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At the end of the 19th century London telegraph wires were run underground through big pipes that carried gas and sewage. When they pulled the wire wrong, they employed an interesting technique to fix it:
One of these lateral wires was hauled out to be repaired. The men doing this work failed to attach to it a leading line, by which the wire could be drawn through again. The means employed to correct the error were very unique.
A large rat, with a fine steel wire, was put in the pipe. Behind there was thrust a ferret. The rat ran from the ferret a short distance and stopped. It was feared that he would show fight and be killed. But he started on again.
He ran through the whole length of the pipe, and brought out the wire in good style, though closely pushed by the ferret.
Huh! I always assumed they used leprechauns.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by rleigh on Wednesday November 28 2018, @01:42PM (6 children)
I saw them using fireworks when they were running fibre through the cable TV ducts on my street! Put rocket in pipe, attached to reel of fibre, set it going down the pipe, and someone at an open manhole a few hundred yards away gets the cable delivered in just a few seconds. Looked fun!
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Fnord666 on Wednesday November 28 2018, @03:10PM (2 children)
I've used a paper cone with a string attached that was pushed by blowing air through the tube. This sounds like more fun but may be a bit hard on existing cables in the tube.
(Score: 5, Informative) by richtopia on Wednesday November 28 2018, @04:30PM
I re-purposed some empty 1" diameter PVC pipes in a rental house for CAT6. I vacuumed a rag tied to a string to complete the pull.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by EETech1 on Thursday November 29 2018, @03:36AM
Some guys I saw in Louisville were using a crossbow with a reel mounted on it.
They just shot the bolts through the ceiling to the other end of the warehouse, and then pulled the CAT6 with the string.
Never even bothered to give us a heads up.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 28 2018, @03:14PM (1 child)
really? solid-fueled rockets in a confined space together with cables that contain rubber and plastic? In horizontal pipes? I have doubts.
(Score: 2) by rleigh on Wednesday November 28 2018, @10:13PM
You might be right. This was well over 25 years ago, and I didn't get a very close up view of the process. However, the conduits were brand new and this was the first stuff being laid, so it wouldn't have damaged any of the other cables or fibres since all the conduits were empty. Not sure how much damage a rocket would do to the pipe itself since I've never tried it!
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 28 2018, @04:55PM
I'm seen CO2 cartridges used this way, but not firework-style rockets.