Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1912-03-28

Few people know what a tremendous
WORK 10 the laying Of q submarine cable
extending for many thousands of miles
Each mile Of the cable In tho deop sea
VIII woigh somewhere about a ton and
a half, while each milo Of the shore ends
Will weigh as much as y tons
Special ships are used for laying the
cable which is always paid out ut a
greater rate than the ship travels. in or d.
der 70 cope with the irrUgula rifles at the
bottom Of the sea More thnn this, when
the 50 Is deep quite a considerable time
! elnpses before tho cable reaches tho bed.
When tho sea 10 about throe miles deep.
ana the ship Ia steairllng at Its usual rate.
over two and half hours will pass be-
fore the cable reaches the bed Of tho sea.
At that time point Of the cabio which
was on tho ship two and half hours
previously will be u miles in the rear of
the vessel.
The payinR-out PROCESS requires great
care as II tho rope goes too fast the
whole cable might rush out In such q
case tho cable VIC lid cut through the ship
as a hot knife would cut through butter.
Hence special brakes are applied and
retnrding wheels are used. All the time
tho cable Is being paid out electrical ms
are carefully testing II in a little labora.
tory on the vessel. Should anything go
wrong the cable Is hauled back again
The cables themselves arc specially
sheathed in stout iron In order to protect
the precious wires which convey the cur
rent In some parts Of tho world vari-
Qua creatures rapidly bore their way
through the cable and 20 ruin It. In ouch
case a layer Of brass tape is placed un-
dor the external iron wires.
Tho cable may come 20 damage In all
manner Of ways. For instance. q sword
Ash or q shark may make On attack upon
It and SO ruin the installation.
The shore ends are always naue con-
siderably stouter than the deep-sea por-
ton, 80 that they may not be damaged
by ships anchors, and what not. In the
northern and southern seas tho cable has
to be protected against ice foes. and in
such cases linked chain arnlor is used.
The shore end Is laid at the same time
as the main cable, and will extend for a
milo or two from the shore. and the two
ends nre spliced together.
When an injury occurs 10 the cable
electricians can easily locate its exact
distance from the shore. The cable ship
Will steam out for this distance, and then
hsh for the broken ends. The ship 0i1rts
over the direction OF the cable. and hooks
for the broken ends by means of a Crap
mel. As soon as an end Is found it Is
hauled on board. tested. and then fasten-
ed to the end OF a buoy. Then the other
end is fshed UP. and. II found all right.
Is spliced on to a piece of good cable. the
other end Of which is spliced on to the
end obtained from the buoy.
Practically all the worlds cables are
made In this country, the first having
wire in the sheathing and core beng
sufficient to reach from the earth to the
moon. In that case less than five miles
Of cable were paid out before it snapped.
Next. $50 miles of cable went bang to the
bottom OF the ocean. and the ships had
TO sail back again. through eventually
some 50 miles Of the cab. were recov-
cred.
On the next attempt a man-of-war,
containing half Of the cable nearly went
to the bottom in a storm owing to the
weight.
A few miles were paid out however.
when again the cable snapped The work
was started again, out after 10 miles had
been laid another break occurred Still
another attempt was made. which did
not come to an end until hundred miles
had been paid out. and the enterprise was
abandoned for the time being.