58 THE BELL SYSTEM TECHNICAL JOURNAL, JANUARY 1957 



to Clarenville were carried by sea or air to St. John's where they were 

 trans-shipped by rail to Clarenville. 



Oban 



The cable station at Oban was executed by British contractors from 

 designs drawn up by the British Post Office. Its equipment was installed 

 by a British electrical contracting firm. Two Western Electric Company 

 installers were present at Oban during the installation of the American- 

 made cable terminating equipment and cable current supply bays to 

 provide necessary liaison and interpretation of drawing requirements. 

 The Oban equipment was tested by representatives of the British Post 

 Office, Bell Telephone Laboratories and the firm that did the installing. 



Here too, it was necessary to ship by boat or air, with subsequent 

 trans-shipment by train and by truck. 



Undersea Link 



Perhaps the most interesting phase of all was the handling of the under- 

 sea section. The actual laying is described elsewhere, but much effort 

 was required before the cable ship ever left the dolphins at the cable 

 manufacturing plants. 



Most of the cable was manufactured at the plant of Submarine Cables, 

 Ltd., at Erith, on the Thames about fifteen miles downstream from 

 London. A smaller quantity of cable was manufactured by Simplex 

 Wire and Cable Corporation at its plant in Ne\Wngton, N.H. As the 

 cable was completed it was coiled in repeater section lengths in huge 

 tanks. The ends of each repeater section were left available at a "spHc- 

 ing platform" where the repeaters, manufactured at Hillside, N.J., 

 were spliced in. Spliced repeaters were located in water filled troughs 

 for protection against overheating while testing. 



All repeaters were armored by Simplex at Xewington. This involved 

 their transportation by truck from the Western Electric shop at Hillside 

 where the flexible repeaters were manufactured, to Newington. While 

 this sounds simple it was actually a very carefully planned and controlled 

 operation because of the need to avoid subjecting the units to any but 

 the most necessary and unavoidable hazards. Consequently, the truck 

 used for the purpose was specifically selected for size and construction 

 and was provided with a heating unit in the body. The route was care- 

 fully surveyed in advance for unusual hazards and the truck speed was 

 limited to a very modest value. 



After the repeaters were armored, those to be incorporated in Simplex- 

 made cable were spliced at Xewington. Those destined for application in 



