Specimen of lightweight transatlantic telephone cable, 1961

Made:
1961 in England and Greenwich borough
maker:
Submarine Cables Limited
Specimen of the new lightweight trans-Atlantic telephone cable Specimen of the new lightweight trans-Atlantic telephone cable

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Specimen of the new lightweight trans-Atlantic telephone cable
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Specimen of the new lightweight trans-Atlantic telephone cable
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Specimen of the new lightweight transatlantic telephone cable, manufactured by Submarine Cables Limited, Greenwich, London, England, 1961.

This is a specimen of the cable that was used to create the first link in the Commonwealth Round the World Cable, called the Canadian Trans-Atlantic Telephone Cable, or CANTAT-1. The cable was laid from Oban, Scotland, to Corner Brook, Newfoundland, and was completed in 1961. The cable was designed by the Post Office in 1951, and dispensed with armouring, instead giving it the strength needed for laying and recovery by incorporating a steel cable at the centre of the inner conductor. It was known as the lightweight cable because its weight in water was only one-fifth of that of a comparable armoured cable. Ninety two-way rigid repeaters, also of British design, were spaced along the route length.

Details

Category:
Telecommunications
Object Number:
1960-138
Materials:
plastic (unidentified), copper (alloy), steel (metal) and metal (unknown)
Measurements:
overall: 224 mm, 39 mm, 197.67 g
type:
armoured cables
credit:
Donated by Submarine Cable Limited