Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1906-08-01

and so skilful does the expert become
that he can determine with practically
absolute accuracy the percentage CT
efficiency of the line or piece of ap
paratus he is examining.
This laboratory and another enc
nearby, which is devoted to mechanical
tests, are important adjuncts of the
, engineering department of the system.
/ The profession of the telephone en-
gineer has existed but thirty years
and has seen more progressive changes
I than have taken place in any other
profession in the same length of time.
The number of men whom experience
has qualified as exeprts in the highest
sense is probably smaller today in this
than in any other profession. So at
its headquarters here the Bell system
maintains for the benefit of all its 50
organizations, big and little, an ca
cheering force of so men to whom arc
referred the puzzling difficulties which
, require for their solution a greater
expenditure of time and money, ana
wider resources, than any lesser e.
ganization could afford. These are
the men who have made the telephone
, of the future still more wonderful.
Each subsidiary company has its
4 own engineering force which handles
all ordinary matters ION the spot
But things come up in the days work
everywhere which can best be dealt
with by the trained investigator who
has specialized for years, and these
matters are referred to the skyscraper
laboratory It may be some difficulty
/ in transmission for which no cause
/ can be found. 1t may be a demand
for new kind of telephone service,
requiring a modification of the ordi-
nary instrument. 1t may ne the lay
ing out of an intricate underground
! system, or planning a group of central
offices in some distant city to provide
for the growth of years to come, for
in making their plans today the en-
| gineers look 20 years ahead. Perhaps
it is a new scheme of operation which
promises to Top off a second or two
from the tine it takes to get sub
scribers into communication.
One specialist studies methods OF
timber preseryation-a matter of great
importance. since the demand for poles
by the various industries using electri-
cal current is devouring trees Of the
proper size at least five times as fast
as nature can replace them. Another
devotes himself to underground con-
Quits, weighing by laboratory tests and
by actual use the merits of different
sorts of materials for different sur
roundings, considering such questions
as where creosoted wood is best, where
tiles are preferable, whether man
hole in a given kind of soil should be
concreted or bricked, what kind of
construction is best for city and what
for country, what difference should be
made where the frost comes early
and sinks deep and where frost is ua
known. A third is making his life
! work the study of insulation-most
LdllI vi All " gnu u
which means good service, since if per-
| feet insulation could be devised {. ire
mendous loss of current would be
saved. Still others are seeking means
Of overcoming the loss in TRANSMITS
sion now inevitable by finding ways OF
building up the current or maintaining
its strength in spite of all obstacles
An important work is done, too, IN
keeping every item added to the tele-I
phone ''up to the standard" Gable.
wire instruments, switchboardS,
everything, in fact, that goes into the
system, must pass muster before i'll
can be delivered to the construction orI
equipment men, The manufacturers
make their own tests and are expected
to deliver their production in perfect
condition, of course, but it is all re-
examined by the telephone company'sI
inspectors.
Each of the 600, 1000 Bell telephones
distributed last year was tested out
twice-once by the maker and once bvI
the engineers-before it was sent
along to take its place in a busy
metropolis or on far distant, isolated
farm Every inch of wire in the Bell
system-and there are 100000 miles
of it already in use, overhead and
underground, passes under the hand
of an expert who feels" it for hicks
and flaws that might weaken its ten
siIe strength, and samples from every
lot made are tested for both strength
and conductivity. AS much as 4,000I
miles of wire are tested in single |
day. the work involving six distinct
operations in the handling of each of
$50 sample coils.
Shakespeare or SHAKESPEARE.