The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-01-01
NOT A GOOD NEIaHBoR.
Telegraph and Telephone Lines Suffer
From the Trolley.
From, the Neto York Times.


From the Neio York Times.
It now appears that the trolley system Of
transit In use in the cities of this country ia
not only constant menace to life and limb,
but 1t has the additional unhappy faculty
of annoying its neighbors Of the electric
kind to very serious extent.
Telegraph and telephone companies
wherever their wires are near the wires of a
trolley road, have been sufferers from the
proximity, in that the facilities for commu-
nication between different points have been
interfered with materially.
The trouble arises from the use BY the
trolley companies of heavily charged cleo
trical circuits and from the use, also, of the
earth for the return circuits. The earth is
also used by telegraph companies, and to
some extent by telephone companies,
though the telephone people In the larger
cities are establishing the more expensive,
but more efficient. metallic circuits-that is,
making the complete circuit by means Of
the two wires instead OF by one wire and
the earth-as rapidly as possible.
1t has been found that where the lines of
telephone and telegraph companies are in
the vicinity of trolley lines their satisfao-
tory operation has been prevented by in
duction through the earth from the latter.
The effect OK this induction may be more
clearly illustrated by giving the results Of
experiments recently made by NJ. NJ Davis,
one OF the electricians Of the Postal Tele-
graph and Cable Company in Harrisburg,
Pa, where there is trolley line. Il was
found that the ground between Harrisburg
and Carlisle. which are eighteen miles
apart, with The Susquehanna river between
them. was 50 thoroughly charged with cleo
tricity from the return circuits through
the earth of the trolley lines in Harrisburg
that it was possible to operate a wire between
the two cities without any battery.
The Atlantic cable of the Commercial
Gable Company is brought to the Broad
street Office of the company in this city by
means of an underground line across Long
Island. The line runs near the South
Brooklyn trolley line. The cable operators
noticed soon after the trolley road began
operations that their wires worked badly.
The current would first be very strong and
then very light. An investigation showed
that the trouble was caused by the trolley
lines.
The electrician of the cable company said
yesterday that he had found a satisfactory
remedy for the interference. he preferred
not 60 say what it was, however.
One of the Western Union cableS. which
also crosses Long Island. has been affected
in the same way, and both the Western
Union and the Postal companies have felt
bad effects in every city in the country
where there are trolley lines.
1t is also declared that the influences of
these heavy earth circuits upon systems Of
pipes are bad. In a western town il is re-
ported that a lead pipe running from we'll
TO house was out of condition, and that
when it was dug up its appearance indicated
that it had been subjected TO an electric
current powerful enough to corrode it. The
current unquestiyDably came from the re-
turn circuit through the earth of trolley
road syBtem in the vicinity, and it was sug-
qested that If this effect was common Il might
result not only in destroying lead water
pipes, but also produce lead poisoning.
Electricians do not regard the danger
from this source as very serious, however
But that gas and water pipes may become
charged with electricity by this means there
seems TO be no doubt