Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1896-11-29

wire cable is stronger than the biggest hemp rope ever made.
 Tons upon tons of metal are often used in it's construction, and the num- Der of miles of wire consumed in the process is calculated to astonish the un- initiated
 The longest land cable in the world Is that now in operation on the Lexington avenue branch of the Metropolitan Traction company in New York. That cable is 44,o00 feet long and weighs
 163,000 pounds. It is now one continu- ous cable, having been spliced after be- ing made in two sections by different manufacturers.
 Cables are an expensive luxury" said Engineer Sterret to the writer. "They cost in the neighborhood of $2,000 per mile and last less than Q year. On all our lines we keep dupli- cate cables always lying in the trench,
 so that at any moment we are prepared
 to replace one cable by another.
 ''The portion of the big cable made for us in St. Louis was shipped here on car especially constructed for the purpose. It came by a slow train, in order that there might be as little jolt ing as possible, for the reason that any unusual jar might sink the track below the roadbed, and then the entire freight system would be stalled. Few people have any idea of the immense weight of one of these long cables wound on a drum.
 Not only are specially-construct railway cars necessary for their trans portation, but they must be carted to and from the railway on especially ly-con- structed trucks. No ordinary drag or truck could sustain them; and often special tracks must be laid of steel. As many as 56 horses have been required to draw single cable from the factory to the railway station"
 Strange as it may seem, Australia, the, most recently-civilized portion of tine globe, is the greatest. cable country of the world. Four of the largest cables in existence are in operation there. Two are three miles in length, and have diameter of 11s inches, while the other two are 1a4 inches in diameter. South Africa, also, though generally supposed 10 be merely land of lions, Boers and Hottentots, has many big cables, and one single line in Cape Town has a ''rope''-so they write it there-29, ,O00 feet long without a single break or splice.
 Almost any cable could easily en- circle a country town, and, slender as they appear, they are strong enough to hold the weight of two houses sus- pended in midair. They are made upon the same principle as ordinary hempen ropes, by splicing together compara- lively short pieces of wire. One thou sand such pieces, each ten feet long, when twisted into cable, make about 100 feet of wire rope.
 "America,' says a wel1-known dealer in these unw;eldly wares, furnishes the greater part of the world with nam moth cables. They are sent to every. country on the earth except Europe. Australia. India, South Africa, and even Asia, buy of us; but the English fac tories supply Europe, and we have made TO attempt to win that trade"
 All wire cables are alike in one re- spect-they are ductile When first placed in the subway, the big Lexington avenue cable stretched 60 feet during its first 24 hours work. Then it was necessary to cut and splice it. This splicing of wire cable is much like that of an ordinary hemp rope, except the splice may be 50 or 100 feet in length. The wires are interwoyen like the strands of hemp rope, and experts say that the splice is the strongest part of the cable. During the seconft 24 hours use this same cable stretched 70 feet more, and another splice. be- came necessary. When it is necessary to ship one of these cables to foreign country, there is a heap of trouble ahead for the stevedorcs. It is no trifl- ing matter to put 12o, ,ooo pounds of stiff, wire rope into the hold If a