Rock Island Argus., 1905-02-08
MAN OF TROUBLES
He Who Runs Down Breaks in
the Telephone Com
pany Lines.
HAS VARIETY OF EXPERIENCES
Carries Trappings Almost Equal in
Weight to That of Soldier in
Moving Order.

more wonderful than the deeds chrOn-
;cled by writer's of fiction, tales of dar-
ng unequailed in the romances of An.
thCny Hope or Harold MacGrath-
could be told of the telephone trouble
shooter" said a Central Union Tele-
phone company official to an Argus re-
porter.
Every exchange of the Central Tn
ion Telephone company has a force of
| trouble men, from one man to a doz-
en-. depending upon the size of the ex-
change. and these men are responsible
for the continuous good order of the
thousands of lines and instruments.
THE life of the trouble shooter of
fers a variety of experiences lacking
N ordinary occupations, and it pos
sesSes a fascination to some men
which keeps them at work as long as
they are physically capable. Even the
uncertainty as TO what he is to meet
when he reaches the seat of trouble
adds interest to the trouble mans
work.
Called From His Sleep.
Aroused from sleep in the middle
If the night. perhaps with Il snow
storm raging without, he dresses with
The speed Of a fireman, gets his Kit
and plunges into the darkness. Sup
ported by a strap over his shoulder
the trouble man has ON his back a set
of telephone instruments which en-
able him to talk to the Office when he
reaches the break in the wires. He
carries coil of rope, another of wire.
sive name of appliances with which he
forces the ends of broken wires 10
come together The come alOngs con
5ist of two small vises joined with
rope and tackle The shooter also
carries a supply of insulators. short
pieces of wire, hatchet, pliers, clamps
md small copper tubes for holding
wires while they are being spiiced.
Most of these are fastened TO a broad
Gather belt. To rings in the belt the
rouble shooter fastens a strap long
enough to reach around the largest
pole. so that when he reaches the top
his hands may be free. To this collcc-
ion of hardware are added the spurs
which the trouble shooter straps to
lis feet to enable him to clumb poles.
With his whole outfit he carries a
weight almost equal to that o. a sol
1ier in heavy marching order.
Not All Due 40 weather
"All the troubles which the shoot
9r goes out to locate are not caused
by the elements. There are still
places in the west where the frolic
some cow puncher, riding gaily into
town. diverts the monotony of his trip
by shooting at glass insuiators on the
telephone lines. The antics of small
boys are also sources of constant trou-
bic to the shooter, as a tin can, clev
erly lodged among the wires, will us
ually serve to put several lines out
Of business.
The trouble shooter is called upon
10 make repairs indoors as well as out.
Lightning arresters placed where the
lines enter building are frequently
burned out and rats gnaw telephone
wires Is well as nearly everything
else. But often the troubles are due
70 queer performances of the telephone
users themselves. 1t once took trouble
shooters from the local exchange some
time to locate trouble in a residence
line. II was finally discovered that
the woman of the house had stuck a
hair pin into the lightning arrester
that she might not lose the pin. In
another case the fond mother explain
ed that Jimmy had pulled off one of
the strings and the telephone wouldn't
talk
Without the trouble shooter the tel
ephone service would be frequently in
terrurted. With his assistance the
Central Union Telephone company
wages ceaseIess warfare against the
destructive elements. Often a tele
phone is discovered to be out of or
der and the repairs completed without
the knowledge of the subscriber. II
is constant attention TO the lines that
makes good telephone service possible
and the trouble shooters of the Central
Union telephone company are awake
night and day ready TO attend to the
slightest difficulty"