The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-11-25
FOR
LAND LINE
NOW HERE

Wound upon sixteen great spools,
which are stored in the warehouses OF
Irwin & Co, is the underground cable
which will connect the landing station
OF the Pacific Commercial Cable Com
pany with the city Office The cable
arrived in the Zealandia, and awaits the
coming of the men who will put it in
the conduits.
The laying Of this cable will be in
charge of Lewis G. Martin, the repre-
sentative of the manufacturers. the
Okonite Company of New York, the
contract for the line carrying with it
the putting of the cable into the pipes
laid by the Cable Company. yMr. Mar
tin will bring with him at least two
men. the men who are TO make the
joints where the cable is~<ut 10 facili-
tate its being drawn through the pipes.
These men are experts, and as there
are eight joints to be made at each
manhole, upon their speed will depend
much. Of the limit OF time used in com
pleting the work.
The cable will be laid by drawing it
through the &c, 1897 feet of three-inch
pipe which runs from Waikiki to the
Young block. In these pipes now rest
two small wires which were put in
while the pipe was being laid. These
wires will be used in drawing through
the pipes a manila cable, which will be
used in hauling the lead covered cables
through the conduits. The method of
handling the cable is to make il fast
to the end of the manila rope with a
set OF wires or special clasp which
holds the leaden sheath of the cable
When the rope has been dragged into
the conduit and made fast to the cable
there is a protective covering of well
creased bagging placed about the end,
and then with windlass the rope is
hauled along. The strain must be
even, so that there is no strain on the
cable which might lead to the putting
of a test upon the copper conductors,
of which each cable carries four
The hauling is done from the man
holes, which are placed from 200 to
500 feet apart, and at each of these the
cable is cut and spliced to the end of
that which has previously been put
down The great spool, with its dimin-
ishing load of cable, is then moved for
ward to the manhole where the pulling
windlass was last working and, that
apparatus having been carried to its
next station at the succeeding man
hole, the operation is gone through
with once more. and so on until the
entire length of the cable has been put
in. On the straight stretches there is
no difficulty in hauling 500 feet of the
cable, but on the curves the lengths are
made much less. In the local contract
there is a harder task, too as there are
two cables to be laid in the pipes,
which are only three inches in diane
ter. whereas the cables are nearly that
size when laid together
The splicing of the conductors Of the
cable is work of no mean proportions,
as it must be surrounded with the ut
most care. The men who handle the
wires are compelled to cleanse their
hands very thoroughly during the OPP
Grafton, so that when the final process,
that of recovering the copper wires
with rubber, is reached, there is no
foreign substance at all left on the
shining copper The wires, being thus
spliced, are again covered with insulat-
ing material, and the leaden sheath
OF the cable is soldered SO as to make
it absolutely tight.
The weight of the cable which will
be placed here is 100000 pounds. and
according to the estimates of Superin-
tendeut Gaines it should not take more
80 2 nd