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47-455: A wire is a strand of drawn metal used especially in electrical conductors and fencing. Wire or wires may also refer to: Wire A wire is a flexible, round, bar of metal . Wires are commonly formed by drawing the metal through a hole in a die or draw plate . Wire gauges come in various standard sizes, as expressed in terms of a gauge number or cross-sectional area . Wires are used to bear mechanical loads , often in

94-524: A decade later the company obstructed them from mining calamine. The company also engaged in litigation over lead mining in Derbyshire , which it alleged to be infringing its monopoly. In the 17th century the company was not particularly active, but periodically granted licences for mining or industrial activities that would infringe its rights. It probably informally amalgamated with the Society of

141-584: A grooved punch and a grooved metal anvil . Swaging is of great antiquity, possibly dating to the beginning of the 2nd millennium BCE in Egypt and in the Bronze and Iron Ages in Europe for torcs and fibulae . Twisted square-section wires are a very common filigree decoration in early Etruscan jewelry. In about the middle of the 2nd millennium BCE, a new category of decorative tube was introduced which imitated

188-568: A line of granules. True beaded wire, produced by mechanically distorting a round-section wire, appeared in the Eastern Mediterranean and Italy in the seventh century BCE, perhaps disseminated by the Phoenicians . Beaded wire continued to be used in jewellery into modern times, although it largely fell out of favour in about the tenth century CE when two drawn round wires, twisted together to form what are termed 'ropes', provided

235-440: A machine may have six bobbins on one cage and twelve on the other. Solid wire, also called solid-core or single-strand wire, consists of one piece of metal wire. Solid wire is useful for wiring breadboards. Solid wire is cheaper to manufacture than stranded wire and is used where there is little need for flexibility in the wire. Solid wire also provides mechanical ruggedness; and, because it has relatively less surface area which

282-582: A simpler-to-make alternative. A forerunner to beaded wire may be the notched strips and wires which first occur from around 2000 BCE in Anatolia . Wire was drawn in England from the medieval period. The wire was used to make wool cards and pins, manufactured goods whose import was prohibited by Edward IV in 1463. The first wire mill in Great Britain was established at Tintern in about 1568 by

329-432: A solid wire of the same diameter because the cross-section of the stranded wire is not all copper; there are unavoidable gaps between the strands (this is the circle packing problem for circles within a circle ). A stranded wire with the same cross-section of conductor as a solid wire is said to have the same equivalent gauge and is always a larger diameter. However, for many high-frequency applications, proximity effect

376-401: Is a 2/0 wire made from 5,292 strands of No. 36 gauge wire. The strands are organized by first creating a bundle of 7 strands. Then 7 of these bundles are put together into super bundles. Finally 108 super bundles are used to make the final cable. Each group of wires is wound in a helix so that when the wire is flexed, the part of a bundle that is stretched moves around the helix to a part that

423-494: Is compressed to allow the wire to have less stress. Prefused wire is stranded wire made up of strands that are heavily tinned , then fused together. Prefused wire has many of the properties of solid wire, except it is less likely to break. A braided wire consists of a number of small strands of wire braided together. Braided wires do not break easily when flexed. Braided wires are often suitable as an electromagnetic shield in noise-reduction cables. Wire has many uses. It forms

470-453: Is exposed to attack by corrosives, protection against the environment. Stranded wire is composed of a number of small wires bundled or wrapped together to form a larger conductor. Stranded wire is more flexible than solid wire of the same total cross-sectional area. Stranded wire is used when higher resistance to metal fatigue is required. Such situations include connections between circuit boards in multi-printed-circuit-board devices, where

517-408: Is in no less demand for fencing, and much is consumed in the construction of suspension bridges , and cages, etc. In the manufacture of stringed musical instruments and scientific instruments, wire is again largely used. Carbon and stainless spring steel wire have significant applications in engineered springs for critical automotive or industrial manufactured parts/components. Pin and hairpin making;

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564-485: Is more severe than skin effect, and in some limited cases, simple stranded wire can reduce proximity effect. For better performance at high frequencies, litz wire , which has the individual strands insulated and twisted in special patterns, may be used. The more individual wire strands in a wire bundle, the more flexible, kink-resistant, break-resistant, and stronger the wire becomes. However, more strands increases manufacturing complexity and cost. For geometrical reasons ,

611-620: Is nowadays done by passing them through an extruder. Formerly, materials used for insulation included treated cloth or paper and various oil-based products. Since the mid-1960s, plastic and polymers exhibiting properties similar to rubber have predominated. Two or more wires may be wrapped concentrically, separated by insulation, to form coaxial cable . The wire or cable may be further protected with substances like paraffin , some kind of preservative compound, bitumen, lead , aluminum sheathing, or steel taping. Stranding or covering machines wind material onto wire which passes through quickly. Some of

658-585: Is only from these and certain of their alloys with other metals, principally brass and bronze , that wire is prepared. By careful treatment, extremely thin wire can be produced. Special purpose wire is however made from other metals (e.g. tungsten wire for light bulb and vacuum tube filaments, because of its high melting temperature). Copper wires are also plated with other metals, such as tin, nickel, and silver to handle different temperatures, provide lubrication, and provide easier stripping of rubber insulation from copper. Metallic wires are often used for

