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Preface

Intended Use and Level


Electrical Wiring—Industrial is intended for use in industrial wiring courses at two-year
community and technical colleges. The text walks the reader step-by-step through an indus-
trial building, providing the basics on installing industrial wiring systems. An accompanying
set of plans at the back of the book shows students how the concepts learned in each chapter
are applied to an actual industrial building. This pairing of theory and application helps stu-
dents understand and meet requirements set forth by the National Electrical Code® (NEC®).

Subject and Approach


The sixteenth edition of Electrical Wiring—Industrial is based on the 2017 NEC. The NEC
is the basic standard for the layout and construction of electrical systems. To gain the greatest
­benefit from this text, the learner must use the NEC on a continuing basis.

In addition to the NEC, the instructor should provide the learner with
­applicable state and local wiring regulations as they may affect the indus-
trial installation.

In addition to the accurate interpretation of the requirements of the NEC, the successful
completion of any wiring installation requires the electrician to have a thorough understand-
ing of basic electrical principles, a knowledge of the tools and materials used in installations,
familiarity with commonly installed equipment and the specific wiring requirements of the
equipment, the ability to interpret electrical construction drawings, and a constant awareness
of safe wiring practices.
Electrical Wiring—Industrial builds upon the knowledge and experience gained from
working with the other texts in the Delmar Cengage Learning electrical wiring series and
related titles. The basic skills developed through previous applications are now directed
to industrial installations. The industrial electrician is responsible for the installation of
electrical service, power, lighting, and special systems in new construction; the change-
over from old systems to new in established industrial buildings; the provision of addi-
tional electrical capacity to meet the growth requirements of an industrial building; and
periodic maintenance and repair of the various systems and components in the building.

vii

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viii PREFACE

Features This edition of Electrical Wiring—Industrial


An introduction to plans and sitework is the topic of was completed after all normal steps of revis-
the first chapter in the book, providing explanations ing the NEC NFPA 70 were taken and before
of identifying symbols and interpreting the plans in the actual issuance and publication of the 2017
order to help orient the student to the industrial job edition of the NEC. These steps include the
site. Examples are integrated into the text and take ­following:
the student step by step through problems, to illus- • The National Fire Protection Association
trate how to derive solutions using newly introduced (NFPA) solicits proposals for the 2017 NEC.
mathematical formulas and calculations. Industrial • Interested parties submit proposals to the
building drawings are included in the back of the NFPA.
book, offering students the opportunity to apply the
• Proposals are sent to Code-Making Panels
concepts that they have learned in each chapter as
(CMPs).
they step through the wiring process. Review ques-
tions at the end of each chapter allow students to test • CMPs and the Technical Correlating
what they have learned and to target any sections Committee review proposals.
that require further review. • Report on Proposals document is published.
• Interested parties submit comments on the
proposals to the NFPA.
New to this Edition
• CMPs and Technical Correlating Committee
• Updated to the 2017 National Electrical Code review comments.
• Extended coverage of motor installation • Report on comments document is published.
• Extended coverage of service entrances • Review of all Proposals and Comments is
conducted at the NFPA Annual Meeting.
• Additional information concerning transformers
• New motions are permitted to be made at the
• Instruction on selecting conductors for
NFPA Annual Meeting.
­equipment
• Finally, the Standard Council meets to
• Additional information concerning motor
review actions made at the NFPA Annual
­control symbols
Meeting and to authorize publication of the
To access additional course materials including NEC.
MindTap, please visit www.cengagebrain.com. At
Every effort has been made to be technically
the CengageBrain.com home page, search for the
correct, but there is the possibility of typographical
ISBN of your title (from the back cover of your
errors or appeals made to the NFPA board of direc-
book) using the search box at the top of the page.
tors after the normal review process that could result
This will take you to the product page where these
in reversal of previous decisions by the CMPs.
resources can be found.
If changes in the NEC do occur after the
printing of this book, these changes will be incor-
porated in the next printing.
The NFPA has a standard procedure to intro-
duce changes between Code cycles after the
actual NEC is printed. These are called Tentative
Interim Amendments, or TIAs. TIAs and cor-
rected typographical errors can be downloaded
from the NFPA website, http://www.nfpa.org, to
make your copy of the Code current.

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
PREFACE ix

Supplements p­latform, or a Learning Management System.


MindTap is a new personal learning experience that
The Instructor Companion Website contains an combines all your digital assets—readings, multi-
Instructor Guide in PDF format with answers to all media, activities, and assessments—into a singular
review questions included in the book. Two sets of learning path to improve student outcomes.
PowerPoint presentations are available as well: as MindTap Electricity for Electrical Wiring—
chapter presentations and a series of topical pre- Industrial has been specially designed for the 16th
sentations. To round out your resource package, edition to provide interactive learning activities,
we have included an Image Gallery, and Cengage study tools, and assessments ready to integrate with
Learning Testing Powered by Cognero. your learning management system.
Cengage Learning Testing Powered by Cognero To access additional course material, including
is a flexible, online system that allows you to: MindTap, please visit www.CengageBrain.com. At
• author, edit, and manage test bank content from the CengageBrain.com home page, search for the
multiple Cengage Learning solutions ISBN (from the back cover of the book), using the
search box at the top of the page. This will take
• create multiple test versions in an instant
you to the product page where the resources can be
• deliver tests from your LMS, your classroom, found.
or wherever you want.
To access the Instructor Companion Website
from SSO Front Door: About the Author
1. Go to http://login.cengage.com and log in using Stephen L. Herman has been both a teacher of
the Instructor e-mail address and password. industrial electricity and an industrial electrician
2. Enter author, title, or ISBN in the Add a title to for many years. He received his formal education
your bookshelf search box, and click Search. at Catawba Valley Technical College in Hickory,
3. Click Add to My Bookshelf to add Instructor North Carolina. After working as an industrial elec-
Resources. trician for several years, he became the Electrical
Installation and Maintenance instructor at Randolph
4. At the product page, click the Instructor Technical College in Asheboro, North Carolina.
­Companion site link. After nine years, he returned to industry as an elec-
trician. Mr. Herman later became the lead Electrical
New Users Technology instructor at Lee College in Baytown,
Texas. After serving 20 years at Lee ­ College,
If you’re new to Cengage.com and do not have a he retired from teaching and now lives with his
password, contact your sales representative. wife in Pittsburg, Texas. Mr. Herman has received
the ­Halliburton Education Foundation’s award for
excellence in teaching. He has been a guest speaker
Mindtap® Electricity for Electrical at professional organizations and has three times
Wiring—Industrial been a judge for the national motor control competi-
MindTap® is more than an eBook, a homework tion at Skills USA.
solution, a resource center, a course ­
­ delivery

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Acknowledgments

The author and publisher wish to thank the following reviewers for their contributions:

Salvador P. Aranda Paul V. Westrom


Savannah Technical College New England Institute of Technology
Savannah, Georgia Greenwich, Rhode Island

Mike Brumback DeWain Belote


York Technical College Pinellas Tech Educational Center
Rock Hill, South Carolina St. Petersburg, Florida

Tom Hoops Les Brinkley


North Lake College Ashtabula County JVC
Irving, Texas Ashtabula, Ohio

Chad Kurdi Al Clay


Dunwoody College of Technology Pittsburg, Texas
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Warren Dejardin
Richard Moore Northeast Wisconsin Technical College
Wake Technical Community College Oneida, Wisconsin
Raleigh, North Carolina
Thomas Lockett
Alan Stanfield Vatterott College
Southern Crescent Technical College Quincy, Illinois
Griffin, Georgia

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Acknowledgments xi

Special thanks to Mike Forister for his thorough technical review of the Code content, and to Diane
­ obsiger, Electrical Instructor at Delta College in University Center, Michigan, for her detailed technical
L
review of the 16th edition.
The author also wishes to thank the following companies for their contributions of data, illustrations, and
technical information:

Air-Temp Division, Chrysler Corporation Eaton Corp.Cutler-Hammer Products


Allen-Bradley Co., Systems Division Edwards Co., Inc
Allen-Bradley Co., Drives Division ESE
Allis Chalmers G&W Electrical Specialty Co.
American Standard Co. General Electric Co.
ARCO Electrical Products Corp. Jensen Electric Company
Audisone Inc. Kellems Division, Harvey Hubble, Inc.
Biddle Instruments Wm. J. O’Connell and Stipes Publishing
Bulldog Electrical Products Co. ­Company
Burndy Co. Square D Company
Clarage Fan Co. Uticor Technology
Crouse-Hinds ECM Westinghouse Electric Corporation

Applicable tables and section references are reprinted with permission from NFPA 70-2017, the National
Electrical Code,® Copyright © 2016, National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, Massachusetts 02269.
This reprinted material is not the complete and official position of the National Fire Protection Association on
the referenced subject, which is represented only by the standard in its entirety.

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Chapter 1

Plans and Sitework

Objectives
After studying this chapter, the student should be able to
• read site plans to determine the location of the specific
items.
• select materials for electrical sitework.
• identify underground wiring methods.
• perform International System of Units (SI) to English
and English to SI conversions.
• calculate metric measurements.
• make measurements using a set of plans and a scale.

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
2 Chapter 1   Plans and Sitework

Construction Plans after the final grading. The responsibility of who


does the ditch-work (general contractor or electri-
An electrician who has previously wired a resi- cian) is usually agreed upon before the contract is
dence or a commercial building is familiar with awarded.
electrical floor plans and symbols. Although the Figure 1-1 gives the standard symbols used on
electrical plans and symbols are basically simi- construction site plans for contour lines and other
lar for an industrial building project, additional features.
emphasis is often placed on the sitework. The
electrician must continually coordinate and work
with the general foreman who is employed by the Benchmark
general contractor.
The benchmark (BM), as given on the site plan,
After the contract for the project is awarded,
is the reference point from which all elevations are
the electrical contractor must inspect the site plans
located. The benchmark elevation is established by
to determine the approximate location of the indus-
the surveyor responsible for the preliminary survey
trial building on the site, as well as the locations of
of the industrial site. This BM elevation is related to
underground wiring, raceways, and manholes. The
a city datum or to the mean sea level value for the
contractor then moves a trailer to the site and locates
site. The elevation is usually given in feet and tenths
it so that it will require a minimal amount of reloca-
of a foot. For example, an elevation of 123.4 ft is
tion during construction. This trailer is used to store
read as “one hundred twenty-three and four-tenths
materials and tools during the construction of the
feet.” Table 1-1 is used in making conversions from
building.
tenths of a foot to inches.

