The herald., 1894-02-26
STREET CAR CABLES.
SERIOUS DIFFICULTIES THEY HAVE
TO CONTEND WITH.

How kinks" Are Located by the "Spli-
cer''-Horny Handed Sons of Toll Mend
Breaks with Neatness and Dispatch--The
Big broadway (Sew York; Cables.
If one stands astride the narrow slot
which is, as it were, an artery through
an artery of our great city on Broad
way and watches the snaky cable as it
glides along, he must pause moment to
consider before he can realize what an
enormous amount of power it carries
and what experiences it has to go
through.
Before we tell the history Of the cable
let us see of what it is composed. A
strong hempen strand five-eighths of an
inch In diameter forms the inner core.
Around this are wrapped six steel cables,
which are in turn composed of seven
strands wrapped around with other
strands of steel wire, the whole making
total diameter of II inches.
A steel rod three-eighths of an inch in
diameter and foot in length weighs ap-
proximately one pound. The difference
in weight between this cable and steel
rod of the same size may be realized
when it is known that this cable weighs
but three pounds to the running foot.
The use of the central hemp rope is for
the purpose Of giving certain pliability.
In ordnr that rust and decay should be
avoided, the rope is kept smeared with
tar and oil This is what causes the
black shiny appearance. As one Of the
cables which obtains its power from the
Broadway cable house Is 10000 feet in
length, 1t il not difficult to determine the
entire weight, which in this case would
be go, GOO pounds. Tho market price of
cables being about 40 cents per foot, the
cost Of this would be In the neighbor-
hood of So, 900 for one coil of wire. The
Broadway company maintains six ca
bles, and as tho approximate life of ca
BILE in our busy thcroughfare is little
more than eight months it would ap-
pear that the expense caused by the re-
newal Of cables is not small item. In
Denver longer cables than these exist,
the one ON the main street being 90, 900
feet IN length, having diameter of but
II inches. Owing to the fact that there
is less traffic in the latter city, the work
required from the cable is not 80 great.
Its life Is slightly heightened, and 10
months may be put to its credit.
It is quite interesting to watch the Pc
culiarities of the cable, and when we
stop moment to think how the grip
men, when they reach the termini of a
line, have the destruction of $1,000
worth of property In their power we
can see that some means is yet to be de-
vised which viii perform automatically
the action Of throwing off the grip, for.
unless the grip is loosened as the car
approaches tho power house, when it
reaches the place where the cable de-
scends to the driving wheels something
must give way, and while the cable gen.
orally has the best of the encounter
very often couple of strands areripped,
which entails considerable work upon
the repairers.
At the Broadway power house Mr.. M.
Moore is the person who Is technically
known as the "sphcer." He was brought
from Denver, where he had been in
charge of the cable in that city. He has
about eight or ten men under him, who,
with dexterity, make necessary repairs.
Cables are in a measure human They
have their diseases, and they need their
doctors. Mr.. Moore is the medical ex-
aminer, and from him we received sew
eral points concerning the troubles to
which the cable is subjected.
In case cable has become bent in any
way, it is difficult, in fact almost impos-
sible, to straighten 1t absolutely. The
bend remains, and if we stoop down to
watch its onward approach it looks like
huge sea serpent wriggling toward US,
performing wonderful gyrations as it
approaches. Several of these ''kinks,"
as they are termed, have been made in
the up town cable, which travels at the
rate of $40 feet per minute. AS the rate
of the cable is invariable, by simply look
ing at the clock the man, whose sole
duty it is to watch the cable, can tell at
exactly what place the "kink" is situat-
ed. AS matter Of curiosity we inquir-
ed of the watcher at the Fiftieth street
power house when the next 'skink" would
arrive. Looking at his watch and has
lilly making mental calculation, he an
swered, Between All and 4:12." In
fact the "kink" came in sight immedi-
ately as the hands of the watch pointed
to II minutes after 4.
While it is easy to localize accidents,
it is difficult to assign causes. However,
recently, for some reason or other, the
Bowling Green cable had about 1000
feet of strands ripped off, and the with
ing, curling mass Of wire, as it lay upon
the floor of the power house, presented
most confused appearance, and one would
be led to wonder how puny man could
have the power to cope with such an ap-
parently unwieldy mass. With huge
shears, however, those pieces Of metal
are shipped off, and new cable must be
put in place of the damaged portion.
The splicing is an interesting opera
ton. Unlike rope, the strands are ex-
tremely difficult to manipulate. Yet,
with skill acquired from the continual
work, each strand is woven into place
among other strands, heavy pliers and
marline spikes being used to separate the
layers. When all is done, about four
inches of the ends of each strand are left
outside the cable, and by continued wear
they finally break off, and the splice be-
comes practically as a virgin cable.