The telegraph manual: a complete history and description of the semaphoric, electric and magnetic telegraphs of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, ancient and modern.

SUSPENSION OF THE TELEGRAPH WIRE. 677
hands! Another office had a large golden eagle, with outstretched wings, ready to soar off to some poetic region, the
most distant from economy.
SUSPENSION OF THE TELEGRAPH WIRE.
The telegraph wire is prepared at the manufactories in any
required lengths. For some lines, it is prepared in half mile
and mile hanks. The greater number of lines have had it
wound on prepared reels. These reels have a drum about
eight inches in diameter, with x ends, made of oak scantlings,
four inches in diameter, as represented in fig. 11. The reels
are about three feet long, and upon them is Fig. 11.
wound from three to eight miles, the average
about five miles. Each joint is well soldered,
and a whole strand of the quantity on the reel
is continuous. Fig. 12 represents one of these
reels, mounted on a wagon. The reels are distributed along the line at proper distances.
Often they have laid upon the ground along the open highways,
and in the forests, for many days, without any covering. To
prevent the wire from Fig. 12.
oxidation, it was my practice to have the wire well
covered with linseed oil,
at the manufactory, and
again before distributing
the reels on the route,
cover the outer layers of
the wire with the same
kind of oil. When this
precaution was taken, the
wire was always found free from rust; and, besides, it preserved it from decay when stretched. This was the case with
wire not galvanized. In later years, many of the lines have
been putting up galvanized wire. The " wire-squad " requires
a wagon, drawn by two horses. On the wagon is mounted a
frame work for the suspension of the reel, as seen in fig. 12.
An iron rod, one and a half inches in diameter, runs through
the centre of the reel, which serves as an axle. Through the
hole in the cross, fig. 11, is run the axle. This axle rests and
turns in metallic boxes fitted in the upright beams of the framework in the wagon, as seen in fig. 12. The arrangement is the
same as the old-fashioned windlass. The whole mechanism
for the suspension of the reel is rude, plain, and cheap, costing