296 Telephone Systems of the Continent of Europe 



HOURS OF SERVICE 



Christiania and the other chief exchanges in Norway, together 

 with many of the smaller ones, are kept open permanently ; in the 

 others the hours of service vary from 6, 7, or 8 A.M. till 8, 9, or 10 

 P.M. on week days, with, sometimes, shorter hours on Sundays. 



' SUBSCRIBERS' INSTRUMENTS 



These comprise magneto ringers. Usually the transmitter and 

 receiver are attached to the same handle, in * micro-telephone ' 

 form, so that when the receiver is held to the ear the transmitter 

 is before the mouth. The magneto, bells, and switches are 

 mounted on a cast-iron frame and protected by a sheet-iron casing 

 which forms a writing-desk, and is so elaborately enamelled in 

 imitation of ornamental and inlaid woods as to defy detection 

 by the eye. The instruments, which are handsome in appearance 

 and of good workmanship, are made by the Norske Elektrisk 

 Bureau, Christiania. Their general appearance is shown in fig. 

 98. The transmitter is usually the Oyan modification of the 

 Runnings. When transmitters are mounted separately, double- 

 pole receivers of the Bell type are employed. Subscribers in 

 Christiania may, on demand, have Ericsson's Swedish instruments 

 fitted ; but as these are dearer than the Norwegian, an extra payment 

 down of 135. \d. for a wall-, and i/. js. lod. for a table-set has to 

 be made. 



OUTSIDE WORK (LOCAL) 



The wire employed in the towns is usually 1-25 mm. phosphor 

 bronze, carried on small double-shed white porcelain insulators 

 in which the bolts are fixed with tow. Soldered joints are still 

 exceptional in the local wires the danger of softening the bronze 

 by the application of heat, and the undesirability of using fire on 

 housetops, being the reasons assigned. The unsoldered joints are 

 generally made on the Macintyre plan by poking the two ends in 

 opposite directions through about two inches of double soft copper 

 tubing. The free end of each wire is then lapped round its 

 companion, and several turns given by means of pliers to the 



