342 THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. 



No. 16, B.W.Gr., each covered to a thickness corresponding 

 with No. 2, B.W.Gr., with gutta-percha. The six lines were 

 spun up into a rope with hemp, and 

 protected externally by ten iron wires. 

 A section of this cable is shown in 

 Fig. 155. 



67. The success attending most of 

 the short lines gave rise to schemes of 

 greater dimensions, and suggested the 

 idea of joining the Old and New 

 Worlds by a similar connecting link. 

 In 1856, Mr. Brett, in conjunction 

 with Sir (then Mr.) Charles Bright, 

 Mr. Whitehouse,and Mr. Field, formed 

 a company for laying a cable between 

 St. John's, Newfoundland, and Valen- 

 cia, on the south-west coast of Ireland. 

 The form of cable selected was cal- 

 culated to bear a strain of three tons, 

 while a length of one English mile of 

 it weighed only one ton, in air. The 

 conductor consisted of a strand of seven 

 copper wires, 

 of No. 22| 

 gauge, weigh- 

 ing 93 Ibs. per 

 mile, covered 

 with three 

 coatings of ' 

 gutta - percha, 

 weighing 227 



Ibs. per mile. 

 Fig. 154, T he core was 



served with jute-yarn, saturated with a composition of tar 

 and other materials, and protected by a sheathing of 

 eighteen strands of iron wire, each strand containing seven 

 wires of No. 22 gauge, as in Fig. 156. This was for deep 

 sea line. For shore end, a length of thirty miles of the same 



