SPECIALIZING TRANSPORTATION EQUIPMENT 



55 



certain of these accessor'es to meet specific telephone service require- 

 ments it now seems probable that somewhat more efficient, economical 

 and safer operation will be realized. 



Fig. 9 — Heavy Construction Gang Truck, 1910. One of the First in Telephone 



Service 



About 1910, carefully prepared studies indicated the practicability 

 and economy of utilizing gasoline driven motor trucks for the trans- 

 portation of men, supplies and construction equipment of various 

 kinds. 



The first automobile trucks were proven in over horse drawn vehicles 

 on the basis of using the trucks as purely transportation units. How- 

 ever, it soon developed that there were many possible economical 

 applications of the motor truck in connection with the placing, mov- 

 ing and removal of pole lines, aerial cables, underground cables, wires, 

 etc., bringing into use the many accessory devices such as winches, 

 derricks, earth boring machines, various types of trailers, pumps and 

 other safety and labor saving apparatus. The importance of some of 

 these devices in telephone construction work will later be described. 



The motorizing of the Bell System has been very rapid since 1910. 

 Because of the widely scattered distribution of outside telephone 

 plant it is necessary, in transporting the workmen, together with 

 their tools and materials, to employ in the Bell System approximately 



