitol and the White
House. The principal cable of the three is that
laid between the fire alarm Office and No
engine house. on Virginia avenue, between a.
and 9th streets southwest. The other cables
carry wires connecting various District Offices
The cable, though apparently simple in e0nstruc-
tion,is covered with patents as thick as mortgages
on newly opened western township. The pat
tern which. 1t Is thought. viii be the most COM
monty used carries six small copper wires
These wires are encaSed in lead, and the cable
when complete appears to be a corrugated
rope of lead about three-qUarteTs of an inch in
diameter sectional view resembles a six
Hcitittu star, 1ItIt - or point OF the
star, for each wire. When the cable rs laid by cut
ting one OF these ridges. the wire within it can
lie reached without disturbing the Others The
lead Is 50 nodded that one OF the ridges has a
sharp edge. while the others are rounded Off
his enables workman 10 iEd at once a wire
mat may have to be tapped without the trouble
OF having 10 cut perhaps all the wires and make
test calls until he strikes upon the right one
Tie cattle when brought here was wound upon
reels IN lengths 0i half Il mile. 1t was made at
the works Of the Standard Underground Cable
Company of PittsbuTg.
How TIE CABLES ARE MADE.
The question that naturally occurs when one
gees the cable is like that which puzzled the
king when lie beheld dumping and asked in
amazement how they got the apple in. In this
case the wonder is how they got the wires in.
An apparatus Of very ingenious device is used
il the manufacture of the cable The wires are
first prepared with Il thin covering of OZtG
composition which. it is claimed. offers greater
resistance to an electrical current or in other
words, is more nearly perfect nOn-cOnduCtOr
oi electricity than any material known to cleo
triCians. When ready for the cable they are
paced on reels. ready to be spun OF as wanted
The SIX wires. arranged in proper order. are
PASSED into press or stamp. The movable
part ot this press has a cylindrical bowl. at the
bottom OF which is an opening. through which
the perfected cable passes This bowl is
filed with molten lead which is allowed to
cool until ii has about the consistency OF putty
Then an hydraulic pressure of from I 600 to
GOO pounds TO the square inch is applied and
the lead is forced out through the small star
shaped opening. taking the wire with it. As it
comes out it Is reeled in haf-miie lengths and is
ready for testing. The cylinder holds enough
molten metal to make 81 yards of six-wire
cable.
When all the lead is forced ont the bowl is
filed again, and the machine makes the Joints
perfect. At every eighty yards on the cable will
be found very small transverse ridge, which
no pti0 Of ipf,,i H.
been laid here under the supervision of Mr. NJ
W. Hayward superintendent OF construction of
the Standard Underground Cable COMPANY and
BIZ Van Hovenburgh, electrician. of New York
INDEsTRJCTIEHITY or LEAD.
The cables are laid about two feet under
ground, and it is claimed that they are practi-
Cally indestructible. THAT claim" said Mr..
AeElroy. sis based partly upon the fact that lead
pipe has been found in the ruins of Herculaneum
which must have been there over a thousand
years and yet showed no signs of decay Lead
Is practically indestructible unless placed in
Soil containing certain acids. Moisture and at
mOspherc influences, SO destructive to ordinary
telegraph wires. have no perCeptible effect upon
1t. 1t is Claimed also. that insulating the ma
teria is as durable as the lead
The cable laid from the fire-alarn office to
No engine house was laid rs test cable. IN
der the guarantee of the company. One of the
chief claims made for the cable is that in its
-
underground wires. the interference or retarda-
ton caused by induction. has been overcome
The induced currents instead of passing from
one line to another. pass into the lead. and
thence into the ground. The buZzing sound in
the telephone, caused by contact with or proy-
unity to other lines when the connection is by
air line. Is entirely absent from the telephone
connected with the underground cable.
THE TESTS MADE
over the cables which are now COMPLETED have
been very satisfactory. 1t was thought by some
people to be impracticable to join the cable
wires with overhead wires but a connection has
been made between the tire-aarm office and the
insane asylum, which has proved that such a
connection is entirely practicable. Telephone
remarkably distinct, though the message is car
fled part OF the distance through the under
ground cable. then taken up by an airline then
taken by submarine cable across the Eastern
branch, and again taken by an airline. Mr..
htEiroy expresses the opinion that telegraph
pole IN a city will soon be as rare and curious
an object as an old-fasliOned stage-cOach The
cable will. he thinks, be brought into use in
Cites first. on account of the great and growing
complaints against the use OF poles In rural
districts the objection to telegraph poles has not
so much force, but he believes that under
ground cables will be ultimately adopted
throughout the country, as being much cheaper
In the end and mere reliable and efficient than
air-lines, which are inperiled by every Storm
TEE CAPITAL FIFTY YEARS AGO