Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 109, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 May 1913 — TELEPHONE POLES OF GLASS [ARTICLE]

TELEPHONE POLES OF GLASS

Wood, or Even Concrete, Likely to Give Place to New Idea Devised In Brain of German. Near Frankfort, in Germany, there is a manufacturing plant which turns but glass poles for telejffidhe telegraph wires. In order to give them solidity and strength there is a thick framework of woven wire in the glass. These poles are taking the place of the woden ones in many sections of Germany. It may be that In time all such telegraph and telephone poles throughout the world will be made of glass because there are so many advantages in them. In the first place they will last practically for all time, except in cases of unusual accident, where they may be broken, as in railroad wrecks. They will last even longer than iron or steel, as weather has practically no effect upon them, nor can insects get into them and destroy them. -And in those days when wood is becoming more, and more valuable, it will be quite a saving of the precious wood to make such things of glass. Experiments are also under way for the manufacture of railroad ties of glass, in which wire netting is imbedded in the glass. Paving blocks are made of glass and have proved to be a most valuable material for street surfaces, being fitted together in such a manner as to be water-tight, no water running down between the blocks. There are/ in Lyons, France, a number of streets paved with glass, and they have a better resistance than stone, and also are not such great conductors of heat as stone. These glass paving blocks are now said to be actually cheaper than the granite blocks.