Ted knows his knots and always wears his stylish head gear.

@Wintermute909

2 жыл бұрын

Ah the good ole days when a fedora was actually a fedora, not a trilby or a pork pie!

I had to do a lot of this work as a cable splicer from 1979 until 1981, when Illinois Bell in Chicago finally gave me a bucket truck to use, then, at least I didn't need a ladder as much. Later on I still needed to do ladder work where I had jobs in the suburbs that had poles in backyards instead of alleys. Thankfully I reached retirement and all of this is behind me.

@TheDieselbutterfly

2 жыл бұрын

Pretty cool,tell us your craziest install experience

@wickedlee664

2 жыл бұрын

Very cool. Love to hear more.

@poormanselectronicsbench2021

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheDieselbutterfly : I usually just hung a new / replacement drop wire that was either storm damaged or aged so much we couldn't splice onto to get to reach a new terminal, but I did hundreds of those, as storm or ice storm damage would have us lent over to repair work details. The most challenging work I had was probably setting up all of the existing drop lines on a pole to transfer to a new terminal, sometimes 30 or more, all while working with a body belt holding me to the pole. Sometimes, the hardest part was finding a good new attachment point to rehang a drop to a house if the old one pulled off.

@eastender74

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for your service. For without your work my Nanny couldn’t have sat on the phone talking to her friend Stella about her life troubles and gossip about her family members 😅 And I wouldn’t have been able to call my cousin about stopping by to play ❤️

@wheelie642

2 жыл бұрын

Happy retirement! Thanks for all your hard work! They don’t make em like you anymore.

Ted is a legend!! No bucket truck or help

@stepvanjoe3469

2 жыл бұрын

But sadly Ted slipped into alcohols grip and lost it all. The final straw was when he accidentally back fed electricity from the wrong line to the household phone after a weekend bender and little Sally was never able to make that call to grandma. No little Sally will never be able to call grandma or anyone ever again. She is surely missed by her family and now Ted spends his days begging for money and staying drunk.

Poor Ted is up there on a ladder meanwhile the film crew has scaffolding 😂😂 you go Ted!!

Hired on with Southwestern Bell Telephone Company(ma bell) in Dallas on 4/9/79. Retired from AT&T on 11/18/16. Was a phone man,climbing poles,installing and repairing phone lines for over 36 of those years. I've litterally seen it all. Some good, some bad.

80 years later that telephone wire is still working as a DSL line.

@chachavessel

2 жыл бұрын

@Wink Dinkerson the point I was making is the superior workmanship that was performed during these installations. Quality parts and a great attention to detail.

@l337pwnage

2 жыл бұрын

@Wink Dinkerson If those worked after the phone no longer used a party line, I bet there were a few surprised home owners when their new DSL didn't work, lol. I have no idea what caused it, but back when I had DSL, I had a problem(I don't even recall the symptoms) and I fixed it by putting a Radio Shack device inline that had a ground lead that I connected to an electrical ground. It came with a ring terminal you were supposed to screw to the outlet cover, but I just put it in a plug where only the ground was attached, then I could just plug it into any grounded outlet and not mess with screws.

@Appalachiannative

Жыл бұрын

I need Ted to come back and cut out of terminal remove bridge taps and cut load coils off customers complaining of frequent disconnects

Ted's the man.... I want Ted's truck.

@jacksons1010

2 жыл бұрын

Need help from an expert: what truck is that? I’m thinking it’s a ‘41 to ‘46 Chevrolet, but it’s hard to tell.

@xippzap

2 жыл бұрын

@@jacksons1010 It is a 1940 Ford. Sry to burst your bubble.

After WWII, my Dad worked as a Southern Bell lineman, working his way through college on the G.I. Bill. Linemen did more than run wire back then, and were often required to trim trees and climb poles using safety belts and linemen's boots, or while working off ladders. He lost his left ring finger when his wedding band caught on a nail after a slip down a pole. After graduation from college, he was promoted into management

@user-yp6kn2uw4k

2 жыл бұрын

Safety precautions are paramount. Therefore, I wondered why the lineman in that educational film did not have strong and rugged gloves or the ring was not removed. 🙄😱🧐

@linehandibew6205

6 ай бұрын

I’m a lineman, I wear silicone wedding band for this exact reason

@dereksuddreth8672

6 ай бұрын

@@linehandibew6205 No silicon wedding bands in 1956!

