Have you actually stopped to contemplate the important role that timbers play in our economic system and the day by day convenience of our way of life? A lot of the products we make use of in our daily lives start with the planting of a small little seed starting and comes to an end in the form of a desk or phone pole!
One of the end products manufactured by timbers is utility poles. These are poles with one main function and that is to support various items such as cables, fibre optic wires, utility lines and linked equipment like transformers. A phone pole is oftentimes also called an utility pole, but as these items are basically named after the specific equipment that they support, a telephone pole is basically . well, a phone pole!
Have you ever stopped to wonder why such cables and wires are hanging in mid air instead of being buried underground? Would it not be less hazardous (and prettier!) if it's concealed out of sight? The single most important reason is repairs and maintenance. Just visualize if a cable is faulty and needs to be changed - lots of digging would be required which may result in a complete disruption, not to even point out how much cash would be wasted every time!
It is possible that such transmission poles can support more than one kind of cable, for example electricity cabling and telecommunication cables. This first of all saves on expenses as only half the number of transmission poles is needed and secondly it is a way to save space, particularly in urban locations. The electricity cables and associated devices are generally installed near the top of the pole with a reasonably large distance to the communication cables and equipment below.
As you can imagine these poles need to be incredibly steady and secured, since it might result in a disaster if a couple of these poles were suddenly toppled by the wind and all the electric cables came tumbling down to the earth! For this reason, poles are planted quite deep, with 2m or more being buried under ground. They are also grounded by means of thick copper wires which are linked to metal rods driven into the ground. In some countries every single pole is grounded, in other countries only every 5th pole. Normally any poles holding transformers are grounded by default.
A lot of these utility poles are constructed of wood and the timbers treat it with a form of wood preservation. These poles are subjected to the components of nature, ranging from the sizzling sun to persistent rainfall, on a daily basis and the wood preservation protects against the above as well as against rot and bugs. Creosote is still a common preservative and provides long lasting protection.
Utility poles could also be used to support apparatus such as cellular network antennas, street lights and traffic lights, only to point out a handful.
And so next time when you walk with your eyes turned to the heavens, and observe all these wires and equipment hanging in mind air, you'll at least know that their journey began at the timbers.
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