Wagner Glass Works using barb-wire telephone

BARB WIRE TELEPHONE LINE.

Two Indiana Towns Fifteen Miles Apart Successfully Connected.

An Anderson, Ind. Correspondent writes: One of the most novel telephone systems in the world is the “barbwire” line, which connects the towns of Anderson, Pendleton and Ingalls. It is fifteen miles in length. Its inventor, builder and sole owner, Cassius Alley of Pendleton, Ind., now has six subscribers at $50 a year each. The time is not far distant when there will be ten-fold this number. One clothing company at Anderson with branch stores at Pendleton, and the Wagner Glass Works, with offices at Anderson and factory at Ingalls, are using this barb-wire system in their business affairs exclusively. They use the line frequently. They can convert it into a private line by plugs so arranged that when one party is using the line he can cut out all others except in Mr. Alley’s residence, which is used as a central station. It is no exaggeration to say that this barb-wire telephone system is quite as satisfactory as the copper circuit of the Bell Ordinary phones are used with no special strength of battery and there is little trouble with the lines. In constructing the line Mr. Alley used the top strand of the barb-wire fence of the Big Four railway, making the connections with the offices of his subscribers with ordinary telephone wire. In some instances where the posts had rotted it was necessary to paint the wire and posts with rubber paint to insulate the wire. The whole line of fifteen miles was built at a cost of about $100, and the outfit for each house, consisting of receiver, transmitter, battery, call, etc., costs not over $10. The line has been in operation since December 22, and has not been out of order except for a few hours when a fast train on the railway track struck a cow, threw her body against the fence and broke the wire.