Belgium 



There are no specialities in cross-connecting, but the lightning- 

 guard boards at Bruges, Tournay, and elsewhere are on a plan 

 designed by Mr. H. Frenay, Engineer to the Belgian Telephone 

 Administration. They comprise a long earth strip separated from 

 plates, to which the line wires are connected, either by paraffined 

 paper or an air space. Beneath the earth strip every line passes 

 through a testing jack the upper spring of which is elongated 

 forward and curved upwards. Above the row of jacks and nor- 

 mally clear of them, extends 

 .a long metal cylinder turn- 

 ing on an eccentric axis, 

 which is in permanent con- 

 nection with the earth. One 

 turn of a crank suffices to 

 bring the cylinder against 

 the elongated springs, so 

 putting every line to earth 

 instantaneously. Sometimes 

 the crank is placed in a 

 switch-room on the ground 

 floor and connected with 

 the cylinder in an attic by 

 means of a long spindle, 

 an arrangement which en- 

 ables an operator, on the 

 -approach of a storm, to 

 ground all the wires with- 

 out outside assistance. The erection of a magnificent new tele- 

 phone building is proceeding at Brussels, and Mr. Frenay is at 

 present occupied in settling the details of the new switch-room 

 .and other arrangements. Whatever plans may be decided upon, 

 it may safely be left to the Belgian technicians to provide their 

 Administration with an installation that will rank second to none. 

 The connections at Brussels average eight per subscriber per day ; 

 Antwerp is understood to be busier, but records of the ordinary 

 calls are not kept. 



In Brussels, Antwerp, and Verviers, subscribers are asked for 

 by their list numbers only ; in Ghent, Liege, and elsewhere, by 



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FIG 



