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

REPAIRING A BREAK ON THE LINE WIRE. 707
coated with the solder, the bright metallic contact of the wire
remains perfect forever, and the voltaic current can pass without any hinderance on account of a deficiency of metallic substance, either as to extent of surface or metal.
The joint represented in fig. 4 is common upon many lines.
It has much merit, and it is much easier made. The two
wires are placed side by side, and then the two clamps are
made fast to them, tightened by the screws seen in the figure.
Fig. 4.
The handles are then turned in opposite directions, until the
twist is complete, as seen in the figure. The ends are then
cut off with a file, the solder applied, and the joint is complete.
By this arrangement, one man can make a joint with considerable facility; but to make the joint as fig. 3, two men are necessary to accomplish the same speed attained by the one using
the clamps, as represented in fig. 4.
I have been particular in describing the mode of making
joints, because it is the most important part in the construction and the repairing of a telegraph line.
REPAIRING A BREAK OF THE LINE WIRE.
At the principal stations, men are under employment expressly
to repair the lines. At the local or interior stations, the operators perform that service. The stations are at various distances apart, extending to fifty and sixty miles distant from
each other. Suppose the stations be fifty miles apart, the
operator will have twenty-five miles of line on each side of
his station, or fifty miles of line, to keep in repair. When the
line is found to be down on any given section, the operator immediately prepares his implements, and proceeds on horse to
mend the line. He carries around his shoulders a bundle of