"Chewing through lead! How do they know something is worth it on the other side?"
I wish I knew, it's something I've been curious about since I first saw the photos. Perhaps it's because lead can taste sweet, or there's residual smell on the outside of the cables, or maybe they've learned from elsewhere where the telephone pairs exit the main cables.
Incidentally, it's a long time since I've seen those photos but I vividly remember them as it seemed so strange. I'm almost certain the photos were in the Electrical Engineering Supplemently Volumes of the Newnes Encyclopedia. (The exact name(s) of the supplemently volumes could be slightly different, memory's short given the length of time since I've last seen them. BTW, I think there were four supplemently volumes.)
I wish I knew, it's something I've been curious about since I first saw the photos. Perhaps it's because lead can taste sweet, or there's residual smell on the outside of the cables, or maybe they've learned from elsewhere where the telephone pairs exit the main cables.
Incidentally, it's a long time since I've seen those photos but I vividly remember them as it seemed so strange. I'm almost certain the photos were in the Electrical Engineering Supplemently Volumes of the Newnes Encyclopedia. (The exact name(s) of the supplemently volumes could be slightly different, memory's short given the length of time since I've last seen them. BTW, I think there were four supplemently volumes.)
Edit: I've since found this reference but I don't remember that number of volumes, perhaps we only had part of the set or I just can't remember: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/newnes-complete-elect...