Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1915-02-03

has taken an army of thoughtful, con
scientious, patient men, keen OF brain and
skilled of hand, striving day and night
for the one great end-the perfection oil
a system and the conquering OF time and
space. In Office, laboratory and shop,
under the earth, high up in the air, they
have thought and experimental and
toiled, always aiming toward this idea OF
universal service.
There has been no isolated problem,
literally well as figuratively the devel-
opment and perfection of the system has
been ''all along the line" The fight, this
new Winning of the West" has not been
a duel, to be won by n single inventor
struggling for the solution OF some one
big problem, but a battle, campaign.
in which thousands have helped to over
come a thousand bindrances and imper-
fections and difficulties.
When the telephone left the hands of
Bell and Watson, it was IAN essentially
perfected instrument in the eyes of the
law, that is, it did what was claimed for
tit talked-but that was all. The
diaphragm was simply an animal mem
brane tied around a piece of wood and
in touch with a magnet From this
acorn the oak of the Bell System, nation
wide, has grown. From this small begin.
ming, the Transcontinental Line has been
evolved, and it has been an erolution. In
the words of President Theo. n. Vail. il
is "the cumulative effect of improvements
great and small, in telephone transmit.
ter. line. cable, switchboard, and every
other piece of apparatus OF plant re.
quired in the transmission of speech"
In all the 3,400 miles of the line there Is
no one spot where man may point his
finger and say, "Here is the secret Of the
Transcontinental Line; here is what
makes it possible to telephone from New
York to San Francisco" Rather, it IA
the perfection at every point that has
brought this about. It is the develop.
ment OF the transmitter at New York
that makes the receiver at San Francisco
do its work so well; it is the improve.
ments in the receiver at San Francisco
that causes the transmitter at New
York TO perform its functions so admir-.
ably; it is the perfecting Of every inch
OF line and every bit of mechanism be.
tween them that enables the instrument
ut New York TO talk and that at San
Francisco TO hear.
The Magnitude OF the Task
In spite. however Of the met that. com.
pared with the electrical problems. tho
mere engineering task Of constructing the
line may appear simple to the scientist.
no one can run his finger over the route
Of the new line on the map without be.
ing impressed with the magnitude OF the
undertaking. The data and figures are
tremendous The line crosses thirteen
States, IL is carried on 10000 poles.
Four hnrd-drawn copper wires. .lG5 inch
i'm diameter. run side by side over the
entire distance. establishing two phvsicaI
and one phantom circuit One mile Of
single wire weighs 43j pounds, the
weight Of the wires i'm tie entire line
being 5Q2OOOO pounds or 1880 tons
This, OF course. IL the transmission wires
alone. Tn addition TO these. each physical
circuit uses some 1900 miles Of fine
hairlike insulated wire. 4-1.OOO of an
inch i'm diameter for its loading coils.
Simply 10 string this immense amount
of wire across the continent TO set the
poles and insure insulation. TO conquer
the innumcrable difficulties offered b.,
land and water. forests, mountains. dcs
crts. rivers and lakes. was in itself n task
of no mean magnitude. The Panama
Canal is hailed ne one q the greatest
achievements Of the worlds workers ~ ~
is but the almost invisible lines Of the
Bell System, considered simply as to IN
Dor and cost, constitute a monumental
achievement.
The Canal was begun nine years az
and has cost s31OOOO,O0O; within Tho
same space Of time the Bell Company has
spent twice that amount IN ITS engineer
ing construction work alone
Two Leaders I'm the Work
The building of the TranscontincnfaI
Line depended on the solution OF no one
isolated problem nor will the glory of il
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