History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications
from the first submarine cable of 1850 to the worldwide fiber optic network

Power Cables by Bill Burns

Although electrical power cables are not the province of this site, they were sometimes made by the same manufacturers as communications cables.

Examples here of manufacturers which made both types are Siemens Brothers of London and W.T. Henley's Telegraph Works Co. Ltd.

Johnson & Phillips were cableship equipment suppliers, and also offered "Telegraph, telephone and insulated electric cable of all kinds", but their power cable sample on this page is the only cable specimen of any kind that I have seen from them.

Other power cable makers shown here include British Insulated Cables and Callender's Cables, which merged in 1945 to form BICC (British Insulated Callender's Cables); Pirelli (which began making power cables in 1924); and the American firm Okonite.

I often see power cables described as "a section of the first Atlantic cable". Many cable samples which have come down over several generations have an oral history attached to them, and this is sometimes wrong. The specimens on this page should clearly show the difference between cables designed to carry power (lots of copper) and telegraph/telephone signals (not so much).

Power cables vary widely in size, governed by the voltage and current they are designed to carry; the cables shown here range from 3.5cm (1.4") to 13cm (5") in overall diameter. Telegraph and telephone cables typically have one conductor (very occasionally several) of no more than 1/8" diameter and are generally between 2cm (¾") and 5cm (2") diameter overall.

The samples on this page are all shown to the same scale, and are arranged in order of increasing overall size. The age of the samples varies from the early 1900s to 1975; dates are noted where known.

Communications Cables (for reference)
Note the small amount of copper compared to the power cables which follow



Single conductor telegraph cable 1861 Algeria-France Armoured




Simplex Four conductor telephone cable c. 1960 Armoured

Power Cables


Callender's Cable Two concentric conductors Unarmoured


Unmarked Single conductor, lead sheathed Armoured, 19 wires


Siemens Brothers & Co Limited, London Single conductor, lead sheathed, outer spiral brass tape .05 You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login. 2,200 volts W.P. 1923 Unarmoured


Messrs Johnson & Phillips Ltd. Charlton .04 You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login. 4-core, paper insulated, lead covered, steel tape armoured & served L.T.


Callender's Cable Three conductors, lead sheathed Unarmoured


B I [British Insulated] with logo Four conductors,lead sheathed Unarmoured


Henley Cable W.T. Henley's Telegraph Works Co. Ltd. London 3 x .4 You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login. P.V.C. insulated textile bedded S.W.A. and served L.T. cable
Armoured


Callender's Cable Single conductor Double armoured


Callender's .075 three phase high tension trunk main Lead sheathed Armoured


Henley E1135SA Three conductor, lead sheathed Double aluminum spiral wrap The conductors are unusual, being formed from bent sheet copper rather than wire Image courtesy of Gustavo Coll


Siemens Brothers & Co Limited, London Three conductors 33,000 volt cable River Plate Electricity Co. Laid – 1901 Lead sheathed
Unarmoured


Henley's London Dover Dockyard, 1910 Two conductors, lead sheathed Double armoured


Siemens Brothers & Co Limited, London Two concentric conductors, lead sheathed Unarmoured


Manufactured and laid across the Cattewater (Plymouth) Siemens Brothers & Co Limited, London 1 You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login. 3 core 6.6 K.V. lead & rubber sheathed wire armoured submarine cable


Watshams Cable Contractors, Windsor House, Victoria Street, S.W.1. Three conductors, lead sheathed Armoured.


Pirelli General Cable Works Ltd. Southampton 3 x .15 You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login. 11000 Vts Unarmoured


Siemens Brothers & Co Limited, London Section of cable below Medway from Chatham Dockyard to Upnor Castle. Laid 1904
Three conductors Double armoured


British Insulated Cables Ltd. Prescot, Lancs 1.0 You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login. L.T.T. Conc: Class A Three concentric conductors, lead sheathed Unarmoured


Edison-Sault Electric Co. installed this 138 KV submarine cable in the Straits of Mackinac Summer 1975 1/C 500 MCM .690 x .790 hollow core, .505" paper, lead, glass reinforced OPC, mylar tapes, #6 BWG galv. steel armor wires. 138KV Where's there's electrical power ... there's Okonite Cable


Unknown Three conductors, lead sheathed Armoured, 45 wires The 4" long sample of this cable weighs over six pounds


Callender 3 core 132 K.V. impregnated pressure cable Conductor 0.4 sq. ins. paper insulated, lead sheathed, steel reinforced,
with one 2 core pilot and internal gas communication pipe. Laid for C.E.B. at Burford in 1943 Unarmoured


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