The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1894-02-10
STREET CAR CABLES.
SERIOUS DIFFICULTIES THEY HAVE
TO CONTEND WITH.

Nov Kinks Arc Located Oy the spill
cer"-HornyH Handed Sons of Toll Mend
Breaks with Ne.tness and Dispatch-The
Sig roadway New York; Cables.
If one stands astride' the narrow slot
which is, as il 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 a moment to
consider before he can realize what an
2 enormous amount of power 1t 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 W.
strands wrapped around with other
strands of steel wire. the whole making
q total diameter Of II inches.
A steel rod th~ree-eighths of an inch in
diameter and a foot in length weighs ap-
proximately one pound. The difference
IN weight between this cable and a steel
rod Of the same size may be realized
when il is known That this cable weighs
but three pounds 10 the running foot.
The use of she central hemp rope Is for
the purpose of giving acertain p~liability.
In order that rust and decay should be
avoided, the rope Is kept meared with
tar and oil. This il what causes the
black shiny appearance. As n of the
cables which obtains its power from the
ppco1urau aahFa hDFtza = 10 NM faa- in
length, il Is not difficultt to determine the
entire weight. which in this case would
be &C, 600 pounds. The market price of
cables being about 40 cents per foot, the
cost of this would be in the neighbor-
hood of $s.oC0 for one coil of wire. The
Broadway company maintains six Ca
ble-, and as the approximate life of a ca
BILE in our busy thoroughfare is little
more than eight months il would ap-
pear that the expense caused by the re-
newal of cables Is not a small item. In
Denver longer cables han these exist.
the one on the main street being $500
feet in length. having a diameter Of but
II inches. Owing 10 the fact that there
Is less traffic in the latter city. the work
required from the cable j. not SO great.
Its life is slightly ~l-ngtheu-i. and 10
months may be put t. IL cre-nt.
Ii Is quite interesting - watch tine Do
cuIarities cf the cable. and when We
stop a moment 10 think now tine zip
men. when they reach the terminI IF 4
line. have the destruction Of $500
worth Of property in their power We
can see that some means l. yet TO be de-
vised which will perform automatically
the action of throwing off the grip. for.
unless the grip Is lOosened a. the car
approaches the 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 a couple of strands areripped.
which entails considerable work upon
the repairers.
At the Broadway power house Mr.. NJ.
Moore is the person who is technically
known as tine ..splicer." He was brought
from Denver. where he had zen in
charge Of the cable i'm that city. He has
about eight or ten men under him, who,
with dexterity. make necessary repairs.
Cables are IN a measure human. They
nave their diseases. and they need their
doctors. Mr.. Moore is the medical ex-
smiDer, and from him we received sew
eral points concerning the troubles to
which the cable is subjected.
In case a cable has become bent in any
way, il is difficult. in fact almost impos-
sibie, 10 straighten il 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
spprusches. Several of these kinks"
- they are termed, have been made in
the up town cable, which travels at the
mt Of SO feet per minute. As the rate
Of the cable is invsriable, by simply look
ing at the clock the man, whose sole
duty il is TO watch the cable, can tell at
exactly what place the ''kink" is situat-
ed. As a matter Of curiosity we inquir-
sd of the watcher at the Fiftieth street
power house when the next .'kink' would
xrrive. Looking at his watch and has
ally making a mental calculation. he an
gvered, Between All and 4:12." In
fsct the .skink' came j sight immedi-
sssly ~ the hands of the watch pointed
to II minutes after 4.
while It is easy TO ~iocalize accidents,
n e di0cult to aseign causes However,
Annntay, for some sason OF other. the
vafng Green cable had about 1909
(goe Strands ripped on, and this with
- cuF3ing mas Of wire, - IL lay upon
lopr of the power house, presented .
a6confused appearances. End one. would
I'd 70 wonder how puny man couid
hDvsths power to cope with such an sp-
rneently unwieldy mass. With huge
6hsars, however. those pieces OF metal
- shipped Of, and q new cable must be
1nofh paace o. the damaged PORTION
he splicing is an interesting opera
"a Unlike rope, the strand are ex-
[naay difHcrir 10 manipulate Yet,