722 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



ture, Catalogue of Exhibit of Economic Entomology at the World's Industrial and 

 Cotton Centennial Exposition, New Orleans, 1884-5; Government Printing Of- 

 fice, 1884. Bulletins of the California Academy of Sciences, Nos. 2 and 3, Jan- 

 uary and February, 1885. 



SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY. 



RECENTLY PATENTED IMPROVEMENTS. 



J. C. HIGDON, M. E., KANSAS CITY, MO. 



System of Aerial Conduits for Electrical Wires. — Mr. D. B. Mac- 

 quarrie, manager of the Missouri and Kansas Telephone Company of this city, 

 is the projector of this improvement, his object being to provide for the construc- 

 tion and maintenance of such a system as will overcome the defects of both un- 

 derground conduits and the present unsightly pole system — one which shall com- 

 bine all of the efficiency and simplicity possessed by the one with the desirable 

 compactness of the other. 



The invention consists principally in supporting upon posts, or columns de- 

 signed expressly for the purpose, a continuous chamber in which the wires are 

 confined, substantially as hereafter more fully explained. 



In construction a line of supporting posts is provided with suitable flanges 

 at their bases and secured to a foundation of masonry. These posts may be of 

 any suitable material and they may be tamped in the ground as ordinary posts 

 are, but preferably, they are formed of cast-iron with a flange at each end. 



The flange at the upper end projects sufficiently at either side of the conduit 

 to form a support for the cover-sections when removed from their normal posi- 

 tion. This arrangement obviates the necessity of lowering the cover to the 

 ground when the wires are to be repaired. 



In constructing the said conduit, sheet-metal is given the preference as to 

 material. The chamber or conduit is rectangular in cross section and is com- 

 posed of a pair of side-sheets to the lower edge of which a flanged bottom-sheet 

 is securely riveted. Bracing-plates, perforated for the passage of the wires, are 

 placed immediately over each supporting-post, they are used mainly to impart 

 rigidity to the sides of the conduit and being provided with flanges they are se- 

 curely riveted thereto. 



The said plates being perforated, they are, of course, utilized as wire-sup- 

 ports, but as they are limited in number, intermediate devices for supporting the 

 wires may be employed. Any of the improved devices now in use for the pur- 

 pose can be used here. 



The wires within the conduir are protected by removable weather-proof cov- 

 er-sections having pendant side-flanges and tongued and grooved end-portions. 



