Poles for signal wire?

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by Jon Skagfeld

The cable laying poles with the "C" opening at the top are/were known as crooksticks.
V V V

Yes, that's the standard "jointed crookstick" for laying field cable.

Y1/YA.1514 STICK, Crook, Jointed. Mk.2 - three 3 ft lengths and one 2 ft 8 in length, without straps.

Y1/YA.1516 STICK, Crook, Jointed. Mk.2, Intermediate Length
Y1/YA.1515 STICK, Crook, Jointed. Mk.2, Lower Length
Y1/YA.1517 STICK, Crook, Jointed. Mk.2, Top Length
Y1/YA.1518 STICK, Crook, Jointed. Mk.2, Strap - 2 ft 4 in by 3/4 in with sliding loop.

There are others:

Y1/YA.1524 STICK, Crook, 14-ft (in two sections) for use with poled cable.

Y1/YA.1519 STICK, Crook, Long (7-ft 6-in)

Y1/YA.1522 STICK, Crook, Short, dismounted services (3-ft 1.1/2-in) for dismounted work.

The 14-ft one is for use with the 18-ft (two piece) telegraph pole for overhead lines (poled cable), the 'Long' for laying cable from a vehicle - to position it in the ditch, out of the way, and the 'short' for the various backpack cable layers and the drum barrow when laying or reeling-in.

There are also a couple of "PIKE, Pole" items, one 7-ft 6.1/2-in, the other 12-ft 6.1/2-in - used for putting "skyhooks" into trees to make overhead crossings, etc.

The stores codes are sequential (in alphabetical order) because the items pre-dated the numbering system (possibly by as much as a century, in some cases), and the numbers were allotted using the then current V.A.O.S. in the late 1930s (possibly as late as 1940).



Chris.