@linehandibew6205

6 ай бұрын

@@dereksuddreth8672 oh really 🤯 lol

Hanging that midspan in the first half is very similar to how I was trained to do it less than ten years ago, handline and all. No bucket truck for us, we were issued minivans and ladders. That ladder carry is identical to modern training. Always start by hanging drop at the premise, since a good length of drop can be surprisingly heavy and you can't tie your ladder off at the side of a building. We used similar drop clamps and created the same drip loop for strain relief, always being mindful to let the drop have some slack instead of pulling it taut. Our span clamps had a lower profile, and our anchors at the house were ramshorn instead of those ceramic deals. Still saw a lot of the latter in old installs, though. One major difference is that our body belts came with a safety loop that could be used to carry drop up the pole with us. It was designed to let the drop fall away if too much pressure was applied, so it wouldn't pull us down with it. So we didn't have to use our handline to lift the drop at the pole. I'm guessing that drop wire is almost the same as the "flat drop" we were told to remove and replace on any job we came across: two very stiff, solid, large-gauge copper wires in a basic plastic-like sheath, without any twists. Each drop could only handle a single phone service; if a house had two numbers, two runs of flat drop would have been used. A little beastly to handle compared to modern stuff because it took a good, sharp knife to strip the plastic jacket (which was nearly pencil-thick, stiff, and molded directly onto the wires) from the ends. We were also told to keep a few lengths of that old flat drop in the case we had to lay it across a road until a burial crew could do a bore and pull, which might take days or weeks. Because the flat drop is nearly indestructible and can handle a LOT of traffic driving over it, which would crush the softer stuff we use today. We'd leave an appropriate length of modern drop, enough to reach the terminal, coiled up and out of the way on the premise's side of the road. At the end we'd splice the old flat drop and lay that over the road to the terminal with hooks hammered into the soil on either side to keep it in place. When the burial crew was done boring across the road, they'd use the old drop as a pull for the new drop. Especially important for installing shielded drop, like direct-bury 2 or 5-pair, because the outer metal shielding would be quickly broken by traffic and was almost certain to cut into the actual conductors in the middle. No such worries with old flat drop! Untwisted, unshielded, almost literally as tough as nails. Like a lot of the commenters, the lack of PPE and basic safety features is the most jarring part of watching this. Poor guy's ladder doesn't even have hooks! I guess they recommended the brimmed hat to keep the sun/rain out of a line worker's eyes back then, and that was about it. Make all the jokes you want about "real men," but modern telecoms are all about safety first (because a lot of them are self-insured). One of the first things you learn in training is how to use the company-issued hard hat. After that you learn about checking your insulated gloves for defects. Then maybe you learn how to climb (ladders, gaffs and Buck-squeeze, steps, etc.). A few days of that, with some tests to make sure you won't kill yourself in the field, and you can learn the basic network theory and how the plant is wired up.

@boballmendinger3799

2 жыл бұрын

The drop wire used back at that wasn't molded plastic, but rubber covered. It worked the same, but wasn't as durable as the plastic covered wire.

@DonHavjuan

2 жыл бұрын

Wow. In the Modern Developed World we don't do mid-span connections at all, and would NEVER put a ladder against the wire.

@kevinferrara4519

2 жыл бұрын

I worked lines in SF for many years, have you ever seen a ceramic midspan clamp?

@kevinferrara4519

2 жыл бұрын

@@DonHavjuan Why not? Sometimes a bucket isn't an option.

@BeOurBee

2 жыл бұрын

@@kevinferrara4519 not midspan, nope. Plenty on older houses, though. All the midspans I saw in our turf were pigtail-type.

“No job is so important and no service so urgent that we cannot take time to do our work safely”. Bell System. The Bell System motto until divestiture?

@jackmehoffer1037

2 жыл бұрын

Hey I remember that but it was very close to the GTE motto. I worked 1976 thru 2015 , 26 yrs as a field tech and 14 yrs as a i&r local manager and then a Fios local manager. At Verizon. Good times

@montanamountainmen6104

2 жыл бұрын

I have that motto on my dads 15 year plaque from Pacific Northwest Bell.

