Wurtemberg 429 



SUBSCRIBERS' INSTRUMENTS 



These comprise magnetos, Berliner transmitters, and spoon- 

 shaped double-pole receivers. Some are fitted with sand-glasses 

 to enable subscribers to time their trunk conversations. The 

 magnetos are made in the State telegraph workshops at Stutt- 

 gart which are extensive and well appointed and are strong, 

 well-made, and handsome instruments. The generator coils are 

 cut into circuit when required for use, not automatically as in most 

 other countries, but by means of a button contact in the front 

 of the instrument which the subscriber has to press while he 

 rings. Subscribers are responsible for any damage that may 

 happen to their instruments, but are not called upon to insure 

 them against fire. 



OUTSIDE WORK (LOCAL) 



The wire used for local work is galvanised steel, 2-2 mm. in 

 diameter. The reason assigned for adhering, or rather for re- 

 verting, to steel is the bad behaviour of bronze during a 

 severe snowstorm in Stuttgart some winters back, on which 

 occasion it was found that the steel spans stood much better 

 than the bronze. This was not, of course, a unique experi- 

 ence, although the difference in behaviour between the two 

 metals under such circumstances is not generally held suffi- 

 cient to disqualify bronze from an employment for which its 

 other good qualities specially recommend it. But in the clear 

 atmosphere of Stuttgart steel lasts for many years ; so one of the 

 strongest original reasons for introducing bronze the rapid de- 

 cay of iron and steel in the atmosphere of our manufacturing 

 towns does not apply there. The local insulators are small 

 double-shed. There are some twenty aerial cables in Stuttgart, each 

 containing twenty-seven wires. One of these, erected in 1884, 

 manufactured by Felten & Guilleaume, has still every wire working ; 

 another of the same date, by Siemens &: Halske, is still serviceable, 

 although several of its wires are useless. The great feature of the 

 overhead work in Stuttgart is the handsome dome of iron ribs 

 erected at the central post office (fig. 152). It is capable of 