Building Location
Elevations
The building location is given on the site plan
by referring to existing points such as the center- The electrician must give careful attention to the
line of a street. If the electrical contractor and the elevations of the proposed building. These details
crew arrive on the site before the general contractor are shown on Sheet Z-1 of the enclosed plans for the
arrives, they are not required to “stake out” (locate) industrial building. These drawings provide valuable
the building. However, they should be able to deter- information concerning the building construction.
mine its approximate location. A site plan, such as Measurements on the elevations may be a plus or a
the one given on Sheet Z-1 of the industrial build- minus reference to the BM elevation as given on the
ing plans included in this text, shows the property site plan.
lines and the centerlines of the street from which
the electrician can locate the building and other site Invert Elevation
improvements.
When an invert elevation (INV) is given, this
quantity indicates the level of the lower edge of
 Explanation of Plan Symbols the inside of a conduit entering the manhole (this
conduit is usually the lower one in an installation).
Contour Lines Refer ahead to Figure 1-19.
Contour lines are given on the site plan to
indicate the existing and the new grading levels. Measuring Building Plans
If the required underground electrical work is
to be installed before the grading is complete, It is sometimes necessary to determine lengths
trenches must be provided with enough depth to and dimensions from a set of building plans. Building
ensure that the installations have the proper cover plans are drawn to a specific scale, and can therefore

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Chapter 1   Plans and Sitework 3

Standard format Other symbols Standard format Other symbols


symbols and indications symbols and indications

BM-1-680.0 Benchmark — BM EL. 680.0 Light standard


Number — Elevation

TB-1 Test boring — Number Existing tree to remain 10" Oak


10" diam. oak
350.0 Existing spot elevation to change + 350.0 Existing tree to be removed 10" Oak
10" diam. oak
352.0 Existing spot elevation to remain + 352.0 W Water main (size) 6" W

354.0 New spot elevation + 354.0 T Telephone line (underground)

Existing spot elevation +360.0 Power line (underground)


P
New spot elevation +362.0

240
240 G Gas main (size) 4" G
Existing contour to change . . .

240 O Fuel oil line (size) 1" O


Existing contour to remain 240

244 244 Sanitary sewer (size) 12" SAN


New contour SAS

406 Storm sewer (size)


STS 24" ST
Existing contour
New contour 404

COS Combined sewer (size) 18" S


108
Existing contour to change
Final contour or proposed contour 104 6" DR. T.
DRT Drain tile (size)

Fire hydrant FENCE


x x x x Fence (or required construction fence)

MH Manhole MH-4-680.0 CLL


Contract limit line
(Number — Rim elevation)
MH EL. 680.0
Manhole — Rim elev. — Inv. elev. PRL Property line
INV. EL. 675.5

CB Catch basin (Rim elevation) CB 680.0 Centerline (as of a street)

Curb inlet (Inlet elevation) 680.0 New building

Drainage inlet — Inlet elevation DR 680.0 Existing building to remain

Existing building to be removed


Power and/or telephone pole T P

FIGURE 1-1 Site plan symbols.

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4 Chapter 1   Plans and Sitework

to measure distances requires determining the length


Table 1-1 represented by each mark on the ruler. If the ruler
Conversions of tenths of a foot to inches. is divided into 12 inches and each inch is divided
Tenths Decimal Fractional into 16 parts, each 1/16 inch mark would represent a
­distance of 3.125 feet or 31/8 feet (50'/16).
0.1 ft 1.2 in. 13⁄16 in.
A device called a scale is generally used to make
0.2 ft 2.4 in. 23⁄8 in.
measurements of building plans. Scales physically
0.3 ft 3.6 in. 35⁄8 in.
look like a ruler, but are marked differently. There
0.4 ft 4.8 in. 413⁄16 in.
are two basic types of scales: architect and engineer.
0.5 ft 6 in. 6 in.
Architect scales use common fractions to determine
0.6 ft 7.2 in. 7 ⁄16 in.
3
lengths. House plans are generally drawn to a scale
0.7 ft 8.4 in. 83⁄8 in.
of 1/4" = 1', or 1/8" = 1'. This is the same as saying that
0.8 ft 9.6 in. 95⁄8 in.
the scale is 1" = 4', but commercial and industrial
0.9 ft 10.8 in. 10 ⁄16 in.
13
buildings are generally too large to be drawn to this
scale. If a building is 500 feet in length it would
require a minimum of 125 inches to draw the build-
be used to determine distances by measurement. ing at a scale of 1" = 4'. For this reason, plans for
Electrical contractors must sometimes use building commercial and industrial building are draw to a
plans to estimate the cost of materials such as con- much larger scale. An engineer scale would be used
duit, wire, and fittings in order to bid on a job. To esti- when working with a plan of this type. The engineer
mate lengths with a common ruler can be extremely scale contains scales that work with factors of 10,
difficult and inaccurate. The composite site plan such as 1" = 10', 1" = 30', and up to 1" = 60'. Scales
shown on page Z1 of the plans provided in the text are generally triangular shaped to permit six differ-
indicates a scale of 1" = 50'. Using a c­ ommon ruler ent scales on one measuring device, Figure 1-2.

1" = 10'

1" = 50'

1" = 20'

1" = 40'

1" = 30'

1" = 60'

FIGURE 1-2 Scales are triangular shaped to permit them to provide six different scale values.

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Chapter 1   Plans and Sitework 5

Reading the Scale Above the 0 is a smaller number 12, and above
the 1 is a smaller number 11, and above the 2 is a
Reading a scale may seem difficult until you smaller number 10. These smaller numbers permit
understand a few basic principles. A portion of the the scale to be read from the opposite end. Like the
1" = 10' scale is shown in Figure 1-3. The scale is larger numbers, mentally add a zero to each. This
divided into 12 one-inch segments like a common scale represents a scale of 1" = 10'. Since it contains
ruler, but there are 10 marks between each of the a total of 12 inches, it can measure a total length of
1 inch divisions. To better understand how to use this 120 feet.
scale, mentally add a zero after the numbers shown. Because the composite site plan is drawn to
The number 1 becomes 10 and the number 2 becomes a scale of 1" = 50', the 1" = 50' scale will be dis-
20. Since this scale is designed to represent a scale of cussed next. Like the previous example, to better
1" = 10', the first inch mark would represent 10 feet. understand how to use this scale, mentally add a
There are 10 hash marks between 0 and 1. Each hash zero after each number. The 2 becomes 20 and the
mark, therefore, represents a distance of 1 foot. A 4 becomes 40. At a length of 1 linear inch the scale
larger hash mark midway between the inch marks is represents a distance of 50 feet, Figure 1-4. The
added for convenience. There are also 10 hash marks scale is divided by larger and smaller hash marks.
between the 1 and 2. Adding a mental zero after the 2 The space between each of the larger hash marks
would indicate that it represents a distance of 20 feet. represents a distance of 10 feet. There are 10 smaller
The first hash mark after the 1-inch mark or 10 feet hash marks between each of the larger. Each of the
mark would indicate a distance of 11 feet. small hash marks represents a distance of 1 foot.

1" 1"
11'
5' 10' 20'
1'

FIGURE 1-3 The 1" = 10' scale.

1"
40'
30'
20' 50'
10'

Figure 1-4 The 1" = 50' scale.

Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
6 Chapter 1   Plans and Sitework

The smaller numbers show above the larger numbers Testing the Site for Grounding
permits the scale to be read from the opposite end. Requirements
The number above the 0 is 60. By mentally adding a
zero, 60 becomes 600. This scale can measure a total When determining the site for a building, one of the
distance of 600 feet. most important considerations is the system ground.
Proper grounding helps protect against transient cur-
rents, electrical noise, and lightning strikes. Several
methods can be used to test the electrical grounding sys-
Sitework
tem. The effectiveness of the grounding system greatly
There may be requirements for several different depends on the resistivity of the earth at the location of
types of electrical systems to be installed on the site the system ground. The resistivity of the earth varies
apart from the building itself. The electrician should greatly throughout the world and even within small
review the plans and specifications carefully to be areas. Many factors affect the earth’s resistivity such
aware of all requirements. It is then the responsibil- as soil type (clay, shell, sand, etc.), moisture content,
ity of the electrical contractor/electrician to ensure electrolyte content (acids, salts, etc.), and temperature.
that these requirements are met and that installations In theory, the system ground is considered to
are made at the most advantageous time and in a have a resistance of zero because it is connected to
fashion that will not conflict with sitework being system grounds everywhere, via the neutral con-
carried out by other trades. ductor, Figure 1-5. In actual practice, however, the

Neutral conductors

Service panel

Neutral bus

Grounding rod

FIGURE 1-5 All neutral conductors are bonded together, forming a continuous grounding system.
Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Chapter 1   Plans and Sitework 7

c­ urrent carrying capacity of the grounding system


can vary greatly from one area to another.

Testing
There are different methods for determining the
resistivity of the grounding system. An old method
used by electricians for many years is to connect a
100-watt lamp between the ungrounded (hot) con-
ductor and the grounding conductor, Figure 1-6. To
perform this test, the grounding conductor must be
disconnected from the neutral bus in the panel. The
brightness of the lamp gives an indication of the
effectiveness of the grounding system. Although this
test indicates whether the grounding system works, it
does not indicate the actual resistance of the system.
To measure the actual resistance of the grounding

Courtesy of AEMC® Instruments


system requires the use of special equipment such as
a ground resistance tester, Figure 1-7. There are three
main tests used to measure ground resistance: the
Wenner four-point test, the three-point fall-of-poten-
tial test, and the clamp-on ground resistance test.
FIGURE 1-7 Ground resistance tester.
The Wenner Four-Point Method
The Wenner four-point test is generally performed
before building construction begins. This method measures the ground resistance over a wide area. The
results are used in designing the grounding system to
ensure that it performs properly. This test requires the
use of a 4-pole ground resistance meter, four metal
rods, and conductors. The four rods are driven into
the ground in a straight line, with equal space between
each rod, Figure 1-8. To perform this test, the ground
resistance tester produces a known amount of current
Circuit breaker
between rods C1 and C2, producing a voltage drop
across rods P1 and P2. The amount of voltage drop
is proportional to the amount of current and ground
resistance. Readings are generally taken with probes
C1 and C2 spaced 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 60, 80, and
100-watt lamp 100 feet apart. If possible, it is recommended to per-
form the test with the probes spaced 150 feet apart.
Grounding conductor The calculated soil resistance is the average of the
soil resistance from the surface to a depth equal to the
Grounding rod
space between the probes. If the probes are set 30 feet
apart, for example, each probe will provide an average
resistance measurement from the surface to a depth
of 30 feet. The tests should not only be made with the
FIGURE 1-6 A 100-watt lamp is used to test the
probes spaced different distances apart but also with
grounding system. the probes in different directions from a central point.
If the site is large enough, it is generally recommended
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8 Chapter 1   Plans and Sitework

Ground resistance meter

C1 P1 P2 C2

Voltage drop
Current flow

FIGURE 1-8 The Wenner four-point test.

to perform the test along at least two sides, generally 3. a voltage probe that is inserted at various dis-
from one corner to the other. It should be noted that tances between the grounding rod and the cur-
underground structures such as metal water pipes rent probe (C). The voltage probe is placed in
can influence the readings. The best results will be a straight line between the grounding rod and
obtained by gathering as much data as possible. the current probe.

Ideally, the current probe (B) should be placed at


Three-Point Fall-of-Potential Test a distance that is at least 10 times the length of the
The fall-of-potential test requires the use of a grounding rod (A), Figure 1-9. If the grounding
ground resistance meter. It is performed after the rod is 8 feet in length, the current probe should be
installation of the grounding system and should be placed at least 80 feet from the grounding rod.
done annually to ensure the quality of the grounding To perform this test, the grounding rod must be dis-
system. Annual testing provides protection against connected (electrically isolated) from the neutral bus
the degradation of the system before damage to in the service panel. Failure to do so will completely
equipment and performance problems occur. invalidate the test. The meter provides a known amount
In the three-point fall-of-potential test, the three of current that flows from the current probe and back
points of ground contact are to the meter through the system grounding rod. The
resistance of the earth causes a voltage drop that is
1. the system ground (grounding rod) (point A); measured between the current probe and the voltage
2. a current probe placed some distance from the probe. The amount of voltage drop is proportional to
grounding rod (point B); and the amount of current flow and the ground resistance.

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Chapter 1   Plans and Sitework 9

System grounding Voltage Current


rod (A) probe (C) probe (B)

FIGURE 1-9 The three-point fall-of-potential test.

Resistance readings should be taken at several loca- 3. The neutral conductor supplied by the utility
tions by moving the voltage probe a distance equal to company ties innumerable grounds together in
10% of the distance between the system grounding parallel. The clamp-on ground tester measures
rod and the current probe. If performed properly, the the effective resistance of the entire grounding
three-point ground resistance test is the most accurate system.
method of determining ground resistance. 4. Because this test is performed by a clamp-on
meter, there are no connections that have to
be broken or reconnected, resulting in a safer
The Clamp-On Ground
procedure, Figure 1-10.
Resistance Test
The clamp-on ground resistance tester, Figure 1-11,
The clamp-on ground resistance test requires the contains two transformers. One transformer induces
use of a special clamp-on ground resistance meter. a small fixed voltage at approximately 2 kHz on the
This test has several advantages over the three-point grounding conductor. If a path exists, the voltage will
fall-of-potential test. result in a current flow. The path is provided by the
grounding system under test, the utility neutral, and
1. The service grounding system does not have to the utility grounding system. The second transformer
be disconnected and isolated from the neutral inside the meter senses the amount of current at the
bus. unique frequency provided by the first transformer.
2. There are no probes that have to be driven into The amount of current is proportional to the induced
the ground or long connecting conductors. voltage and the resistance of the grounding system. The

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10 Chapter 1   Plans and Sitework

Utility neutral
conductor

Neutral bus

Grounding electrode conductor

Courtesy of AEMC® Instruments


Clamp-on
ground tester

Grounding rod

FIGURE 1-11 Ground resistance tester.

FIGURE 1-10 The clamp-on ground resistance


personnel from injury. Grounding is generally thought
test.
of as connecting a system to earth via a grounding
electrode, as shown in Figure 1-10. In reality, ground-
ing is connecting a circuit to a common point of refer-
meter uses the two known electrical quantities to calcu- ence. Almost all grounded systems are connected to
late the resistance of the grounding system. earth, which is a common point of reference, but the
The information gathered from these tests is earth generally does not provide the low-impedance
used to help determine the best grounding method path necessary to protect against ground-fault cur-
for the electrical installation. In some cases it rents. NEC 250.4(A)(5) states, The earth shall not be
may be necessary to employ multiple ground rods considered an effective ground-fault current path.*
­connected together, Figure 1-12, or other types of Grounding not only provides a low-impedance
grounding electrodes as discussed in NEC 250.50, path for fault currents, but it also provides a common
250.52, and 250.53. point of reference for different electrical systems
and voltages, Figure 1-13. A low-impedance path
exists from the alternator supplying power to the last
Grounding and Bonding Considerations
device connected to the circuit. The alternator has
Many technicians and electricians pay little atten- an output of 13.8 kV, which is stepped up to 138 kV
tion to grounding and know only the basic require- for transmission. The voltage is stepped back down
ments specified by the National Electrical Code. to 13.8 kV at a unit substation. The plant substa-
However, grounding is one of the most important tion steps the voltage down to 480 volts to feed the
parts of any electrical installation. Proper grounding
protects circuits and equipment from destruction and *Source: NFPA 70-2017

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Chapter 1   Plans and Sitework 11

plant bus system. Other 3-phase and s­ingle-phase


transformers are powered by the plant bus. A ­battery
backup system is used by an uninterruptable power
supply. All of these different power systems and
Utility neutral
conductor voltages are connected together via grounding con-
ductors. Grounding is also used to protect against
lightning, static electricity, and the influence of
Neutral bus high frequency. It should be noted, however, that
the grounding requirements listed in the National
Electrical Code are intended for direct current and
60-hertz AC systems. These ­requirements may not
provide an effective ground for high frequency.
Alternating current systems are subject to skin
Grounding electrode conductor effect, which is the tendency of electrons to move
toward the surface of a conductor, Figure 1-14.
The higher the frequency, the greater the skin
effect. At a frequency of 10 MHz, a 6 AWG cop-
per conductor may exhibit a resistance of several
thousand ohms. High-frequency circuits must be
Grounding rod
grounded with a conductor that contains a large sur-
face area, such as braided cable or wide copper tape.

Safety
Besides providing a common point of connection
FIGURE 1-12 It is sometimes necessary to for different systems and voltages, grounding plays
connect multiple grounding electrodes together. a large part in the safety of equipment and personal.

138 kV 13.8 kV
Alternator (Transmission Line) (Plant Service Entrance)
13.8 kV

480 V
(Plant Substation)
(Plant Bus System)

Battery

240/120 V 1 Phase Battery Back-up


208/120 V 3 Phase

FIGURE 1-13 A low-impedance ground is connected throughout the system.

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12 Chapter 1   Plans and Sitework

30 A 16.5 A

16.5 A

13.85 A

FIGURE 1-16 One-stator windings develop a short


to the case of the motor.

The phase current will be 13.85 A (277/20).


Because the stator windings are connected in wye,
the line current will be the same as the phase cur-
rent. Now assume that one of the phase windings
develops a shorted winding to ground. If only part of
the winding is shorted, the motor may still operate
FIGURE 1-14 Alternating current causes electrons with an increase of current on two of the lines, and
to move toward the surface of the conductor. This the current may not be sufficient to cause the circuit
action is called skin effect.
breaker to open, Figure 1-16.
If the case of the motor is not grounded, there is
no complete circuit for current flow, which causes
When the grounding system is properly installed the case of the motor to exhibit a voltage of approxi-
and maintained, it provides a low-impedance path to mately 277 volts to ground. Anyone touching the
ground. A common saying among people in the elec- motor is in danger of electrocution. The resistance of
trical trades is that current follows the path of least the human body can vary from as low as 500 ohms
resistance. There is some truth to that idea, but it is to as high as 600,000 ohms. Assume that a person
not the whole truth. Current will behave in the man- touching the motor has a resistance of 1000 ohms
ner dictated by Ohm’s law. Assume that a 3-phase, to ground. That would produce a current flow of
480-volt motor is protected by a 30-ampere circuit approximately 277 mA, which is about three times
breaker. Also assume that the stator windings have the amount necessary to cause death.
an impedance of 20 ohms. If the stator windings are If the motor is properly grounded, Figure 1-17,
connected in wye, Figure 1-15, each winding will the grounding conductor will provide a very low-
have an applied voltage of 277 volts (480/1.732). impedance path to ground. The low-impedance

30 A 16.5 A

30 A 13.85 A

16.5 A

13.85 A

13.85 A

13.85 A

Grounding conductor

FIGURE 1-15 A 3-phase motor is connected to FIGURE 1-17 A grounding conductor provides a
480 volts. low-impedance path to ground.

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Chapter 1   Plans and Sitework 13

grounding conductor forces the motor case to exist at are lengths of wire used to connect the equipment
ground potential, and the shock hazard is eliminated. to the ­grounding system. Some examples of where
Also, the current path to ground will very likely bonding jumpers are required are around impaired
cause enough current flow for the circuit breaker to connections such as reducing washers or oversized,
open. It should be noted that grounding conductors concentric, or eccentric knockouts. Metallic boxes,
should be installed in the same conduit as circuit con- raceways, cable trays, cable sheath, armored cable,
ductors; otherwise, the impedance of the grounding metal water pipes, and exposed parts of metal build-
conductor may increase due to inductance. ings are also required to be bonded, Figure 1-18.

Bonding
Interpreting the Site Plan
Bonding is used to connect the metal parts
of equipment or building structure to the ground- Notations that do not normally appear on a site plan
ing system. The NEC states that Bonding shall have been added to plan Z1 of the plans located in
be provided where necessary to ensure electrical the back of the text. These notations are aids used to
continuity and the capacity to conduct safely any locate specific spots on the plan. The notations are
fault current likely to be imposed.* Article 250 of identified by an asterisk followed by a number such
the NEC lists the requirements and specifications as *1, *2, and so on.
for the bonding of equipment. Bonding jumpers Refer to the Composite Site Plan. Note the
benchmark located in the southeast quadrant of the
*Source: NFPA 70-2017 plan. This is the point at which the surveyor began

Utility neutral
conductor
Bonding jumper

Neutral bus

Bonding jumper

Grounding electrode conductor Bonding jumper

Metal water pipe Grounding clamp

Grounding rod

FIGURE 1-18 Bond jumpers are used to connect electrical parts to ground.

