POLE LINES: GENERAL, CONSTRUCTION, AND EQUIPMENT

1. The reports of the Committee on Overhead Line Construction of the National Electric Light Association contain what are probably the best and most complete specifications for pole-line construction for lighting and power distribution that have ever been compiled. Some of the material in this division regarding pole lines has been abstracted from those reports. The National Electric Light Association (NELA) has been reorganized and succeeded by the Edison Electric Institute (EEI). As specifications and standards of the NELA organization are revised, they will be known as those of the EEI.

2. The National Electrical Safety Code, IEEE ANSI-C2, comprises an exhaustive collection of rules for proper installation, maintenance, and operation of electrical distribution systems. Companies are now, in general, endeavoring to follow these rules. Ultimately, it is believed, their adoption will be universal.

3. There are three principal types of overhead line construction:

1. Bare or weatherproof covered wire supported by insulators mounted on or hung from crossarms located on buildings or near the tops of poles.

2. Weatherproof covered wire supported by insulators mounted on racks on the sides of buildings or poles.

3. Insulatad aerial cable which either is self-supporting from clamps bolted to sides of poles or crossarms or is supported by messenger cable from clamps bolted to the sides of poles or crossarms. See Div. 2 for descriptions of the types of wire and cable.

4. There are four main types of poles used for overhead line...