larry@uunet.uu.net (Larry Lippman) (04/06/91)
In article <telecom11.263.4@eecs.nwu.edu> DAN@gacvx2.gac.edu (Dan Boehlke) writes: > > A truly scary experience is to move a piece of old RH or RHW > > rubber-insulated power feeder cable, watch both the outer insulation > > and the rubber flake into dust, and see exposed conductor within a > > fraction of an inch of grounded metal! I could never understand > > why WECo continued to use potentially unstable rubber-insulated > > power cable for almost forty years after far superior plastic > > insulation was available following World War II. > It is my understanding that good real rubber products resist acid > better than even most of today's plastics. Acid resistance would be > very important around batteries. Synthetic rubber does have good chemical resistance to acids in concentrations likely to be found in storage battery electrolytes. In fact, common telephone industry practice for cable connecting directly to battery terminals is to use finely stranded welding cable with "SO"-type rubber insulation. However, WECo traditionally used type RH or RHW rubber insulation for ALL power cabling in gauges ranging from 14 AWG to 750 MCM. Chemical resistance to acids was not really an issue once outside of the battery room. As a somewhat interesting aside, WECo 750 MCM power cable had "non-traditional" uses. A sixteen inch length (which weighs about three pounds) makes an excellent "attitude adjustment tool" for telephone company personnel who have to work in crime-ridden urban areas. I once saw its effectiveness in deterring a car theft in the parking lot of a New Jersey Bell central office in Newark. The power cable section also had the advantage of not being an unlawful weapon. After all, it's an engineering sample, right? :-) Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. "Have you hugged your cat today?" VOICE: 716/688-1231 {boulder, rutgers, watmath}!ub!kitty!larry FAX: 716/741-9635 [note: ub=acsu.buffalo.edu] uunet!/ \aerion!larry
dhk@griffin.uvm.edu> (04/15/91)
kitty!larry@uunet.uu.net (Larry Lippman) writes: > As a somewhat interesting aside, WECo 750 MCM power cable had > "non-traditional" uses. A sixteen inch length (which weighs about > three pounds) makes an excellent "attitude adjustment tool" for > telephone company personnel who have to work in crime-ridden urban > areas. I once saw its effectiveness in deterring a car theft in the > parking lot of a New Jersey Bell central office in Newark. The power > cable section also had the advantage of not being an unlawful weapon. > After all, it's an engineering sample, right? :-) Ah, yes. A chunk of power cable (either 750 MCM or 500 MCM) with an appropriate length of handgrip made, of course, by wrapping the cable with "12 cord". Brings back memories. First ran across this use for the stuff back in 1964 when I was working for WECo, installing what was claimed to be the largest crossbar tandem office in the country. This office was on lower Mission Street in San Francisco, which (at that time, haven't been back since '73) _not_ one of the "nicest" parts of town. Used to carry such a critter across the handlebars of my bike. Never did have occasion to put it to use though. Don H Kemp B B & K Associates, Inc. Rutland, VT uunet!uvm-gen!teletech!dhk
pozar@apple.com> (04/20/91)
In article <telecom11.293.3@eecs.nwu.edu> teletech!dhk@griffin.uvm.edu (Don H Kemp) writes: > Ah, yes. A chunk of power cable (either 750 MCM or 500 MCM) with an > appropriate length of handgrip made, of course, by wrapping the cable > with "12 cord". Brings back memories. In the radio communications industry you may have used a length of Andrew LDF4-50 1/2 inch coax. Nice balance and comes with hand grips! Tim pozar@lns.com Fido: 1:125/555 PaBell: 415-788-3904 USNail: KKSF-FM / 77 Maiden Lane / San Francisco CA 94108