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14 Chapter 1   Plans and Sitework

measuring the elevations seen on the plan. Notice until the cables are pulled in. The telephone company
that some of the elevation lines have crossing hash later removes this cap and extends the conduit up the
marks. The hash marks indicate that that section of pole to the point of connection. The conduit is then
the elevation is to be changed. Locate the contour sealed with a special telephone fitting or with a com-
lines for 748 and 749. Parts of these lines have pound known as gunk. A long sweep conduit elbow
crossing hash marks and parts do not. Only the sec- or quarter bend is installed at the base of the pole. At
tions denoted with hash marks are to be changed. the lowest point of this fitting, a small V-groove is
The new elevations are shown with dark heavy cut or a 3⁄8 in. (9.5 mm) hole is drilled for moisture
lines. These dark heavy lines are shown to connect drainage. This drainage hole is known as a weep
at some point with the existing contour lines. The hole. A small dry well is then constructed below the
elevation of the connecting contour line indicates weep hole and is filled with rocks. A pull wire (fish
what the new elevation is intended to be. At position wire) is installed in the raceway from the pole to the
*1, located in the upper southwest quadrant, a heavy junction box at the point where it enters the building.
dark line connects with the 749 elevation line. The In general, 12-gauge galvanized wire is used as the
area indicated by the new contour line is to be 749. fish wire, but a nylon string will do as well.
Locate the new contour line connecting with the 749
contour line at *2. Trace this line to the point where it Direct Burial Wiring
intersects with the layout of the building. Notice that
the entire building is positioned in an area marked by The electrician may have a choice of several
these two new contour lines. This indicates that the methods of installing underground wiring. The selec-
building site is to be changed to a uniform 749 ft in tion of the method to be used depends on the type of
preparation for pouring the concrete slab. materials available and whether provisions are to be
The site plan indicates that the industrial building made for replacing the conductors. If direct burial
has an elevation of 751.5 ft. This is the elevation of cable is used, Figure 1-20, care must be taken to pro-
the poured concrete slab. The difference in elevation tect the cable from damage. For example, the cable
between the finished slab height and finished ground can be installed in the ground to a greater depth than
elevation is the thickness of the concrete slab. In this that at which normal digging takes place. Added pro-
example the concrete slab will be poured to a thick- tection is obtained by placing a treated board over the
ness of 30 in. cable to provide a shield against digging and probing
New spot elevations are used to indicate an near the cable. The cable should also be surrounded
elevation different from that marked by the plot by a layer of sand to prevent any abrasion of the
plan. For example, locate the new contour line at *3. cable by sharp stones and other objects in the soil.
This new contour line connects to the 747 contour
line. Now locate the new spot elevation at position Underground Raceways
*4. The arrow points to the curb inlet drain. The curb
inlet drain is located in an area that is indicated to be Although underground raceways are more
747 ft. The new spot elevation, however, shows that expensive to install, they provide many advantages
the curb inlet drain is to be 0.3 ft (90 mm) lower than that direct burial installations do not, such as permit-
the surrounding area. ting the removal of the original conductors and/or the
installation of new conductors with higher current or
voltage ratings. Underground raceways are available
Telephone Service in a number of different materials, including rigid
Telephone service is provided by conduit that metal conduit and rigid nonmetallic conduit.
runs from the telephone pole. The conduit runs Rigid metal conduit can be installed directly
underground at a minimum depth of 18 in. (450 mm) in the soil if (300.5 and 300.6 of the National
and then is run up the telephone pole for a distance of Electrical Code [NEC]):
8 ft (2.5 m), Figure 1-19. A temporary standard pole • ferrous conduits (iron or steel) do not rely
cap is installed to protect the equipment from water solely on enamel for corrosion protection;

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Chapter 1   Plans and Sitework 15

A Treated pole
B
B Pole cap
C
C Fish wire

D Trade size 2 rigid metal conduit, intermediate metal conduit,


or schedule 80 pvc [NEC 300.5(D)(4)]
Minimum 8 ft (2.5 m)
E Long sweep ell
above finished grade
A
[NEC 300.5(D)(1)]
F Dry well

G Underground raceway
D
H Grade
H E

Minimum 18-in. (450-mm) cover (NEC Table 300.5)


Minimum of 1/6 of
total pole length

G F

FIGURE 1-19 Telephone service installation.

• the conduit is made of a material judged suit- large or sharply angular substances, or corrosive
able for the condition; and material.
• the conduit is not placed in an excavation that Special precautions should be taken when using
contains large rocks, paving materials, cinders, nonferrous conduit (aluminum) to prevent the c­ onduit

Finished grade

Fill dirt

24-in. (600-mm)
minimum

Treated running board


6 in. (150 mm) of sand

Cable approved for


direct burial

FIGURE 1-20 An installation of direct burial cable.

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16 Chapter 1   Plans and Sitework

from contacting sodium chloride (salt) mixtures. conduit must be encased in not less than 2 in.
Concrete mixes often use such mixtures to lower (50 mm) of concrete.
the freezing temperature of the green concrete. The NEC Article 344 gives the installation require-
chemical reaction between the aluminum and the salt ments for rigid metal conduit and NEC Article 352
may cause the concrete to fracture or spall (chip or covers rigid polyvinyl chloride conduit type PVC.
fragment). When protection is desired or required for The minimum requirements for the installation
the type of raceway used, concrete is poured around of conduit and cables underground are given in NEC
the conduit, as shown in Figure 1-21, with at least Table 300.5. The general installation requirements
2 in. (50 mm) of cover in compliance with NEC Table are as follows.
300.5. For direct burial cables:
The use of rigid polyvinyl chloride conduit type • the minimum burial depth is 24 in. (600 mm);
PVC is covered in NEC Article 352. These conduits
may be used: • where necessary, additional protection is to
be provided, such as sand, running boards, or
• concealed in walls, floors, and ceilings; sleeves;
• under cinder fill; • a residential exception permits cable burial to a
• in locations subject to severe corrosive conditions; depth of only 12 in. (300 mm) with GFCI pro-
• in dry and damp locations; tection; NEC Table 300.5, column 4.
• exposed where not subject to physical damage; For rigid polyvinyl chloride conduit type PVC:
and • the minimum burial depth is 18 in. (450 mm);
• underground. • a 12 in. (300 mm) burial depth is permitted if a
If the electrical system to be installed operates 2 in. (50 mm) concrete cover is provided over
at a potential higher than 600 volts, the nonmetallic conduit;

Fill

6 in. (150 mm) minimum for rigid


metal conduit (RMC)
Earth 18 in. (450 mm) minimum for
other raceways
12 in. (300 mm) with concrete
encasement

2 in.
(50 mm)
minimum

Concrete encasements are


required for certain
types of raceways Plastic support permits concrete
to flow under and around raceway

FIGURE 1-21 Concrete encasement of raceways.

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Chapter 1   Plans and Sitework 17

• a 24 in. (600 mm) burial depth is required in ber and size of raceways and conductors that are to
areas subjected to heavy vehicular traffic. be installed. The drain is an important part of the
For rigid conduit: installation because it removes moisture and allows
the manhole to remain relatively dry. If a storm sewer
• the minimum burial depth is 6 in. (150 mm);
is not available for drainage, the installation of a dry
• a 24 in. (600 mm) burial depth is required in well is an alternate choice.
areas subjected to heavy vehicular traffic.
Lighting Standards
Manholes
Most types of area lighting standards require
Underground raceways terminate in underground the installation of a concrete base, Figure 1-23. The
manholes similar to the one shown in Figure 1-22. manufacturer of the lighting standard should provide
These manholes vary in size depending on the num- a template for the placement of the anchor bolts. If

Manhole rim Manhole cover Grade elevation

Manhole
head

Backfill

SEE NEC ARTICLE 110 PART V

Cable rack
May be concrete
or brick

Invert elevation

Pulling ring

Trap Conduit

Drain

FIGURE 1-22 Typical manhole.

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18 Chapter 1   Plans and Sitework

Grounding conductor

5/8 in. threaded anchor bolt

Grade
1 ft (305 mm) minimum

Trade size 2
rigid metal
conduit
3 ft (914 mm)
minimum
Bushing

5/8 in. x 8 ft copper


weld grounding rod

FIGURE 1-23 Typical concrete base for area lighting standard.

the manufacturer fails to provide a template for the and metric dimensions in their catalogs. Plans and
placement of anchor bolts, the electrician should specifications for governmental new construction
supply the general contractor with the template. and renovation projects have been using SI metric
The conduit installed in the base should be supplied measurements since January 1, 1994. You may not
with bushings on the ends to protect the cables. It feel comfortable with the metric system, but metric
is important that proper grounding be achieved at measurements are here to stay. You might just as
each lighting standard. A grounding conductor shall well get familiar with the metric system.
be installed with the supply conductors as the earth Some common measurements of length in the
cannot be the sole grounding path; see 250.54. This English system are shown with their SI metric equiv-
section also permits the installation of supplemen- alents in Table 1-2.
tary grounding electrodes as shown in Figure 1-23. The NEC and other National Fire Protection
It is mandatory that all conductive parts, includ- Association (NFPA) Standards are becoming inter-
ing the grounding electrode, base, bolts, and con- national standards. All measurements in the 2014
duits, be bonded together to achieve comprehensive NEC are shown with SI metric values first, followed
grounding. See 250.2, 250.134, and 250.54. by the inch-pound or English value in parenthe-
ses—for example, 600 mm (24 in.). The NEC often
refers to English units of measure as inch-pound
Metrics (SI) and the NEC because they are standard units of measurement in
the English system.
The United States is the last major country in the In Electrical Wiring—Industrial, ease in
world not using the metric system as the primary understanding is of utmost importance. Therefore,
system. We have been very comfortable using English values are shown first, followed by SI
English or U.S. customary values, but this is chang- metric values in parentheses—for example, 24 in.
ing. Manufacturers are now showing both English (600 mm).

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Chapter 1   Plans and Sitework 19

