Outside Plant Equipment
The outside plant is the telephone equipment that is not inside the central
office and those tools necessary to support it. This includes building
terminals, telephone poles, splices and lineman's tools all of which are
displayed in the museum.
Building Terminals
Building terminals are the subscriber or field connections to the telephone
company's circuits. The building terminals shown are from the period of about
1910 to the present. The wires from your house or business connect to these
terminals.
Open Wire Lead
Open wire lead is composed of these components; telephone poles, crossarms,
insulators and wire which are visible in the following photograph. A telephone
circuit consists of 2 wires called a pair. In the early days materials used for
insulating copper wires were inadequate so the two wires were physically
separated to prevent short circuits. The open wire lead was installed in
Seattle as early as 1883. Open wire lead was replaced with cables and now with
fiber optic cable.
Splices
This exhibit shows different vintage splices. Splices connect wires of the same
type to extend their length. Different types of conductors require different
splices. Some of the splices shown are a fiber optic splice, early paper and
paper pulp splice, and cable splices. The large splice on the bottom of the
photograph is the largest copper wire splice which contains 4,200 pairs of
wires. This splice might be found at the central office where the subscribers
lines enter the building.
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Open wire lead is composed of these components; telephone poles, crossarms,
insulators and wire which are visible in the following photograph. A telephone
circuit consists of 2 wires called a pair. In the early days materials used for
insulating copper wires were inadequate so the two wires were physically
separated to prevent short circuits. The open wire lead was installed in
Seattle as early as 1883. Open wire lead was replaced with cables and now with
fiber optic cable.
This exhibit shows different vintage splices. Splices connect wires of the same
type to extend their length. Different types of conductors require different
splices. Some of the splices shown are a fiber optic splice, early paper and
paper pulp splice, and cable splices. The large splice on the bottom of the
photograph is the largest copper wire splice which contains 4,200 pairs of
wires. This splice might be found at the central office where the subscribers
lines enter the building.