The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-20 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 20, ISSB.

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GEORGE HOBSON, 57, Lombard-street.
Established 1796.

the work, and ,to make it my own, adding that, as far as he
knew, no one else had been working in the same field—at
least not in the same manner or with the same success.
About the same time Mr. Brett kindly placed at my dis-
posal for research a length of cable then in process of manu-
facture for him for the Mediterranean line.

Thus encouraged; the field enlarged before my eye, and
ever bearing in view that thee researches, to be imme-
diately valuable, must be essentially practical, I endea-
voured to grasp and realise every detail as it presented itself,
laying up in store for future use the principles thus elicited,
and incorporating them into the construction and working
of new forms of instruments, several of which I subse-
quently patented.
_ _

, -
Anxious to test these to the utmost under varying and
less favourable conditions, as there was at that time no cable
of any considerable length laid down, I sought the use of
long lengths of insulated subterranean wire, as offering the
closest resemblance in function to that which was the special
object of research. The system of wires belonging to the
Magnetic Telegraph Company seemed to offer the greatest
facilities for this purpose. They extend from London via
Liverpool, Dumfries, Donaghadee, Portpatrick, and Bel-
fast, to Dublin, a distance of 660 miles. Mr. Charles
Bright, the engineer of that company, then stated that the
establishment of an Atlantic line of telegraph had long been
one of his favourite objects of speculation and of occasional
piperiment, and he proposed that we should co-operate for
the better attainment of our joint object of pursuit. Assent-
ing to this proposition, and to the terms on which it was to
be concluded, I entered into an agreement, giving me, at his
suggestion, the larger share of anything that might result
from our union.

The first joint experiment .whicli we made with my new
instruments, designed and constructed especially for such
purposes, took place on November 5, 1855. The whole of
this length of subterranean or submarine wire had never
before been spoken through by direct action ; the message
always having been repeated, by hand, at the several breaks
or junctions. The wires were, on this occasion, connected
so as to form a single unbroken length of 660 miles, from
London to Dublin, which was signalled through both,ways,
by use of my instruments, with perfect success on the first
and only occasion of trial.
Subsequently, in the autumn of 1856, Mr. Cyrus Field
took occasion to engage my active co-operation in the great
work, admitting me to fair participation therein, and recog-
nising me, by agreement, as one of the original projectors
of the Atlantic Telegraph.
The magnitude of the undertaking soon made a division
of labour necessary, and while I retained the entire control
of electrical matters, Mr. Bright devoted his time to the
details of the engineering work.
Additional cables manufactured at Greenwich (Glass and
Elliott's) during this year, afforded continual opportunities
of extended research, of which the utmost use was made.
The arrival of Professor Morse in England enabled me to
repeat experiments upon many points for his satisfaction at
Greenwich and Blackwall ; and I had the advantage of the
daily counsel and co-operation of the veteran electrician for
many weeks. Cables, containing wires whose aggregate
length amounted to nearly 1,200 miles, were at our disposal
for a considerable time ; and no point, I believe, of practical
importance escaped close and rigid examination.

The results of these trials were deemed so encouraging,
that advantage -was taken of the oprortunity, and it was
thought right to commence the organisation of the com-
pany. To this end an experiment was made on a length of
3,000 miles 0/underground wire belonging to the Magnetic
Telegraph Company, and upon a successful result being
obtained, it was forthwith incontinently published. This
was the second and last occasion on which I made any joint
electrical experiments with Mr. Bright. Of this experi-
ment, upon the issue of which so much was made to depend,
I am bound to say that my own habits of research would
have led me to repeat it again and again hi various forms
_before I should have ventured to regard it as a basis of
operations in so gigantic an enterprise.
Without (at this distance of time) throwing any doubt
upon the facts, I ant free to admit that the inferences drawn
therefrom were in some respects incautious, and the pro-
mises of working speed too sanguine—in which respect more
extended experience has convinced me of several sources of
error.

