2 1 4 Telephone Systems of the Continent of Europe 



a square and connected by long arms are sometimes placed at the 

 meeting of two or more routes, the wires being joined through 

 between the different sides of the square by insulated leads going 

 down boxing on one side and up on the other. These structures 

 are necessarily much stronger than simple double or triple 

 standards, but the tubes are unstayed and not braced together 

 except by the arms, so that the sudden destruction of several 

 hundred wires on one side would probably cause a collapse or at 

 least a severe distortion. Trunk lines are frequently carried on 

 short arms attached to one or both tubes of a double standard 

 above the long arms. The standards are sometimes connected 

 to earth as a precaution against lightning. Noise and vibration 

 seem to be experienced in the houses carrying standards, as the 

 wires are frequently provided with dampers in the form of pieces 

 of lead clamped on the wires two or three feet from the support. 

 This may be due to the bolting of the tubes rigidly to the rafters, 

 instead of allowing them to sit in a socket without any rigid 

 fastening as is practised in Great Britain. The appearance of a 

 standard carrying, perhaps, 200 dampers on either side of the 

 insulators is more peculiar than pleasing. In ground pole work 

 the author saw nothing striking in Germany. The poles appear 

 to be uniformly of wood ; frequently, when additional height is 

 wanted, a tube is fastened to the top of a wooden pole, and in 

 some instances double fixtures are treated in the same way, as 

 shown in fig. 75. The top of the pole is grooved out for some 

 two feet, the tube is laid in the groove, and iron clamps placed 

 round both and tightly screwed up with bolts and nuts. Arms 

 are either of the double-bar type (fig. 7 3 A), or simple lengths of 

 angle-iron. Ground poles are not earth-wired. Bronze wire of 

 1*25 mm. to 1*5 mm. gauge, supported on small double-shed white 

 porcelain insulators, is now used for town work. Wires are led 

 into subscribers' premises at the back whenever possible, joint 

 cups being sometimes used. Underground work is being under- 

 taken in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Frankfort-on-Main, and other 

 towns. The conduits are simply iron pipes, into which the cables 

 are drawn, connecting draw-boxes and manholes placed from 100 

 to 150 meters apart. Numerous types of cable have been tried, 

 mostly insulated with india-rubber or gutta-percha served with 



