The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1885-06-19
PRIVATE WIRES.
What IL Costs to Establish Nelghborhood
Telegraph Lines.

What It Costs to Establish NeIshborhoot
| Telegraph Lines.
| In the State of Indiana there il .
telegraph line in operation which placer
three or four farm-houses in communi
cation with each other. The benefit:
thereby derived are of great value. ant
the young folks take great pleasure in
this mode of communicat on. The
Free Press some time ago mentioned q
line which IS in operation i'm the south.
ern part of this State. 1t is several
miles in length and places eighteen OF
twenty residences in communication
with each other. The line runs to q
village and is connected with a doc
tors office there. thus giving each
'toffice." or house. provided with an
instrument direct connections with the
doctor, great advantage in case Of
sickness or an emergency. In case of
fire or burglary. any family can sum-
mon and obtain assistance at once
from their neighbors.
ity of scheme of this kind, and thecost
is very slight, compared with the bene-
fits they NAV gain thereby.
We VIII suppose that there are four
or five farmers, who wish to build a
telegraph line and connect with the
Post-office or telegraph office. Sup.
pose the line is to be about one mile In
length. Let us figure up the cost.
No. II galvanized iron wire is very
well adapted for line of this length,
and one mile of it would cost about
SIS. The glass insulators. and brack-
cts to fasten on poles and attach the
wires to. will cost but few dollars.
The poles are small item to farmers,
as the Wire need be carried only high
enough to keep it out of easy reach of
mischievous boys, except in pass
ing over gates, roadways or any
where that people are liable to drive
under it. In such places it must be
high enough to clear a man standing
upon load of hay. Your boys will be
glad to have the privilege of cutting
the poles, and to assist in building the
line, because they are to have lots of
fun IN chatting over the wire. playing
checkers by telegraph, ETC., during the
long winter evenings.
The gravity battery" as it is called,
is the best and cheapest kind to use for
this purpose. Youwill need five ''cells'
or jars of this battery for the line and
an additional scelr' for every instru-
ment attached to the line. half of the
battery to be attached to each end of
the line, and none anywhere else. Thus
If your line is connected with five build
lngs. you will want ten jars, which will
cost YOU about seventy-five cents each.
The best instruments to use are those |
in which the '.sounder" and key" are
on one base. In case you have chill |
dren who are apt to NEEDLE with it,
you can make a cover to lock over it,
after the fash on of q sew .ng-mach ne. |
The instruments will cost you about |
i've dollars each. 1t will not pay to
get the cheapest neither will it be nee
,ssary to have the high-priced ones.
You will also need q ..cut-out'' and |
''lightning-arrester" combined. so that |
Tou can switch off the instrument dur
ng heavy thunder-storms. and effectu-
lllv protect your property. There are
several kinds of cheap ones which will
answer very well, and cost about one
lollar each.
During my five years. experience as
telegraph operator on different lines,
NOW of only one instance wherein an
,ffice was damaged by lightning. and
hat was probably due to the operators
neglect IN not cutting" or switching
'ut his instrument before going home
a the evening.
To sum it up the expenses would b
bout as follows: