A trolley pole is a tapered cylindrical pole of wood or metal, used to transfer electricity from a "live" overhead wire to the control and the electric traction motors of a tram or trolley bus. The use of overhead wire in a system of current collection is reputed to be the 1880 invention of Frank J. Sprague, while the first working trolley pole was developed and demonstrated by Charles Van Depoele, in autumn 1885.
Read more about Trolley Pole: Origin of The Term, Description of The Device, Single- and Double-pole Usage, Decline in Usage On Railways
Famous quotes containing the word pole:
“Oh Sleep! it is a gentle thing,
Beloved from pole to pole!
To Mary Queen the praise be given!
She sent the gentle sleep from Heaven,
That slid into my soul.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)