SUBMARINE CABLES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 198, 16 May 1919, Page 5

SUBMARINE CABLES

•Incidents in the development of the wonderful invention nearly 70 years ago,, whicli was ultimately to transform facilities for news communication between Europe and the Antipodes from a tedious voyage of ■ months across the oceans : to a matter of a few hours' mechanical operation, were traced in detail recently by- Mr. -M. C... Tiinms- in the course,of a paper, "Submarine Cables," rend before the Electrical ■ Association. The possibility of signalling through sub-aqueous conductors interested many of the early telegraph workers, and in 1850 a gutta.perd.fi insulated wire conveyed messages during a brief career across the Strait of Dover. Amongst a number of cables laid within the next few years was one between Victoria and Tasmania in 1857. After several failures with regard to Atlantic projects, a 'line • was laid in 1857 between Ireland and Newfoundland.' The. electrician of this company, who used 'his own specinllydesigned apparatus, once put tip sa'meHnntr of a record for a slow message. In ICI hours he had transmitted but 99 words. The Persian Gulf cable of 18M' was a great advance on previous linos. Particular attention was 'given to Hie conductivity of. the copper, and the I cable's-electrical constants' were accu- | rately ascertained. Some years ago' 20 j or 30 nauts of' this cable were taken to England, and the core again embodied in a loiißth for the Gulf. Tn rhe 1865 Ati lantic enterprise tho celebrated steamer I Great Eastern was emnlnyed. Progress had been made with the construct'on of ; fhe nnying-out and nickins-un murines. The lino broke at 1200 iwufa from Valencia. Tho next year i>vT""lilion went out. and in fiflrfirinn rn. flnvin? a frreh cablo. succeericl in con'wtin? up Hip broken line of Iftfi". (Win eal)i°i hml tannine an nPTvmriiHwl fn»(-. . At the conclusion of Hip pnner j tw-pil ujinn e discussion of the technical j nortion of His miner.