Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!lll-winken!telecom-request From: kitty!larry@uunet.uu.net (Larry Lippman) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Western Electric Power Cable Message-ID: Date: 6 Apr 91 05:24:11 GMT Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 40 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 269, Message 1 of 11 In article DAN@gacvx2.gac.edu (Dan Boehlke) writes: > > A truly scary experience is to move a piece of old RH or RHW > > rubber-insulated power feeder cable, watch both the outer insulation > > and the rubber flake into dust, and see exposed conductor within a > > fraction of an inch of grounded metal! I could never understand > > why WECo continued to use potentially unstable rubber-insulated > > power cable for almost forty years after far superior plastic > > insulation was available following World War II. > It is my understanding that good real rubber products resist acid > better than even most of today's plastics. Acid resistance would be > very important around batteries. Synthetic rubber does have good chemical resistance to acids in concentrations likely to be found in storage battery electrolytes. In fact, common telephone industry practice for cable connecting directly to battery terminals is to use finely stranded welding cable with "SO"-type rubber insulation. However, WECo traditionally used type RH or RHW rubber insulation for ALL power cabling in gauges ranging from 14 AWG to 750 MCM. Chemical resistance to acids was not really an issue once outside of the battery room. As a somewhat interesting aside, WECo 750 MCM power cable had "non-traditional" uses. A sixteen inch length (which weighs about three pounds) makes an excellent "attitude adjustment tool" for telephone company personnel who have to work in crime-ridden urban areas. I once saw its effectiveness in deterring a car theft in the parking lot of a New Jersey Bell central office in Newark. The power cable section also had the advantage of not being an unlawful weapon. After all, it's an engineering sample, right? :-) Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. "Have you hugged your cat today?" VOICE: 716/688-1231 {boulder, rutgers, watmath}!ub!kitty!larry FAX: 716/741-9635 [note: ub=acsu.buffalo.edu] uunet!/ \aerion!larry