Utility pole

“ At any time you are working on a flagpole and the work consists of replacing a truck, ball or spindle, the only thing to do is to make sure of the pole being solid enough for a little swaying. If so, take a sling, lash yourself to the pole under the arms as a back brace, then reach up and pull yourself up and stand in the chair. Avoid shaking the pole as much as you possibly can. ”

“ Poles should be guyed or braced at all points where there are material changes in the direction of the line, and on long straight stretches about every fifth pole should be guyed or braced in both directions to prevent the poles setting back when the line wire is cut or broken at any point. ”

“ It is advantageous to use poles wherever practicable, for the following reasons: Pole lines are not liable to interference from householders, being entirely out of their control; they are much more accessible at all times, and when they are out of order at all the trouble is more easily located and removed ”

“ By adopting this mode of regulating the movements of the prong, a pole of moderate and convenient size may be used without fear of breakage. A very stout pole is required for the pin plan, as the auger holes bored through it tend greatly to decrease its strength. The four upright posts (F, F, F, F) are fitted into four square holes chiselled out in the upper axle piece for the purpose of receiving them; and they serve to secure the planks, hurdles, wattle work, or poles forming the sides of the waggon. ”

“ Posts, or comparatively slender poles, are planted through the field at regular intervals, usually sixteen feet apart. From the tops of these, galvanized wire is strung from pole to pole, in squares, while over this is spread a specially manufactured cheese cloth or tobacco cloth, usually woven in strips of a width convenient to fit the distance between the poles. ”

“ Distribution lines necessarily follow the public streets in order to reach consumers, but the saving of the cost of a private right of way and ease of access are the main considerations which tend to keep transmission lines on streets and highways. Except in very rough or swampy country, the difficulty of access to a pole line on a private right of way is not a serious matter and should be given but little weight. The cost of a private right of way may be more important, and should be compared with the additional cost of the pole line and conductors if erected on the public highway. ”

“ When the pole has been properly placed, it is seized by several linemen. As soon as the top of the pole is raised high enough to permit the pikes to be thrust into the pole, it is then raised to a vertical position. At about 50° the butt end slides into the hole. The earth is then filled in around the pole and firmly tamped down. Eight or ten poles are about as many as can be set by the average gang in a day. ”

“ Pole Setting.—In erecting poles, it seems to be the universal opinion of the best posted construction men that a pole should be set at least five feet in the ground, and six inches additional for every five feet additional length above thirty-five feet; also additional depths on corners. Wherever there is much moisture in the ground, it is of much value to paint or smear the butt ends of the pole with pitch or tar, allowing this to extend about two feet above the level of the ground. This protects the pole from rot at the base. The weakest part of the pole is just where it enters the ground. ”

“ Now, we admit, in the first instance, that these two poles are mere postulates, and that our postulation of them can only be justified and made good that they are mutually repulsive:—by the fact that there is a reciprocal antithesis or antagonism between them, and between all that each of them contains: or, in other words, we must be borne out by the fact, that an increase of intensity at the one pole is always compensated by a corresponding decrease of intensity at the other pole—and vice versa. ”

“ The butts of poles up to a point one foot or more above the ground line are frequently treated with hot tar, pitch, asphalt, or carbolineum before the poles are erected, and in Salt Lake City salt is said to be used around pole butts after they are in the hole. ”

“ If the wooden pole has the dead sound it is in all probability dry rot, and with a pole of this kind I would advise you to be extremely careful. Never sway such a pole any more than you absolutely must, and take plenty of time in climbing it. A pole in this condition gives no warning before it breaks, but a pole with plenty of sap gives a cracking sound before it gives way, which gives the man working on it a chance to slide to a more secure position.
[82]
Climbing Flagstaff With Slings
A boatswain chair and two slings are the only tools necessary to work on a flagpole. ”

“ It is natural, when carrying burdens on poles, to have poles resting on both shoulders, but the crowded streets here will not permit of that. The load has to be carried on one shoulder, the pole pointing in front. While the narrow streets and teeming crowds make it much harder for men to bear loads in that manner, how much more inconvenient it must be for a woman carrying the same weight, with a baby tied to her back! ”

“ In the first place, it would be no easy matter to get a pole of the right length, weight, and strength to serve the purpose. More particularly, however, the pole-vault idea seemed to be out of the question because of the fact that on either side of the electric fence, six feet from it, was a six-foot barbed-wire barrier. To vault safely over a nine-foot electrically charged fence was one thing, but to combine with it a twelve-foot broad vault was a feat which even a college athlete in the pink of condition would be apt to flunk. ”

“ Formerly it was common to carry two or more circuits on a single line of poles, but now a frequent practice is to give each pole line only one circuit and each pole only one cross-arm, except that a small cross-arm for a telephone circuit is placed some feet below the power wires. ”

“ Of this kind is the term pole, with its prefixes of positive and negative, and the attached ideas of attraction and repulsion. The general phraseology is that the positive pole attracts oxygen, acids, &c., or more cautiously, that it determines their evolution upon its surface; and that the negative pole acts in an equal manner upon hydrogen, combustibles, metals, and bases. According to my view, the determining force is not at the poles, but within the body under decomposition ”

“ Each pole of the needle, in short, appeared to have a tendency to revolve round the wire in a direction opposite to the other, and, consequently, the wire round the poles. Each pole has the power of acting upon the wire by itself, and not as connected with the opposite pole, and the apparent attractions and repulsions are merely exhibitions of the revolving motions in different parts of their circles. ”

