Novel Pole Top

Novel Pole Top.

A glance at the electric railways throughout the country will show a large number of poles of different designs in use. How serviceable the different forms are will depend partly on the rigidity of the pole and partly on the design

Fig. 1. — Novel Pole Top.

of the pole top. That the pole should stand a great side pull without much bending was early seen, but only lately has due attention been given to the features needed in a pole top. This should be strongly made, so shaped as to

Fig. 2. — Novel Pole Top.

shed the water, and should insulate both trolley and guard wires from each other and from the pole. Then there should be ready means of taking up the slack in both suspension wires, and insulators for carrying the feeders. These features seem to be found in the new pole top designed by Edmund Verstraete, the electrician in charge of the construction of the Union Depot Railway Company's plant in St. Louis.

As the cut shows, it is an iron cap which may be used with either iron or wood poles. The wood poles do not need to fit it tightly, as the pull of the guy wires will keep it pressed against one side of the pole. The pole top is merely slipped over the end of the wood pole, the top adjusting itself. With iron poles, a wooden plug and a wood bushing is used, as shown in the section. These bushings are thoroughly soaked with Simplex paint, and as the iron flange keeps adjacent parts of the pole dry, the top is always insulated from it. The lower end of the pole top is flared out so as to shed the water and keep the upper part of the pole dry. This insures the insulation of the trolley wire from the ground.

The suspension wires are wound on drums, whose enlarged ends have six holes; a pin through one of these holes keeps the drums from unwinding. These pins cannot drop out, yet allow the slack of the wires to be readily taken up. The drum for the guard wire is nine inches above that for the trolley wire, and is made of insulating material. The insulators for carrying the mains or feeders are above the guard wires. Then if both the trolley and the guard lines are put up before the mains are, the latter need not be slipped through between the suspension wires, but is readily thrown over the top and fastened to the insulator. This feature will readily commend itself. The whole is well built, simple and durable. It is made and sold by the Great Western Electric Supply Company, Chicago.