Questions
Updated

The following are questions that I have about utility poles. Some questions here are more burning than others. There are some questions which may have obvious answers that I just thought were more necessary to bring up. There are also answers included that I have received from a few people regarding some of the questions.

There is also a page of questions that some people asked me, for those who are able to answer them better than I can.

  • Replacing
  • Treatment
  • History
  • Slants
  • Insulators
  • Special Poles
  • I.D. Numbers
  • Tags
  • Engrave Marks
  • Hooks
  • Wires
  • Street Lights
  • Train Track Poles

      Replacing

    1. What is the detailed process of deciding which poles should be replaced?
    2. How is it determined which poles should be replaced?
      • [email protected]: There is a test called osmosis done to determine if the pole is rotten inside. Also, if the pole is not tall enough to support a new specification.
      • [email protected]: The poles are butt checked roughly every 5 years. If they are rotten, they are marked for replacement.
    3. How is it decided which utility company should put up a new pole?
    4. How are poles marked for replacement?
    5. How is it decided how a pole should be marked ("X," arrow, stick, etc.)?
    6. After wires are transferred from the old pole to the new one, why is the head cut off the old pole?
      • [email protected]: The old pole top is cut off to make it easier to remove the old pole. It may also be done to increase the clearance of existing conductors.
      • [email protected]: Sometimes, especially in the winter, a six foot piece is left sticking out of the ground. In the winter the ground is frozen, poles are hard to pull and backfill is also frozen. It is quite easy to remove the six foot stub in the spring without having to worry about clearance to energized lines.
    7. How long ago was it when the practice of cutting off a top of a pole began?
    8. Why is the bottom part of a replaced pole cut off sometimes?
    9. Why does a very short stump of a pole remain now and then, and not get pulled out of the ground?
    10. Why are there a few instances in which a tiny part of an older pole remains hanging in the air and still holding wires?
    11. What devices are used to erect a new pole into the ground?
      • [email protected]: An auger mounted on the line truck is typically used to bore out the hole for the pole.
    12. What devices are used to pull an old pole out of the ground?
      • [email protected]: A clamp on the line truck's boom is used to pull the poles out.
    13. What are among the things that happen to old poles once after they have been removed?
      • [email protected]: When old poles are removed, if they are in good enough condition, they are recycled. The old grey, weathered wood is scraped off of the outside of the pole, and the pole is re-preserved. Other than that, I have no idea, though locally I have seen that old poles are sold to those that see a use for them. I have seen more than one fence made out of old utility poles, with all the pole line hardware still screwed into the wood :)
    14. What is the purpose of the orange padding on a new pole that is just erected?

      Treatment

    15. What type of treatment was/is given to the old and gray poles? to the dark brown poles? to the orange poles? to the green poles? Also, are the looks of a pole based on what type of treatment it receives and/or type of tree it was made out of?
      • [email protected]: The color is treatment to preserve the wood. Used to be that poles were not treated. They didn't last long unless they were locust or some other type of naturally durable wood. Then came creosote treatment, the dark color and pungent aroma. Green poles are usually CCA treatment. Another treatment is copper naptanate(sp).
      • [email protected]: The only untreated poles I ever saw were along the Long Island Rail Road. They were short poles and carried telegraph wires at one time. They were taken down several years ago. The grey ones may be creosoted ones that have had the creosote on the outside leached out of them by the sun and the rain. (Creosote is not water soluble.) CCA would have kind of a green tint. Creosote would be brown to black. Orange could be copper naphanate (sp).
      • [email protected]: The looks of a pole is dependent on the species of timber and the treatment. Treatment can be CCA (a copper based chemical; hence the green color) or penta (similar to creosote) or creosote. Species include southern yellow pine, douglas fir, and western red cedar.
    16. Why does the amount of brown color vary so much among the orange-colored poles?
    17. When was the orange-colored treatment first used?
    18. What material, if any, was used to wrap around the ground level of a pole before there ever was anything made out of plastic?
    19. How frequently are poles tested for their conditions?
      • [email protected]: General recommendations is to test poles at the groundline every 5 years. Depending on the weather conditions. Poles in the southwest and in Alaska do not tend to rot and are not treated.
    20. Is it possible that round-sided diagonal-placed wood in a pole and/or a nail sticking out of the bottom of a pole have anything to do with the inspection of a pole?
    21. Why are poles that only have telephone wires not checked like the poles with the electric wires?
    22. Do some poles decay faster than others?
    23. What are some of the names of various preservation companies of the past and present? (Examples: Koppers and Mereduc are among such companies.)