“ The balance pole is more faithful in its action. It is simply a long slender pole fastened in a crotch or tied to the side of a sapling, the trap being secured to the small end. It is so balanced that the weight of the butt will not only lift the trap but the captured animal as well. It is fastened down in the same way as the spring pole and is released by the struggles of the animal. ”

“ By ordinance of Councils, we are required to locate each and every pole for telegraph, telephone, electric light, trolley, or whatever electrical purpose, to issue a license for the same, for which, with the exception of the trolley poles, a fee payable at the City Treasury is charged. No poles or wires can be erected within the city limits without a permit issued from this bureau, describing its location, if a pole, and its direction, if a wire. ”

“ In general, to keep the leakage small, the pole cores should be short, and of minimum surface, the pole shoes should not have too wide a span nor be too thick, nor present needless corners, and the axial length of the pole face and of the armature core should not be too great in proportion to the diameter of the working face. ”

“ The increase in the strength of the poles results in increasing the current generated, and this in turn further increases the pole strength, so that one effect helps the other, the result being that the current, which starts with an infinitesimal strength, soon rises to the maximum capacity of the machine. ”

“ The standards are poles made of fir trees, from forty to fifty feet long, and six or seven inches thick at the butt ends, which are firmly fixed in the ground. When one pole is not long enough, two are lashed together, the rope lashings being tightened by wedges driven in between the coils in a peculiar way. ”

“ In sawing the ends the saw kerf is cut from the waste ends of the stick. The saw cuts to the mark but does not cut it out.
In using a rule carelessly a workman may gain one-sixteenth of an inch every time he moves the rule, which would mean half of an inch in laying off a 16-foot pole, which would ruin it for carpenter work. If the pole is afterwards used for staking fence posts, he would gain one-half inch at each post, or a foot for every twenty-four posts, a distance to bother considerably in estimating acres. ”

“ Trees, house-tops and poles can be used in the construction of a line. When fastening a line to a tree, let your wire slack enough to swing to and fro with the tree, otherwise your line will be broken during a windstorm. Tree limbs or branches touching the wire have no bad effect on the telephone, but should be avoided if easily possible. A pole should be set no less than three feet in the earth and eighteen to thirty to the mile. Always try and keep your poles in a straight line. ”

“ The posts have forked heads, and upon them is laid a transverse pole, which is firmly lashed to them. From this transverse pole another pole is laid to the ground, so as to form an inclined plane up which the inhabitants of the house can walk. It will now be seen, that if a man walk up the inclined pole, to the transverse one, he can pass along the latter in a stooping attitude until he comes to the opening in the floor. ”

“ He stands in the middle of the runway, with the pole pointing straight at the uprights, and he fixes his eyes on the bar. From this moment he does not remove his gaze from that pine stick, or from the handkerchief which may be hanging from it, until he has made his leap. He should never look to see where he is placing the pole to vault, for this will interfere with the success of his leap. The pole will take care of itself. ”

“ Poles are often snapped by inexperienced coachmen getting upon the lock in attempting to turn without room, and trusting to the strength of the pole to drag the coach across the road.
Not a hundred yards from the place where I pulled up the mail stood the yard and premises of a working wheelwright, who improvised, in a marvellously short time, a temporary pole, and by attaching the main-bar to a chain leading from the foot-bed, and splicing it to the pole, we did [Pg 59] not lose three-quarters of an hour by the whole contretemps. ”

“ These two spikes should be fixed at the extremities of a diagonal drawn through the centre of the heel, to prevent stone-bruising.
The best vaulting poles are made of selected, straight-grained spruce, and are somewhat expensive, on account of the number of sticks that have to be destroyed in the making of one good one. A good pole costs from $4 to $5. It should be sixteen feet long, and fitted with an iron spike at the lower end. Having purchased your pole, wind it with tape for a distance of three or four feet along that part where it is to be held by the hands in vaulting. ”

“ The cleat is for the purpose of tying the halyard to a few feet from the base of the pole. The majority of poles have iron braces for support connected about six (6) feet up from the base of the pole.
From experience I find the steel pole the most dangerous. In my opinion it is [81] more dangerous than the wooden pole for the reason that rust forms inside of the steel pole and around the bands where it is connected, and in the winter time it is easily broken by the cold weather if any weight is put on it, whereas the wooden pole can be tested by sounding it as to its condition. ”

“ There is no support in the record for the contention that a tax of fifty cents per pole per year is unreasonable in amount, even though it be made to apply to poles standing on private property or upon a railroad right of way as well as to poles erected in the streets. ”

“ Fill the remaining space in the pole end with plaster of Paris, and when it has set, slip the ferrule into place on the pole end. If a ferrule is not at hand, a fine wire can be wound around the end to prevent the pole from splitting. When using this pole to dust hardwood floors, tops of doors, window casings and picture frames, put a dusting cloth into the claws and slide the ring into place, as shown in Fig. ”

“ Reinforced Concrete Poles.—The strongest point in favor of concrete poles is their durability. Untreated wooden telephone and telegraph poles have to be replaced by new poles about every six or seven years, depending on the percentage of moisture in the soil, the drier the soil, the longer being the life of the pole. Concrete poles are not affected by soil conditions, and if properly made will last indefinitely. ”

“ To take this to pieces nothing more is necessary than to slip each loop off the end of the plank; let go the fastening of the lower end, and all the links of the rope chain will shake out.
Great firmness may be imparted to any of these arrangements by placing a small pole inside, and securing every plank to it by successive hitches of a smaller line, as in Fig. 4; or, if stouter poles be used, the walls may be built up in this manner, commencing from the bottom plank and fastening the upper ones as you go on. Each plan will have its advantages under peculiar circumstances. ”