@Appalachiannative

Жыл бұрын

Dedicated To dial tone

@christopherrippel2463

Ай бұрын

... and in an environmentally responsible manor.

Ted's wife is at home, baking pies,like a good woman should.

@fumingriley

2 жыл бұрын

and taking care of the kids and keeping the house clean

@devy024

2 жыл бұрын

Now there's some 1940's good old boy conversation.

@colliswilliams8992

2 жыл бұрын

@@fumingriley and washing and grooming herself, particularly her nether-regions; and not just attempting to cover up the fishy-odor with patchouli.

@keithrose6931

2 жыл бұрын

@@colliswilliams8992 That picture will always stay with me.

@rupe53

2 жыл бұрын

this begs all the women jokes... why do women have small feet? So they can stand closer to the sink! Why do you NOT get your wife a watch for a gift? Because there's a clock on the stove! What do you tell a woman with 2 black eyes? Nothing... you told her twice already. Did you hear the joke about battered women? What, and I have been eating mine plain for years?

I was an inside the CO guy in the 70s. Worked on a testboard, equipments and mainframes. Totally different environment, but safety was the first word.

@Chris_at_Home

2 жыл бұрын

I worked for a rural phone company for a short time. One of the remote places had aerial cables and had to use a ladder for phone and cable tv. After that I did fiber and microwave communications along the pipeline for 15 years. My last job was a gateway earth station working most of the rural Alaska communications.

I was hired by the then New Jersey Bell Telephone company right out of High School 1962 on my final interview I was asked if I would like to work inside or outside, I was looking out the large window behind the interviewer (Mr. Chamberlain) a hellacious early summer thunderstorm was raging outside, to me it was a no brainer, Inside, please! I started as a frameman in a large central office, in Downtown Newark, NJ. Retired in 1995 after a good by out with free medical for life (THANK THE LORD). I witnessed a fantastic technical evolution of telephony. I worked on most of the latest and greatest equipment from operator switch boards to the latest electronic switching systems. When I retired I was the only one assigned to a rural central office and I did it all, Frameman, Toll Tranmission and CO technician and power man. It was quite a ride.

@roberthousedorfii1743

2 жыл бұрын

Did you go through the 5ess conversion? Or only the 4ess? Just curious. Jees, that was a long time ago. do i have my terms correct?

@draidt

2 жыл бұрын

@@roberthousedorfii1743 I went to the following schools and worked on in this order, Toll Transmission, the first-gen T1 Carrier, #1 Crossbar, #1 Crossbar TSP, # 5 Crossbar, #5 Crossbar ETS, 2B Ess,1A Ess, 5 Ess, and Northern Telecom DMS. I worked on many cutovers. My favorites were #5 Crossbar and 1A Ess. Without blowing my own horn, I was the district's go-to guy when a #5 Crossbar office was in trouble.

@jamescummings7246

2 жыл бұрын

I'm a retired inside wireman LU 102

i don't know who you are or why you do this, but thank you for preserving these videos and making them available for everyone to watch. i find that i have, for reasons unbeknownst to me, become addicted to these old training videos.

@fumingriley

2 жыл бұрын

I know, I love these old videos and I don't know why

My dad worked for Pacific Northwest Bell, then it went to US West then Qwest . He was a "Cable Splicer" for 30 years retiring in 2000. He said, " Working for Bell Telephone was a highly sought after job. They paid very well had great benefits and pensions." My dad to this day brags about his time with the Telephone Company.

Ted sure impressed the hell out of me

the amount of safety violations depicted in this film is mind blowing lol!

@patrickshea5955

2 жыл бұрын

Lol that's back in the days of wooden ladders and steal men

@rapman5363

2 жыл бұрын

@@patrickshea5955 I wonder if those steel men used to steal candy bars? 😂😂

@KaseyBadwell

2 жыл бұрын

The amount of grammar violations in your comment are mind blowing! *Laugh out loud*

@stwo9020

2 жыл бұрын

🤣mint

@angelface925

2 жыл бұрын

For every rule we have now, thousands of dollars have been spent on medical bills and unemployment lol poor guys... Same as stop signs and cross walks, a certain amount of people have to have been hurt or killed to put one up. The only times petitions work are when the costs will be less than the settlements to people who have been hurt

6:52 In those days driver and passenger entered from curb side, for safety. . That's what was taught in Driver's Education in High School.. No bucket seats back then.

