GB755658A - Improvements in or relating to the manufacture of electric power cables - Google Patents

Abstract

755,658. Making cables. BRITISH INSULATED CALLENDER'S (SUBMARINE CABLES), Ltd. March 11, 1955 [March 12, 1954; Sept. 30, 1954], Nos. 7284/54 and 28247/54. Class 36. A single-core gas-filled cable is manufactured in very long lengths by a method which comprises forming a stranded wire conductor of the required length, storing it without twisting in a number of layers of spiral turns, removing it from the stored length without twisting, lapping it with insulating tapes, temporarily storing successive parts of the insulated conductor in loops of variable length prior to removing these parts from storage as required for the application of an impervious sheath thereto, storing the sheathed conductor without twisting in a plurality of layers of spiral turns, removing it from the stored length without twisting, applying protective coverings for the sheath and finally coiling the cable in a plurality of layers of spiral turns. An apparatus for manufacturing a 24-mile cable length may comprise a wire stranding machine A (Fig. 1) having a haul-off capstan 6, from which the hollow or solid stranded conductor 10 passes up over a pulley wheel 11 which is driven from the capstan through bevel gearing and a slipping clutch. The conductor then passes between a pair of endless belts 12, also driven from the capstan through a slipping clutch, on to a roller conveyer 13 and over a roller 14 down on to a turntable B. The turn-table is driven through a variable-speed gear so that the conductor may be coiled thereon starting from the centre, with each coil tightly against the preceding one. When the conductor is unloaded from the turntable it is led over rollers 23, 24, through a caterpillar brake 25 (Fig. 9) to a paper lapping machine C which is housed within an enclosure 26. The insulated conductor 10b is led around two haul-off capstans 28, 29 (Fig. 10) and thence to temporary storage device D which comprises a frame 31 carrying a fixed sheave 32 of five pulleys and a movable sheave 33 of four pulleys mounted on a wheeled carriage 34. From capstan 29 the insulated conductor passes round the first pulley of sheave 32, the first pulley of sheave 33 and so backwards and forwards round all the pulleys before passing from the fifth pulley of sheave 32 to a twin capstan hauloff device E, and thence over roller conveyers 45, 47, 48 to a metal sheathing press F. The sheathed conductor 10c passes over pulley 52 to a second turn-table generally similar to the turn-table B, but considerably larger. When the cable is unloaded from the turn-table it passes through a second caterpillar brake to a series of taping heads for the application of an anti-corrosive sheath which is subjected to a spark-testing device before the cable is passed through a bitumen compound coating device and a lapping head, which applies a bedding layer of bituminized jute strip, to an armouring machine. After the application of outer servings of bituminized tape and jute, the cable passes over a haul-off capstan to storage. Specifications 479,971, [Group XXII], and 706,726 are referred to.