The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1857-09-03

l-that the enort Will DE at once renewed
and will be prosecuted, under whatever
difficulties and against whatever obstacles
to final and complete success. For my
own part | confess my surprise at the ex-
tent and perfection of the precautions
which have been taken against perils OF
every kind. There has been one very seri-
Gus and singular blunder, certainly, in the
construction of the wire,--one half of il
being twisted from right to left and the
other half from left to right. The conse-
quence of this must be that when the two
are united any strain upon4the cable must
tend to untwist tie whole. There has
been a little newspaper controversy as to
the responsibility for this curious mistake,
each of the manufacturing establish
nents concerned alledging its own inno-
cence, on the ground that it was entirely
ignorant of the proceedings of the other.
In such work the Directors or Superin-
tendent of the Company ought to have
taken care that there should be no such
/ ignorance, but that both should have la
bored with perfect knowledge of each
others plans and modes Of proceeding
All, however, now concur in saying that
the mistake is one of slightimportance,- -
as it is evidently their interest to do. |
hope it may prove SO. but have my fears
tits suggested that by placing heavy
piece of metal between the two ds,--by
joining each in other words toa solid mass
! both will be kept in their places and the
untwisting prevented,--inasmuch as the
untwisting of one would turn the metal
in one direction, while that of the other
would turn it in the opposite direction,--
and the two tendencies would thus neu
tralize each other. Whether it has been
| decided, however, to resort to this mode
of obviating the difficulty, am not a
ware.
! You have already received ample and
abundant descriptions of tie various pro-
cesses Of the manufacture Of the cable,
its transfer to the holds of the two ships,
and the machinery arranged for paying it
out over their sterns. I shall say nothing
therefore, of all this; except as may be
necessary in connection with the several
sources from which danger. may be ap
pretended. The cable is 70 be sunk, as
the vessell proceeds, ,solesy by its oze'a
aceight, and its size has therefore been We
ry careful adapted to meet the several
conditions which this implies. 1t must
be heavy enough not to be swayed to and
| fro by the various currents and counter
currents which it will encounter in its de-
scent, for the existence of such currents
has been very clearly demonstrated by
the deep-sea soundngs which have been
SO carefully and diligently prosecuted du-
ring the lastfew years. In the next place
it must not be too heavy, or the weight of
that portion of it which must be suspend
ed from the stern Of the ship, before it can
reach the bottom; would render it utterly
unmanageable. 1t was this defect which
occasioned the loss of the cable in the Med
iterranean. 1t had been made very heavy
in order to be very strong. 1t broke up
on violent plunge of the vessel, and was
found to have parted at distance of a.
bout half mile. And it was indispen-
sable, in the third place, that the cable
should be flexible, as it must be coiled,
wound around drums, and handled in a
variety of ways. And yet it must also
be stiff enough to lie rigidly in straight line
when once laid down. The weight of the
cable, as finally decided upon, after a
great variety of very carefully conducted
experiments, is from nineteen hundred
weightto one ton; and every part of it has
been proved; by actual test, to be capable
of bearing, with impunity, a direct strain
of fourtons. When it is immersed in salt
water its relative weight will de consider
ably diminished. its downward pressure
being somewhat under ID cwt. per mile.
The greatest depth of the sea along the
line where the cable is to be laid is l2. 420
feet, or a little over two miles consequent
ly, if enough Of the rope were suffered
to hang motionless from one of the ves
sells to reach the bottom in this depth, the
strain to be borne by it would be less than
ton and half. This will be still furtb-
er reduced by the fact that while the yes-
sci is in motion, the cable will be buoyed
up by its friction upon the water. The
strain put upon it will not be like that put
upon the rope by depending weight, but
like that put upon thread of the silk
worm as it is reeled of rapi lily from the
cocoon. There seems, therefore, no rea-
son to apprehend any danger to the ca.
bic from its own weight. 1t is strong e.
nough to sustain strain far greater than
is likely to be put upon it. at all events,
in good weather and under ordinary cir.
{ cumstances.
Great care had been faken IN sal.ct;,