The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1857-09-09
The Failure of the Atlantic Gable.

eeen paid out, parted, and they were
obliged to abandon the enterprise for the
present. One steamer returned, and
Mr. Field hurried to London to confer
with the directions. while the other
steamers remained to try some expert
ments, the nature Of which is not stated.
The value of the stock in London on the
arrival OF the vessel, sank very low a.
fist, but subsequent rose again TO
some extent before the sailing OF tho
America.
Mr. Field telegraphed report. setting
forth that the last 100 miles we're laid
successfully in water over two miles deep:
shat at tho time Of the fracture, the
brakes had just been applied with more
force, aud that the frncturo occurred at y
considerable distance from the vessel
We believe the last two points. but mis-
trust the literal accuracy Of the first.
The soundiugs taken by the Arctic, pre-
spioary to the commencement of the
enterprise, did not indicate depth equal
TO two miles at any point so near the
coast Of Ireland rs the fracture mnst
have occurred, aud we should only term
portion of The cable laid successfully
which was lOid nearly straight or snf
Recently so to enable the whole cable "a
be successful, if laid in the same manner
The proportion between the distance
travelled and the quantity of cable iail
will, we think be ultimately shown to
BE- too great especially in the deer water
TO be called a success.
There are great difficulties at he root
Of the matter. Laying long cable At
such immense depths may be accom-
plished by repeated trials, and so ma,
navigating the air The latter orera
too would require means not yet within
the compass of engineering skill aud the
came may be the case with the Allan.
tic telegraph To start from the middle
with very liberal quantity of cable aud
steam as rapidly as possible for the shore
IN each direction. paying out the thread
nearly as fast as it wished to run, would
TEEN pretty certain method of getting
the material down to the bottom in II
continuous line, whether it would 10 Of
any service afterwards or not.
There is limit to the speed with
which any object will sink through ahy
dense fluid A telegraph cable extentcd
horizontally sinks it'll a certain deter
inmate velocity aud the angle at which
it stretches downward in the wake of the
ship from which it is delivered, must de
pend mainly on the speed of the shin
To illustrate this. suppose vessel could
start from one shore, and move quick as
thought to the opposite shore. it is evi
dent that a cable paid out freely on is
rapid fight would lay in tolerably
straight line on the surface, and would
commence sinking uniformly at all points.
Now if the vessel moves more moderate.
~, the sinking cable will obviously tend
downward from tho stern, the few faith.
oms last paid out being just descending
beneath the surface, that delivered QUO
minute before being at the depth Of /
600 feet, that two minutes before beins
1000 feet, and so on until it rests on
the bottom. The anglo, therefore, at
which the cable lies as it sinks through
the water, must depend on the speed Of
the ship, or on the length of the hori.
zontal path described by tho ship during
each minute Of time. 1t is vain to at
ssmpt to support it Materially by any
strain applied to it, like the cables of
suspension bridge, as the distance he
tween the supports is, in this case, too
great to make tension of any service in
this respect The cable will sink freely
a rapidly as its gravity can induce it TO
overcome the resistance of the water.
When. in consequence of low speed
Of the vessel, the sinking cable stapd, in
elined to very great degree. it tends to
move backward from the ship, sliding
downward on the inclined frame by the
resistance Of the water In other words
the cable finds less resistance in sinking
sndwise than sidewise ond so soon as it
becomes much Inclined i, endeavors TO
run out lengthwise, like sounding
limo, This motion of the cable backward
when once commercials difficult to check
a. the mass 10 motion is great. and the
momentum due to such motion resisis
the generating cause 10 straiping the
sable when the brakes are applied to re
tard its delivery.
The more rapidly ship advances the
less serious in the inclination of the ca.
Bile thus to slip backwards, and the loss
liability is there to deposit in sorpentino
folds on the bottom. The method final.
ly adopted by the conductors Of this en-.
tsrprise was evidently not the best, as
the vessel moved only three or four miles
per hour, and the disposition to slide
backward had to he resisted BY main
force. The brakes were gradually applied
with more force to effect this. and the
babls parted 1t broke at a distance
from the vessel, because, although tho
strain was greatest at the point where it
left the reel the pressure of the water at
a considerable depth had probably com,
pressed the core, aud allowed the wires
to stand unsupported,
II is now late, and tho stock Of the
cable (never too liberal) has been 70.
duced by the loss, The experiment will
not probably be repeated this season in
any form
Before our next we shall probably re.
Oeive full reports 90 the subject. Tue
experiment had proceeded far enouyh IN