More About Glass Telegraph Poles

More About Glass Telegraph Poles.

During recent years considerable has been written as regards glass telegraph and telephone poles, but to date nothing of any consequence has been done in the way of manufacturing either commodity on a commercial basis. Consul Agent Gustav C. Cothe, of Cassel, an agency of the Frankfort consulate, states that an architect of that city has been granted patents in Germany and other European countries, and also in the United States, on an invention for the manufacture of glass telegraph and telephone poles. Mr. Cothe writes:

"A stock company has been organized and a factory for the manufacturing of glass poles has been built at Grossalmerode, a town near this city. The glass mass of which the poles are made is strengthened by interlacing and intertwining with strong wire threads. One of the principal advantages of these poles would be their use in tropical countries, where wooden poles are soon destroyed by the ravages of insects and where climatical influences are ruinous to wood. The selling price of the poles has not been fixed yet, but the company is willing to accept 25 marks ($6) for a pole of the length of 7 meters (about 23 feet). The Imperial Post Department, which has control of the telegraph and telephone lines in this country, has ordered the use of glass poles on one of their tracts."