Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-11-25
LAYING OCEAN CABLE
THE PRELIMINARY WORK IN
voLvED is ENORMOUS.
The Ocean Bed Along the Entire Route
Must Be Sounded-Intricate
Construction.


From the Brooklyn Eagle.
The cable spanning the Pacific will be al
most triple the length of the longest sub
marine cable hitherto laid. 1t is expected
that it will be ready for use in 1904-and
stupendous piece of work 1t is, to be ac-
complished in so short time.
First of all, there must be soundings of
the ocean bed along the entire route. This
is in order that the cable may be construct
ed with due regard to the strain it will
have to sustain. An instrument has been
devised for this purpose which meets all
possible contingencies 1t is very simple
consisting only of a cannon ball pierced
with an iron rod and held In place by
sings. AS the ball goes down swiftly it
drives the rod into the bottom like the point
of a spear when an opening at the end
catches the ooze in it's iron lips The same
instant the sings loosen, the ball drops OF
and the naked rod with its bits is drawn
up to the surface.
Then there is the cable itself-nearly 5000
miles of it-from San Francisco to Manila,
with stops at Honolulu and Guam. 1t will
use up 81 $40 tons of materal-1,9sO tons of
copper wire. IL 900 tons of steel wire, 800
tons of jute yarn, 1900 tons of compound
and tar and $50 tons of gutta percha. 1t
will weigh more than fifty locomotives of
standard size.
Delicate Wires.
People who know vaguely that a subma-
rine wire is only about an inch thick and
looks not unlike ordinary street car ca
BILE have very little idea of the intricacies
of It's construction. The delicate copper
wires that carry the current must be so
protected that they can lie for years on the
bottom of the ocean and do their work
without accident or interruption. Not only
its strength, but the continuity of its con-
nection. must be considered, and its perfect
insulation we'll No moisture must
thn of al or
lily destroy II.
To this end the cable is composed of three
parts a core. which is the conductor, made
up of copper wire: the casing OF hemp, tar
and rubber which protects this from the
water and the heavy steel binding that
acts as a shield against rocks, wreckage
and the keelS of ships. The insulating COW
ering is generally made of gutta percha,
but occasionally india rubber is used to
prevent the escape of electricity. layer
of tanned jute yarn covers the gutta per-
cha to protect 1t from the steel wire casing
which in turn protects the whole from acct
dent though 1t has itself to be incased in
jute yarn and bituminous compound to
keep It dry.
Dryness Essential.
The wire sheathing varies In character
according to the depth at which 1t Is to lie.
Deep-sea sheathing is made of many very
small wires. Then through several inter-
mediate types the sheathing wires become
gradually larger until finally at the shore
end the deep sea cable is sheathed with
large strands. each made up of steel wires
set triangularly.
However the core remains the same
throughout. The copper wire, which Is the
conductor, is twisted into stra nds. These
are passed through the covering machine,
which squeezes the gutta percha around the
conductor in a continuous sheath. The coil
is then covered with spiral casing of jute
yarns, which make soft elastic bed for
the steel sheathing wires. These last, as
well as the outer jute and tarry compound.
are put In one machine. And from that the
great cable is coiled into large circular
tanks in which it Is kept under water. Up
to this time the greatest care has been ex-
ercsed to keep everything perfectly dry, as
the least suspicion of moisture in the core
would ruin the insulation. AS water is
used in applying the jute, the cable, after
its first jute casing has been adjusted,
passes through vacrtem drying boxes.
Considering the great care necessary ss at
every stage of It's construction, 1t Is Won
derful how rapidly It Is made. One ma
chine can manufacture more than five nau-
teal miles (2,O29 yards to a nautical mile)
IN twenty -four hours, and as the manufac-
ture Is carried on continuously twenty ma
chimes will turn out 100 to 125 miles a day.
The Cable Ship.
The cable ship itself is a vessel Of strange
interior arrangement, especially designed
for the purpose 1t is not only a huge
storage department, but a big floating
workshop as well. In the hold there are
three immense iron tanks, similar to the
land tanks at the mandatory, "a feet in
diameter for the storage of the cable, each
having a conical core for guiding the cable
when II is being paid out. The space with
IN these cores is utilized to hold fresh wa
ter The capacity of its tanks In the regu-
lar cable ship is about 1,40O tons of cable,
this being the equivalent Of about 100 miles
of inshore cable, weighing IA tons to the
mile. or 100 miles of the deep sea type,
weighing about two tons per mile
The cable tanks are all connected by
ways" or throughs, so that a transfer may
be made from one tank to another or from
any tank to either Of the huge paying-out
machines. Handling Of the cable made nee
essary by such transfer is usually done by
means Of small engine connected to a
drum and all mounted on a truck, by which
It may be moved about the deck.
AS the cable Is brought from the tank 1t
passes over an iron sheave. fastened to the
framework of the hatchway, thence around
another larger, deeply groved iron sheave,
and the friction of the cable at this point
acts as a tension. 1t then passes several
times around the giant drums of the great
deck and out over the sheave of the stern
to its resting place at the bottom of the
sea
The dynamometer indicates the amount of
strain to which the cable is subjected at
any moment. and also enables the man In
charge of the brake wheel to regulate The
strain put on by the brake to suit the vary
Ing conditions of laying After leaving the
dynamometer 1t passes under and over sew
eral large retarding wheels before vending
Its sinuous way into the sea.