      History

    24. When were the very first poles erected?
      • [email protected]: The first poles were put up in 1844 when Morse built his famous telegraph line.
    25. What did the old and gray poles originally look like when they were first erected years ago?
      • [email protected]: If the poles that are now gray were treated with creosote, they would have been dark brown. Creosote was used as far back as the 1910's and maybe further.
    26. Are records kept on the utility poles, such as when a pole was replaced or first erected?
      • [email protected]: Yes, but such information is not generally made public. It's done so that the utilities know what equipment is on each pole.
    27. Do utility companies take pictures of the poles, such as for records?
    28. Were there less poles erected than usual during WWII?
      • [email protected]: Very likely yes. Any construction not absolutely essential was put off until the war's end.
    29. Is there such a thing as a museum which relates to utility/telephone poles?

      Slants

    30. What is/are the reason(s) that poles, years ago, were made with a double slant at the top?
      • [email protected]: The angle cut(s) on the top is to shed water and snow.
      • [email protected]: The double slant is called a roof. The old poles were roofed to shed water and snow.
      • [email protected]: The double slant was intended to reduce rottening at the top of the pole by creating a "roof" to drain the water so it would not puddle on top.
    31. Why was/were the double slant(s) discontinued?
      • [email protected]: It may be considered superfluous with more advanced rot proofing.
      • [email protected]: Because the treatments for today's poles are better.
      • [email protected]: New treatments eliminate this need along with the fact that the slates weaken the pole.

      Insulators

    32. Are there special names for the different types of crossarms?
    33. How is it determined what crossarm(s) and/or insulator holders to put on the poles?
      • [email protected]: Utilities will typically have a book detailing various types of construction for different applications. The correct term for "insulator holder" is pin.
    34. Why are two crossarms (one on each side) fastened on a pole sometimes instead of just one?
      • [email protected]: Utilities will add the second crossarm where there is expected to be additional strain, such as in the following situations: line going around a curve, where the line crosses a street or railroad, and most importantly at the end of the line where the pull is the greatest.
    35. What are the metal parts of the crossarms called?
      metal parts
      • [email protected]: You are referring to the crossbraces. They are not always metal, as sometimes wooden crossbraces with metal ends are used.
    36. What is/was the purpose of the little angle-shaped piece with a loop that appears on the metal parts of the crossarms fastened to the side?
      loop
      • [email protected]: The little bracket on the long crossbrace shown is a step for the linemen to get out to the end of the crossarm. This type of construction is referred to as "alley-arm" construction.
    37. What are among the things that happen to old crossarms (and insulators) after they are removed from old poles?
      • [email protected]: Old crossarms and insulators will be either thrown out, saved for collectors (insulators), or sold at a surplus auction.
    38. What is the purpose of the brown head extenders fastened on top of certain poles?
      • [email protected]: This is where a line is upgraded and the original height of the pole was inadequate. I've seen 2 crossarms used on either side of the pole for the same results.
    39. What is the reason for the new design of crossarm braces (in which parts of them are wooden)?

      Special Poles

    40. Why do certain poles have another pole leaning against it?
      • [email protected]: The slanted poles are to reinforce against unbalanced sideways pressure. This occurs when a line ends (maybe goes underground) or turns a corner.
      • [email protected]: Those are called push poles and they support the pole they are "pushing." This is used when there isn't sufficient room for a down guy.
    41. Why are there certain occasions that a pole is placed across the road of another pole? What is the purpose of these poles? (Illustration below.)
      across
      • [email protected]: The illustration shows the use of an overhead guy. They are primarily used when there isn't room to put a down guy directly down from the pole. For instance, if the road in your illustration curved to the left, there wouldn't be room for a D/G. So we run it across the road to a pole and down.
      • [email protected]: These are span guys and are used when there is not enough room to install a normal guy to offset an unbalanced load on the pole. (pole too close to sidewalk or roadway)
    42. When were push brace poles first used?
    43. When were stub poles first used?

