Found Objects - Cables

Volume 12 Number 2/3
October, 1996

Found Objects

Navigator’s Bookcase	Sheet of aluminum with red paint	Cut Strip of Aluminum	Aluminum Plate
Dado	Aircraft Skin	Aluminum Comb	Riveted Assembly
Channel Section	Cables	Plexiglas	Aircraft Safety Wire
Thermometer, broken	Threaded metal cap	Shoe parts	Artifact 2-2-G-8, Shoe heel

[?] Cables (TIGHAR Artifact 2-3-V-1)

Date Found:

February 1996 during TIGHAR’s NIKU III Preliminary expedition.

Description:

These are two lengths, possibly once joined, of coaxial cable. Each end has a single-pin connector with a knurled tightening nut. The cable consists of an outer layer of rubber insulation covering a shielding braid of tinned copper wire over another layer of rubber insulation. The core is made up of ten twisted strands of wire wrapped with cotton.

Identification (partial):

The connectors are Howard P. Jones Series 101 plugs manufactured from the mid-1930s onward and used on certain models of Western Electric, Bendix and Sperry receiving equipment. The construction of the cables indicates aviation use and matches the description of 70 or 72 ohm coaxial cable used for antenna lead-ins for radio receivers.

Condition:

Various components of the cable are missing in many areas, but entire cross-sections survive to permit a full description of the original make-up. The connectors are in remarkably good condition.

Commentary:

Specifications for military-approved coaxial cable in 1941 begin with a 12-strand core. It may be that the 10-strand cable found on Nikumaroro is an earlier civilian type. Documentation is being sought. The Earhart aircraft carried Western Electric and (possibly) Bendix receivers.

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