History of the Atlantic Cable & Submarine Telegraphy

	History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications from the first submarine cable of 1850 to the worldwide fiber optic network
Simplex Wire & Cable Company by Bill Glover

1968 Logo

1962 Postmark

The Simplex Wire & Cable Company had its beginnings in 1865 with the formation of a partnership between Charles A. Morss, who had his own wire making firm in Boston, and Oliver Whyte, to manufacture wire products. They made their first insulated wire in 1885 as an experiment. Following a fire in 1888 the company moved to new premises in Cambridge, Mass.

In 1890 Morss and Whyte took over the Simplex Electric Company who had been acting as selling agents for them. They merged the two firms in 1895 under the Simplex name. This company was to concentrate on the manufacture of insulated wire and cable.

One of the first submarine cables they made was a five mile telephone cable which was laid across the Straits of Mackinac in Lake Michigan; another, this time one mile in length, was laid across Boston Harbour. Both were laid in 1900.

Problems in obtaining gutta percha for insulation forced the company to use rubber insulation, which only lasted for a few years due to proteins in the rubber absorbing moisture. To get over this they used lead sheathing on some cables. By 1926 they had developed a protein free rubber which they used for power and telephone cables.

The first submarine cable using the new product was made in 1933 for the US Coast Guard and laid between Florida and the Fowey Rocks Light. The success of this cable led to many similar contracts. During World War II they produced over 3000 miles of cable for the US Army Signals Corps Alaskan Communication System as well as cable for harbour and coastal defence work.

Bell Telephone Laboratories restarted their research on telephone cables after the end of World War II and Simplex was invited to join in on cable and repeater housing development. In 1948 Simplex manufactured 20 nm of coaxial cable which with six repeaters was laid by CS Lord Kelvin in the Bahamas. The first commercial system using the new cable was laid between Key West and Havana in 1950 using twin "go" and "return" cables. Twin cables were also used on the Atlantic Missile Range System installed in 1953 by HMTS Monarch (4); repeaters for this cable were installed on land.

On the 26th November 1953 the company opened a new factory on the banks of the Piscataqua River at Newington, New Hampshire solely for the manufacture of cables, both power and telephone.

Some other cables manufactured by the Company:

1952-4	Florida - Puerto Rico. For the USAF
1956	Port Angeles - Ketchikan 1250 nm of cable and 36 repeater housings
1956	TAT 1 350 nm shore end cable and 58 repeater repeater housings
1957	HAW 1 2380 nm of cable and 98 repeater housings.
1957	Cape Dyer - Thule 1450 nm of cable and 30 repeater housings. For the USAF
1959	TAT 2 600 nm of cable and 114 repeater housings.
1960	Florida - Puerto Rico 1200 nm of cable and 38 repeater housings.
1961	Cape Dyer - White Bay 2050 nm of cable and 45 repeater housings. For the USAF
1962	Creole Petroleum - Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela 22 nm of 35 kV single phase power cable.
1963	Puerto Rico - Viques Island 10 nm of 35 kV 3 phase power cable.
1964	Philippines - Vietnam 696 nm of cable.
1966	Hawaii - Johnston Island 769 nm of cable.
1966	Gulf Coast Telephone Co 150 nm of cable.
1967	Vietnam coastal system 961 nm of cable. For the USAF
1967	Vietnam - Thailand 607 nm of cable. For the USAF
1967	Chugach Electric - Cook Inlet, Alaska 14 nm of 138 kV power cable.
1968	Union Oil - Santa Barbara Channel, California 66 nm of power and signal cable.
1968	Bonneville Power - Puget Sound, Washington 69 nm of power cable.
1971	Taiwan - Okinawa 363 nm of cable.
1973.	Mt. Dessert Island - Swans Island, Maine 5Ľ nm of power cable.
1976.	TAT 6 shore ends.
1993	HAW 5 San Luis Obispo, California - Keawaula, Hawaii. With AT&T SSI

Many cables were also produced for United States defence systems, including work for the United States Naval Electronic Systems Command. In addition many submarine power cables have been manufactured by the company.

In 1974 the company was taken over by Tyco.

SIMPLEX .128"/.460" TELEPHONE CABLE

Simplex telephone cable, 1968

The cable is intended for use as a communications circuit for underseas operation. It is made up of the following components.

Central Conductor: One 0.128"-diameter solid, uncoated, soft copper wire of high quality and purity, not tinned.

Insulation: High-quality and -purity polyethylene extruded to a diameter of 0.460".

Return Circuit: Six 0.015"-thick x 0.238"-wide uncoated, soft copper tapes of high quality and purity, not tinned, spirally applied. The diameter over the tapes is approximately 0.49".

Shielding: One 1¼"-wide x 0.004"-thick, uncoated, soft copper tape of high quality and purity. Diameter over the tape is approximately 0.50".

Binder Tape: One 1¼"-wide x 0.015"-thick coated cotton tape. The diameter over the tape is approximately 0.53".

Armor Bedding: One serve of 60-lb. treated jute roving. The diameter over the jute is approximately 0.66".

Armor Wires for Deep-Sea Cable: Twenty-four 0.086"-diameter galvanized extra-high-strength-steel wires, each coated with a tar preservative. The diameter over the wires is approximately 0.80".

Outer Covering: Two serves of treated 17/3 plied jute yarn with a flooding of tar preservative compound under, between and over each serve. The diameter over the finished cable is approximately 1.04". For shore ends and unusual bottom conditions, special armoring may be required. Consult factory for specific recommendations.

CALCULATED CABLE DATA
Over-all Diameter	1.04"
Weight in Air	5,320 lbs/NM
Weight in Sea Water	3,490 lbs/NM
Minimum Breaking Strength	30,000 lbs.
Cable Modulus (Breaking Strength/1-NM Weight in Sea Water)	8.6 NM
Specific Gravity	3.06

Last revised: 31 October, 2007

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