The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-08-05
The Novel Method by which
Telephone Wires Will be
Placed Underground.
WORK PROGRESSING WELL
SUPT. SWANNER OF THE CON-
STRUCTION FORCE LAYS THE
FIRST DUCT HiMSELF-PLAN
OF SYSTEM.

Human ingenuity may plan and
construct the elaborate conduit sys-
tenn which is now being placed under
ground in Richmond. by the Home
/ Telephone Company, but after all,
the execution of the gigantic task
lower order of animals to complete
together new and novel to Richmond
To get to the point quickly, the
Home Telephone Company will use
ferrets to string the cables through
the underground ducts and the man
ner in which this will be done is al
wOrkmen will have to depend upon
Work Well Under Way.
Thomas SWanner assistant super
lntendent of construction of the Home
Telephone Company, now has a fair
ly good start on the work of laying
the cOnduits and he himself, laid the
first duct of the "cluster" of twelve
which will form the trunk line from
the river west to 14th street
This was done last Wednesday.
Work started midway of the first al
ley north of Main streets between
9th and 9TH streets. The trench av-
erages 50 inches in depth. The
ducts are three inches in diameter
and are made of fibre, composed chief
ly of paper They are practically in
destructible and have the advantage
of lightness and a smooth interior sur
face which permits the cables to be
drawn through without injury.
Twelve of these ducts are placed in
the trench, laid in groups of four, one
on top of the other and the whole set
in concrete. The sections of the ducts
are seven feet in length and connec-
tions are made by slipping one end
of section over another. Man
holes are constructed midway of each
block and are six feet in depth, Az
feet in width and six feet in length,
thus giving plenty of room for the
wOrkmen. The cables that will pass
through the ducts will carry from 100
to 400 wires. Branch ducts will be
laid in intersecting alleys.
Placing of Poles.
At regular intervals along the route
poles will be placed, and cables will
be run from the conduit to the tops
of these poles, the wires then branch
ing out in various directions leading
to the locations of phones. Several
processes are used in stringing these
ducts but according to Supt Swan
ner, the ferret method is the best and
the quickest. The little animals
which have for their chief character
iStic, Willingness to invade small
apertureS, and which are able, be-
cause of their extreme thinness and
sickness to traverse very small pas
Sages can be used to good advantage
in this particular sort of work. They
will not be required to pull heavy
cables after them, for this would he
nor will they be required
to even pull a rope through the
ducts. The method of using the fer
ret is novel He will be hitched to
small reel" mounted on wheels, the
whole contrivance of a size which
easily will pass through one of the
three-inch ducts. On the reel will be
wound strong string.
Ferret will Scamper.
Inc ferret Will be introduced into
one end of a duct, and without urg-
ing, he will break toward the feint
spot of light block distant, rafting
the reel along after him, which will
unwind the string, the end of which
is held fast by a workman. Reach
ing the opposite end of the duct, the
ferret will be captured and the string
pulled through. carrying with it
rope, and the rope will then be used
to draw through the cable. Each
duct of the twelve composing the con-
duit will be threaded in this manner
block by block.
superintendent Swanner figures it
out that with no bad luck the work of
laying the conduits will be completed
before mid-winter.