retroelectro
experiments on two thousand miles of conductor that were coiled and wound together. While Whitehouse did extensive testing on telegraph cables, much of it seems to have been in scenarios that could not account for the challenges of submerged cables under real oceanic conditions. His experiments, conducted chiefly on coiled and lab-bound cables, did not address or prepare for the practical issues that could arise when the cables were submerged in deep-sea environments. They all knew this. They knew that coils had properties that submarine cables didn’t, and this was well documented for years before the company’s organization. The results of these experiments, which they’re discussing in this inquiry, should have minimal bearing on the failure, but they don’t. It just doesn’t seem like he did the proper testing, and it is not clear that he could have.
The inquest Not long after the cable’s failure, the Queen of England commanded an investigation called the ‘ Joint Committee to Inquire into the Construction of Submarine Telegraph Cables .’ The regular players were there: John W. Brett, Sir Charles Bright, Latimer Clark, William Thomson, and even Wildman Whitehouse, along with a few dozen other scientists and engineers. Whitehouse’s interrogation took place on the 15th of December in 1859. The interview must have taken place all day because the record shows that he was asked two hundred and seventy-five questions. In the interview, he explained that he had performed experiments some years earlier on cable bound for the Mediterranean and Newfoundland. Each cable was one hundred sixty-six miles long, and he could use the multiple conductors in each one to loop them back and make a whole length of two thousand miles. There really was no way to do any kind of proper
The ruined legacy The ultimate failure of the cable was attributed to several factors. Faulty joints, insulation defects, poor testing protocols, and, critically, the use of high-voltage induction coils by Whitehouse. Another attempt would not be made for another nine years. This wait was primarily because of the American Civil War. Still, Whitehouse was blamed for this because the second cable wouldn’t have been needed if Whitehouse hadn’t destroyed the 1858 cable. This break was a blessing, though. After all, it allowed Bright and Thomson to take the time to better understand transmission lines. Before, they were far too hasty and cut as many corners as possible. Following he continued in his world of tinkering and inventing. Overall, there are sixteen patents to his name. He patented things from the seats in public carriages and vehicles to improvements on roller skates, which look like a predecessor to proper roller blades. Whitehouse played a significant role in damaging the cable but was set up for failure from the beginning. He lacked accountability, often dismissing or ignoring problems rather than addressing them proactively. Appointing Whitehouse to a leadership role was a critical mistake. The outcome may have been different if he had been placed in a junior position under a more
Each cable was one hundred sixty-six miles long, and he could use the multiple conductors in each one to loop them back and make a whole length of two thousand miles. There really was no way to do proper experiments on two thousand miles of conductor that were coiled and wound together
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