Pictures here are soom rare tools and some still being used today. The tool on the far left is a chipping knife, used to remove the lead sheath from th e old lead covered cable,the tool second from left was used from the 1930's until lashing wire was used to lash telephone cable to the strand, it was used to place rings on strand that held the cables to strand, next is a shavehook used to clean and bevel lead sleeves, so they could be soldered to cables and made airtight, next is a common hacksaw, next is a linesman ax, notice the hold in ax head used to tighten nuts on through bolts that held the strand to the poles, next is a linesman wrench still used today, but this one is very rare because it is marked Bell System and Winchester.

The next picture show some transmitters and receivers ,upper left is a o.s.t pony receiver, upper middleare two transmitters used on candlesticks and wood wall sets, far right is a standard Western Electric receiver, lower right is a W.E transmitter arm from an old wood wall set. The black test set was used by the outside repairman to access telephone lines in outside plant. All these tools are marked Bell System or Western Electric and we could not have any tools on our truck unless so marked. The reason for this is because Bell labs had to test them for strengh and durability.

After working for Southern Bell and Bellsouth for 39 years, I thought it would be a good idea to show and tell about some of the tools I used during this time. I also hope that people seeing this site will have some of the tools that I do not have and will either sell or maybe trade for my duplicates. I realize that they are lots of tools that i do not have and many that I have never seen, so it will be very interesting as I add to and improve this site.
This is my first attempt at building a web site so bear with me and send any advice that you think will help me.

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holl@bellsouth.net

A lot of the tools pictured here are no longer being used because of the technological advances in the telephone industry.

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