Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/370

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��Popular Science Monthly

��Three Slender Wires Form a Bridge

THREE wires make a bridge in Maine. It is probably the cheap- est one ever made, if the good old sub- terfuge of a log thrown across a stream is excepted, but it is as serviceable as concrete for spamiing the fifty-foot creek over which it does duty. The bridge was built by a Portland electric light com])any for the use of the patrol maintained over its high-tension power

��seconds, grasping tw^o wires with his hands and sliding one foot ahead of the other on the bottom cable. After his first attempt the patrol reported that he would not use the bridge, because he was no tango dancer. The wires sway back and forth and impart a rythmic motion, terrifying at first. But after a few times the patrol liked the sensation. Now he invites others to tango across with him.

���Cross this fragile bridge and you will be so engrossed with the problem of maintaining your balance that you cannot admire the scenery

��lines, which run across country. Twice a day it is used by this one foot pas- senger.

Three hours a da\' are saved by the man who patrols this part of the trans- mission lines into Portland. Before its construction it was necessary for him lo make a long fletour to a road bridge in order to cross the creek. The stream is deep an<l cannot be forded. The bridge came after several row boats had been stolen by tramjjs and small boys.

Short telegraph poles were erected on each side of the stream, above the high water line, and light cables strung across; two waist-high and one for the feet. The patrol can get across in fifty

��A Trolley Company Which Repairs Automobiles Damaged by Its Cars

AN electric company which operates street cars in Iowa, finds it cheap- er to repair motor cars damaged in col- lisions than to have the w'ork done by an outside repair-shop. It is estimated that about fifty per cent of the expense of having this work done outside has been saved. Moreover, the practice is said to have gained the good will of those whose automobiles have been damaged. As it is, the company had a large number of cars in its own garage with a staff of re])airmen. It was necessary only to add a few men to the regular staff to repair the damage caused by accidents.

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