Cables and wires are the unsung heroes or 'facilitators' of the age of telecommunication. In the space of twenty years, cables changed from two mile long wooden troughs containing copper wire in grooves to cables that could be laid underwater across the Atlantic.
This required enormous technological feats. Perhaps more surprisingly, copper cables have also stood the test of time, as scientists and engineers have developed techniques to squeeze more and more out of them.
Visit our interactive demonstration and try it for yourself. A new window will open.
When Cooke and Wheatstone made their historic demonstration of the electric telegraph between London's Euston and Chalk Farm stations, not only did they have to invent the telegraph instruments but most of the support materials as well, including the system to connect them together.
Five needles needed five connecting wires, but there was no off-the-shelf electric cable for sale then and the partners had to create the wire itself. They also had to make sure the wires couldn't touch each other, break or get wet in the rain.
This picture shows a piece of the wire fitting that was laid along the track. Actually a number of methods were tried, but this turned out to be one of the most successful. They took lengths of triangular wood and cut two grooves along either side and one along the top. Wire was then fitted into each groove, re-covered with wood and sealed with tar.
The attempt to lay the first telegraph cable across the Atlantic in 1857 presented a huge challenge and these two sections of cable show just one of the potential problems.
The cable was manufactured in two separate factories, Newall's on the Mersey and Glass Elliot's on the Thames, which was not unreasonable since the cable had to be carried on two separate ships and spliced together halfway across the ocean.
The cable was spun with a twist-like rope; however, Elliot's discovered it could be loaded onto the ship without kinking if it was spun in the opposite way from normal rope. No one told Newall's and this made the two cables almost impossible to join.
However, as it turned out, the cable was lost overboard before any jointing could take place and the operation was postponed for another year.