      I.D. Numbers

    44. What is the exact purpose of the metal numbers hammered on the poles?
      • [email protected]: Some #'s denote a poles # in the line, some are switch #'s and if there is a piece of equipment on the pole it serves to ID the equipment.
      • [email protected]: The only purpose the letters and numbers serve is to ID the pole.
    45. How long ago was it when metal numbers were first used to ID the poles?
    46. What do the following metal letters stand for on the poles?
      1. B
      2. E
      3. H
      4. K
      5. M
      6. PB
        • Push Brace (Source: The Lineman and Cableman's Handbook, Sixth Edition)
      7. S
        • Stub (Source: The Lineman and Cableman's Handbook, Sixth Edition)
      8. T
      9. EC
    47. Why is there a serif "S" hammered on the side of a pole sometimes?
    48. Why would a number get skipped in a sequence now and then?
    49. Have there ever been various sized sans serif numbers and letters used by certain companies just like with the serif ones?
      • [email protected]: I doubt fonts and materials matter much to the utilities, only that it stands up to the weather.
    50. Are there any utility companies that still use sans serif numbers and letters today?
    51. If the answer to the above question is "yes," then do any of these utility companies still use the old sans serif style (such as the "3" being flat-topped)?
    52. What metals are the metal numbers made of? Have they ever been made of other various materials in the past?
      • [email protected]: I'll bet that most of these tags and letters/numbers are aluminum.
    53. What makes some nails of a metal number/letter/company name tag stick out after a certain period of time?
      • [email protected]: Probably expansion and contraction of the wood over time?
    54. Why is an electric company name tag up higher than necessary over an ID number sometimes?
      name tag up higher than necessary
    55. If not called "sequence numbers" (that each correspond with a street), then what are these numbers really called?
    56. Are there any other electric companies, besides Western Mass. Electric, that use "sequence numbers" based on alphabetical order of streets?
    57. When NET&T Co. merged with a New York phone company to become NYNEX in the mid-1990's, why did the design of the ID numbers go through a major change?
    58. I have seen utility company name tags up for auction at the eBay site; but I am curious, though: Have there ever been ID numbers up for auction at eBay?

      Tags

    59. What was the purpose of the little brown round tags with two-digit numbers? Could they be old inspection tags from many, many years ago? (Illustrations of examples directly below, displaying close to actual size of tags.)
      29 tag 36 tag
      • [email protected]: These are called "date nails" and these were made of copper. Typically, they represent year of erection.

      Engrave Marks

    60. What does "P & H" stand for that are engraved with the date on the old gray poles?
    61. What do the numbers and letters stand for on the engrave marks? For example, two poles near my house have this arrangement of numbers and letters, as shown in the illustration below. (I know that "Koppers" is the name of a wood preservation company, and "78" is the year that the pole was treated and/or manufactured.)
      KOPPERS, MO 78, SP C, 4 - 40
      • [email protected]: The engraved marks on your pole SP relate to Southern Pine the species. 4 40 relates to the fact that the pole is 40 long (set in the ground 10% plus 2 feet or 6 feet). The prefix 4 means that it is a class 4 which refers to its strength or more directly the diameter of the pole at groundline.
    62. What is used to stamp the engrave marks on the poles?
    63. What do these stampers look like?

      Hooks

    64. What was the purpose of the hooks inserted in the sides of the poles?
      • [email protected]: Hooks were put into poles to assist the telephone/catv man to get to the cables. Nowadays, they use ladders to access them. If you notice, none of those hooks reach beyond the phone/catv. Then only "hooks" that do reach higher are the step bolts on a transmission tower and the climbers we use to climb the pole when a pole is inaccessible to a bucket truck.
      • [email protected]: These were originally used for poles that were going to be climbed frequently. (OCR poles, tie points between feeders) They saved wear and tear on the poles.
    65. Why were the hooks discontinued?
      • [email protected]: Hooks in the poles were discontinued due to liability of kids climbing the poles. Especially with all of the bucket trucks, climbing a pole is a rare event.
      • [email protected]: With more bucket trucks being used they [the hooks] stopped being used.
    66. Why do some poles have the climbing hooks while other ones don't?
      • [email protected]: The ones with the pole steps (proper term for "hooks") were where the linemen would have to climb often (such as to operate a switch) and to save wear and tear on the pole from the climbing hooks linemen use.

      Wires

    67. What is the purpose of the orange padding placed on the wires?
      • [email protected]: This orange sleeving is used where the wire may come in contact with an object that could cause a short.
    68. What determines how many electric wires appear at the top of a pole (the number seems to range from zero to three)?

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