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[sheddyian]

I went to the Science Museum in London again recently; they currently have an exhibition called "The Information Age", which covers different networks that have changed the world - starting with telegraphs, then radio/television and through to the internet.  If you're visiting London anytime, it's worth a look (and is free).  There are plenty of lovely old items of telegraph and telephone history to be looked at!

There's a gallery of objects online as well, can be viewed here http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/online_science/explore_our_collections/objects?collection=SCM+-+Telecommunications

(gallery includes an example of a Britannia Soldered Wire Joint for B*Cat    http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/online_science/explore_our_collections/objects/index/smxg-8006840)

Ian

[burakkucat]

Thank you for the link. It was interesting to see items that I recognised.

(gallery includes an example of a Britannia Soldered Wire Joint for B*Cat    http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/online_science/explore_our_collections/objects/index/smxg-8006840)

That shows a very heavy-duty version of the joint and well illustrates the joint construction.

[roseway]

Are you saying that Openreach don't do it that way now?

[tickmike]

When I first started on the railway we used that type of joint on the carriage wiring  .

That one in the photo looks like it's got PVC tape on it we used the old black cloth tape type and painted the joints under the carriage with tar to water proof them and the cable was held with wooden cleats.
 
Then crimps came out, UN-insulated ones first ( I still have a tin full of them and only used one a few weeks a go to extend our cooker cable, crimped it and then soldered it and insulated it).

[phi2008]

The telegraph was where it all began, if you haven't already read it get a copy of "The Victorian Internet".

Beginning with the Abbe Nollet's famous experiment of 1746, when he successfully demonstrated that electricity could pass from one end to the other of a chain of two hundred monks, Tom Standage tells the story of the spread of the telegraph and its transformation of the Victorian world. The telegraph was greeted by all the same concerns, hype, social panic and excitement that now surround the Internet, and Standage provides both a fascinating insight into the past and a context in which to think rather differently of today's concerns.