@garyschultz7768

2 жыл бұрын

i wondered what the rationale was for the ladder to be on the driver's side.... id think swinging a ladder around on the trucks traffic side could create it's own safety issues ... is it still done like that ?

@mikefightmaster

2 жыл бұрын

@@garyschultz7768 Sometimes things are done one way to satisfy various requirements. Not necessarily the most logical or safest way for all occasions.

@malcolmmarzo2461

2 жыл бұрын

I've often wondered why people slid out of the curb side seat in old movies. I thought it was a movie thing. Thanks.

This channel has everything im interested in

When I started, we watched an 80s version of this, starring "Charlie". Its still the best example of how to hang drops, along with associated rope work. Nothing like trying to teach a bowline hitch to new hires. Everyone got such a kick out of doing it. Miss those days.

Let’s not forget that the cable pair used goes to a Central Office. In the CO the CO Tech connects the cable pair with a main frame cross connect to the assigned Office Equipment. The CO equipment provides Dial Tone and call connections to the network through Switching Equipment.

@electrojag1

Жыл бұрын

A very similar process is still done! Instead of dial tone. You just get an internet connection.

I'm reminded of a segment that a local LA new station did back in the 70's about a training school for telephone linemen. One of their duties was tending to the telephone pole farm and it shown them planting a new crop by sticking wooden dowels into furrows. The date of the show was April First. 😀😀

@roberthousedorfii1743

2 жыл бұрын

That's funny, but if you ever visit NJ, you can go and STILL see the original, real, telephone pole farm, just east of Chester, off Route 206. Yep, it's still there. But they've harvested almost all of the remaining poles.

I bet that wooden ladder was heavy

@IndyDog-ns8ws

2 жыл бұрын

They were, being water logged. Hired in 1969 when fiberglass ladders came out.

@l337pwnage

2 жыл бұрын

Men had a lot more testosterone back then.

We were taught, as per BSP, to test the strand with a handline first. I did hundreds of mid-spans in Baltimore City and then in the southern MD counties.

When I worked for Pacific Telephone in 1982, the safety procedures were more stringent

Cool truck

In the 70’s in back yard feeds sometimes I would safety on to the cable tv and walk out the mid span of the telephone strand like a tightrope.

I did this in the 1970s. Not much difference except we had to wear a hard hat and had ladder hooks to keep the ladder from slipping under the strand. We just used the drop and not a landline. Ladders became fiberglass which was heavier than wooden ones. We were required to work faster than Ted too.

We had our telephone lines removed at the shop not too far into 2022, they had been hooked up for over 50 years, and due to us switching to WiFi calling, hadn't even used them in 6 years.

20 years working in this vital energy company, this is the first time it happens to me. - Woody

This was a training film at New England Telephone in 1980s . I know a guy who cut a tight drop on a mid-span and got shot backward off the ladder and broke his leg on landing. When he returned to work he was suspended for not useing his safety belt !

The UK drop wire has steel wire for strength plus 2 pair copper. We have tall poles so to miss all the traffic, rain or snow all day was a challenge. Similar safety belt. 1980.

good old ted

This is how us cable guys do it to this day! Hard to believe almost nothing changed! Maybe hooks on the ladder is all

@bruceblevins9755

2 жыл бұрын

I miss step poles

@LBoss222

2 жыл бұрын

Good thing there was No Power on that pole for Ted to throw his hand line into, that may have been shocking, and is not allowed today. Ted needs to test the pole to make sure it's sound before he climbs it. He needs safety glasses, hard hat, ladder strap and a voltage probe just for starters

@lwilton

2 жыл бұрын

@@LBoss222 It's a proven fact that before the Glorious OSHA, everyone died in industrial accidents before they could have children.

I used to ride with my cousin Janet who was one of the only female linemen for Michigan Bell. I still remember being in an easement in Detroit riding up in the bucket! I also still remember watching her hook poles! I was amazed by her skills!! I loved riding in the bucket truck! I'm now living in Texas and have been an aerial lineman the better part of 20yrs! But my cousin ignited my interest in pulling cable!

@hackley111

9 ай бұрын

Do you remember what yard she worked out of? Who her supervisor was?