The organisation of the company being now likely to
proceed rapidly, I made arrangements fora course of critical
and practical researches upon the size and form of con.
ductor most suitable for our purpose. It was obvious that no
existing line could afford any criterion ; and as the widest
difference of opinion existed among electricians upon this
point, I did not deem it right to decide the question except
by appeal to actual experiment. A conductor about thirty
times the sectional area of the present wire had been seriously
proposed and thought necessary. Two systems of insulated
wires of equal length laid under similar circumstances be-
tween tho same towns in the north of England, and differing
only in the size of the conductors which they contained,
seemed to offer themselves for examination. I therefore
proposed to seek from the companies to whom those wires
belonged permission to experiment during non-business
hours, and to extend my investigations over several weeks.
The rapid sad hasty progress of the company, however,
forbade it ; and most reluctantly was I compelled to forego
this necessary examination, and to decide immediately upon
a conductor which should be certain to answer the purpose,
though I had not had the opportunity of satisfying myself
that it was the one best fitted for our use.

The form and structure of the conductor and its insulat-
ing coatings havng been decided upon with all the care
which the circumstances allowed, the question of the ex-
nal form and structure of the cable remained to be discussed.
While, therefore, the engineer was engaged in examining
the mechanical fitness, and testing the breaking strain of
various specimens of cable of different structures, I had as-
certained their specific gravity, and constructed apparatus,
and made arrangements for determining the rate of sinking
in deep water of several specimens of the best forms of cable
Proposed, in order that I might be able in this respect to
judge of their relative merits.
The company's operations were now being pressed for-
ward, and I urged most strongly the necessity for the
utmost facility to be afforded to the electrical department, in
order to ascertain from time to time, as the cable increased
in length, the fitness of the instruments for their office, and
that if alterations should be required they might be made
simultaneously with the growth of the cable. The work
was so vast and yet so rapid in its progress, that it would
not be possible otherwise to keep pace with it, or to insure
the perfect adaptation of means to end.
Duplicate sets of instruments for both stations wefe to be
designed and made under my own eye, and to be perfectly
ready in six months. Meanwhile, there did not exist any-
where the opportunity of trying them adequately, except
such as the directors should provide.

Under those circumstances it pained me to find that the
contracts for the cable were given out to two manufacturers
situate at different parts of England, without any provision
being made for the possible use of the entire cable in one un
broken length by myself. Thus, that which I had de-
scribed as essential to enable me to prepare instruments fit
for immediate use was denied me apparently without com-
punction, and my earnest efforts to secure success frustrated
and set aside by those who were unable to appreciate heir
value.

The testing of the cable during the progress of its manu-
facture presented points of difficulty and new phenomena of
great interest. Knowing the importance of this subject, it
was- my wish to attain the highest degree of perfection in
the insulation, an amount of defect or imperfection which
might be of no importance for shorter lines being sufficient
to prove absolutely fatal to the project. It became neces-
sary to adopt a high standard, and to make use of a more
than usually searching current.

Every mile of cable made came in detail under my own
personal observation, and was tested in various ways—for
which purpose detectors of special delicacy were constructed.
The constant examination of lengths in detail in this
manner enabled me, as mile by mile could be added at plea-
sure, to make repeated researches into the best means of
detecting a fault at various distances. A known faulty
piece could be inserted at any distance, and then in a variety
of ways, with different instruments examined and detected.
I have records of a great number of trials of this character,
in which my assistant inserted the fault at a spot unknown
to me, in order to test and verify our calculations.
The tact thus derived both by myself and assistant from
these repeated experiments has proved to be invaluable, and
has already been of the utmost service in the operations of
the company. It has pointed out with confidence the
position and nature of an injury immediately upon its
occurrence.

During the manufacture of the cable at Greenwich the
opportunity was afforded of observing the effect of tempera-
ture upon the insulation in the most marked manner, the
change from night to day, and from sunshine to shade, pro-
ducing a variation in the state of a portion of our cable to a
degrep which was at first sight alarming. This effect is
transient, and ceases when the temperature falls. It is
quite unnconnected with the occurrence, at a later period,
of serious injury to some miles of our cable by the actual
melting of the gutta percha under exposure to the intense
heat of the sun. An accurately drawn table, the result of
multiplied observations, has been constructed, both as a
record for myself and a guide for others who may follow.
During the manufacture of the cable, Professor Thomson
drew my attention to certain variations in the conducting
power of different specimens of copper wire, amounting in
some instances to as much as 45 or 50 per cent., while yet
no proportionate chemical impurity could be detected.
From that time every separate hank of wire was tested by
myself or my assistant, and all below a certain standard
rejected. These, and other points of novelty and of difli-
culty from time to time presented themselves, and it was
necessary that they should be at once met and mastered.
I turn now to some points in the early progress in the
engineer's department. In order to determine the best

