Looped electrical wire twisting technique - GIF

[Jon]

Looped electrical wire twisting technique.




Previously:

Hot twist forming a drill bit - GIF
Wire stripper and twister - GIF
Twisting cable in CERN's superconducting lab - GIF
Vertical twisting machine GIF
Red hot picket twisting - GIF

[Crusty]

In another era that was known as the Western Union wire splice.

[Frank S]

In another era that was known as the Western Union wire splice.

Crusty is exactly correct Highway men would cut the telegraph lines before committing their crimes insuring that the towns folk had no means of communications until someone located the pole where the line had been cut. There was always some sag in the lines so pulling the ends far enough to reconnect them usually was not a problem they would make the figure 8 then twist off the ends to make a solid connection. Smarter highwaymen would cut a section out of the line and dispose of it meaning the repairman had to ride back to town for wire. Pretty soon the repairmen carried a few coils of wire on their saddle horns like a lariat nails and insulators a hammer their pliers and a few other tools in their saddle bags and the first mobile line repairmen were born.

[Crusty]

Without being able to prove that you were hired by Western Union and a pair of wire cutters in your pocket could get you thrown in the graybar hotel in some places.

All of the videos that I've seen on the Tube about it have the first part wrong and don't show the beginning square knot.

[Toolmaker51]

IMO and ideally, scored face pliers wouldn't be used that nick surface of conductors.
I splice low voltage wires similarly, but stranded. Being low volts, soldering is acceptable to supplant the knot. Interleaving the strands, twisting counter to each other, and being clean, enables perfect flow of solder. Then I wrap a separate strand level-wound and reflow the connection. All's well, provided shrink tube is in place beforehand.
Otherwise I maintain the Western-Union method, sans soldering above 24v. I first saw it in Peterson Publishing texts on Automotive Electrical Systems, circa late 60's.

[Tooler2]

Where did the electricity for the telegraph come from in the early days?

[Crusty]

Hey Fred a variation of your splice is my favorite for stranded wires. I push each end into the other so that they "scissor" each other, then wrap a single strand around them to neaten the bundle and finally solder the entire bundle. Neat, easy and a good connection.

[Scotsman Hosie]

Where did the electricity for the telegraph come from in the early days?

Wet, serviceable, batteries.

[Tooler2]

Wet, serviceable, batteries.

and how did they charge the batteries? It seems to me the telegraph came with the railways that long predated electricity?

[Scotsman Hosie]

and how did they charge the batteries? It seems to me the telegraph came with the railways that long predated electricity?

Mans discovery of electricity, dates back many centuries. It's suspected even the ancient Egyptians had some knowledge.

Chemical-electric (voltaic) batteries – capable of supplying steady amounts of lo-voltage, direct currents (DC) _ date back well over 200 years of recorded history. Alessandro Volta is credited with inventing the first one, in 1799. The basic elements (like copper and zinc), as well as the (usually acidic) chemicals used, had to be refreshed, in order to maintain a full charge. But that was long before generators were ever around.