The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1901-11-15

laid, the end is carefully sealed up and:
having been attached to rope, is low.
cred to the bed Of the ocean. A buoy is
attached to the other end of the rope
and is left floating on the surface OF
the water to mark the position Of the
end Of the cable, until the ship can re.
turn to port with a new cargo.
Precautions Observed
Sometimes a break or fault" will
develop in the laying, and steps have tc
be taken to locate the defect. Scientific
accomplishment, which in reality is
nothing short Of wonderful, has made
this comparatively simple matter.
The conductor of the cable offers a
certain amount of obstruction or IRE.
sistance' to the passage Of the electric
current. Apparatus has been devised
for measuring the amount of this re4ist
ance. The unit of resistance is called
an Ohm, after the great German phyi.
cist who discovered and expounded the
laws of electric current. The exact re.
sistance per nautical mile of the con.
ductcr of any given cable is known tc
the electrician in charge. Resistance
practically ceases at the point where
the conductor makes considerable con.
tact with the water Therefore, suppos.
ing the known resistance per mile to
be two Ohms, and the measuring appar.
atus indicates total resistance of 500
Ohms. the position of the break will be
400 miles from shore, or from the cable
ship. as the case may be.
With this information the captain of
the steamer is able to determine by his
charts the course Of the cable. the lati-
tude and longitude in which the break
has occurred, and can proceed with GER
tainty to effect the repair
Being satisfied that the ship is at the
right place, conical fiat-bottomed
buoy is dropped overheard and anchor
cd to make point from which to carry
on operations. The ship leaves the
distance from the supposed broken end
of the cable. \ heavy graphing hook is
lowered and the ship steams back at
right angles to the line Of the cable,
until the dynomometer gives notice
that something has been seized. II the
strain he erratc the grapnel is proba bly,
only engaging the projections Of an un-
even bottom, but if the strain steadily
increases, the cable has been caught.
This is an interesting process. especial
ly in water over three miles deep.
The ship is then stopped and the
hauling in machinery set in motion. In
due course the grapnel holding the
cable appears. Men are lowered to it
who secure the cable by chains on each
side Of the blight which is then cut in
connected with the testing room. One
Of the ends will be surely that of the
section which is now Il means of com,
munication with the shore. The other
end will be the short piece from the
ship to the point of fracture.
How Tests Are Made.
The tests and communication with the
shore indicating that the cable on that
side is electrically perfect, the end is
sealed, attached to buoy and dropped
overheard. The short piece to the frac-
ture is picked up and stored away. The
steamer then proceeds to grapple fol
the other end. which is then turned
over to the splicing gang. who lay back
the outer steel wire armor so that when
the core of both ends has been cut and
joined, the armor wires relaid. will
overlap the joint some fifteen feet. The
two ends Of the conductor are scarfed
and firmly soldered together. When the
other layer Of wires and jute yarn and
gutta percha are put in place the splice
is complete and the cable is again drop
ped overheard, once more in perfect
condition. The cable ship then steams
away over it's course. finds the cable
and once more proceeds across the
ocean.
Pad