NEW TELEPHONE SYSTEM FOR MOVING TRAINS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7567, 20 February 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

NEW TELEPHONE SYSTEM FOR MOVING TRAINS.

For some time past there has been 111 course of construction on the narrow-gauge line between Paw Paw and Lawton, Michigan, a telephone line, by means of which a moving train can be put in communication with stations in either direction or with other moving trains. The line is now completed, and the trials made are reported to be satisfactory. The poles holding the wire are all placed near the track, and at an equal distance from it. On each pole, at a height of twelve feet above the rail, an arm extends towards the track ; on the upper side of this arm stand the small iron clamps that hold the wire. A gaspipe standard is erected upon the cab of the engine reaching up to a point level \gith the wire. From this standard there extend two stationary arms, one reaching forward, and one backward. A cap made to turn either to the right or left fits upon the top of this standard. To this cap is attached by a hinge joint the long iron arm which rests upon the wire. This arm reaches beyond the standard, and the excess of weight on one side is balanced by a spring upon the other, so that but a lew ounces of weight rest upon the wire. From the short arms before described, two springs of equal strength extend to the long arm, holding it at right angles to the track. An insulated wire is soldered to the long arm and brought down through the hollow standard into the cab. , From there it runs into a car, and is attached to an ordinary Bell telephone, the engine or the trucks of the car being used as earth. It' was feared that these might not prove a , good earth connection, but the experiments made give good results. One other question had to be tested by trial, namely, whether the contact of a rod moving swiftly along the wire would be steady enough to transmit an even current. The working of the apparatus described is said to have prvoed so satisfactory as to surprise the most sanguine. Conversation in the cars, while running at a rapid rate, was held with the stations on either side with no more difficulty than between two ordinary telephone stations