The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-09-03
rOllg CaIking
BOw Distant csIsphOne
Service 6as GrUwa.

Service has &fuspn.
The completion Of the gap In long
distance telephone lines between Newton
| and Emporia win connect Wichita with
| the United States east Of the Mississippi.
The improvements which have made
long distance telephony possible have not
been in the instrument al all. but IN the
line and in the lire construction The
first step IN extending the possibilities OF
long distance telephony was to use two
wires Instead % one. One wire had been
employed for many years, the earth be-
ing used for fthe return path. This was
and still IS the practice in teiegraphy.
For many years efforts were made 10 in
crease the distance Of possible talking by
increasing The power Of the transmitteT.
! Ii was found that as the single lines in
creased in length. the telephone receiver.
which Is the most delicate detector OF
faint currents known, began TO taRe up
indalctIye noises from the earth itsek.
When such lines ran parallel wsth tele-
graph lines. the receiver would take up
the Morse signals. 50 that a telegraph
message could be read by an expert OPP
orator simply by listening 10 a receiver
attached to a parallel line without tapping
the telepragh line ar all. and indeed. with
out coming into physical contact with II.
1t Is believed that the first long distance
line was built from New York to Phila-
delphia. This was after II had become
known that II was best to eliminate
"earths'' from the circuit using two
wires all the way instead OF one. II was
sscertained. however, thar even two para
liel iron wires soon reached their limit
OF efficiency. though a limit wider than
before. through being unbalanced and
taking up inductive disturbances. which
were reproduced in the receiver with ex-
asperating fidelity. As soon as telephone
engineers found that two wires were bet
ter than one, II was but a step to use
copper instead OF iron, the coniuctivsty
OF copper being much better than that of
iron II was only a obvious further step
to use two large copper wires instead OF
two small ones. still further extending
the limits OF possible commercial CONVEX
sation.
Bur even this last step did not solve the
problem Make two copper wires as
large as one might. a distance would be
reached where there would be set up in
the receiver induCtive disturbances Of a
character so loud that no transmitter no
matter how powerful could be efieient
against Il. The final solution Of the prob
lem was almost absurd IN simplicity
This solution is technically known as
transportation" 1t was found that were
two copper lines ran along parallel with
nah
point halfway between the terminals
these wires were crosed-without touching
each other. so that what had been the
right-hand wire for twenty-five miles
and the same crossing made with the
other wire. the noise would be very much
diminished. 1t was still further found
that If instead Of crossing or transpos-
ing the wires from right 20 left ana left
to right at one central point In the cir
cult. a number OF such crosses could be
made. say, at a distance of five miles or
one mile apart the inductive disturbances
would disappear entirely. so that even a
comparatively poor ransmitter would be
able to talk over a distance of 500 miles
without difficulty
Calculations were then made as to how
in order efficiently 10 carry telephone cur
rents from New York. Boston. Philadel-
phia, etc. to Chicago and beyond This
question. OF course. introduced new fac
tors OF an unusual nature from the view
Poirt OF the electrical engineers, who
would like to have the wires as large as
possible. What more closely interests the
mechanical engineer IL the knowledge OF
the weight OF these wires. as he must
erect and equip poles strong enough to
carry them. From the managers point
of view. an estimate had 10 be made as
to whether the proba Bile traf1c over the
wires would be more than the interes.
on the enormous amount OF money nee
essary 10 construct two copper rods-for
these wires are so large that they are
really more like rods than wires-from
New York to Chicago. It was finally de-
cided 10 use No. 8 hard-drawn copper
wire between New York and Chicago. and
since that time No. s has become the
standard for all long copper circuits Of
the Long Distance company. Where
these telephone wires pass through cities
in which there are electric lights and
heavy electric power circuits. the trans
position has TO be made of;ener than once
every mile. In some places. Il has 90
TO be made at every pole This makes
the construction work very expensive. in
deed and toll charges are computed &C
coreingly.
The workings OF the lines being
made pracaciSie. the next step 20 b
reached vas now the public should BE-
served. Only a few years ago the use If
a long-distsnce wire by the travelling
public was rare. When man wanted 70
talk from chicago to New York -
would5~E;n by telegraphinE ahead 20 ~
correspondent in New York: Pc at the
street station a. certsin time" ansI
he would DC az the main pay-S:stion in
Chicago a: the same time. In those
DAYS this would be notable Incident =
h's l5ss. and he would write ard tell htv
friends about r. Now. all the teieph5-es
In New York are Of the long distance
. pe. a. are most 81 those IN Chicago
and many othe- large cities: 80 that ora
NAV now sF On his Once and call Uo his
friend r. Chicago without going TO the
pay station a all. and with as much ease
a. he can talk from one part q New
York 70 anothe-.
People are spnet'nes seen a. pubic
pay sfstious ia large cities tearing oil
what look IKE postage S.7ups win
with which tfsr Tny or their long o.
taace tots. The uniformed usually lr-up
AZ ne CoaciEA1n thai these r-urats
persons are using srankA. This. however.
is seldom the cas>- These siips are knpwr
as COUPONS" Any one VINO may care
80 buy 500 wor.h nay eet ;he-n a. III