Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-08
Solution Of the Trouble.

backs, most of them of charmingly
technical nature.
| Solution Of the Trouble.
Then it was decided that the true solu-
ton of the problem consisted in laying
good substantial tubes in the street into
which wires or cables could be introduced
at pleasure and from which they could
be as readily removed. Now the cables
| run through terra Gotta ducts-in Bal
! timore and Washington, at leaSt-and the
plan has proved very satisfactory. At
| first a cable containing 100 pairs of wires
was considered whopper-the very big
gest possible-but gradually. the maximum
INCREASED until now a cable containing
coo pairs of wires-i,20O single wires in
all-is in daily use and is only little
bit thicker than the 1O0-pair cable Of
| fifteen or so years ago.
There are any number of variations in
| the distribution system of a modern tele-
phone plant. In the small cities and towns
| the entire line from the central office to
| the subscriber may be of open wire, while
| in the densely populated districts of the
| city, where telephones are everywhere,
| there are direct connections by under
| ground conduit from central to subscriber
And between these two extremes almost
every device possible has been tried.
In the young days of telephone COM
panies. open wire pole lines were the
whole thing, and in some of the down.
town sections the telephone wire overhead
mesh looked like the work of some g.san-
tic spider. But as the number of tele-
phones increased and the impossibility of
stringing more wires on the pole lines was
realized. the principal ones of these were
connected at some point with an under
ground cable. and big pole rings were
used to make connections between tn. the
cables and overhead wires. Then, just
about this time. city telephone system
changed from grounded to metallic Cir
cults doubling the number of wires.
Evolution of the "Outside."
Of course, the humber of telephones con-
| tinued to increase at a great rate and
| terminal poles were placed in certain
| squares, and from these poles wires were
| carried, overhead, to the subscriber. Then
| this method was found to need reconStruc-
| ton on permanent plan and under
| ground conduitS on alternate streets were
| constructed and connected with under
| ground terminals in principal squares.
| Nowadays in Washington direct under
| ground connection is made when any
building is reasonably near a line of I'M
| foreground conduit, and when it is figured
| out that the ultimate requirements of
the building will warrant the expense.
In Washington. Baltimore, New York
and other big cities in business blocks the
system of distribution in greatest use Is
that of underground connection to wall
boxes or block system, as it is called, for
the reason that each block is provided
with a cable distributed to the various
buildings in such a way that it consti-
| tuteS kind of miniature telephone sys-
| tenn in itself. The initial cost of the block
| system is very great, much more indeed
| than the overhead construction. and here,
by the way, is point upon which teie-
| phone people lay great stress in consider
| ing the cost of giving service. The under
| ground system with all Of its advantag es
costs great deal. 1t requires great
| outlay of capital upon which the investor
| must have a return, and this must come
| out of the companys earnings. They con-
! tend that it is only fair to consider this
| feature of their business in comparing
! rates in large cities with small towns
| where none of this expense is involved.
| The block system, however, once there.
is permanent, and so free from the usual
wear and tear of traffic and damage from
! the elements that the Bell companies have
| pretty generally adopted 1t as perhaps
most satisfactory in the long run.
Just Think a Bit! =.
AS telephone user takes down his re-
ceiver to talk with friend in some other
part of the city he doesn't realize how
many delicate engineering problems were
| encountered in finding run for the wires
that seem to come from nowhere. and it
would interest an inquisitive layman to
trace the wanderings alone of these
wires from his telephone to the point
where it disappears in the underground
conduit.
The cooperation of the propertyhold-
ers. too, has had a lot to do with making
practicable the block system construction.
The objections that the telephone engi-
neer used to encounter from property
holder when he asked for a permit toSat-
tach a wire to his building or to erect
pole in an adjacent alley, as if some evil
monster lurked in the maze of wires that
were soon to appear, were discourage
ments that taught lesson in patience,
but now when the telephone people an
nounce that they desire to put their block
system in a given-square the property
holders generally grant the necessary per-
nlits, as 1t means a disappearance of the
poles and entanglements of wires.
This construction, though. is confined
largely to the congested sections of a city
where there must be, in order to make
it effective and economical a solid pha-
lanx of buildings. In the residence sec
ton of a large city; and in the small
towns where the buildings are more or
less scattered. the terminal pole is still
in evidence with the aerial cable, and
just here we strike a problem that made
the pioneers in telephone development
sit up and take notice.
Isn't This Clever Scheme.
To guess the development of certain
block and provide adequate facilities with
out too much margin. which would neces-
sarily go to waste, was difficult ,propo-
sition, but plan was finally hit upon so
that a cable might feed one block and still
be available for many others. The null
tiple system, as it is called, was intro
duced, and to install it cable is run
into a given square and there opened, so
| that the wires it contains can be tapped
by loops to the various buildings in that
block, thence to another block, where
there is a similar performance, and so on
in much the same manner as a water pipe
traverses a certain, locality with taps at
| intervals. But this terminal pole is soon
to disappear from the cities. AS they
build and a square becomes surrounded
| by buildings, all provided with teleb
| phones. it gives way to the underground
| block system. and soon the familiar tele-
phone linemen perched on the top of
| pole in the alley of your residence will
be relegated to the suburban and rural
| sections. and the ground man and cable
| splicer will take his place in the cities.