Daily globe., 1883-05-04
Plan tor Underground Wires.
IN. Y. Times.

Mr.. William Macintosh, of Providence,
&. l., yesterday explained to a Times re-
porter system of underground telegraph
lines of which he is the inventor. Mr..
Macintosh was for sixteen years superin-
tendent of construction in this city for the
Western Union Telegraph company, and
has had thirty-eight years experience in
the building of telegraph lines. In 1874,
while still in the employ of the Western
Union company, he patented the system of
which he is the inventor. Additional pat
ents were granted him On improvements,
until nov the system is covered by five.
The system as described in the letters
patent consists of combination of
series of working chambers, a series of
conduits connecting said working cham
bers and opening laterally INTO
them, and of a series of sectional
cables composed of groups of insulated
wires loosely inclosed within said con-
duits when said cables are constructed in
independent sections equal in length to
the distance between said working cham
bers in which the adjacent ends of said
cables are united to form a continuous
series and to facilitate removal, replace
ment or repairs" Mr.. Mackintosh's plan is
tanning as many wires as may be wished,
in block of artificial stone 12M inches
square, extending from chamber to cham
Der under the sidewalk. The stone is to
be nodded in sections, with thirteen or
more hole or conduits running longi-
tudinally through the sections. Each cleo
trical company is to inclose its wires in
cable, and the cable is to be run through
fhaco oOyIuifc IN Tho sfnno Tho oH1yira
all the streets are to be gathered into these
cables and run through the stone conduit,
which is to be laid about three feet under
the sidewalk. Two blocks apart, on the
line of the conduit, are to be built under
the sidewalk at the intersection of the
street a vault about five foot square, to be
entered from manhole in the sidewalk.
These Mr.. Macintosh calls working
chambers" Connections between the links
of the cables extending from chamber to
chamb er are here made, cables disconnect-
edand drawn out for repairs, new ones put
in, and loop lines to run around blocks
connected.
Each electrical company will own its
own cable and make It's ownirepairs or al
terations. When the conduit Is laid extra
holes or passages will be provided for new
WIZ l4Aey W4SLA w UoO GllO SJS'
TEN in the future. The conduit blocks are
to be made of a combination of sand.
broken stone, cement, and certain chemi-
Gals. This artificial stone is said to be as
hard as granite. Should the pipe become
broken by an explosion or by any other
accident, it can be repaired without inter
fering with the cables by incIosing them
in shields and surrounding them with the
plastic stone. Provision is made for tap
ping the wires to run lines into buildings
by leaving, when the pipe is laid, sections
which can easily be removed. The plan is
to ran lines into buildings as gas and wa
ter are now taken in. "By connecting
series of loops" said Mr.. Maokintosh, "a
wire can be put in any number of houses
il q city, or all houses can be placed On
the same wire. The work can be done
without opening the streets after the sys-
TEN is once down. One thousand or 1900
wires can be placed in a conduit block one
foot square" The system has been
brought to the attention of electrical com
panies in this city, which are nov discuss
ing methods for running their wires un-
der ground.