A hard metric measurement is where a product


Table 1-2 has been redesigned to standard SI metric dimen-
English and metric comparisons. sions. No conversion from English measurement
English Units NEC SI Units SI Units units is involved. A hard conversion is where an
existing product is redesigned into a new size.
0.25 in. 6 mm 6.3500 mm
In the 2014 edition of the NEC, existing English
0.5 in. 12.7 mm 12.7000 mm
dimensions did not change. SI metric conversions were
0.62 in. 15.87 mm 15.8750 mm
made, then rounded off. Please note that when com-
1.0 in. 25 mm 25.4000 mm
paring calculations made by both English and metric
1.25 in. 32 mm 31.7500 mm
systems, slight differences will occur as a result of the
2 in. 50 mm 50.8000 mm
rounding off of values. These differences are not sig-
3 in. 75 mm 76.2000 mm
nificant, and calculations for both systems are therefore
4 in. 100 mm 101.6000 mm
valid. Where rounding off would create a safety hazard,
6 in. 150 mm 152.4000 mm
the metric conversions are mathematically identical.
8 in. 200 mm 203.2000 mm
For example, if a dimension is required to be
9 in. 225 mm 228.6000 mm
6 ft, it is shown in the NEC as 1.8 m (6 ft). Note
1 ft 300 mm 304.8000 mm
that the 6 ft remains the same, and the metric value
1.5 ft 450 mm 457.2000 mm
of 1.83 m has been rounded off to 1.8 m. This edi-
2 ft 600 mm 609.6000 mm
tion of Electrical Wiring—Industrial reflects these
2.5 ft 750 mm 762.0000 mm
rounded-off changes. In this text, the English mea-
3 ft 900 mm 914.4000 mm
surement is shown first—for example, 6 ft (1.8 m).
4 ft 1.2 m 1.2192 m
5 ft 1.5 m 1.5240 m
6 ft 1.8 m 1.8288 m Trade Sizes
6.5 ft 2.0 m 1.9182 m
Trade sizes of raceways or conduit refer to the
8 ft 2.5 m 2.4384 m
inside diameter of the conduit. A section of ½-in.
9 ft 2.7 m 2.7432 m
conduit, for example, would have an inside diameter
10 ft 3.0 m 3.0480 m
of ½ in. It is interesting to note that these measure-
12 ft 3.7 m 3.6576 m
ments are not correct.
15 ft 4.5 m 4.5720 m
Raceway sizes have always been an approxima-
18 ft 5.5 m 5.4864 m
tion. For example, there has never been a 1⁄2 in. race-
20 ft 6.0 m 6.0960 m
way! Measurements taken from the NEC for a few
22 ft 6.7 m 6.7056 m
types of raceways are shown in Table 1-3.
25 ft 7.5 m 7.6200 m
30 ft 9.0 m 9.1440 m
35 ft 11.0 m 10.6680 m
Table 1-3
40 ft 12.0 m 12.1920 m
50 ft 15.0 m 15.2400 m Trade size of raceways vs. actual inside
75 ft 23.0 m 22.8600 m
diameter.
100 ft 30.0 m 30.4800 m Inside Diameter
Trade Size (I.D.)
1
⁄2 Electrical Metal Tubing 0.622 in.
1
⁄2 Electrical Nonmetallic Tubing 0.560 in.
A soft metric conversion is when the dimensions 1
⁄2 Flexible Metal Conduit 0.635 in.
of a product already designed and manufactured to 1
⁄2 Rigid Metal Conduit 0.632 in.
the English system have their dimensions converted 1
⁄2 Intermediate Metal Conduit 0.660 in.
to SI metric dimensions. The product does not
change in size.

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20 Chapter 1   Plans and Sitework

Table 1-4 Table 1-5


This table shows the metric designator for This table compares the trade size of a knockout
raceways through trade size 3. with the actual measurement of the knockout.
METRIC DESIGNATOR AND TRADE SIZE Trade Size Knockout Actual Measurement

Metric Designator Trade Size 1


⁄2 7
⁄8 in.
3
⁄4 13⁄32 in.
12 3
⁄8
1 13⁄8 in.
16 1
⁄2
21 3
⁄4
27 1
35 11⁄4 Conduit knockouts in boxes do not measure up
41 11⁄2 to what we call them. Table 1-5 shows trade size
53 2 knockouts and their actual measurements.
63 21⁄2 Outlet boxes and device boxes use their nomi-
78 3 nal measurement as their trade size. For example, a
4 in.  4 in.  11⁄2 in. does not have an internal cubic-
inch area of 4 in.  4 in.  11⁄2 in. 5 24 cubic inches.
Table 314.16(A) shows this size box as having an
You can readily see that the cross-sectional area of 21 in.3 This table shows trade sizes in two
areas, critical when determining conductor fill, are columns—millimeters and inches.
different. It makes sense to refer to conduit, race- Table 1-6 provides the detailed dimensions of
way, and tubing sizes as trade sizes. The NEC in some typical sizes of outlet and device boxes in both
90.9(C)(1) states that where the actual measured metric and English units.
size of a product is not the same as the nominal In practice, a square outlet box is referred to as
size, trade size designators shall be used rather than 4 3 4 3 11⁄2-inch square box, 40 3 40 3 11⁄20 square
dimensions. Trade practices shall be followed in all box, or trade size 4 3 4 3 11⁄2 square box. Similarly,
cases.* This edition of Electrical Wiring—Industrial a single-gang device box might be referred to as a
uses the term trade size when referring to conduits, 3 3 2 3 3-inch device box, a 30 3 20 3 30-deep
raceways, and tubing. For example, instead of 1⁄2 in. device box, or a trade size 3 3 2 3 3 device box. The
electrical metal tubing (EMT), it is referred to as box type should always follow the trade size numbers.
trade size 1⁄2 EMT. Trade sizes for construction material will not
The NEC also uses the term metric designa- change. A 2 3 4 is really a name, not an actual
tor. A 1⁄2 in. EMT is shown as metric designator dimension. A 2 3 4 stud will still be referred to as a
16 (1⁄2). A 1 in. EMT is shown as metric designa- 2 3 4 stud. This is its trade size.
tor 27 (1). The numbers 16 and 27 are the metric In this text, measurements directly related to the
designator values. The (1⁄2) and (1) are the trade NEC are given in both inch-pound and metric units.
sizes. The metric designator is the raceways’ In many instances, only the inch-pound units are
inside diameter—in rounded-off millimeters shown. This is particularly true for the examples of
(mm). Table 1-4 shows some of the more common raceway calculations, box fill calculations, and load
sizes of conduit, raceways, and tubing. A com- calculations for square foot areas, and on the plans
plete table is found in the NEC, Table 300.1(C). (drawings). To show both English and metric mea-
Because of possible confusion, this text uses only surements on a plan would certainly be confusing
the term trade size when referring to conduit and and would really clutter up the plans, making them
raceway sizes. difficult to read.
Because the NEC rounded off most SI metric
conversion values, a calculation using SI metric
*Source: NFPA 70-2017 units results in a different answer when compared

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Chapter 1   Plans and Sitework 21

NEC® Table 1-6


Table 314.16(A) Metal Boxes
Minimum Maximum Number of Conductors*
Box Trade Size Volume (arranged by AWG size)

mm in. cm3 in.3 18 16 14 12 10 8 6

100 3 32 (4 3 1¼) round/octagonal 205 12.5 8 7 6 5 5 5 2


100 3 38 (4 3 1½) round/octagonal 254 15.5 10 8 7 6 6 5 3
100 3 54 (4 3 21∕8) round/octagonal 353 21.5 14 12 10 9 8 7 4
100 3 32 (4 3 1¼) square 295 18.0 12 10 9 8 7 6 3
100 3 38 (4 3 1½) square 344 21.0 14 12 10 9 8 7 4
100 3 54 (4 3 21∕8) square 497 30.3 20 17 15 13 12 10 6
120 3 32 (411∕16 3 1¼) square 418 25.5 17 14 12 11 10 8 5
120 3 38 (4 ∕16 3 1½)
11 square 484 29.5 19 16 14 13 11 9 5
120 3 54 (411∕16 3 21∕8) square 689 42.0 28 24 21 18 16 14 8
75 3 50 3 38 (3 3 2 3 1½) device 123 7.5 5 4 3 3 3 2 1
75 3 50 3 50 (3 3 2 3 2) device 164 10.0 6 5 5 4 4 3 2
75 3 50 3 57 (3 3 2 3 2¼) device 172 10.5 7 6 5 4 4 3 2
75 3 50 3 65 (3 3 2 3 2½) device 205 12.5 8 7 6 5 5 4 2
75 3 50 3 70 (3 3 2 3 2¾) device 230 14.0 9 8 7 6 5 4 2
75 3 50 3 90 (3 3 2 3 3½) device 295 18.0 12 10 9 8 7 6 3
100 3 54 3 38 (4 3 2 ∕8 3 1½)
1 device 169 10.3 6 5 5 4 4 3 2
100 3 54 3 48 (4 3 21∕8 3 17∕8) device 213 13.0 8 7 6 5 5 4 2
100 3 54 3 54 (4 3 2 ∕8 3 2 ∕8)
1 1 device 238 14.5 9 8 7 6 5 4 2
95 3 50 3 65 (3¾ 3 2 3 2½) masonry box/gang 230 14.0 9 8 7 6 5 4 2
95 3 50 3 90 (3¾ 3 2 3 3½) masonry box/gang 344 21.0 14 12 10 9 8 7 4
min. 44.5 depth FS — single cover/gang (1¾) 221 13.5 9 7 6 6 5 4 2
min. 60.3 depth FD — single cover/gang (23∕8) 295 18.0 12 10 9 8 7 6 3
min. 44.5 depth FS — multiple cover/gang (1¾) 295 18.0 12 10 9 8 7 6 3
min. 60.3 depth FD — multiple cover/gang (23∕8) 395 24.0 16 13 12 10 9 8 4

*
Where no volume allowances are required by 314.16(B)(2) through (B)(5).

Reprinted with permission from NFPA 70®, National Electrical Code®, Copyright © 2016, National Fire Protection Association, Quincy,
MA. This reprinted material is not the complete and official position of the NFPA on the referenced subject, which is represented only by the
standard in its entirety.

with the same calculation done using English units The difference is small, but nevertheless, there is a
of measure. For example, load calculations for a difference.
residence are based on 3 volt-amperes per square To show calculations in both units throughout
foot or 33 volt-amperes per square meter. this text would be very difficult to understand and
For a 40 ft 3 50 ft dwelling: would take up too much space. Calculations in
either SI metric units or English units are in compli-
3 VA  40 ft  50 ft  6000 volt-amperes ance with 90.9(D). NEC 90.9(C)(3) states that where
industrial practice is to express units in inch-pound
In SI metric units of measure, using the rounded- units, the inclusion of SI units shall not be required.
off values in the NEC: It is interesting to note that the examples in
Chapter 9 of the NEC use inch-pound units, not
33 VA  12 m  15 m  5940 volt-amperes metrics.
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22 Chapter 1   Plans and Sitework

Guide to Metric Usage to the unit, such as kilo-, forms the new name kilo-
watt, meaning 1000 watts. Refer to Table 1-7 for
The metric system is a base-10 or decimal prefixes used in the numerical systems.
system in that values can be easily multiplied or Certain prefixes shown in Table 1-7 have a pref-
divided by 10 or powers of 10. The metric system erence in usage. These prefixes are mega-, kilo-, the
as we know it today is known as the International unit itself, centi-, milli-, micro-, and nano-. Consider
System of Units (SI) derived from the French term le that the basic metric unit is a meter (one). Therefore,
Système International d’Unités. a kilometer is 1000 meters, a centimeter is 0.01
In the United States, it is the practice to use meter, and a millimeter is 0.001 meter.
a period as the decimal marker and a comma to The advantage of the SI metric system is that
separate a string of numbers into groups of three recognizing the meaning of the proper prefix lessens
for easier reading. In many countries, the comma the possibility of confusion.
has been used in lieu of the decimal marker, and In this text, when writing numbers, the names
spaces are left to separate a string of numbers into are often spelled in full, but when used in calcula-
groups of three. The SI system, taking something tions, they are abbreviated. For example: m for
from both, uses the period as the decimal marker meter, mm for millimeter, in. for inch, and ft for
and the space to separate a string of numbers into foot. It is interesting to note that the abbreviation
groups of three, starting from the decimal point for inch is followed by a period (12 in.), but the
and counting in either direction. For example, abbreviation for foot is not followed by a period
12345.789 99. An exception to this is when there (6 ft). Why? Because ft. is the abbreviation for
are four numbers on either side of the decimal fort.
point. In this case, the third and fourth numbers
from the decimal point are not separated. For
example, 2015.1415. Summary
In the metric system, the units increase or
decrease in multiples of 10,100,1000, and so on. For As time passes, there is no doubt that metrics will be
instance, one megawatt (1,000,000 watts) is 1000 commonly used in this country. In the meantime, we
times greater than one kilowatt (1000 watts). need to take it slow and easy. The transition will take
By assigning a name to a measurement, such as time. Table 1-8 shows useful conversion factors for
a watt, the name becomes the unit. Adding a prefix converting English units to metric units.

