1104 THE BELL SYSTEM TECHNICAL JOURNAL, SEPTEMBER 1953 



market for a high-strength, bright finish steel wire which would be 

 readily available from a number of supply sources, it was found that 

 improved plow steel wire as regularly used in wire rope manufacture 

 would meet the proposed requirements and could be purchased under 

 the several wire mills' own control specifications and tolerances, giving 

 Western the reliability of an established commercial supply without the 

 price premiums for a specialty wire. 



In only one important particular was it found expedient to deviate 

 from the steel mills' standards as regards the steel core wire, and this 

 specifically concerned the packaging of the wire to facilitate subsequent 

 handling in our plant. It has been customary for the steel mills to ship 

 this type of wire to customers in paper-wrapped bundles which are block- 

 wound, catch-weight coils, shaken down and bound with soft iron tie 

 wire. Because of the coil-forming action on the draw-blocks, the steel 

 wire mills have found that bundles containing more than about 250 

 pounds of 33-mil wire cannot be made without greatly increasing the 

 dangers of tangling and breaking when wire is payed out from the bundle. 



An economic study of wire handling in both the electroforming plant 

 and the subsequent insulating and jacketing departments showed that 

 a 450-pound steel wire package free of splices to avoid excessive scrap, 

 cut-over and reel handling losses was most desirable. It was found im- 

 practical to put this much core wire in a single bundle with any assurance 

 that the wire could be payed out of the coil without too many breaks 

 from snarling, tangling and fouling of the wire on the pay-off stands. 



After extended negotiations with the suppliers, decisions were made to 

 obtain the core wire on reels, in order to insure reliable pay off from 

 supply units of the weights required. Agreements were reached to handle 

 the wire on returnable reels which the mills provided to suit their own 

 winding equipment. No unwinding problem exists at Western Electric 

 because the supply reel is not rotated to unwind. 



The nature of the electroforming and electroplating operations renders 

 it impracticable to stop a running wire to replenish an exhausted supply. 

 Consequently, it was necessary to provide for splicing the inner end of 

 the supply wire paying off onto the outer end of a standby supply. 

 Where the supply reels are revolved to unwind and remove the wire, 

 such provision calls for compensator loops or accumulator towers to 

 accumulate temporarily enough feed-out wire to keep the machine going 

 while a splice to the new supply is being made. 



Such accumulator devices require a large amount of space which was 

 not economical to provide. They demand that an operator be precisely 

 on the spot to make the splice before the limited feed-out accumulation 



