196 THE BELL SYSTEM TECHNICAL JOURNAL, JANUARY 1957 



on experience with cable in factory handling and laying trials. Experi- 

 ence, particularly with the direction of lay, has shown that improper 

 choice of lays for the two outer layers of jute may result in a cable that 

 is difficult to coil satisfactorily in factory and ship storage tanks. The 

 combination of lays selected for the cable components provided good 

 performance in all the handling operations, including the final laying 

 across the Atlantic. 



MANUFACTURE OF THE CABLE 



Before considering the manufacture of the cable, it should be under- 

 stood that the repeater gain characteristic was designed to compensate 

 for the loss characteristic of the cable. Therefore, once this loss charac- 

 teristic was established, it was essential that all cable manufactured 

 conform with this characteristic. 



To obtain the required high degree of conformance, close control had 

 to be kept over all stages of manufacture and over the raw materials. 

 Controls to guide the manufacture of the cable were set up with two 

 broad objectives: 



1. To produce a structure capable of meeting stringent transmission 

 requirements. 



2. To assure that the manufactured cable could be laid successfully 

 and would not be materially affected by the ocean bottom environment 

 for the expected life of the cable system. 



Attainment of a final product capable of meeting the stringent trans- 

 mission requirements is described in a later section of this paper. Process 

 and raw material controls in manufacture were provided by an inspection 

 team which checked the quality of the various raw materials and the 

 functioning of the several processes during the manufacturing operations. 

 This type of inspection coverage is somewhat unique with submarine 

 cable. It assures the desired final quality by permitting each error or 

 accident to be investigated and corrected on an individual basis. 



Cable for the transatlantic crossing was manufactured in America by 

 the Simplex Wire and Cable Company and in England by Submarine 

 Cables, Limited. Differences in machinery and equipment in the plants 

 of the two manufacturers necessitated minor differences in the sequence 

 of the operations and in the processes. The sequence of operations in 

 assembly of the cable was as follows: 



Step No. Operation 



1 Stranding of central conductor 



2 Extrusion of insulation 



3 Runover examination, repair where necessar}- 



