# 1908 Pole-mounted transformer



## ampman (Apr 2, 2009)

looks like a pole pig:laughing:


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## user4818 (Jan 15, 2009)

I like the ornate architecture of buildings from that time period. Modern buildings are so ugly in comparison.


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## B4T (Feb 10, 2009)

Peter D said:


> I like the ornate architecture of buildings from that time period. Modern buildings are so ugly in comparison.


I agree.. they knew how to put lots of detail in anything they built

Today it's all square boxes unless it's in Dubai or Vegas


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## mattsilkwood (Sep 21, 2008)

Peter D said:


> I like the ornate architecture of buildings from that time period. Modern buildings are so ugly in comparison.


 Yea and the trim work on the inside of those old builings was really cool. They took alot of pride in what they did.


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## BuzzKill (Oct 27, 2008)

mattsilkwood said:


> Yea and the trim work on the inside of those old builings was really cool. They took alot of pride in what they did.


 what about all the hard working guys putting in those smoked glass windows in today's high rises? think they do it for only beer money? NO!! They take pride in building the same monotonous, dull freaking-same-looking-building-as-the-last-one as those guys did 100 years ago! C'mon, man!


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## mattsilkwood (Sep 21, 2008)

BuzzKill said:


> what about all the hard working guys putting in those smoked glass windows in today's high rises? think they do it for only beer money? NO!! They take pride in building the same monotonous, dull freaking-same-looking-building-as-the-last-one as those guys did 100 years ago! C'mon, man!


 I'm not saying no one cares about what they do anymore. But most buildings are like you said, just mindless production work. 

I guess what I'm trying to say is those buildings had alot higher craftmanship than most of what you see today.


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## steelersman (Mar 15, 2009)

I'm trying to figure out what's so cool about the x-former in the photo?


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

steelersman said:


> I'm trying to figure out what's so cool about the x-former in the photo?


I guess you don't pine for the old days.


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## steelersman (Mar 15, 2009)

I do enjoy things from the old days. I just don't see the big deal about this photo. I'd sure like to have it but to look at it in a photo just seems kinda boring.


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

steelersman said:


> I do enjoy things from the old days. I just don't see the big deal about this photo. I'd sure like to have it but to look at it in a photo just seems kinda boring.


Next time I get the DeLorean out, I'll be sure to stop by that city in 1908, take it off the pole and bring it back.


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## B4T (Feb 10, 2009)

steelersman said:


> I do enjoy things from the old days. I just don't see the big deal about this photo. I'd sure like to have it but to look at it in a photo just seems kinda boring.


I enjoyed the pic.. guess that makes me kinds boring


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## dawgs (Dec 1, 2007)

Black4Truck said:


> I enjoyed the pic.. guess that makes me kinds boring


 I like the pic also. I also agree that back then it took more skill to be a tradesman then it does these days. Much more prefab and repititious work now days.


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## ampman (Apr 2, 2009)

steelersman said:


> I'm trying to figure out what's so cool about the x-former in the photo?


 anywhere i go i allways check the electrical my wife tells me to quit staring at the ceiling


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## william1978 (Sep 21, 2008)

ampman said:


> anywhere i go i allways check the electrical my wife tells me to quit staring at the ceiling


 Yep, The same here.


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## BuzzKill (Oct 27, 2008)

ampman said:


> anywhere i go i allways check the electrical my wife tells me to quit staring at the ceiling


 ditto


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## BuzzKill (Oct 27, 2008)

mattsilkwood said:


> I'm not saying no one cares about what they do anymore. But most buildings are like you said, just mindless production work.
> 
> I guess what I'm trying to say is those buildings had alot higher craftmanship than most of what you see today.


 I was being fascetious.


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## Rudeboy (Oct 6, 2009)

I often imagine what it would be like to be a knob and tube wire puller back in the day. Maybe 480 can enlighten us.
:thumbup:

btw, the photo is damn cool.
:thumbsup:


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

Rudeboy said:


> I often imagine what it would be like to be a knob and tube wire puller back in the day. Maybe 480 can enlighten us.
> :thumbup:
> 
> btw, the photo is damn cool.
> :thumbsup:


I may be old, but k&t was out when I started in the trade.


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## Rudeboy (Oct 6, 2009)

480sparky said:


> I may be old, but k&t was out when I started in the trade.


Do you know how long the period of time was when k&t and nm were being used at the same time? A time when k&t guys looked at nm and were like what's that?


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## RIVETER (Sep 26, 2009)

*Knob and tube*



480sparky said:


> I may be old, but k&t was out when I started in the trade.


