Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1895-03-28
MAKING AN OCEAN CAeLE.
Il vaot Amount Of Work Before II Chi
Ne Laid In the Ocean.

Il 'vaot Amount OF Work Before It Can
Ne Laid in the Ocean.
The making Of nm ocear cable Ii q
task involving no small amount Of skin
ond mechanical ingenuity, and It ID
something to the credit Of the first cable
makers that their pattern has not
greatly changed in thirty years. When
the Commercial Gable Company de.
cided to lay a new Atlantic cable last
year. the work was intrusted to the
firm Of Siemens Brothers. Of WO0lwich,
London. Az this firm has constructed
no less than eight out of the eleven
cables now linking Great Britain ana
the United States, says the New Science
Review, its methods Of manufacture
may be watched al typical Of the best.
The first care of q cable manufacturer
Is to secure the very best materials.
The copper wire, which forms the heart
and essential part of the cable, must he
of the purest metal, since the purer the
metal the higher It's standard Of con-
ductivity will be. Every strand and
every coil of wire that goes into the
cable is expected to reach a certain
standard: and to such a degree of excel
lence is the making Of copper wire for
electrical purposes brought nowadays
that the material submitted IL
frequently above that standard than be-
low.
The single wires having passed the
test for purity and conducting power,
eleven similar strands are taken and
spun into q slender rope In lengths of
one mile. Guttapercha insulation is
then applied in sheets prepared from
the raw material as 1t comes to hand
from Singapore and other Malay ports.
These sheets are wrapped by expe-
rienced hands SO firmly and smoothly
round the wire that not an air bubble
can remain between the copper and It's
insulator. The ''core'' Is then ready 10
be submitted to a g~alvanometer test, rs
ascertain whether the insulation Is per-
feet, or as nearly perfect as that very
elusive agent, electricity, will permit.
That test having been satisfactorily
passed, a workman, whose sole bust
ness it is to attend to the joining of the
lengths of cable, splices the ends of the
mile lengths. Again the insulation test
is applied. The galvanometer indicat-
ing nc very appreciable loss of electrici-
ty, ever under the strain Of an alternat-
ing current of 5000 volts, the core Is
passed into the hands of the sheathers,
whose care it is to surround the copper
and guttapercha with a more substan-
tial protective covering before they are
submitted to the rough action Of the
sea. And now the weight and size OF
the cable become appreciable. Already
each mile length has In 1t some 800
pounds of pure copper and $40 pounds
of pure guttapercha. Over this is spur
a coat of jute yarn weighing nearly 800
pounds to the mile. Then the cable
Is made the center Of a twisted sheath
Of steel wires of the stoutest kind, aver
aging 0 than 1000 pounds to the
mile. And finally a compound of tar
Is laid yer the whole, which brings its
own weight of 500 pounds to the mile.
After the tar is applied the cable is
coiled and left to soak in tanks Of water
until such time as the cable ship shall
be ready to lay it in its last resting
place. Such a cable as this Is made ut
the rate of fifty to fifty-five miles per
twenty-four hours.