THE CABLE SHIP ON REPAIRS. 273 



silvery appearance. They are now held together in the clamps 

 on the jointer's tray (Fig. 157), which grip the conductors close 

 to where the insulation is cut away. One of these clamps is 

 movable along a slot, so that when the wires are properly held 

 they can be brought close together with little pressure, by 

 moving up this clamp as required, and then fixing it by screw- 

 ing up the nut underneath. The joint is now bound round 

 with fine copper binding wire. A length of this wire is un- 

 wound from the reel in the jointer's tray, brightened up with 

 No. emery cloth, and then doubled in three or four like a flat 

 band composed of three or four wires. So held, it is bound 

 tightly round the joint in one direction, say from left to right, 

 and to within a quarter of an inch of the clamps on each side. 

 The turns in this first binding are well apart, the object 

 being only to hold the joint together for soldering. The 

 whole is then soldered over, the solder running in between 

 the binding wires, and making a neat solid joint. The 

 binding wire wrapping is then removed, and a second bind- 

 ing laid on. In this the turns are quite close together and it 

 is laid on in the middle part only. After soldering this on, a 

 third wrapping is laid on, this time in the opposite direction — 

 right to left — and close up to the clamps on each side. This 

 wrapping is soldered only at the extreme ends for about a 

 quarter of an inch from the clamps, the object being that in 

 case the cable is subsequently fractured at the joint the wire 

 not being soldered will not break with the cable, but open out 

 and maintain continuity. Finally, the ends of the binding 

 wire are snipped off, and a six-inch smooth file run over the 

 soldered parts to take off any projecting points and make the 

 joint perfectly regular all the way along. 



So far there will not be found much difficulty in jointing 

 after a little practice in keeping a nice clean tinned end on the 

 bit. There is considerably more practice required in the suc- 

 ceeding operation of making the joint in the insulation, the 

 difficulty being at first to keep air bubbles excluded from the 

 material while hot, and to finish with the jointed conductor 

 perfectly central in its insulating covering. Should there be 

 any air bubbles imprisoned in the joint they are sure to be the 

 cause of ruptures in the insulation sooner or later in conse- 

 quence of the great pressure at the bottom of the sea. This 