form of cable, great numbers of specimens were made, and
of various constructions—some excelling in strength, some
in flexibility. They were limited to an average weight of
not more than a ton per mile. These were subjected to the
most critical trials of strength and flexibility, and the ques-
tion of their mechanical fitness was, in this respect, I be-
lieve, fairly exhausted. Experiments were continued at
intervals for several weeks, and the result led to the adop-
tion of the present cable, no trials having been made of the
rate of sinking of the various specimens.
The consideration of this vital question having been re-
peatedly discussed by the board, had been finally referred
by them to a sub-committee of three (of which neither the
engineer nor myself formed part), consisting of Mr. Field,
Mr. Brett, and Mr. Tupper, and was by them almost imme-
diately decided, upon what appeared to me a very limited
and partial examination ; flexibility, weight, and strength
being apparently the sole points considered : to the exclusion
of tho questions of specific gravity or the rate of sinking
two points of essential importance in determining the strain
upon the cable during the process of paying out.
A specimen cable of light specific gravity and great
strength, made after experiments.of my own, was rejected
by one of the members of this committee in an almost con-
temptuous manner. " I would not have it if it were laid,"
said he. Nevertheless, I thought it right, in a written re-
port, to state my own personal conviction of its superiority,
with the reasons for my preferring it to the present form.

It is to be regretted that an early promise, incautiously
made to the shareholders and to the public, of the intended
completion of the lino within the year, prevented the de-
termining C,l many of these points by direct experiment. It
had been proposed, and with justice, to make trial in deep
-water of the relative mechanical advantages of several of the
best forms of cable, by paying out and raising again con-
siderable lengths of each. Much information of the highest
value would thus have been obtained, both with regard to
the best structure of cable, and of the machinery to be em-
ployed in its submersion.
The result of the unsuccessful expedition of last year, of
the experimental trip, and of the early attempt of the present
year, and not less the details of the successful expedition
itself faithfUlly considered, all lead irresistibly to the con-
clusion that. yery_great expenditure and grievous discourage-
ment would have been avoidedif the course above advocated
had been at that time adopted bythe company. It is equally
clear that the results of our past experience may lead us on
a future occasion to provide a more suitable cable at less cost,
requiring a paying-out machinery of a more simple and less
ponderous construction, and attended with less hazard in its
use.

It devolved upon the engineer at this time to devise the
necessary means for the safe submersion of the cable, and it
was decided—unwisely and unfortunately, as it appeared to
me—to make the same machinery fulfil its office for both the
light deep-sea part and the heavy shore-ends of the cable.
This almost necessarily insured its unfitness for one or other
of these purposes, as in point of flexibility the cables were
the very opposite of each other, their size differed consider-
ably, and their relative weights were as eight to one.
The early deep-sea experiment proposed for last year would
have set the engineer's mind at rest upon many points of
practical importance ; but unfortunately time did not admit
of this, and meanwhile the work must proceed, and every •
thing be prepared for completion within the prescribed limit.
The engineering part of the enterprise has, however, from
the first, been brought so prominently before the public,
that I need not linger over it, but return again to the spe-
cial and less known details of progress in my own depart-
ment.