This is an old concept of wiring. To me it did do well in regards to overloading the neutrals.


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

Rudeboy said:


> Do you know how long the period of time was when k&t and nm were being used at the same time? A time when k&t guys looked at nm and were like what's that?


 
NM was introduced in the 1926 NEC.


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## Rudeboy (Oct 6, 2009)

480sparky said:


> NM was introduced in the 1926 NEC.


So were probably talking about what- a few decades? Honestly, I don't know, but I'm thinking k&t was still being installed into the fifties on a regular basis. 
Totally could be wrong.


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## Rudeboy (Oct 6, 2009)

Okay, so I read that it was used until the thirties. Is this true? It seems like I've worked on houses with k&t that weren't seventy years old.


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## B4T (Feb 10, 2009)

ampman said:


> anywhere i go i allways check the electrical my wife tells me to quit staring at the ceiling


I was in WALMART checking out the ceiling fans next to the security cameras.. the guard at the door checked my packages


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

Rudeboy said:


> Okay, so I read that it was used until the thirties. Is this true? It seems like I've worked on houses with k&t that weren't seventy years old.


I doubt there a single date that can be stated as to "This was the year k&t was not installed, NM was instead".

They most likely overlapped for many years, and which years varied according to localities.

Most new houses I see have pex plumbing, but I still run across old-timers who sweat copper all the time.


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## egads (Sep 1, 2009)

Of course the new sleek buildings don't have wires on poles running in front of them.


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

egads said:


> Of course the new sleek buildings don't have wires on poles running in front of them.


 
Like these (I know, you can't see the wires, but just imagine!)?


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## BCSparkyGirl (Aug 20, 2009)

BuzzKill said:


> I was being fascetious.


SEEEEEEE! That's where the smileys come in handy, dear........:smartass:


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## TOOL_5150 (Aug 27, 2007)

480sparky said:


> Like these (I know, you can't see the wires, but just imagine!)?


Now, that is a cool pic! There is a freeway somewhat close to me that has something like 25 cables ran across it. In the middle is this suspended [by the wires] wooden frame structure that keeps them all away from each other. I will try and get a pic one day.

~Matt


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## mattsilkwood (Sep 21, 2008)

Rudeboy said:


> I often imagine what it would be like to be a knob and tube wire puller back in the day. Maybe 480 can enlighten us.
> :thumbup:
> 
> btw, the photo is damn cool.
> :thumbsup:


 :laughing: God said let there be light, and ken was sitting on a rock twisting wirenuts.:laughing:


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

mattsilkwood said:


> :laughing: God said let there be light, and ken was sitting on a rock twisting wirenuts.:laughing:


Naaah. I wasn't there when God said "Let there be light!".

But when God decided to create the Earth, I wired the factory He made dirt in.:whistling2:


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

egads said:


> Of course the new sleek buildings don't have wires on poles running in front of them.


 
You don't see the beauty? :laughing:


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## LGLS (Nov 10, 2007)

I do. I also saw the devestation to the overhead wires caused by a hurricane followed by an ice storm, causing NYC to pass a law that ALL utilities to be underground. 

Now, the real estate under NYC's streets is more valuable than what's above.


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## Grimlock (Aug 4, 2009)

Looks like old Direct Current power lines. Can you imagine being sent out to repair or replace one of the inner lines near the pole!


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## goose134 (Nov 12, 2007)




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## bobelectric (Feb 24, 2007)

I would submit a guess that they are telephone circuits.
(Who got all that rabbit?)


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## Grimlock (Aug 4, 2009)

bobelectric said:


> I would submit a guess that they are telephone circuits.
> (Who got all that rabbit?)


Nah, those have to be Edison’s direct current power lines. It wasn't much longer after all those lines where installed that Tesla came out with the AC power system which soon replaced all of the DC power grids like the ones shown in the image.


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## steelersman (Mar 15, 2009)

You're both wrong. They were a sophistcated clothesline system. I helped install those back in the day.


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## RePhase277 (Feb 5, 2008)

One cool thing about that 1908 transformer and one hanging on the pole now, is that the principle has not changed one bit. In one way, it is such an overtly accessible and simple of a technology as to be ignored in daily life. Yet, it relies on some of the most fundamental and powerful laws of physics, that there may be nowhere to go from there. Transformers of today are identical in operation to transformers 100 years ago because the principle is so perfect, we simply can't get much better. Some heavily loaded ancient transformers operate at better than 99% efficiency.


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