Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1905-08-01
Calumet
Baking
Powder
Perfect In quality.
Moderate In prloo.
INCREASING THE LIFE
OF TELEPHONE POLES
By Applying Preservatives to the
Portion in the GrOund..Treat-
ment of Entire Pole is I'm
necessary.
Perfect In quality.
Moderate In prloe.

During the past year the Forest
Service. in cooperation with the
American Telephone and Telegraph
company and the Postal Telegraph
Cable company, has been making an
investigation to find the best methods
OF seasoning telephone poles and Of
treating them with personalities.
Fifty green poles were furnished
every month to each of five expert
mental stations. Each pole was
exposed to the open air, and was
weighed every month until it ceased
to lose weight. The rate at which
weight was lost showed the rate of
seasoning in different months.
After one year of seasoning, preser-
vative treatment was applied 20 the
poles, beginning last spring. Several
different preservatives and three
different methods of applying the
preServativeS were experimental
with. Most of the poles at two Of the
StatiOns-Wilmington and PiSgah, \.
C.-were treated by applying the
preservative with brush. In few
cases cap or plate was fitted to the
butt of the pole and creOsOte forced in
by pump, but with unsatisfactory
results. Both chestnut and juniper
poles were treated by these methods.
To test the efficacy of the treatment
as preventative against decay these
poles, carefully numbered and labeled
for Identification, have been set in an
experimental section of the American
Telephone and Telegraph company,
between Savannah and Meldrim, Ga.
Each treated pole is set between a
green and seasoned pole, SO that the
absolute and relative values Of the
different preservatives will be fully
tested.
The third method of applying the
preservative is that from which the
best results are expected. This
method was applied to chestnut poles
only. At Dover, n. j., in addition to
the external applications, a number
Of seasoned poles were treated in an
open tank, constructed to permit the
treatment of 50-foot poles inclined at
an angle of 20 degrees. In this tank
the poles are boiled in creOsOte for
several hours. They are then either
1 >, cd 70 fon Of
| tiOn containing cold creoSote, in
which they stand for several hours, or
are left in the hot oil to cool down
gradually. This treatment covers the
pole with creoSote to a distance of
from to 10 feet from the butt. Up
to this time a penetration of one
inch and an absorption per pole of 81
to 40 pounds of creosote have been
obtained. Changes in the method of
operation are almost daily increasing
the depth of penetration and amount
of absorption. This is the first
apparatus of this character con-
structed in the United States for
impregnating the butts of telephone
and telegraph poles, and the success
which is being attained with it
indicates the practicability of its
widespread adoption in commercial
practice.
Since the life of such poles is deter
mined by the decay at the ground
line, only the section from the bottom
of the pole to about two feet above
the ground line needs to be treated.
Creosote is expensive, and if the
| whole pole must be treated the added
years of service may not compensate
for the outlay-it may be cheaper to
use two untreated rather than one
treated pole. But if an effective
method of treating not more than 8
or 10 feet of pole can be found, there
is every reason to expect that treat
ment will prove profitable to the
users of poles as we'll as an economy
Of forest material.