You can definitely tell that there was no OSHA back then.

@PolumbiusTheThird

2 жыл бұрын

people care too much about safety these days. counter productive.

@anthonybelyea1964

2 жыл бұрын

@@PolumbiusTheThird we have safety rules for a reason same reason why we have environmental rules so dumbest statement I've heard in years

@Cutter-jx3xj

2 жыл бұрын

Yea your right. I have been a meat cutter for 27 years and I don't care if my saw, grinder or tenderize is safe. Why worry about the little stuff, idiot

@95ffd

2 жыл бұрын

@@PolumbiusTheThird The lawyers have made it this way.

This is so cool. Great Video. Thanks.

@PeriscopeFilm

2 жыл бұрын

Glad you liked it! Love our channel? Help us save and post more orphaned films! Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Subscribe and consider becoming a channel member kzread.info/dash/bejne/gXh2uZWphsTOhag.html

@timmotel5804

2 жыл бұрын

I was a telephone lineman with Southern Bell on Miami Beach prior to devestisher

This would take 6 months of planning and permits nowadays.

@1:37 the Divco delivery truck in the BG. Iconic for Helms in L.A. but where else were they? My earliest memories of watching linesmen was about the mid-50's. Their trucks weren't much newer than this one.

Legend for sure. Just set ur ladder up and lean on it right on the lines!!

Ted ain't no joke!!!!!

When I was young growing up in the sixties me and my friends would watch the ltelephone line man climb up the pole wearing cleats to fix the telephone lines

@rapman5363

2 жыл бұрын

Me too. I was mesmerized by the spikes they wore on their boots to climb the poles.

@garyschiffli1043

2 жыл бұрын

My dad was with Bell telephone in the 70’s through the 80’s and told stories of guys who “burned “ a pole. That’s where their spikes were dull or didn’t penetrate the pole right and they slid down,very painful.

@1959blantz

2 жыл бұрын

@@garyschiffli1043 It's funny you mentioned that. I have been with AT&T for 20 years, it was called Ameritech, and then SBC. I remember somebody that was in pole climbing class with me. He was doing his maneuvers at 18ft and his Gaffs cut out of the pole. Instead of pushing himself away from the pole (as we were taught) he hugged the pole and slid down. He ended up getting a 6 inch piece of the pole go up is stomach under several layers of skin. What made a bad situation even worse is that telephone poles are treated with Creosote to prevent rotting of the pole and also termites and other insects. I was surprised to see him pull out the huge splinter and finished the class for the day.

@garyschiffli1043

2 жыл бұрын

@@1959blantz Yeah my dad told me of the creosote too,bad stuff especially in the summer.

@rupe53

2 жыл бұрын

Cleats? You mean golf shoes? (cleats on the sole of a shoe) Those things are climbing spikes. I'm sure there's another name for them within the trade.

Love the lead sheathed cable. The sign at the local depot at the exit said "be courteous out there .. they are all customers" .. not anymore.

@95ffd

2 жыл бұрын

Now it's You better get your target numbers!

This makes me glad I'm a carpenter.

Electric Lineman for 35yrs, still used rope to pull things in '65 when I started. Slowly went to hydraulics and bucket trucks. climbed a many ladder and pulled a line up to a house , building , on a pole. we free climbed poles with no fall protection, like now. Block and tackle to hang transformers Big long crossarms.

@linehandibew6205

6 ай бұрын

I’m currently a union electrical lineman in New York. For 15 years now. Love what I do. Thanks for leading the way, we are still carry the old school traditions and handing them down brother. Enjoy retirement,

I wounder if that house is still there.

@BeOurBee

2 жыл бұрын

That old drop might still be there!

@chriss8970

2 жыл бұрын

Hahahahaha this thread. What if it was really Ted’s own house?? The filming guys said we need to find a house for this project, and he said aw hell fellers, you can use mine if ya want to.

@adamgh0

2 жыл бұрын

It probably is but without a house number or street sign, I can't figure out where to look

@BeOurBee

2 жыл бұрын

@@adamgh0 Too bad they didn't show us the BAN number!

That ladder propped up on only the phone line made me so nervous!

@suprememasteroftheuniverse

2 жыл бұрын

It's not a phone line. It's a steel cable. Listen again. Bridges hang on them.

