Jeff Wisnia wrote:

When I first started learning about this sort of stuff we used "rubber
tape" first and then covered that with black cloth adhesive "friction
tape" to handle any abrasion.

Vinyl tape wasn't invented yet. G

Jeff

Yes and Western Union splices soldered, "T" taps on runs for drops.
All sort of things the current crop of electricians would't know
of. :-)
...lew...