Maltese Telecomms
Hugh Burrows sent me some lovely pictures from Malta showing insulators (most likely British) still use
Overhead Distribution
Overhead distribution to consumer's premises. 2 heavy duty porcelain insulators for a single phase supply. These look to be original stock and may have been used for the original supply which I understand was at a somewhat unusual frequency of 100 Hz. The supply was later (1930's I think) converted to a standard 230/400 volt 50 Hz system.
Three Phase
Three phase four wire overhead distribution to consumers' premises. The cables are supporeted on the face of buildings using a bracket with four insulating bobbins (ceramic). A more recent addition has been grafted on taking the form of an insulating ring which supports what appears to be a steel wire armoured cable or similar. The overheads are periodically fed by cables coming from underground circuits. The service connection to each consumer is taken off by insulated line taps. The OH conductors appear to be insulated throughout to prevent phase to phase or earth shorts.
Power and Telecomms
Porcelain insulators terminating the open wire OH ine at the subscriber's premises. I suspect they are from the 1950's because of the two wire metallic circuit needed for the automatic system installed in 1957. I haven't yet established if an interphase of Central Battery working was introduced between the original magneto system and the Strowger Auto. The first nework was single line and earth return.
A Right Mixture
1 subs. termination, 1 mixture and one thru circuit.
Corner Curosities
1 subs termination and 1 thru circuit.
You could almost reach out and unscrew them
More modern (1950's) building with a variety of thru and terminal insulators.
Right, Where's the ladder
2 thru and 4 terminations.
A Real Mixture
A real mixture here, some still with open wire lines attached but not officially functional. Coud be a present day 'private wire' between two houses.
Maintenance Hell
A substantial array attached to a cliff face with a precipitous drop to the road near the harbour. I think these are probably some of the earliest remnants of the telephone network, probably from the magneto days when only Government and Police buildings were provided with a telephone service. In 1885 businesses were able to obtain a service and a few private subscribers.
