Hey, you! Yes, I’m talking to you! Do you even watch where you’re stepping? What did you just step on?
A manhole cover. An ordinary sewer manhole cover. And how many kinds of manhole covers can you name? Two? Three?
Today a colleague from Wikipedia tossed me a link to Wikisource, where another colleague of ours uploaded photographs of the sewer and utility manholes of our beloved city.
Seen one like this, for example? Pre-revolutionary spelling — this manhole cover was made before 1918, presumably in the late 19th century. If you see one like this, know this: that cover is older than your grandfathers and grandmothers. Maybe even your great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers. The inscription on the cover reads: Kharkiv Machine-Building Plant, owned by Nikolai Fyodorovich von Ditmar — an industrialist; he built factories and a railroad.
And here’s a more modern one. GOST
And here’s a lightweight model made of plastic (1980s–1990s).
And here’s an interesting manhole cover, but not a sewer one — a utility one. When you see the little spider, know this: it’s a telephone manhole.
Well, and this is a manhole cover made quite recently. Already in Ukraine, not in the USSR. Made of reinforced concrete.
All images are taken from Wikisource. Author: Vizu. You can view these and other manhole covers at the links: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Manhole_covers_in_Kharkov http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Telephone_covers_in_Kharkov
Full-resolution originals: Ditmar cover, Barvinkove cover, Plastic cover, Concrete telephone cover. Photos: Victor Vizu, CC BY-SA 3.0. Files reproduced unchanged.
