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

710 REPAIRING OF TELEGRAPH LINES.
climbing, but those represented above are the most approved.
When thus prepared with the climbers, he places a belt of
leather around his body and the pole loosely; the wire is placed
over his shoulder, and he then ascends the pole, step by step,
until he attains the height desifed. By adjusting the weight
in a proper angle on the spurs and the belt, there will be no
danger of falling, and the work can be performed without difficulty. Fig. 9 represents the repairer mounted twenty feet
or more up the pole or tree, arranging the bracket. The wire
lies over his shoulder. Sometimes the wire is laid on the belt
between the body and the pole.
Fig. 9.
Having completed the necessary repair of the line, he returns
to his office, and assumes a more pleasing duty-the transmission of the accumulated business.
THE INTERRUPTION OF THE LINE BY THE FALLING OF TREES.
Many lines in America are constructed along the ordinary
highways through the interior, and often the wires traverse the
grain fields and forests, regardless of roads of any kind. Trees
frequently fall over the line, and in their fall the wire is
brought to the earth, as seen in fig. 10.
In case the repairer finds a tree upon the line, as is frequently
the case, there are two modes of making the repair, either by
cutting the tree at the wire, and allowing it to rise, or to cut the