@suprememasteroftheuniverse

2 жыл бұрын

It's called strand.

@BeOurBee

2 жыл бұрын

Those are not just the phone cables. Those are hung from the strands, steel rope running from pole to pole that can hold over a thousand pounds. Good ol' Ted is probably less than 200 in his gear and that ladder is likely less than 100 (our modern fiberglass ladders were about 75 pounds).

@95ffd

2 жыл бұрын

@@BeOurBee They are supposed to hold that weight. The way AT&T has run the company into the ground, you have to test each strand because the pole might break when you put your weight on the strand.

Lead cable in 'rings'. Ex lineman/cable splicer, switch tech/manager. 1969 to 2011.

"...I am a lineman for the county..."

~/I am a linesman for the county..../~

@rapman5363

2 жыл бұрын

Do you work in Wichita ?

@20alphabet

2 жыл бұрын

That was for power lines, not gossip lines.

@chriss8970

2 жыл бұрын

~/and I work the maainn roads/~

@thunderbird1921

2 жыл бұрын

LOL. I remember watching Laurence Welk as a kid!

@20alphabet

2 жыл бұрын

@@thunderbird1921 You can still find complete shows here on KZread.

Put the ladder on the other side of the street cable an you just add a little lenght to the Telephon cable then remove the ladder and its in ideal traction.

In my neighborhood the same copper cable is in place from 1960. The technician has to search for a pair that is still intact for the few people on the block who have land lines

am a lineman for the county And I drive the main road Searchin' in the sun for another overload

Wow. This surely is VERY different from today. Do they even have telephone wires anymore?

years later it was identified that Ted did not work for the phone company but bought a ladder at garage sale and an old truck. turns out Ted was a peeping tom.

@95ffd

2 жыл бұрын

Hahaha, and made housecalls all day telling the women he would install their phone service!

That is sure dangerous climbing that ladder up against the line !

@electrojag1

Жыл бұрын

It is still done that way,even today. The ladder has hooks. And ways to secure to the ground and safety harnesses.

1:40 The neighborhood looks relatively established, but the adjacent property doesn't have a sidewalk?

@suprememasteroftheuniverse

2 жыл бұрын

Gay

@rupe53

2 жыл бұрын

Sidewalks in front of new homes was a common thing when development first got going in an area that had scattered older homes. I saw a lot of that even into the 50s.

Does he have to get in the truck from the passenger side with the ladder blocking the truck door like that or is it right hand drive?

Did Ted run out of telephone wire at Green Acres residence? They always have to climb the pole to answer their phone.

@chriss8970

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah when you think about it, what the hell was up with that??? I mean the wire was all the way to the damn house!!! One more short piece of wire and a damn telephone!!! It’s in the 60’s!!! The hells goin on around here??!!

@quantumleap359

2 жыл бұрын

On top of that, they never told Oliver he was holding the linesman set upside down! You're supposed to hold the dial end up to your ear! What a funny, goofy show! Love the reruns.

@scottrayhons2537

2 жыл бұрын

@@quantumleap359 I never noticed how he held the phone. Learned something again. You're very observant! The tv shows were good in those days.

that film print got quite some warping

ill just rest my ladder on the cable.... sweeet!!!

@95ffd

2 жыл бұрын

That is actually done quite a bit. But now you have to throw your line over the strand, and pull on it to test the strand to make sure it holds your weight.

That service is still used today for an easy $150 a month. Phone company has done zero maintenance thanks to Ted but continues to profit from 80 year old equipment.

I wonder what that street looks like today!

From a quarry 200 miles away

When I watch episodes of the original star trek I think how primitive his communicator is compared to my cell phone....why haven't we worked as hard at building spaceships as we have at building communicators\cell phones

@donprepstien1920

2 жыл бұрын

There just isn't anything to do or see in space sorry.

Now I just sit in a nice clean climate-controlled trailer splicing fiber.

This man is not a telephone linesman. He is a telephone installer/repairman typically called I&R until the women started doing the job and then they changed it to Installer / Maintainer or I&M. And now they are called Telephone Technicians. Linesman install Telephone Poles, hang strand and lash cables drink beer and play hearts. They do not work inside houses.

