Abstract
LEAD is a very suitable metal for providing a watertight covering to an electric cable buried in the earth. The weight of the lead sheaths made per annum in Britain alone is 64,000 tons. Taking into account the much larger quantity that must be used in the many cable factories throughout the world, it will be seen that an improvement in the technique of the manufacture of lead sheaths is one which seriously concerns both users and manufacturers. Of recent years, much thought has been given to this problem and very many patents have been taken out for improvements. In a paper by Dr. P. Dunsheath, read to the Institution of Electrical Engineers on December 3, a method for the continuous extrusion of lead sheaths over cables is described which is being widely adopted by manufacturers. Hitherto, the extrusion of the lead has been done by the ram of a hydraulic press. In Dr. Dunsheath's method, the pressure required to extrude the lead is obtained by means of a motor-driven screw member. In 1929 the first lead pipe was extruded by a continuous process, and the development has continued steadily up to the present. A defect of cable sheaths made on hydraulic presses is the inclusion in the finished pipe of welds between separate faces of metal, which at some stage in the process have been exposed to the air and therefore become slightly oxidized. Provided sufficient time is allowed to elapse and sufficient pressure applied at a sufficiently high temperature, two separate masses of lead will weld together completely into one homogeneous mass if the faces are clean and free from oxide.
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Lead Sheaths of Electric Cables. Nature 139, 364 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/139364a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/139364a0