MAINTAINING THE INTERNET

As the Internet grew, keeping it in working order became a massive challenge. New sections were being continually added and older sections needed to be upgraded or replaced.

Payroll records show that in 1860 The Great Boston Internet Corporation employed roughly 300 Network Engineers. By 1900, the Internet industry as a whole employed 20,000 Network Engineers and Systems Administrators, and by 1915, just 15 years later, this figure had risen to a staggering 150,000.

A section of the New York Metropolitan Internet during routine maintenance in 1908

RUST

One problem with the use of steam as the primary transmission mechanism was the inevitable build up of rust deposits on the inside of pipes. Internet Service Providers fought an ongoing, uphill battle against rust buildup which reduced transmission speeds and, if left unchecked, caused expensive equipment failures and outages.
To keep the rust at bay, network operators and service providers employed young boys, and sometimes girls, to run through the pipes with stout wire brushes to remove built-up deposits. These boys and the runs they made were referred to colloquially as "pings" due to the noise they made by tapping their brushes on the inside of the pipe at each joint to indicate their progress. The term "ping" is still used today to refer to a method of ensuring that a route on the Internet is available and not clogged.

A little girl "ping" circa 1902 - girl pings were unusual but not unheard of

The work was hot, wet, dark and tough: in order to keep "down time" to a minimum, the pings were usually sent in immediately after depressurizing a transmission pipe and were expected to work at a rate of 50 yards a minute. There are several accounts of pipes being repressurized with pings still in them: whether this was an accident caused by the rush to get the system up and running again, or a deliberate action to punish pings who worked too slowly, it is not known. However, it must surely have been an agonizing, lobster-like way to perish.
Despite the many hardships, life as a ping did have its benefits - such as outstandingly clear skin - and most pings retired by the time they were 10 as they became to large to fit in the narrower transmission pipes.

continue on to "Disaster"-->