The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1865-06-30
THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH.
Completion of the Gable.

presence of large number OF Distinguish
ed visitors who had assembled to do hon or
to the occasion. Beyond recording the
fact Of its completion, very little took
place at the works of the telegraph COM
pany yesterday to call for special remark
All the most distinguished electricians
and engineers, ana all the leading scien-
tiic gentlemen who have so long watched
and aided TO the utmost of their power the
promotion of this great scheme, were pre-
sent, together with all, or nearly all, the
directors of the Telegraph Maintenance
company, Mr.. Glass, as usual, receiving
the visitors. AS Il mere sight there was,
of course, very little to be Witnessed
much less, in Fact, than might have been
seen at the works any day this twelve
month past. Only one machine had half
a mile to com plete-that is to say, to case
the core with Mr.. Nright's most ingen-
ious and simple patent Of wire enclosed
with strands Of hemp which form the outer
covering. When all the visitors were as
sembled this was started, and the core
wound regularly and slowly through the
centre of the machine, which, revolving
round at great speed, completed the
outer case of hemp and iron. Working
at fourteen hours day each machine IS
able thus to cover four miles an hour, the
average rate of manufacture for the four
machines having been about II miles per
day. AS the cable is drawn out Of the
machine i. passes through guage, which
congresses it firmly, and then out of the
mandatory away to the tanks, where it
is coiled under water, and every change in
It's electrical condition noted with care
and minuteness that have certainly never
been applied TO any other cable, From
first to last, indeed, i. has been subjected
to series of the most searching electrical
tests, the standard oflnsuation being fixed
at resistance per nautical mile of equal
to 100000 of Siemen's units, at Il
temperature of IS degrees-a standard
wholly unprecedented in any former work
of the kind. In actual prac tice these
tests great as they were, have been con-
siderably exceeded, and the present At
lantc cable has come out successfully from
a series Of trials of the most crucial char
acter The results which have been OBJ
tanned have been due mainly to the
searching investigation into the qualities
OF insulating substances which is now
practicable by means Of The beautiful mir
ror galvan0meter Of Professor Thompson.
Another Of the tests employed was soaking
separately each joint of The gutta> percha
covering for twenty-four hours in warm
water previous to passing the electric cur
rent through. A third, ard perhaps the
most trying and continuous test, was that
of allowing no part of the cable to be out
of water, except an hoRsitu from one res
ervoir to the other and, in connection
with this, it may be mentioned that the
wrapping of jute yarn, which forms the
padding around which the external wires
are spun, instead of being soaked in tar,
as in other cables, which has the effect of
temporarily stopping up and cohceallng
mIrute flaws, has been simply tanned to
preserve 1t from decay, thus admitting the
water to search out every part of the cable,
and keep it, in fact, constantly surrounded
with wrapping of wet yarn
Towards 5 O'Clock yesterday, the last
few fathoms Of the great coil began to be
drawn in the machine, and few minutes
| after the end was wound up, a selt-acting
bell rang to give notice that the machine
was empty, and almost at the same mo-
ment the end came down into the tank.
and the last coil OF the cable was slowed
away. The next great object Of interest
was the inspection of the paying-out APP
paratus, which has been already fixed up,
and, by means of an endless band, kept
constantly running. This beautiful ma
chine is an improved and extended copy,
as far as general principal is concerned, Of
that used on board the Agamemnon dur
ing the first memorable attempts. It's
Improvements aud notifications, however,
are very great. Though stronger and
much larger, it is very much lighter, be-
ing almost entirely of wrought iron 1t
has six leading wheels, round which the
cable passes IL deep grooves before reach
ing the main wheel or drum, from which
it will be finally submerged Each groove
IN these six wheels is surmounted by what
IS termed j2ckey-pulley-that is to say,
solid wheel which keep the rope down
IN the groove and prevents its over riding
or getting out of place. The main drum
is about 7 feet in diameter, and in paying
out will have three coils Of cable round it,
with guiding piece of wrought iron
pressing on them like stays to keep them
compactly together. As the tIicticn on
the guider is great and constant, dupli- I.
cate is provided in case of heating, which
can oe put IN gear, with the rest of the
machinery without the slighles, stop on
any part. a second drum has also been
fitted in base Of anything going wrong
with the first. Each of these drums is
fitted with distinct set Of simple and
most ingenious brakes, invented BY Mr..
Appold for the first expedition. The
ordinary condition of these brakes is to
MAINTAIN sufficient check upon the drum
to keep strain of say 80 cwt. or 40 cwt.
upon the rope going out, but it constantly
happens that sudden Iisk of the ships /
stern from wave gives the cable strain /
that requires the instant removal of the |
brakes to relieve it. This is accomplished |
by dynameter placed on the cable after
1t leaves the paying>out machine and be- /
tore 1t passes over the wheel astern into
the Atlantic. The dynameter is only
NcaVy wheel RESTING on the rome bnt fyo1 /