“First thought of every telephone man should be that every job is done safely” (Places extension ladder with no feet, nearly vertically onto some phone wire 20 feet up)

@95ffd

2 жыл бұрын

I was thinking that he never tested the strand to ensure it would hold his weight. I guess back then, the strands could be trusted.

I wondered about Ted storing his ladder on the left side of his truck but then noticed it was a right hand drive. Maybe because mail delivery trucks are also right hand drive, IDN?

@dljordan

2 жыл бұрын

I was wondering about that. I didn't notice the right hand steering wheel.

@mikefightmaster

2 жыл бұрын

In those days driver and passenger entered from curb side, for safety. . That's what was taught in Driver's Education in High School.. No bucket seats back then.

@spamanator666

2 жыл бұрын

You can see him driving from the left side of the cab at 6:08 or so, and clearly see the steering wheel on the left side, 6:51 for example. He is just entering from the pass side and scooting over.

My Dad probably had to watch this

In the 1940s Ted was probably paid about $80 a week.

@rupe53

2 жыл бұрын

The minimum wage in 1947 was 40 cents per hour so 2 bucks (40 hours x 2=$80) would be a pretty decent pay rate for the days before they went to a union. I suspect he made less than that.

Never seen a rope used we just climed the pole and pulled up the wire very fast.

Now days drops are two men jobs that require heavy equipment and large trucks. We use the same hardware and lighter cables…

This probably violates 10 modern safety standards. Love the hat, though.

@rupe53

2 жыл бұрын

Other than a hard hat and safety glasses, what could go wrong? I mean, other than a bird crapping from above, what was going to fall on you? Wooden ladder was considered insulated by old standards and so was common rope. You start at the house so nothing is energized either.

@95ffd

2 жыл бұрын

No safety cones, no safety vest. No eye protection, no hardhat, no safety strap on the strand when his ladder was against it.

@95ffd

2 жыл бұрын

@@rupe53 I was curious about the ladder placement on the strand. It seems that when he pulled his ladder down, it would have caused the drop to lower. The strands were probably a lot tighter then.

@rupe53

2 жыл бұрын

@@95ffd ... in the video (was film) they mentioned ladder placement from the sidewalk side, which in theory would push the trunk line away from the house slightly. They also mentioned pulling the new drop tight while allowing for some slack / droop. I don't believe they mentioned how much, but I got the impression that a little tight with the ladder in place gave enough slack when the ladder was removed. I get the feeling that "eyeballing it" was close enough in those days. BTW, traffic cones and safety vests hadn't been invented yet.

@peterwexler5737

2 жыл бұрын

@@95ffd Those were the good ol' days! While this was a little before my time, it was still going on in the 1960s, and I remember!

I never knew a ladder could be leaned on the cable for support.

@l337pwnage

2 жыл бұрын

You still see it today from time to time. Of course, the ladders are fiberglass instead of wood now, probably a little safer in a few ways.

@joewoodchuck3824

2 жыл бұрын

@@l337pwnage Not to mention fiberglass is lighter.

@linehandibew6205

6 ай бұрын

They have hooks on their ladders also to hook the strand

Is this guy's name Tarzan?

I thought it was going to be Glen Campbell meets the ELO 😁

I was lucky- I only did inside work

Go ye forth and connective thee newly installed telephone wire. (WIFI compatible.)

Where's the rest of the film!

How long has Ted been gone now? Since this was 80 years ago.

@devy024

2 жыл бұрын

I wonder what the average life span of a Ted was then?

@edarnold1426

2 жыл бұрын

@@devy024 probably a lot longer due to less stress, even though jobs were dangerous. God normally has a way of weeding out those that we won't learn.lol

No cones, No hard hat, gloves. No hooks on the ladder to rest on the existing cable.

Wonder if it would've been a bit easier, for Ted, if they had put the ladder mounts on the passenger side of his truck?

@rupe53

2 жыл бұрын

it wasn't mentioned in the clip, but it was common to enter a vehicle from the curb side for safety in those days. Older fire trucks also put ladders on the road side because everything else was on the curb side. That started changing in the early 60s.

@l337pwnage

2 жыл бұрын

@@rupe53 Bingo. You also see it pushed in all the TV and movies of the time. I have no idea how many people actually followed that advice. I don't think very many. You might tell the kids to do it, but that's about it.

