# Lineman Talk



## genmin (Dec 16, 2009)

Can any experienced lineman tell me the industry name of the twisted braided wire with an eyelet that is used for pulling the neutral wire and anchoring the service wires to the service pole. It is the type that is intertwined into the unsheathed wire to support the weight of all wires between poles or at a service drop. Also, what is the correct name for the same device that the telephone lineman use to pull and anchor their flat cable to a pole. It is a stainless wire with a stainless slide feature that as the cable pulls back from it,s source it begins to sag and therefore tightens. And please do not tell me that these are called "cable grips". I need to find a source for them and by googling "cable grips", only the braided type for pulling wire or strain reliefs is what I find. All help is appreciated, Thanks


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## Fault Current (Jan 22, 2014)

*Grip*

The wire used to anchor the ACSR to insulator rack is called a helical dead end grip but has other slang terms, like cable stay, basket, whatever.

I"ll have to ask a phone guy for the phone drop grip, forget the name,


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## DuMass (Feb 6, 2008)

Around here they're called dead end guy wraps or just dead ends for short. The ones for telephone drops are called wedge clamps or parallel drop clamps. Some of the phone guys call them P-clamps for short, but if you ask for P-clamps at most supply houses you'll probably just get some small wrap around pipe clamps instead. They also make those wedge lock clamps for larger power cables. I have some here in my shop sized for 2/0. Graybar or a utility supplier that is willing to sell to you is where you can get them.


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## EcHoMaN (Jan 17, 2014)

Messenger wire or cable....


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## txgencon (Jan 4, 2011)

The one used for duplex, triplex and quadraplex cable around here has a solid steel bail. The official supply chain description for this item is "service wedge clamp". Linemen call it a "bare grabber" ('cause it sounds just like "bear grabber"). It's nickname comes from the fact that it "grabs" the bare neutral conductor on the aforementioned cables. I got one out of garage (for #4) and took the photo shown below:

Home depot has these (service wedge clamps).

eBay has the ones for telephone cables...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/5pcs-Aerial...aultDomain_0&hash=item2a368482da#ht_25wt_1312


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

Messenger wire.


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## RonBurgundyTheLineman (1 mo ago)

Sounds like you're talking about a cable dead-end or what's commonly called a "preform" or a "strand preform". Piece of pre formed steel cable that braids into itself on top of a cable or end of steel strand with a loop on the end. We use them for attaching guy wires, pulling strand, and otherwise holding tension without a cable grip or "mule clamp".


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