France 



1 6 7 



cured by wrapping a piece of sheet lead round, and soldering i: 

 to, the tube. The air is dried by being forced through tubes con- 

 taining sodium chloride before entering the cable ; if made to 

 pass through similar tubes at the further end, the amount of 

 moisture removed may be ascertained by weighing the salt. It 

 is said that a pint of water was on one occasion poured into a 

 cable and all removed in a few hours. This process, which was 

 invented by M. Aboilard, is so commonly employed in Paris that 

 nozzles have been fitted to the cable-heads at the different switch- 

 rooms, so that air pressure may be applied to any cable at any time. 

 Of course, it is not necessary to disconnect any wires or stop any 

 communications, and therein lies the great utility and beauty of 

 the plan. 



At Lyons, where sewers similar to the Parisian ones exist, 

 the work is mostly underground, and generally on the same plan 

 .as in the capital ; in Bordeaux there is a certain amount of under- 

 ground wiring, but in all other towns the construction is either 

 entirely aerial or nearly so. 



In Versailles, St.-Ouen, St.-Denis, and other suburbs of Paris, 

 the overhead wires are of n mm. bronze, supported on small 

 double -shed insulators which, like most 

 of those used in France, are provided 

 with projections or ears (fig. 47) for 

 the purpose of retaining the wire should 

 it break from its fastenings. An exten- 

 sive use of bracket standards attached 

 to the fronts of the houses is made ; 

 indeed, it would seem that it was at one 

 time thought that such contrivances 

 would prove permanently sufficient, as 

 even the original exchange fixtures at 

 Versailles and St.-Denis were of this 

 type ; but standards attached to gable 

 ends, chimneys, and roofs are now being Fic 47 



erected in Versailles. The attachments 



to fronts of houses are naturally of restricted capacity, thirty to 

 thirty- six insulators being carried at the most, while the wires are 

 subjected to interference from the windows, and the low elevation at 



.A 



B 



,B 