A lot of important details are missing from this film. Former phone lineman here.

poor ole ted

@20alphabet

2 жыл бұрын

Ted's dead by now.

Had to be very early 40s judging by the automobiles in the film. Probably pre-world war II or during World War II.

Not the way it is done in U.K. most drop wires run from the pole usually from the distribution pole or career pole

@TheDieselbutterfly

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah , but to be fair, you guys don't even know which side of the truck the steering wheel is supposed to go on

@ChatGPT1111

2 жыл бұрын

Are you seriously comparing 80 year old methods to current? We don't even install telephone wires above-ground anymore in the U.S. In Florida, I had underground telephone, TV and electric cables in 1985.

@eddiejones.redvees

2 жыл бұрын

Here in the UK most of the residential estates poles are feed ug with a 20pir cabel the flying wires rules are different in the U.K

Obviosly Ted was paid by the hour. This was painful

was anyone looking at this video trained how to terminate bare copper aerial telephone wires onto an insulator on a cross arm?

Ted was fired that very afternoon for not wearing his hardhat.

:)

We'll just pretend the car 9:12 didn't just run the wire over.

6:52 How the hell does he get in the truck to drive??? LoL

@spamanator666

2 жыл бұрын

Passenger side door and scoots over, used to be common.

@fabio40

2 жыл бұрын

@@spamanator666 It would make more sense to put the ladder on the passenger side.

@anthonybelyea1964

2 жыл бұрын

@@fabio40 they do that for safety reasons get in and out of the truck on the curbside not on the roadside👍😎🇨🇦

@fabio40

2 жыл бұрын

@@anthonybelyea1964 You're talking to a 30 year cable guy here. It's safer to get the ladder off on the curb side, so you're not struggling with it in traffic. They certainly don't get in the passenger side today.

@rupe53

2 жыл бұрын

@@fabio40 ... trucks don't have bench seats and "3 on the tree" these days either. Even fire trucks of that era had ladders on the road side.

All with no hooks.... were hooks not invented yet. And why would you put on the climing gear when you had your ladder out...

They never did show how you actually raise the wire across the street. " Safe wire drop" the most unsafe thing I ever saw or did. I hated them. Let's not forget the drilling of the asbestos siding with a push drill a foot away from your face.

@ChatGPT1111

2 жыл бұрын

Umm, somebody tell this guy they didn't know asbestos was hazardous back then. Next, he'll tell us that Roman pipes were unsafe to drink from.

No cones no circle of safety no locking the truck thats an OP-78 violation his efficiency isnt good and is going to get dinged on MSOC not using his 188A voltage detector boy is Ted going to be in trouble when his boss arrives.

No helmet !!!!! Back then , step office

Well that sucks 😹

Please don’t ever show the trouble calls for no dial tone because the floor jack is covered in cat piss or the unkept yards with overgrown trees, bushes and such that make drop replacement a nightmare or the terminals on poles/NID’s on houses that someone left open for the bees, snakes, black widows and God knows what else to make their homes in. Definitely don’t show the cross connect boxes or nodes that installers spent 35 years laying jumper wire on top of other jumper wires turning it into a rats nest that takes hours to comprehend. And for the love of God don’t show the house that the nearest terminal is 15 poles away because the engineering department apparently didn’t realize someone built a development on that street 40 years prior to my arrival. 😂

I've never seen a drop mid span. I don't even see the logic. Must be an American thing. Funny how engineering evolves differently in the UK, USA & Europe

@brianleeper5737

2 жыл бұрын

It's because you can't cross the neighbor's property with a drop wire, legally it is not allowed.

@smorrisby

2 жыл бұрын

@@brianleeper5737 Ah! I get it.

@brianleeper5737

2 жыл бұрын

@@smorrisby Many neighborhoods where the lots are mostly the same size and were laid out before the utilities went in have poles right on the property line so they don't have to do a drop mid span.

@rupe53

2 жыл бұрын

@@brianleeper5737 ... laying out lots with poles between every two homes was a common thing in the 50s. It almost never worked out in more rural areas where the homes were built after utilities were in place already.

@brianleeper5737

2 жыл бұрын

@@rupe53 Another problem in rural areas is that the lot sizes are usually not the same. One house might have 500ft of frontage and another might have 300ft.