The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1894-02-14

newa Of cables is not a small item. In
Denver longer cables than these exist,
fhe one on the main street being 36, 800
feet In length, having diameter of but
u inches. Owing to the fact that there
IS less traffic in the latter city, the work
required from the cable is not so great.
! It's lf{e IS slightly heightened, and 10
months may be put to its credit.
HBqmItte interesting to watch the pc
cutarities 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 5000
worth Of property in their power we
can see that some means is yet to be de-
1fsed which will perform automatically
the action Of throwing off the grip, for
unless the grip is loosened as the Car
approaches the power house, when it
reaches the place where the cable de-
scends TO the driving wheels something
sauet give way, and while the cable gem
sraasy has the best Of the encounter
HMy often a couple Of strands areripped,
which entails considerable work upon
the Tepairers.
At the Broadway power house Mr.. NJ.
Moore is the person who is technically
known as the aspicer." Rewas 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.
Gables are in measure human. They
have their diseases, and they need their
doctors. MIR. Moore is the medical e1-
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 it 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 'tkinks,"
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 sskink" would
arrive Looking at his watch and has
tily making mental calculation. he an
swered, Between Ali 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 of, and the with
ing, curling mass Of wire, as it lay upon
the floor Of the power house, presented
most stconfused 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 of, and a 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
marine 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 virgin cable.
Even the trained eye Of Mr.. Moore is un-
able to detect the splice after the wires
have been thoroughly covered with tar.
The.joint is as firm and as strong as the
original cable.
Delicate hands are out Of place in this
work, and cable splicers are veritably
sshorny handed sons IF toll" Their work
is done mainly in the wee hours Of the
night, when traffic is at its minimum.
Mr.. Moore assures me that with his eight
OF ten helpers he can splice in thousand
feet of cable in II hours. Re