Table 1-7
Numerical system prefixes.
Name Exponential Metric (SI) Script Customary

mega (10 )
6
1 000 000 one million 1,000,000
kilo (10 )
3
1 000 one thousand 1000
hecto (102) 100 one hundred 100
deka 10 ten 10
unit 1 one 1
deci (10 )
−1
0.1 one-tenth 1/10 or 0.1
centi (10−2) 0.01 one-hundredth 1/100 or 0.01
milli (10−3) 0.001 one-thousandth 1/1000 or 0.001
micro (10−6) 0.000 001 one-millionth 1/1,000,000 or 0.000,001
nano (10−9) 0.000 000 001 one-billionth 1/1,000,000,000 or 0.000,000,001

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DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI

Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least


the Newala of to-day does; there was once another Newala in a lovely
valley at the foot of the plateau. I visited it and found scarcely a trace
of houses, only a Christian cemetery, with the graves of several
missionaries and their converts, remaining as a monument of its
former glories. But the surroundings are wonderfully beautiful. A
thick grove of splendid mango-trees closes in the weather-worn
crosses and headstones; behind them, combining the useful and the
agreeable, is a whole plantation of lemon-trees covered with ripe
fruit; not the small African kind, but a much larger and also juicier
imported variety, which drops into the hands of the passing traveller,
without calling for any exertion on his part. Old Newala is now under
the jurisdiction of the native pastor, Daudi, at Chingulungulu, who,
as I am on very friendly terms with him, allows me, as a matter of
course, the use of this lemon-grove during my stay at Newala.
FEET MUTILATED BY THE RAVAGES OF THE “JIGGER”
(Sarcopsylla penetrans)

The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,


some 1,600 feet lower down. The way is not only long and fatiguing,
but the water, when we get it, is thoroughly bad. We are suffering not
only from this, but from the fact that the arrangements at Newala are
nothing short of luxurious. We have a separate kitchen—a hut built
against the boma palisade on the right of the baraza, the interior of
which is not visible from our usual position. Our two cooks were not
long in finding this out, and they consequently do—or rather neglect
to do—what they please. In any case they do not seem to be very
particular about the boiling of our drinking-water—at least I can
attribute to no other cause certain attacks of a dysenteric nature,
from which both Knudsen and I have suffered for some time. If a
man like Omari has to be left unwatched for a moment, he is capable
of anything. Besides this complaint, we are inconvenienced by the
state of our nails, which have become as hard as glass, and crack on
the slightest provocation, and I have the additional infliction of
pimples all over me. As if all this were not enough, we have also, for
the last week been waging war against the jigger, who has found his
Eldorado in the hot sand of the Makonde plateau. Our men are seen
all day long—whenever their chronic colds and the dysentery likewise
raging among them permit—occupied in removing this scourge of
Africa from their feet and trying to prevent the disastrous
consequences of its presence. It is quite common to see natives of
this place with one or two toes missing; many have lost all their toes,
or even the whole front part of the foot, so that a well-formed leg
ends in a shapeless stump. These ravages are caused by the female of
Sarcopsylla penetrans, which bores its way under the skin and there
develops an egg-sac the size of a pea. In all books on the subject, it is
stated that one’s attention is called to the presence of this parasite by
an intolerable itching. This agrees very well with my experience, so
far as the softer parts of the sole, the spaces between and under the
toes, and the side of the foot are concerned, but if the creature
penetrates through the harder parts of the heel or ball of the foot, it
may escape even the most careful search till it has reached maturity.
Then there is no time to be lost, if the horrible ulceration, of which
we see cases by the dozen every day, is to be prevented. It is much
easier, by the way, to discover the insect on the white skin of a
European than on that of a native, on which the dark speck scarcely
shows. The four or five jiggers which, in spite of the fact that I
constantly wore high laced boots, chose my feet to settle in, were
taken out for me by the all-accomplished Knudsen, after which I
thought it advisable to wash out the cavities with corrosive
sublimate. The natives have a different sort of disinfectant—they fill
the hole with scraped roots. In a tiny Makua village on the slope of
the plateau south of Newala, we saw an old woman who had filled all
the spaces under her toe-nails with powdered roots by way of
prophylactic treatment. What will be the result, if any, who can say?
The rest of the many trifling ills which trouble our existence are
really more comic than serious. In the absence of anything else to
smoke, Knudsen and I at last opened a box of cigars procured from
the Indian store-keeper at Lindi, and tried them, with the most
distressing results. Whether they contain opium or some other
narcotic, neither of us can say, but after the tenth puff we were both
“off,” three-quarters stupefied and unspeakably wretched. Slowly we
recovered—and what happened next? Half-an-hour later we were
once more smoking these poisonous concoctions—so insatiable is the
craving for tobacco in the tropics.
Even my present attacks of fever scarcely deserve to be taken
seriously. I have had no less than three here at Newala, all of which
have run their course in an incredibly short time. In the early
afternoon, I am busy with my old natives, asking questions and
making notes. The strong midday coffee has stimulated my spirits to
an extraordinary degree, the brain is active and vigorous, and work
progresses rapidly, while a pleasant warmth pervades the whole
body. Suddenly this gives place to a violent chill, forcing me to put on
my overcoat, though it is only half-past three and the afternoon sun
is at its hottest. Now the brain no longer works with such acuteness
and logical precision; more especially does it fail me in trying to
establish the syntax of the difficult Makua language on which I have
ventured, as if I had not enough to do without it. Under the
circumstances it seems advisable to take my temperature, and I do
so, to save trouble, without leaving my seat, and while going on with
my work. On examination, I find it to be 101·48°. My tutors are
abruptly dismissed and my bed set up in the baraza; a few minutes
later I am in it and treating myself internally with hot water and
lemon-juice.
Three hours later, the thermometer marks nearly 104°, and I make
them carry me back into the tent, bed and all, as I am now perspiring
heavily, and exposure to the cold wind just beginning to blow might
mean a fatal chill. I lie still for a little while, and then find, to my
great relief, that the temperature is not rising, but rather falling. This
is about 7.30 p.m. At 8 p.m. I find, to my unbounded astonishment,
that it has fallen below 98·6°, and I feel perfectly well. I read for an
hour or two, and could very well enjoy a smoke, if I had the
wherewithal—Indian cigars being out of the question.
Having no medical training, I am at a loss to account for this state
of things. It is impossible that these transitory attacks of high fever
should be malarial; it seems more probable that they are due to a
kind of sunstroke. On consulting my note-book, I become more and
more inclined to think this is the case, for these attacks regularly
follow extreme fatigue and long exposure to strong sunshine. They at
least have the advantage of being only short interruptions to my
work, as on the following morning I am always quite fresh and fit.
My treasure of a cook is suffering from an enormous hydrocele which
makes it difficult for him to get up, and Moritz is obliged to keep in
the dark on account of his inflamed eyes. Knudsen’s cook, a raw boy
from somewhere in the bush, knows still less of cooking than Omari;
consequently Nils Knudsen himself has been promoted to the vacant
post. Finding that we had come to the end of our supplies, he began
by sending to Chingulungulu for the four sucking-pigs which we had
bought from Matola and temporarily left in his charge; and when
they came up, neatly packed in a large crate, he callously slaughtered
the biggest of them. The first joint we were thoughtless enough to
entrust for roasting to Knudsen’s mshenzi cook, and it was
consequently uneatable; but we made the rest of the animal into a
jelly which we ate with great relish after weeks of underfeeding,
consuming incredible helpings of it at both midday and evening
meals. The only drawback is a certain want of variety in the tinned
vegetables. Dr. Jäger, to whom the Geographical Commission
entrusted the provisioning of the expeditions—mine as well as his
own—because he had more time on his hands than the rest of us,
seems to have laid in a huge stock of Teltow turnips,[46] an article of
food which is all very well for occasional use, but which quickly palls
when set before one every day; and we seem to have no other tins
left. There is no help for it—we must put up with the turnips; but I
am certain that, once I am home again, I shall not touch them for ten
years to come.
Amid all these minor evils, which, after all, go to make up the
genuine flavour of Africa, there is at least one cheering touch:
Knudsen has, with the dexterity of a skilled mechanic, repaired my 9
× 12 cm. camera, at least so far that I can use it with a little care.
How, in the absence of finger-nails, he was able to accomplish such a
ticklish piece of work, having no tool but a clumsy screw-driver for
taking to pieces and putting together again the complicated
mechanism of the instantaneous shutter, is still a mystery to me; but
he did it successfully. The loss of his finger-nails shows him in a light
contrasting curiously enough with the intelligence evinced by the
above operation; though, after all, it is scarcely surprising after his
ten years’ residence in the bush. One day, at Lindi, he had occasion
to wash a dog, which must have been in need of very thorough
cleansing, for the bottle handed to our friend for the purpose had an
extremely strong smell. Having performed his task in the most
conscientious manner, he perceived with some surprise that the dog
did not appear much the better for it, and was further surprised by
finding his own nails ulcerating away in the course of the next few
days. “How was I to know that carbolic acid has to be diluted?” he
mutters indignantly, from time to time, with a troubled gaze at his
mutilated finger-tips.
Since we came to Newala we have been making excursions in all
directions through the surrounding country, in accordance with old
habit, and also because the akida Sefu did not get together the tribal
elders from whom I wanted information so speedily as he had
promised. There is, however, no harm done, as, even if seen only
from the outside, the country and people are interesting enough.
The Makonde plateau is like a large rectangular table rounded off
at the corners. Measured from the Indian Ocean to Newala, it is
about seventy-five miles long, and between the Rovuma and the
Lukuledi it averages fifty miles in breadth, so that its superficial area
is about two-thirds of that of the kingdom of Saxony. The surface,
however, is not level, but uniformly inclined from its south-western
edge to the ocean. From the upper edge, on which Newala lies, the
eye ranges for many miles east and north-east, without encountering
any obstacle, over the Makonde bush. It is a green sea, from which
here and there thick clouds of smoke rise, to show that it, too, is
inhabited by men who carry on their tillage like so many other
primitive peoples, by cutting down and burning the bush, and
manuring with the ashes. Even in the radiant light of a tropical day
such a fire is a grand sight.
Much less effective is the impression produced just now by the
great western plain as seen from the edge of the plateau. As often as
time permits, I stroll along this edge, sometimes in one direction,
sometimes in another, in the hope of finding the air clear enough to
let me enjoy the view; but I have always been disappointed.
Wherever one looks, clouds of smoke rise from the burning bush,
and the air is full of smoke and vapour. It is a pity, for under more
favourable circumstances the panorama of the whole country up to
the distant Majeje hills must be truly magnificent. It is of little use
taking photographs now, and an outline sketch gives a very poor idea
of the scenery. In one of these excursions I went out of my way to
make a personal attempt on the Makonde bush. The present edge of
the plateau is the result of a far-reaching process of destruction
through erosion and denudation. The Makonde strata are
everywhere cut into by ravines, which, though short, are hundreds of
yards in depth. In consequence of the loose stratification of these
beds, not only are the walls of these ravines nearly vertical, but their
upper end is closed by an equally steep escarpment, so that the
western edge of the Makonde plateau is hemmed in by a series of
deep, basin-like valleys. In order to get from one side of such a ravine
to the other, I cut my way through the bush with a dozen of my men.
It was a very open part, with more grass than scrub, but even so the
short stretch of less than two hundred yards was very hard work; at
the end of it the men’s calicoes were in rags and they themselves
bleeding from hundreds of scratches, while even our strong khaki
suits had not escaped scatheless.

NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR


MAHUTA

I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.

MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO


This is the general way of closing a house. The Makonde at Jumbe
Chauro, however, have a much more complicated, solid and original
one. Here, too, the door is as already described, except that there is
only one post on the inside, standing by itself about six inches from
one side of the doorway. Opposite this post is a hole in the wall just
large enough to admit a man’s arm. The door is closed inside by a
large wooden bolt passing through a hole in this post and pressing
with its free end against the door. The other end has three holes into
which fit three pegs running in vertical grooves inside the post. The
door is opened with a wooden key about a foot long, somewhat
curved and sloped off at the butt; the other end has three pegs
corresponding to the holes, in the bolt, so that, when it is thrust
through the hole in the wall and inserted into the rectangular
opening in the post, the pegs can be lifted and the bolt drawn out.[50]

MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY

With no small pride first one householder and then a second


showed me on the spot the action of this greatest invention of the
Makonde Highlands. To both with an admiring exclamation of
“Vizuri sana!” (“Very fine!”). I expressed the wish to take back these
marvels with me to Ulaya, to show the Wazungu what clever fellows
the Makonde are. Scarcely five minutes after my return to camp at
Newala, the two men came up sweating under the weight of two
heavy logs which they laid down at my feet, handing over at the same
time the keys of the fallen fortress. Arguing, logically enough, that if
the key was wanted, the lock would be wanted with it, they had taken
their axes and chopped down the posts—as it never occurred to them
to dig them out of the ground and so bring them intact. Thus I have
two badly damaged specimens, and the owners, instead of praise,
come in for a blowing-up.
The Makua huts in the environs of Newala are especially
miserable; their more than slovenly construction reminds one of the
temporary erections of the Makua at Hatia’s, though the people here
have not been concerned in a war. It must therefore be due to
congenital idleness, or else to the absence of a powerful chief. Even
the baraza at Mlipa’s, a short hour’s walk south-east of Newala,
shares in this general neglect. While public buildings in this country
are usually looked after more or less carefully, this is in evident
danger of being blown over by the first strong easterly gale. The only
attractive object in this whole district is the grave of the late chief
Mlipa. I visited it in the morning, while the sun was still trying with
partial success to break through the rolling mists, and the circular
grove of tall euphorbias, which, with a broken pot, is all that marks
the old king’s resting-place, impressed one with a touch of pathos.
Even my very materially-minded carriers seemed to feel something
of the sort, for instead of their usual ribald songs, they chanted
solemnly, as we marched on through the dense green of the Makonde
bush:—
“We shall arrive with the great master; we stand in a row and have
no fear about getting our food and our money from the Serkali (the
Government). We are not afraid; we are going along with the great
master, the lion; we are going down to the coast and back.”
With regard to the characteristic features of the various tribes here
on the western edge of the plateau, I can arrive at no other
conclusion than the one already come to in the plain, viz., that it is
impossible for anyone but a trained anthropologist to assign any
given individual at once to his proper tribe. In fact, I think that even
an anthropological specialist, after the most careful examination,
might find it a difficult task to decide. The whole congeries of peoples
collected in the region bounded on the west by the great Central
African rift, Tanganyika and Nyasa, and on the east by the Indian
Ocean, are closely related to each other—some of their languages are
only distinguished from one another as dialects of the same speech,
and no doubt all the tribes present the same shape of skull and
structure of skeleton. Thus, surely, there can be no very striking
differences in outward appearance.
Even did such exist, I should have no time
to concern myself with them, for day after day,
I have to see or hear, as the case may be—in
any case to grasp and record—an
extraordinary number of ethnographic
phenomena. I am almost disposed to think it
fortunate that some departments of inquiry, at
least, are barred by external circumstances.
Chief among these is the subject of iron-
working. We are apt to think of Africa as a
country where iron ore is everywhere, so to
speak, to be picked up by the roadside, and
where it would be quite surprising if the
inhabitants had not learnt to smelt the
material ready to their hand. In fact, the
knowledge of this art ranges all over the
continent, from the Kabyles in the north to the
Kafirs in the south. Here between the Rovuma
and the Lukuledi the conditions are not so
favourable. According to the statements of the
Makonde, neither ironstone nor any other
form of iron ore is known to them. They have
not therefore advanced to the art of smelting
the metal, but have hitherto bought all their
THE ANCESTRESS OF
THE MAKONDE
iron implements from neighbouring tribes.
Even in the plain the inhabitants are not much
better off. Only one man now living is said to
understand the art of smelting iron. This old fundi lives close to
Huwe, that isolated, steep-sided block of granite which rises out of
the green solitude between Masasi and Chingulungulu, and whose
jagged and splintered top meets the traveller’s eye everywhere. While
still at Masasi I wished to see this man at work, but was told that,
frightened by the rising, he had retired across the Rovuma, though
he would soon return. All subsequent inquiries as to whether the
fundi had come back met with the genuine African answer, “Bado”
(“Not yet”).
BRAZIER

Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I


came across in the bush near Akundonde’s. This man is the favourite
of women, and therefore no doubt of the gods; he welds the glittering
brass rods purchased at the coast into those massive, heavy rings
which, on the wrists and ankles of the local fair ones, continually give
me fresh food for admiration. Like every decent master-craftsman he
had all his tools with him, consisting of a pair of bellows, three
crucibles and a hammer—nothing more, apparently. He was quite
willing to show his skill, and in a twinkling had fixed his bellows on
the ground. They are simply two goat-skins, taken off whole, the four
legs being closed by knots, while the upper opening, intended to
admit the air, is kept stretched by two pieces of wood. At the lower
end of the skin a smaller opening is left into which a wooden tube is
stuck. The fundi has quickly borrowed a heap of wood-embers from
the nearest hut; he then fixes the free ends of the two tubes into an
earthen pipe, and clamps them to the ground by means of a bent
piece of wood. Now he fills one of his small clay crucibles, the dross
on which shows that they have been long in use, with the yellow
material, places it in the midst of the embers, which, at present are
only faintly glimmering, and begins his work. In quick alternation
the smith’s two hands move up and down with the open ends of the
bellows; as he raises his hand he holds the slit wide open, so as to let
the air enter the skin bag unhindered. In pressing it down he closes
the bag, and the air puffs through the bamboo tube and clay pipe into
the fire, which quickly burns up. The smith, however, does not keep
on with this work, but beckons to another man, who relieves him at
the bellows, while he takes some more tools out of a large skin pouch
carried on his back. I look on in wonder as, with a smooth round
stick about the thickness of a finger, he bores a few vertical holes into
the clean sand of the soil. This should not be difficult, yet the man
seems to be taking great pains over it. Then he fastens down to the
ground, with a couple of wooden clamps, a neat little trough made by
splitting a joint of bamboo in half, so that the ends are closed by the
two knots. At last the yellow metal has attained the right consistency,
and the fundi lifts the crucible from the fire by means of two sticks
split at the end to serve as tongs. A short swift turn to the left—a
tilting of the crucible—and the molten brass, hissing and giving forth
clouds of smoke, flows first into the bamboo mould and then into the
holes in the ground.
The technique of this backwoods craftsman may not be very far
advanced, but it cannot be denied that he knows how to obtain an
adequate result by the simplest means. The ladies of highest rank in
this country—that is to say, those who can afford it, wear two kinds
of these massive brass rings, one cylindrical, the other semicircular
in section. The latter are cast in the most ingenious way in the
bamboo mould, the former in the circular hole in the sand. It is quite
a simple matter for the fundi to fit these bars to the limbs of his fair
customers; with a few light strokes of his hammer he bends the
pliable brass round arm or ankle without further inconvenience to
the wearer.
SHAPING THE POT

SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB

CUTTING THE EDGE


FINISHING THE BOTTOM

LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE


BURNING

FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE


LIGHTING THE FARTHER SIDE OF
THE PILE

TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL

NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI


Pottery is an art which must always and everywhere excite the
interest of the student, just because it is so intimately connected with
the development of human culture, and because its relics are one of
the principal factors in the reconstruction of our own condition in
prehistoric times. I shall always remember with pleasure the two or
three afternoons at Masasi when Salim Matola’s mother, a slightly-
built, graceful, pleasant-looking woman, explained to me with
touching patience, by means of concrete illustrations, the ceramic art
of her people. The only implements for this primitive process were a
lump of clay in her left hand, and in the right a calabash containing
the following valuables: the fragment of a maize-cob stripped of all
its grains, a smooth, oval pebble, about the size of a pigeon’s egg, a
few chips of gourd-shell, a bamboo splinter about the length of one’s
hand, a small shell, and a bunch of some herb resembling spinach.
Nothing more. The woman scraped with the
shell a round, shallow hole in the soft, fine
sand of the soil, and, when an active young
girl had filled the calabash with water for her,
she began to knead the clay. As if by magic it
gradually assumed the shape of a rough but
already well-shaped vessel, which only wanted
a little touching up with the instruments
before mentioned. I looked out with the
MAKUA WOMAN closest attention for any indication of the use
MAKING A POT. of the potter’s wheel, in however rudimentary
SHOWS THE a form, but no—hapana (there is none). The
BEGINNINGS OF THE embryo pot stood firmly in its little
POTTER’S WHEEL
depression, and the woman walked round it in
a stooping posture, whether she was removing
small stones or similar foreign bodies with the maize-cob, smoothing
the inner or outer surface with the splinter of bamboo, or later, after
letting it dry for a day, pricking in the ornamentation with a pointed
bit of gourd-shell, or working out the bottom, or cutting the edge
with a sharp bamboo knife, or giving the last touches to the finished
vessel. This occupation of the women is infinitely toilsome, but it is
without doubt an accurate reproduction of the process in use among
our ancestors of the Neolithic and Bronze ages.
There is no doubt that the invention of pottery, an item in human
progress whose importance cannot be over-estimated, is due to
women. Rough, coarse and unfeeling, the men of the horde range
over the countryside. When the united cunning of the hunters has
succeeded in killing the game; not one of them thinks of carrying
home the spoil. A bright fire, kindled by a vigorous wielding of the
drill, is crackling beside them; the animal has been cleaned and cut
up secundum artem, and, after a slight singeing, will soon disappear
under their sharp teeth; no one all this time giving a single thought
to wife or child.
To what shifts, on the other hand, the primitive wife, and still more
the primitive mother, was put! Not even prehistoric stomachs could
endure an unvarying diet of raw food. Something or other suggested
the beneficial effect of hot water on the majority of approved but
indigestible dishes. Perhaps a neighbour had tried holding the hard
roots or tubers over the fire in a calabash filled with water—or maybe
an ostrich-egg-shell, or a hastily improvised vessel of bark. They
became much softer and more palatable than they had previously
been; but, unfortunately, the vessel could not stand the fire and got
charred on the outside. That can be remedied, thought our
ancestress, and plastered a layer of wet clay round a similar vessel.
This is an improvement; the cooking utensil remains uninjured, but
the heat of the fire has shrunk it, so that it is loose in its shell. The
next step is to detach it, so, with a firm grip and a jerk, shell and
kernel are separated, and pottery is invented. Perhaps, however, the
discovery which led to an intelligent use of the burnt-clay shell, was
made in a slightly different way. Ostrich-eggs and calabashes are not
to be found in every part of the world, but everywhere mankind has
arrived at the art of making baskets out of pliant materials, such as
bark, bast, strips of palm-leaf, supple twigs, etc. Our inventor has no
water-tight vessel provided by nature. “Never mind, let us line the
basket with clay.” This answers the purpose, but alas! the basket gets
burnt over the blazing fire, the woman watches the process of
cooking with increasing uneasiness, fearing a leak, but no leak
appears. The food, done to a turn, is eaten with peculiar relish; and
the cooking-vessel is examined, half in curiosity, half in satisfaction
at the result. The plastic clay is now hard as stone, and at the same
time looks exceedingly well, for the neat plaiting of the burnt basket
is traced all over it in a pretty pattern. Thus, simultaneously with
pottery, its ornamentation was invented.
Primitive woman has another claim to respect. It was the man,
roving abroad, who invented the art of producing fire at will, but the
woman, unable to imitate him in this, has been a Vestal from the
earliest times. Nothing gives so much trouble as the keeping alight of
the smouldering brand, and, above all, when all the men are absent
from the camp. Heavy rain-clouds gather, already the first large
drops are falling, the first gusts of the storm rage over the plain. The
little flame, a greater anxiety to the woman than her own children,
flickers unsteadily in the blast. What is to be done? A sudden thought
occurs to her, and in an instant she has constructed a primitive hut
out of strips of bark, to protect the flame against rain and wind.
This, or something very like it, was the way in which the principle
of the house was discovered; and even the most hardened misogynist
cannot fairly refuse a woman the credit of it. The protection of the
hearth-fire from the weather is the germ from which the human
dwelling was evolved. Men had little, if any share, in this forward
step, and that only at a late stage. Even at the present day, the
plastering of the housewall with clay and the manufacture of pottery
are exclusively the women’s business. These are two very significant
survivals. Our European kitchen-garden, too, is originally a woman’s
invention, and the hoe, the primitive instrument of agriculture, is,
characteristically enough, still used in this department. But the
noblest achievement which we owe to the other sex is unquestionably
the art of cookery. Roasting alone—the oldest process—is one for
which men took the hint (a very obvious one) from nature. It must
have been suggested by the scorched carcase of some animal
overtaken by the destructive forest-fires. But boiling—the process of
improving organic substances by the help of water heated to boiling-
point—is a much later discovery. It is so recent that it has not even
yet penetrated to all parts of the world. The Polynesians understand
how to steam food, that is, to cook it, neatly wrapped in leaves, in a
hole in the earth between hot stones, the air being excluded, and
(sometimes) a few drops of water sprinkled on the stones; but they
do not understand boiling.
To come back from this digression, we find that the slender Nyasa
woman has, after once more carefully examining the finished pot,
put it aside in the shade to dry. On the following day she sends me
word by her son, Salim Matola, who is always on hand, that she is
going to do the burning, and, on coming out of my house, I find her
already hard at work. She has spread on the ground a layer of very
dry sticks, about as thick as one’s thumb, has laid the pot (now of a
yellowish-grey colour) on them, and is piling brushwood round it.
My faithful Pesa mbili, the mnyampara, who has been standing by,
most obligingly, with a lighted stick, now hands it to her. Both of
them, blowing steadily, light the pile on the lee side, and, when the
flame begins to catch, on the weather side also. Soon the whole is in a
blaze, but the dry fuel is quickly consumed and the fire dies down, so
that we see the red-hot vessel rising from the ashes. The woman
turns it continually with a long stick, sometimes one way and
sometimes another, so that it may be evenly heated all over. In
twenty minutes she rolls it out of the ash-heap, takes up the bundle
of spinach, which has been lying for two days in a jar of water, and
sprinkles the red-hot clay with it. The places where the drops fall are
marked by black spots on the uniform reddish-brown surface. With a
sigh of relief, and with visible satisfaction, the woman rises to an
erect position; she is standing just in a line between me and the fire,
from which a cloud of smoke is just rising: I press the ball of my
camera, the shutter clicks—the apotheosis is achieved! Like a
priestess, representative of her inventive sex, the graceful woman
stands: at her feet the hearth-fire she has given us beside her the
invention she has devised for us, in the background the home she has
built for us.
At Newala, also, I have had the manufacture of pottery carried on
in my presence. Technically the process is better than that already
described, for here we find the beginnings of the potter’s wheel,
which does not seem to exist in the plains; at least I have seen
nothing of the sort. The artist, a frightfully stupid Makua woman, did
not make a depression in the ground to receive the pot she was about
to shape, but used instead a large potsherd. Otherwise, she went to
work in much the same way as Salim’s mother, except that she saved
herself the trouble of walking round and round her work by squatting
at her ease and letting the pot and potsherd rotate round her; this is
surely the first step towards a machine. But it does not follow that
the pot was improved by the process. It is true that it was beautifully
rounded and presented a very creditable appearance when finished,
but the numerous large and small vessels which I have seen, and, in
part, collected, in the “less advanced” districts, are no less so. We
moderns imagine that instruments of precision are necessary to
produce excellent results. Go to the prehistoric collections of our
museums and look at the pots, urns and bowls of our ancestors in the
dim ages of the past, and you will at once perceive your error.
MAKING LONGITUDINAL CUT IN
BARK

DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG

REMOVING THE OUTER BARK


BEATING THE BARK

WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT


SOFT

MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA


To-day, nearly the whole population of German East Africa is
clothed in imported calico. This was not always the case; even now in
some parts of the north dressed skins are still the prevailing wear,
and in the north-western districts—east and north of Lake
Tanganyika—lies a zone where bark-cloth has not yet been
superseded. Probably not many generations have passed since such
bark fabrics and kilts of skins were the only clothing even in the
south. Even to-day, large quantities of this bright-red or drab
material are still to be found; but if we wish to see it, we must look in
the granaries and on the drying stages inside the native huts, where
it serves less ambitious uses as wrappings for those seeds and fruits
which require to be packed with special care. The salt produced at
Masasi, too, is packed for transport to a distance in large sheets of
bark-cloth. Wherever I found it in any degree possible, I studied the
process of making this cloth. The native requisitioned for the
purpose arrived, carrying a log between two and three yards long and
as thick as his thigh, and nothing else except a curiously-shaped
mallet and the usual long, sharp and pointed knife which all men and
boys wear in a belt at their backs without a sheath—horribile dictu!
[51]
Silently he squats down before me, and with two rapid cuts has
drawn a couple of circles round the log some two yards apart, and
slits the bark lengthwise between them with the point of his knife.
With evident care, he then scrapes off the outer rind all round the
log, so that in a quarter of an hour the inner red layer of the bark
shows up brightly-coloured between the two untouched ends. With
some trouble and much caution, he now loosens the bark at one end,
and opens the cylinder. He then stands up, takes hold of the free
edge with both hands, and turning it inside out, slowly but steadily
pulls it off in one piece. Now comes the troublesome work of
scraping all superfluous particles of outer bark from the outside of
the long, narrow piece of material, while the inner side is carefully
scrutinised for defective spots. At last it is ready for beating. Having
signalled to a friend, who immediately places a bowl of water beside
him, the artificer damps his sheet of bark all over, seizes his mallet,
lays one end of the stuff on the smoothest spot of the log, and
hammers away slowly but continuously. “Very simple!” I think to
myself. “Why, I could do that, too!”—but I am forced to change my
opinions a little later on; for the beating is quite an art, if the fabric is
not to be beaten to pieces. To prevent the breaking of the fibres, the
stuff is several times folded across, so as to interpose several
thicknesses between the mallet and the block. At last the required
state is reached, and the fundi seizes the sheet, still folded, by both
ends, and wrings it out, or calls an assistant to take one end while he
holds the other. The cloth produced in this way is not nearly so fine
and uniform in texture as the famous Uganda bark-cloth, but it is
quite soft, and, above all, cheap.
Now, too, I examine the mallet. My craftsman has been using the
simpler but better form of this implement, a conical block of some
hard wood, its base—the striking surface—being scored across and
across with more or less deeply-cut grooves, and the handle stuck
into a hole in the middle. The other and earlier form of mallet is
shaped in the same way, but the head is fastened by an ingenious
network of bark strips into the split bamboo serving as a handle. The
observation so often made, that ancient customs persist longest in
connection with religious ceremonies and in the life of children, here
finds confirmation. As we shall soon see, bark-cloth is still worn
during the unyago,[52] having been prepared with special solemn
ceremonies; and many a mother, if she has no other garment handy,
will still put her little one into a kilt of bark-cloth, which, after all,
looks better, besides being more in keeping with its African
surroundings, than the ridiculous bit of print from Ulaya.
MAKUA WOMEN

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