ABSTRACT
Thomas A. Edison installed his earliest cables in New York City in 1882. The cables were placed in iron pipes in the factory and then were spliced together in the Želd every 20 feet in an egg-shaped splice casing. Other systems, such as by Brooks, Callender, and Crompton, were installed by 1885 where they also used short sections of iron conduit. American Bell Telephone Company installed the Žrst ®exible communication cables in 1882 and 1883 when cables were pulled into the conduit in the Želd. “Pumplogs” were Žrst used for water supply lines, but were used in 1883 in Washington, DC, for telegraph cables. Tree logs were hollowed out, the exterior was trimmed to make them square, and the entire log was treated with creosote. These became the conduits of choice! So began the duct and manhole systems with the need to pull cables.
