[Trade Journal]
Publication: Electrical Review
New York, NY, United States
vol. 7, no. 19, p. 5, col. 4
An Iron Pole Line In Kansas.
The frequent loss of wooden poles by lightning, by prairie fires and by the innate cussedness of emigrants and teamsters in need of fire wood, determined Gen. Sup't. Smith, of the United Telephone Company, to try gas pipe as a substitute. That company has completed seventy miles of line built with black pipe of twenty-foot lengths and an inch and a half inside diameter, set four feet in the ground. The holes were bored with two-inch earth angurs, the poles being one and three-quarter inches outside diameter, besides the tarring, which was put on hot for a distance of five feet at one end. No special provision was made for holding the poles in position, except at corners, where they are guyed to anchor stubs driven in the ground. The wire used is hand-drawn copper, 108 pounds to the mile, and the appearance of the wire and poles is all that could be desired. %%The insulation is a wooden pin driven in the top of the pipe which carries a Cleveland paper insulator, and to which the line is tied with soft copper wire.%%
The line is a particularly quiet one, there being a notable absence of frying and sputtering noises, which is attributed to the insulation used. A comparison with a forty-mile line of glass insulation shows favorably to the paper insulator to a large degree.
The cost of the poles at St. Louis was $1.47, but the saving in railroad freight, hauling and labor, was sufficient to bring the cost below that of a wooden pole in that vicinity. A two-horse team can haul three miles of poles at a load on dry roads. The cost of tarring was 3 1/2 cents each. The entire cost of the line was $76 per mile.
Supt. C. W. McDaniel gave personal supervision to the construction of the line, and its success is due to his skill.
The line connects the Exchanges at Wichita, Wellington and Winfield, works admirably from end to end, and although only a month's experience has been had, it shows to be a profitable investment.