It was not until a considerable length of cable had been
manufactured at Greenwich, that I was enabled to commence
trials of a set of experimental instruments made for the
special purpose of determining the exact form, size, and
structure of induction-coils best suited to our purpose.
These trials were resumed from time to time, as the addi-
tional length of cable admitted, in order that I might work
out the details of the laws by which I should determine the
just proportion which each part should bear to others, and
the whole to the length of cable, in order to obtain the best
possible results. These determinations, involving a very
considerable amount of research, were most necessary and
important ; but they required time, and more of this time
than could well be afforded—time, that is, for the cable to
grow from length to length, and time again for the altera-
tion and re-making of such experimental instruments as
the increased length demanded. Lastly, the actual tele-
graphic instruments intended for use on the line, when laid,
could not be put in hand with any certainty of perfect or
satisfactory results till all these preliminary stages had been
passed through, and a successful trial made upon at least
1,000 miles of cable. They ought to have been tried upon
2,000 ; but this had been rendered impossible by the dis-
tance which separated the establishments of the two manu-
facturers engaged upon our cable. It seemed thus likely to
be quite as much out of my power to make sure of our in-
struments by experimental determination, as it had previ-
ously been placed beyond my reach to decide strictly and
practically upon the size of conductor best fitted for the
longest cable which the world would ever require.
Several incidents occurred during the manufacture which
caused me the deepest anxiety. I have already alluded to
the effect of temperature upon the cable at Greenwich. At
Birkenhead the evidence was, if possible, more striking and
more embarrassing. The cable was stored in a large room
or shed, under the same roof with the boiler and engine
which drove the machinery for its manufacture. The test-
ing of various lengths of cable at this place showed a great
depreciation in its condition as compared with the very same
lengths previously examined at the gutta-percha works in
London. This state of things continued during the whole
process of the manufacture. Observation satisfied me that
the effect of the temperature alone by which it was sur-
rounded was sufficient to account for its anomalous condi-
tion. At one time a hobnail drawn from the boot of a work-
man punctured the gutta-percha and ruined the insulation
at the part. At another time, a mysterious break in the con-
ductor destroyed our continuity in a most perplexing and
capricious manner. Again, there was a day on which the
direct rays of the sun were so intense at Greenwich as to
cause the gutta-percha in some exposed parts of the cable to
soften and actually to exude, showing itself in drops or tears
upon the outer surface. Several miles of the cable were
thus most seriously injured. I need hardly add that in
these and similar cases the injured parts were of course de-
tected and most carefully cut out and removed, the cable
being afterwards made as perfect as before. The whole of
the steel covered cable prepared for the purpose of bearing
the greater strain expected at the mid-ocean splice was in
this way destroyed. It was on consideration decided not
to remake it.

The time fixed for the departure of the expedition was
now so near at hand that it became necessary to complete
our instruments without delay. On trying them through
1,200 miles of cable, when that length was finished, shortly
before the sailing of the expedition, it was satisfactory to
find that there, was ample powerintho generating apparatus
for the whole distance, so far as we could judge from the
half-length.
The circumstances already mentioned made it, of course,
impossible for me to have my clerks skilled in the manipula-
tion of the instruments. These being necessarily new in
their form, and differing in every respect so largely from
those previously in use, the most experienced manipulators
would have everything to learn afresh. If, therefore, the
cable had been laid on that occasion, we should have had
no operators ready to work the instruments.
Tho trials made in Cork Harbour for the first time,
upon the whole length of cable—hurried and imperfect as
they were, interrupted too at the turn of tride—proved two
things ; first, that I had provided ample power ; secondly,
that the receipt of signals was slower than I had expected,
and that consequently parts of the receiving and recording
apparatus would require considerable modification. At this
distance of time I can hardly trust myself to say how deeply
I then felt that the interests and requirements of the elec-
trical part of the undertaking had been subordinated and
sacrificed to other and less weighty considerations. The
paramount importance of the scientific element in such an
enterprise was unrecognised ; it remains so to this day.
The expedition sailed and failed ; its want of success, I be-
lieve, admittedly owing to the crude and untried machinery
upon which the engineer relied, having proved itself to the
most competent judges unequal to the safe submersion of
either light or heavy parts of the cable. The opportunity
for experiment would have shown wherein it required modi-
fication and improvement.
The electrical arrangements for the voyage were scarcely
less crude and unprepared than those made mechanically
for the submersion of the cable, for reasons already stated.
I had expected to be able to make use of our special instru-
ments for speaking during the whole voyage—a mistake,
as I am free to confess—but one which a previous rehearsal
would have immediately made manifest; as it has since
proved to be contrary to the very nature of things that our
apparatus should do justice to itself in all the varied move-
ments of a vessel in mid-ocean. The constant speaking,
too, in the manner proposed would have rendered the conti-
nued careful testing of the cable impossible ; the mere inter-
change of intelligence, courtesies, and congratulations, pre-
venting the exercise of that cautious vigilance upon which,
indeed, the success of the whole enterprise might abso-
lutely rest.
The loss of the cable in the autumn of last year caused
a temporary paralysis of all our efforts. While, however,
it postponed the accomplishment of our wishes, it tended
towards insuring the success of our labours at a future time.
It had been, in fact, a rehearsal, but made at great cost,
attended by a lamentable sacrifice of prestige, and, moreover,
without those advantages which a premeditated rehearsal
would certainly have afforded, not the least of which would
have been the confidence given to the public mind by the
obvious careful examination bestowed by the company upon
every part of the great work which they had taken in hand.

The unshipment and storing of our cable at Keyham for
the winter promised at length to afford= the opportunity so