put up, together with miles of overhead wire. The Growth of these two towns has been such that the telephone system has been far too inadequate to care for the increasing business demand for telephones. The present plans call for an expenditure of between $15,000 and $20,000. The Line is Busy A Brief Outline of a Difficulty That Causes Misunderstanding Not infrequently a telephone user who receives this reply to his request for a number concludes he is entitled to the sole and undivided possession of a griev ance. He is mistaken. He is mistaken also when he assumes that his irritation is properly directed at the telephone operator. The fact is, it is easier for the operator to set up the connection asked for than to make this report. If the line were not "busy" she would not have to try twice, thrice or maybe half a dozen times before executing the order. It is evident, therefore, that the operator has a share in this grievance. The telephone company also has a grievance, because, if this "busy" condition is chronic, the cost of making connections with such a line adds materially to the operating expense. Its grievance, should it frankly express it, would be against the owner of this busy line; so, too, that of the irritated subscriber and the operator. The reason most frequently given for doubting the accuracy of the statement that the line is busy is the very promptness with which the report is made. "She hasn't tried to find out whether the line is busy-she hasn't had time to do it," argues the irritated one. Let us see! Picture a hundred operators seated at a long switchboard. The switchboard is so wired that every subscriber in that exchange is connected with every other subscriber. Within reach of every operator, therefore, is the switchboard end of the lines running to every subscriber's residence or place of business. Thus, any one of 100 girls may send a call to any subscriber. Let us assume that No. 145 is asked for. The operator takes up a brass plug from her desk and touches its tip to a socket or "jack" indicated by that number. If she hears no warning click she inserts the plug and rings. If she hears an admonitory click when she inserts the plug, she knows that some other telephone user, ordering through some one of the other 99 girls at the switchboard, has obtained prior possession of the line. That little "click" tells her the line is busy. The time required to learn the fact is simply the time consumed in lifting the brass plug from the table, at which she sits, to the panel in front of her. That she is not evading her duty may be assumed from the facts that, as already explained, it would be easier to set up the connection asked for than to reply "line busy."-Blue Bell Bulletin. Which Way "Hello, is this you, doctor?” "Yes," answered the doctor. "Well, my mother-in-law is at death's door, and I'd like you to come over at once and pull her through." Overheard in the Terminal Room "I am having a hot old time," says the heat coil as one hundred and ten volts passed through him and warmed him up. A slim little fuse on hearing this, exclaimed, "Well, I'd be blowed if I was in your position." Whereupon the incandescent lamp brightened up and said, "After hearing your remarks I have come to the conclusion that my job is a light one."Cleveland Telephone News. Mrs. Norma Van Duyn, formerly Chief Operator at Pullman, Wash., has resigned her position, as in the near future she will become the wife of Mr. Harvey Richards. Mr. and Mrs. Richards will make their home in Baker City, Ore. Mr. Wm. H. LaPoint of the City Plant Chief's office at Los Angeles, and Miss Dora W. Tidd were quietly married on March 24th. Mr. and Mrs. La Point are at home to their many friends at 1308 West Pico street, Los Angeles. Mr. W. F. Edward and Miss Ella Fagnant, both employees of the Main Office, Seattle, surprised their many friends in that exchange by an announcement of their marriage. They were presented with a handsome set of silver by their fellow employees. Miss Jessie Little of South Office, Los Angeles, formerly Chief Operator at Glendale, Cal., was married on April 7th to Mr. Harley Anson, an official of the Plant Department at Glendale Exchange. Mr. and Mrs. Anson are now at home to their many friends in their new bungalow on Grand Boluevard, Glendale. Ernest Bartholomew, collector at the Portland Exchange, was married March 23rd, 1909, to Miss Nellie Smith of Portland, Ore. Mr. Bartholomew has been in the employ of the Telephone Company for some years and is well and favorably known by all his associates who unite in good wishes for the future welfare of his bride and himself. Mr. and Mrs. Bartholomew will reside at 407 Benton street, Portland, Ore. It is an interesting commentary on human nature that many business men who have been used to the telephone all their lives will forget its possibilities and make long trips to transact business that could be done in a few moments over the telephone. That thousands have become habituated to the long-distance telephone, and have been steadily increasing their use of it, only makes more apparent the fact that others are still taking unnecessary trips for no