Wooden Cleats

A Chart of Wooden Cleats

The advent of electricity as one of the prominent modern industries created a demand for cleats for the supporting of wires, and this demand has steadily increased from the very inception of the art. When conductors carrying heavy currents became a necessity, certain regulations had to be made for the safe running of wires, and the underwriters' rules in this regard are well defined and pretty well understood.

Heretofore the manufacture of cleats has, to a great extent, been confined to furniture manufacturing and other similar establishments, where the small stock which would otherwise become waste was used for this purpose, this branch of the business being treated as a side-issue. But as the demand for cleats, as well as all other kinds of material needed in electrical construction work steadily increases, manufacturing establishments are springing up in every direction to supply this demand. The quantity of cleats needed at the present time is enormous. They are made of different materials, such as porcelain and various compounds; but these modifications and refinements have not as yet come into such general use as to interfere seriously with the old-fashioned wooden cleat, as wood costs less and answers all the essential requirements, cleats never being used in proper construction except where everything is dry and the wires are not liable to be disturbed.

The various sizes and designs of cleats in general use are illustrated in the accompanying chart. Those used for electric lighting purposes, it will be noticed, have a distance of 2-1/2 inches between the wires, except numbers 400 and 401, where the distance is increased. This latter style of cleat is used where the wires are run along brick and fire-proof walls before the plaster is put on. Its office is simply to hold the wires in position until the plaster is hard, and it is called the "plaster cleat." The others shown are those which are used for open and surface work and when well and symmetrically made present a neat appearance.

The Independent Bung Co., of this city, to whose courtesy we are indebted for the use of the chart, arranged by Mr. M. C. Sullivan, manufacture all kinds of cleats, the special machinery for the purpose of producing the cleats having been designed by Mr. H. B. Wheatcroft, of that company.

Owing to the fact that the different makes of insulated wires have such varied diameters, caused by the difference in the thickness of insulation, it is a difficult matter to determine absolutely the size of the grooves that will apply in all cases; but a difference of one-eighth inch in size will be found to cover a very wide range.

The value of a chart such as here presented can be appreciated when it is considered that past experience has developed the most vexatious delays and annoyances in ordering cleats, owing to the absence of any catalogue from which to select the exact size. This is particularly true in cases where practical men have been compelled to work at distances from the home office, and having occasion to order supplies, had nothing to express their wants except a description, which has in a great many cases failed entirely, occasioning delays and expense. By the use of this sheet, the ordering of cleats in the future will be a very easy and satisfactory matter.