Popular Fallacies Corrected, Brooks insulators mentioned

Popular Fallacies Corrected.

KANSAS CITY, Jan. 27.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TELEGRAPHER.

I WISH to call attention to some popular fallacies in the construction of lines. It has always been the custom of line builders to set the poles at a regular distance apart, regardless of the surface of the country, and it often happens that a pole is set in a hollow, and the wire actually has to be pulled down to the insulator, which, of course, puts more strain on the wire than if the wire was raised up to the insulator, as would be the case in a level country. Now, I think it would be a good plan in such a case to leave the pole out entirely, and let the wire swing the length of two spans, or, still better, to set the two poles nearer together. It may be argued that in case of several wires on the same poles there would be a chance for crosses, but this could be avoided by straining up the top wires, so as to have more space between them at the middle of the span, and separating them laterally by longer cross-arms. It is well known that the less the number of poles the less will be the escape, and also less cost of construction.

I once saw a line builder make a serious blunder in putting up a loop. He was using Brooks insulators on the "break" cross-arm, and had been informed that they would bear any strain that No. 8 wire would sustain. The loop did not make a square turn from the main line but turned off at an angle of about forty degrees. He had scarcely finished tying the loop wires to the office pole when the shank of the insulator at the "break" cross-arm broke. He was very much surprised. He could not see that the insulator had almost double the strain that a No. 8 wire is usually subjected to. The loop wires were of No. 8 wire and a short span to the office pole. The consequences were that the wire had to be slackened in order to reduce the strain, but it has given away several times since.

I must make some complaint against the Brooks Insulator - that is, with regard to the method of fastening the wire at the insulator. I hear of frequent instances of the wire breaking at the fastening, the reason for which is that the fastening is too rigid or stiff. All suspended wires are in some degree of motion or vibration, and this motion causes a constant and very sharp bending at the point of fastening, which, together with the strain, will finally part the wire. I think this could be remedied by using a tie wire, and, still better, by using a swing tie wire where it is a single wire line. A "tie" is not so rigid as the shank fastening. I would suggest the use of a straight shank with a hole in the end for the tie wire instead of the hook shank.

I once examined a number of joints from galvanized wire. I untwisted them as carefully as possible and found them all very rusty, only a small number had even a few bright spots at points of contact. These were joints that were made at the factory and galvanized. It is a very popular idea that galvanized wire does not require soldering at joints, but from this I suppose it would be a safe plan to solder just the same as iron wire.

R. J. H.