When was this in manufacture?

[drzsta]

Came across some old imperial cable today. Seems to be tinned copper with VIR then a fabric wrap and and steel over braid.

Never seen it braided before but what shocked me was the fact that the cable integrity was perfect. VIR was like new.

What was the large 7core used for?







Cheers.

 

[Pete999]

1945 and that's a pure guess

 

[Barry White]

is the braid definatly steel or tinned copper and was the braid exposed or posibly covered and rubber has fallen off?
I think its much earlier around the twentys and posibly naval ? just a guess but looks like a signal cable dont know what its doing in a domestic propety (prehaps they even had diyers then?) Rubber cables were tinned to stop copper degrading the rubber.

 

[drzsta]

is the braid definatly steel or tinned copper and was the braid exposed or posibly covered and rubber has fallen off?

Looking back, it maybe a tinned copper braid - possibly covered in rubber however there was copious amounts I removed and found no evedence of a previous outer sheath of rubber.

Still, better than the carp we install nowadays.....

 

[Marvo]

Were they using the braid as a CPC? Where was it installed and what was the application that required 7 core? It's a nice looking cable and beautifully made for its time and I wouldn't be surprised if it's still perfectly serviceable if left undisturbed but I've no idea about the date.

 

[Knobhead]

The twin looks like thermocouple cable to me and probably not that old.

 

[Marvo]

Are you thinking fibreglass?

 

[Knobhead]

Are you thinking fibreglass?

The stuff we used was fibreglass.

Looking at the 7 core, it's like the cambric control cable we used on the kiln top for the level controls.
When we first installed the level control units we used PVC SWA, it soon became a molten blob with every core shorted.

That’s bought back some bad memories. You could only work on there for a couple of minutes before having to retreat away from the heat. The hot work suits just made things worse. Like a turkey at Christmas, you were cooked in foil.

 

[drzsta]

Apologies for the spelling mistakes and lack of info as I had posted on my phone.

Did a bit of digging myself tonight.
The property is actually a prefab dwelling built I suspect very soon after WW2. The building is of steel construction and was wired In VIR with Metallic Braid.
As I understand it, The wiring is done in a Spider method where all cables come from a central metal box. The Braiding itself is earthed by the box lid screwing down onto the sheaths of the cable entering it.
Not sure if this Cable type was surplus from the war effort or actually designed for these steel structures.

Tempted to lift more floor when I go back just to see how it was all wired, lol

 

[Dcf]

I've just ripped out similar from a prefab but it was PVC wrapped in braid.
this had a central metal j/b for the lighting with clamps like lead sheath cables had
wasn't in bad nick for about 50 years old tbf

 

[mache]

Have you subjected any sections to a good IR session, be interesting to know how it performs after all this time. My guess is that it stands up well, looking at the condition in the photos.

 

[Lucien Nunes]

That type of cable was made specially for the proprietary 'Octopus' wiring system, the braid was the CPC and there was not normally an oversheath. I have adverts for this spanning (IIRC) late 30's - 50's, not sure exactly when it was launched though.

As mentioned above the concept was to use a minimum number of large JB's that were often pre-wired with cable lengths to suit the building design. The factory-made wiring sets would be taken onto site and the ends pulled from the JB position to the points. The 7-core may have tied upstairs and downstairs boxes together or made a home run to the board.

I'm looking for examples of JBs and lengths of cable to make up a display board for the museum, so if anyone rips out an Octopus install I will buy it off you for more than the scrap man! If you have a chance even to harvest some cable samples like that 7-core I would be interested.

 

[drzsta]

That type of cable was made specially for the proprietary 'Octopus' wiring system, the braid was the CPC and there was not normally an oversheath. I have adverts for this spanning (IIRC) late 30's - 50's, not sure exactly when it was launched though.

As mentioned above the concept was to use a minimum number of large JB's that were often pre-wired with cable lengths to suit the building design. The factory-made wiring sets would be taken onto site and the ends pulled from the JB position to the points. The 7-core may have tied upstairs and downstairs boxes together or made a home run to the board.

I'm looking for examples of JBs and lengths of cable to make up a display board for the museum, so if anyone rips out an Octopus install I will buy it off you for more than the scrap man! If you have a chance even to harvest some cable samples like that 7-core I would be interested.

I'll, shoot you a PM next week when i go back to site and grab what I can for you.

 

[Lucien Nunes]

Thanks for that, I'll have a look in the archive over the weekend for any useful info about the system. I believe that Henley might have been using the name 'Octopus' since about 1900, when it referred to a lead-sheathed installation with sweated lead JB's made on the spot. But this braided cable was for a younger generation of Octopus.

I rather like these 'special' wiring systems, there were many in the early days. 'Stannos' was one that was recommended for earthed concentric wiring (TN-C) where even the finals had an exposed CNE conductor. Wherever you had a cable, you automatically had a neutral. Single-core supply cable to switch, single-core from switch to light, job done.

 

[Knobhead]

Hartley Electrical (Shrewsbury) made the Octopus wiring system.