Specializing Transportation Equipment in Order to Adapt it Most Economically to Telephone Construction and Maintenance Work

I N this paper is described in a general way the interesting application of motor vehicles and their associated apparatus in connection with outside plant construction and maintenance work, outlining through the successive stages of development what has been accomplished in this respect up to the present time. In order to present a comprehensive picture covering this field of activity, the more primitive types of equipment, together with the manual methods of doing work, are shown in comparison with representative instances of higher development during the past few years in which this phase of the work has been given particular consideration. The telephone system is different from most public utilities in that it is responsible for a universal service throughout the United States. Wherever the highways and byways may lead, and in many instances where no traveled way could well exist, will be found the familiar and indispensable telephone, with the wire and cable on pole line and in underground conduit. Irrespective of the remoteness of the territory, of the subsurface or the climatic conditions involved, there must always be found a way to construct and maintain the telephone plant. To install this widely distributed plant and continuously safeguard the service in response to the ever increasing publ'c demands, it is essential that facilities be provided for the prompt and safe transportation of quantities of heavy, bulky materials and gangs of men to any point in the telephone system during emergencies as well as under normal conditions, and that provision also be made to supplement the necessary manual operations in every way possible by the proper adaptation of mechanical apparatus.