244 Telephone Systems of the Continent of Europe 



a standard is erected, the leading-in wires may be taken, passing 

 thence into the house through the tube and roof. Some of 

 the standards are double, the tubes then being connected by 

 long arms as in fig. 83. All fixtures are carefully painted, and 

 every roof, besides being strengthened under the standard, is 

 protected by substantial foot-boards. The spans are short, and 

 to reduce as much as possible the chance of contact, no joints 

 are made in the running wire ; when a coil of wire, during 

 construction, chanced to end in the middle of a span the 

 odd piece was sacrificed, and the joint made at the preceding in- 

 sulator as shown in fig. 88. There are no joints, therefore, in the 

 line wires themselves to help them to hang together during a gale. 



All joints throughout the sys- 

 tem are soldered with resin. 

 Standards are used only when 

 it is impossible to manage 

 with poles. Of these last there 

 are a good many, ranging from 

 fifty-eight to seventy-five feet 

 in height. They are of fir, 

 pickled, and in every case well 

 erected and carefully fitted. 

 The climbing steps, as in 

 Amsterdam, are riveted to 



iron strips which are screwed to the poles. Fig. 89 shows the 

 method of attaching the arms, which differs in several respects from 

 the English. At the exchange the wires are first led by twisted pairs 

 to cross-connecting and lightning-guard boards placed in an attic 

 and carefully protected from dust by wooden casing with glass doors, 

 and then, also by twisted pairs, to the switch -room on the ground 

 floor. Here there is a i6o-drop table by Ericsson, of Stockholm, 

 beautifully made and neatly fitted, no detail, however trifling, 

 being overlooked. There is, however, nothing special about the 

 arrangements of the table, which has the usual indicators, call- 

 ing and ring-off, speaking and ringing keys, and weighted 

 cords. Alongside it is fixed a testing galvanometer with keys and 

 battery, so that a suspected line may be tested for earth or dis- 

 connection at once. Adjacent to the switch-room is a public 



