WORKING THE WIRE IN WAR TIME.

Otago Witness, Issue 2436, 21 November 1900, Page 67

WORKING THE WIRE IN WAR TIME.

TO KEEP IN TOUGH WITH MOVING - TROOPS.

Particularly in a war full of surprises, such, as that against the Boers, is it necessary that detachments of troops in the field shall be well in touch with each other and with their bases. Such communication is effected in various ways — by messages sent by hand, by -flag signals*, sometimes by heliograph by day and electric light by night, and also by telegraph and telephone. Here we show the method of laying an electric " cable j' line across the enemy's country, mentioning that, as in such matters there is a deal of technical detail only clear to the electrical engineer, the little pictures of apparatus used are simply intneded to give the reader an idea generally of the working: The cable is of steel wire within vulcanised indiarubber covered with hemp. It is carried wound on a wooden drum placed, as here shown, into a special cart. At the rear of this cart is seated a man who pays out the cable, pulling it off the drum when it does not run fast enough, or retarding the drum with his hand when it should go

sloAver. He wears thick gloves and a leather apron. The cart, you -will understand, is keeping pace with the advancing troops ; and if the pace is rapid, mounted men instead of foot place the cable in position on the ground as it is paid out, being, if on horseback; provided with, crooked sticks for the purpose. You see the cable must rest everywhere on the ground, as if it bridged over hollows, the feet of passing men or horses would catch in and break or damage it. Towards the cart front you will notice a lever. Well, when the engagement is over and the line is no longer useful, it is taken up again. The lever is pulled, and this brings into action several wheels and clutches, by means of which the turning of the wheels of the cart is made to revolve

the drum, and so the cable is carefully "wound up. When the line is laid it is patrolled all along after dark by men -whose special duty

it is to see that troops, etc., following do not accidentally break it. In the second little picture you see the soldier awaiting the approach of the man on the next section of line, uncertain for the moment if he be friend or foe. The linesman, who is one of the regular telegraph men of the Royal Engineers, carries with him a hundred yards of spare cable for repairs if needed. On night patrol work the man never leaves his section of the line, but goes backwards and forwards up and down it, passing the cable through his hands. When the cable has to cross a place where there is traffic, it must be buried in the earth or carried over on poles, just like an ordinary " air line," To effect the former a little trench is dug, as shown in the drawing, the cable c is laid carefully at the bottom, soft earth, b, nearly fills up the cutting, which is finished off with a covering of turf, a, well stamped down. Now supposing our soldiers are on a night march to attack the enemy. Here a telegraph line back to camp is an enormous safeguard against disaster ; but, when the men are marching in soft slippers so as to make no sound, or maybe, as happened

recently in South Africa, merely in their stockings, obviously we cannot take the noisy, rattling carji with us. The cable drums are therefore carried as you see above in the , little picture, supported on a sort of stretcher, borne along by four men, the electrical apparatus being contained in boxes placed on the sides of the framework.. For such work the men often have telephones fastened to them, and thus at any moment their "base" can "speak" to them. Similar provision is used for directing from a distance the fire of artillery, a man posted some way off, in a position favourable for viewing the target, sending to the gunners details as to the result of each shot fired. In a score of different forms, in fact, do armies employ telegraphs and telephones ; but it is not always that there is time to construct an ordinary " air line " on poles, nor indeed is there always necessity for- such a permanent installation. In such' cases the system we have i^'ustrated is resorted to. Our last illustration reveals how the military cyclist is made use of when a length

of light line has to be rapidly put down. ■A neat drum on which the wire is wound is attached by a simple framework to the rear of the C}"cle, and as the man rides off, the line naturally pays itself out. Other men with other drums of wire will ride with the man you see in the picture, who will, in turn, join on and reel out the lengths of line they carry.