Utility pole facts for kids

Pole carrying telephone, electricity and Cable TV equipment. Two pairs of shoes can be seen hanging from wires.

A utility pole, telegraph pole, telephone pole, power pole, or telegraph post is a post or pole upon which telephone network equipment is situated. Similar poles are often used for electricity cables (with pylons being used for only the higher voltage applications) and frequently a pole will share both power and communications lines. Telegraph poles first became commonplace in the middle 19th century. At first they had only one wire, then in urban areas many. In Canada, the poles are commonly referred to as hydro poles, as the electric companies commonly have "Hydro" in their name.

Utility poles are usually wooden, but vary greatly from nation to nation. Other common utility pole materials are steel and concrete, with composites (fibreglass) becoming used more often. In some countries, for example the UK, poles have sets of brackets arranged in a standard pattern up the pole to act as hand and foot holds for those working on the equipment or connections atop the pole.

Images for kids

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  Wooden electricity poles in Germany. In central Europe, lines usually run just straight across fields, rows of poles accompanying roads are quite rare.

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  Steel utility pole in Darwin, Australia

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  Typical North American utility pole, showing hardware for a residential 240/120 V split-phase service drop: (A,B,C) 3-phase primary distribution wires, (D) neutral wire, (E) fuse cutout, (F) lightning arrestor, (G) single phase distribution transformer, (H) ground wire to transformer case, (J) "triplex" service drop cable carries secondary current to customer, (K) telephone and cable television cables

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  A joint-use utility pole in China

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  Standard arrangement for telephone poles

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  Head of a 400 V pole in Switzerland. In Europe, insulators usually were attached directly at the pole.

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  Several power poles made of concrete

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  Pre-apprentice lineman class climbing telephone poles

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  From 1923, the oldest utility pole in Japan, still in use in the city of Hakodate.

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  Poles in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

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  Markings on a BT post

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  The tags on a Delmarva Power subtransmission pole located in Crisfield, Maryland, United States. The faded tag reads "733"

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  A utility pole replacement in Saugus, Massachusetts, United States

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  Tag and marking on the bottom of a wooden utility pole before it is installed

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  Telegraph pole with spars, insulators and open wires on a now decommissioned Railway Pole Route, Eccles Road, Norfolk, United Kingdom

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  White storks (Ciconia ciconia) in their nest on a utility pole in Romania

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  Brandings on a pole in Salisbury, Maryland, United States

See also

In Spanish: Poste para niños