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281
Heroes of the Telegraph
·
John Munro
79
Mr.
Field
was
by
no
means
daunted
at
the
failure.
He
was
even
more
eager
to
renew
the
work,
since
he
had
come
so
near
to
success.
But
the
public
had
lost
confidence
in
the
scheme,
and
all
his
efforts
to
revive
the
company
were
futile.
It
was
not
until
1864
that
with
the
assistance
of
Mr.
Thomas
(afterwards
Lord)
Brassey,
and
Mr.
(now
Sir)
John
Fender,
that
he
succeeded
in
raising
the
necessary
capital.
The
Glass,
Elliot,
and
Gutta-Percha
Companies
were
united
to
form
the
well-known
Telegraph
Construction
and
Maintenance
Company,
which
undertook
to
manufacture
and
lay
the
new
cable.
Much
experience
had
been
gained
in
the
meanwhile.
Long
cables
had
been
submerged
in
the
Mediterranean
and
the
Red
Sea.
The
Board
of
Trade
in
1859
had
appointed
a
committee
of
experts,
including
Professor
Wheatstone,
to
investigate
the
whole
subject,
and
the
results
were
published
in
a
Blue-book.
Profiting
by
these
aids,
an
improved
type
of
cable
was
designed.
The
core
consisted
of
a
strand
of
seven
very
pure
copper
wires
weighing
300
lbs.
a
knot,
coated
with
Chatterton's
compound,
which
is
impervious
to
water,
then
covered
with
four
layers
of
gutta-percha
alternating
with
four
thin
layers
of
the
compound
cementing
the
whole,
and
bringing
the
weight
of
the
insulator
to
400
lbs.
per
knot.
This
core
was
served
with
hemp
saturated
in
a
preservative
solution,
and
on
the
hemp
as
a
padding
were
spirally
wound
eighteen
single
wires
of
soft
steel,
each
covered
with
fine
strands
of
Manilla
yam
steeped
in
the
preservative.
The
weight
of
the
new
cable
was
35.75
cwt.
per
knot,
or
nearly
twice
the
weight
of
the
old,
and
it
was
stronger
in
proportion.
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