other reason than that they do not think to handle the matter by telephone. A trip from Chicago to New York and return, allowing for one day's average expense in the city, would cost a business man about ninety dollars at a conservative estimate, and would require at least two days' time. That expense alone would cover the cost of eighteen long-distance telephone conversations at five dollars for three minutes, or for a total of about an hour's conversation at one dollar and a half per minute. In addition to this, the man would have his two days' time, and his plans would be spared the delay and interruption. The proportion is even greater for lesser distances and smaller telephone rates. The time has passed when such a statement is to be considered merely as an advertisement for the long-distance telephone business. Such reckonings now have a place in the economic philosophy of the progressive business man, and differ in no wise from a systematic policy in the use of the mails.-Colliers, April 3, 1909. Private Stock Butter Theodore N. Vail, President of the whole Bell system, is one of the biggest men as to body, as well as to brain, in the financial world. He has an enormous head, with hair that stands high from the crown and then curls riotously. He carries top weight, but goes like an 80-horsepower automobile in a cup race from 7 o'clock in the morning until bedtime. His plaything is a farm in the mountains of Vermont, fifty miles from the Canadian lines. Every morning before daylight it ships a car of private stock butter to Boston-New York Press. ENGINEERING Expansion and Contraction in Aerial The coefficient of expansion of lead is approximately twice as great as that of steel. The lead sheath of an aerial cable will expand over two inches for 100° F. rise in temperature in a 120 foot span, while the supporting steel strand will expand less than one inch for the same temperature rise, disregarding in both instances the tension in the line. If, as in actual working conditions, the supporting strand is under tension and is stretched very tight, the expansion and contraction of the strand may not materially change its length, being ababsorbed by its elasticity. The coefficient of expansion of the copper wire in the cable, while being less than lead and greater than steel, may be practically disregarded, as the expansion or contraction is more or less taken up by the insulation and twist of the wires. Where aerial lead covered cables have been attached to their messenger strand without providing for sufficient freedom of motion to enable them to take up their expansion and contraction relative to the strand, trouble has often occurred, due generally to crystalline fractures in the cable sheath, thus allowing moisture to enter the cable. These fractures have been accompanied by a lumpy appearance of the sheath and by a tendency of the cable as a whole to assume a wavy form, sometimes in places rising above the supporting strand. Where small amounts of slack have been left in aerial cables at poles, known as pole dips, and the cables elsewhere in the span have not been suspended at a sufficient distance below the strand, the factures have generally appeared in the center of the pole dips on the upper side of the cable sheath and are due to the longitudinal motion of the cable resulting from its expansion and contraction with changes in temperatures. That considerable expansion occurs has been clearly proved by cable sheaths showing bright abrasions where they have moved through metal cable clips when the latter were rusted to the strand. In some cases hangers have been torn off. It has been found by actual observations that cables have moved back and forth at cable dips from three-eighths to three-fourths of an inch per day. In certain instances where the sheath happened to touch the strand, the sheath has been scored by portions of the strand. In some cases splices have been drawn out, as has been indicated by their collapsed appearance; in others, splices have buckled on account of the ends of the cable being pushed together. With the standard marline hangers, which provide a flexible connection between the strand and the cable, if the proper length hangers are used with the proper size cable, the cable is free to accommodate itself to expansion and contraction all along its length by slight undulations between the hangers without having the entire energy expended upon pole dips or other weak points where successive hangers have broken or become unhooked. Therefore, in order to prevent undue trouble due to expansion and contraction, aerial cables should be properly strung and properly maintained. This means first, that the messenger must not be stretched too tightly but must have the required amount of sag when loaded with the cable; second, the pole dips in cable. be positively avoided; third, that marline hangers of the proper length be used and the cable in no instance securely bound to a messenger; fourth, that when hangers become broken or unhooked, they be replaced without undue delay, distributing the slack which may have been brought into this unsupported section, all along the cable. |