Text 5 The Atlantic telegraph cable Words and word combinations:

A transatlantic cable – трансатлантический кабель

re-formed – вновь формировать

fairly level – довольно ровный

fourth attempt – четвертая попытка

steamship – пароход

crewmen – команда

submarine – подводная лодка

a mirror galvanometer – зеркальный гальванометр

rapidly and continuously – быстро и непрерывно

quick communication – быстрая связь

In 1854, Cyrus W. Field, an American businessman, organized the New York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company and began plans for laying a transatlantic cable. In 1856, he re-formed the company and renamed it the Atlantic Telegraph Company. Field decided to lay his cable between Newfoundland and Ireland, because the ocean floor along this route is fairly level.

Field took over 12 years to complete his project. His first two cables, laid in 1857 and 1858, broke. In August 1858, two ships successfully laid a third cable for Field. This cable carried the first transatlantic telegraph message. But it failed after only four weeks of serve.

In 1865, Field made his fourth attempt to lay a cable across the Atlantic. This cable also broke when the project was almost completed. Success finally came in 1866, when the British steamship the Great Eastern laid a cable that extended from Valentia, Ireland, to Heart’s Content, Nfld. Also in 1866, crewmen retrieved and repaired the cable that broken in 1865.

Much of the success of the submarine cable laid by the Great Eastern was due to the work of the British physicist William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin). He had developed a theory on how cables should work. He had also invented a device called a mirror galvanometer that enabled the transatlantic cable to transmit signals rapidly and continuously. The Atlantic cables marked the beginning of quick communication across the sea. By 1900, 15 transatlantic telegraph cables had been laid.

Text 6 The spread of telephone cables Words and word combinations:

To patent – запатентовать

single insulated wires – одиночные изолированные провода

to clutter – загромождать

underground telephone cable – подземный телефонный кабель

vacuum tube – вакуумная труба

to strengthen – укреплять

twisted cables – скрученный кабель

along the ocean floor – вдоль океанского дна

telephone call – телефонный вызов

The American scientist Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone in 1876 by the late 1800’s, thousands of telephones had come into use. Early telephone and telegraph lines consisted of single insulated wires. As a result, many cities in the United States and Canada became cluttered with cables strung on wooden poles. In the late 1880’s, engineers found that by twisting wires together they could produce a stronger cable and help limit the clutter. In 1902, the first underground telephone cable was installed, between New York City and Newark.

In 1907, the American inventor Lee De Forest patented a new kind of vacuum tube. His tube, also called an audion, could strengthen weak electric signals. In 1912, this tube was adapted as an amplifier for long-distance telephone calls. In 1913, two American engineers, Lloyd Espenschied and Herman A.Affel, patented the coaxial cables could carry many more telephone conversations than the twisted cables then in use. In the 1950’s, telephone companies began using transistors in repeaters.

The first transatlantic telephone cable was laid in 1956. this cable, which is still in operation, extends from Clarenville, Nfld., to Oban, Scotland. Since the 1950’s, many cables have been laid along the ocean floor. Most carry telegraph signals as well as telephone calls.