The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1907-07-27
REPAIR Of TELEPHONE
SYSTEMS TAKES MONEY
Electrician Discusses Number Of
Little Troubles Daily: Con-
fronting Him.
Trials Of the Trouble Men are
Many-There is No End to
the Tedious Work.

Discussing the trials Of trouble
men for one Of the local telephone
companies this week. one OF our read
ers, a member Of the local Electrical
Workers union, diverts from the labo,
phase Of his work long enough to tell
something about the cost Of making
repairs in large telephone systems.
Our correspondent has worked on
some of the largest systems in the
United States, and this is what he
says: 81:
Figures show that the minor
troubles of the telephone service and
the measures taken to keep the plant
In perfect working condition, day In
and day out cost tn -t>,mpanies mil
lions Of dollars every y.ar. This does
not count the havoc wrought among
the wires by storms and fioods-the
calamities Of the business, as they
may be called-but includes only the
diurnal round of things gone wrong,
which are sometimes simple enough
when they are found. but are often
very difficult to locate and always
even more disconcerting and annoying,
and much more expensive, to the tele-
phone men than to their subscribers.
After all, it Is surprising, when you
come to think Of it. how little inter-
ruption Of the telephone service there
Is. The records of exchanges in the
big cities show that or. the average no
one subscribers service is interrupt,
ed, even for a second, oftener than
n A
switchboard, such as Is used in the
larger central Offices. contains 1000
miles Of wire and 100000 soldered
connections, with hundred of thous-
ands of small parts, including $4,000
incandescent electric lamp signals no
bigger around than an old fashioned
slate pencil, with filaments finer than
human hair. The auxiliary appa-
ratus through which the outside cir
cults are distributed and brought to
the switchboard contains other thous-
ands Of miles Of wire and other hun
dreds of thousands Of parts. For in
stance, the relay" by which the cur
rent Is introduced into each subscrib-
er's line-each line having its. own
special relay-contains a mile and d
| half Of wire as fine as ordinary sewing
! cotton-so fine that it takes four miles
| of 1t to weigh pound; and besides
the subscrlbers' relays there are sew
| eral hundred others for trunk lines.
| office circuits, operators positions, and
so on.
In this maze Of delicate,y adjusted
mechanism occur nearly half of all the
telephone mans troubles. Fortunately
for him, the central office plant Is ar
ranged with such skillful method that
every part of 1t can be reached easily
II anything goes wrong, and many
cases Of trouble in the exchange
equipment are remedied without the
subscriber knowing that they have oc-
Cured. But to keep the system, in
side and out, in the perfect working
order which minimizes troubles" and
assures efficient service is a tremen-
dous expense, the companies setting
aside third Of their gross income
every year for maintenance and re-
| pairs.
considerable malicious damage Is
done by thieves, who strip cables,
| leaving the wires expos. to rain and
oAce1' LUZ eAe sake VI the 1edO OF
which the covering is made Squir-
rels are almost as bad as two legged
thieves. gnawing the protecting metal
| away and sometimes tampering with
! the insulation Of the wires within.
| The brushing of overhanging tree
limbs against the wires, particularly in
wet weather. when the trees are
heavy and, being damp, are good cleo
| trical conductors, is the commonest,
perhaps, of all the causes Of overhead
troubles, and is so detrimental to good
transmission that in some localities
the companies resort to private rights
! OF way broad enough to allow the
cutting away on both sides Of every
thing that can possibly interfere with
the circuits.
| Troubles in the underground sys-
tenn are particularly annoying, because
the number Of wires in underground
cables Is much larger than in over
head cables, and therefore the number
Of circuits affected is correspondingly
greater. An injury to an underground
cable which eventually causes trouble
| may exist a month or two before it
makes it's presence known. Then, If
only a part Of the wires are "out," the
damage can be located by testing from
the exchange on those that are I'M
injured; but II an entire section of