705-463: Is the lowest that should be used (7 should only be used in applications where the wire is placed and then does not move), and 49 is much better. For applications with constant repeated movement, such as assembly robots and headphone wires, 70 to 100 is mandatory . For applications that need even more flexibility, even more strands are used (welding cables are the usual example, but also any application that needs to move wire in tight areas). One example

752-417: The skin effect , resulting in increased power loss in the wire. Stranded wire might seem to reduce this effect, since the total surface area of the strands is greater than the surface area of the equivalent solid wire, but ordinary stranded wire does not reduce the skin effect because all the strands are short-circuited together and behave as a single conductor. A stranded wire will have higher resistance than

799-519: The Grand Lessees of ... Mines Royal and Mineral and Battery Works . A pamphlet entitled, The present state of Mr Wood's partnership , refers to it having a lease of mines in 39 counties, which may be those of the two companies. The promoter of this was William Wood . Wood patented a new process for making iron (which proved not to be economically effective). They raised money to finance this by agreeing to sell thousands of tons of iron to

846-656: The House of Commons concluded that this was illegal (and similar insurance schemes) were illegal. Ultimately, by agreeing to pay £300,000 off George I 's Civil List debts, they were able to obtain a charter of incorporation as the Royal Exchange Assurance . The incorporation of the Royal Exchange Assurance rendered the patent of the united companies redundant. Very shortly after it opened its subscriptions, subscriptions were sought for

893-457: The Slinky toy, are made of special flattened wire. In antiquity , jewelry often contains large amounts of wire in the form of chains and applied decoration that is accurately made and which must have been produced by some efficient, if not technically advanced, means. In some cases, strips cut from metal sheet were made into wire by pulling them through perforations in stone beads. This causes

940-561: The Mines Royal in about 1669. Ultimately in 1689, the passing of the Royal Mines Act 1688 ( 1 Will. & Mar. c. 30) effectively removed the monopoly mining rights of both companies, and the joint company became moribund. In 1693, Moses Stringer was admitted to shares in both companies, being esteemed a person "ingenious and propence to chemistry and mineral studies". However nothing much happened until Stringer recovered

987-634: The Royal Mint), who had worked closely with William Cecil in setting up the first British wireworks at Tintern , Monmouthshire in 1567-8. Humfrey hired and brought to England a German copper maker, Christopher Schutz , along with his entire workshop. Initial goals included the production of brass in addition to the iron wire which was necessary for producing the cards required by the British wool industry, which had previously been imported. Due in part to difficulties with local materials however,

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1034-530: The Whitebrook works. Thomas Foley continued the Whitebook works until at least 1702, with Obadiah Lane as manager. However, the company's interest in wiremaking ceased in 1689. The Tintern wireworks operated successfully until about 1895. The company licensed its right to use calamine to make brass in 1587 to a group of company members led by John Brode. They set up brass works at Isleworth , but

1081-447: The added wire may be circular in cross-section ("round-wound"), or flattened before winding ("flat-wound"). Examples include: Company of Mineral and Battery Works The original shareholders were: The Company of Mineral and Battery Works had the monopoly right: Determined to make England less dependent on foreign goods, Elizabeth I in 1568 granted a patent of incorporation to William Humfrey , (a former Assay master of

1128-429: The bobbins; the latter being revolved at a suitable speed bodily with their disks, the cotton is consequently served on to the wire, winding in spiral fashion so as to overlap. If many strands are required the disks are duplicated, so that as many as sixty spools may be carried, the second set of strands being laid over the first. For heavier cables that are used for electric light and power as well as submarine cables,

1175-499: The form of wire rope . In electricity and telecommunications signals , a "wire" can refer to an electrical cable , which can contain a "solid core" of a single wire or separate strands in stranded or braided forms. Usually cylindrical in geometry, wire can also be made in square, hexagonal, flattened rectangular, or other cross-sections, either for decorative purposes, or for technical purposes such as high-efficiency voice coils in loudspeakers . Edge-wound coil springs , such as

1222-533: The founders of the Company of Mineral and Battery Works , who had a monopoly on this. Apart from their second wire mill at nearby Whitebrook, there were no other wire mills before the second half of the 17th century. Despite the existence of mills, the drawing of wire down to fine sizes continued to be done manually. According to a description in the early 20th century, "[w]ire is usually drawn of cylindrical form; but it may be made of any desired section by varying

1269-551: The hole and then drifting it out to correct diameter with a punch." Wire is often reduced to the desired diameter and properties by repeated drawing through progressively smaller dies, or traditionally holes in draw plates . After a number of passes the wire may be annealed to facilitate more drawing or, if it is a finished product, to maximise ductility and conductivity . Electrical wires are usually covered with insulating materials , such as plastic, rubber-like polymers, or varnish. Insulating and jacketing of wires and cables

1316-431: The hollow shaft. This disk has perforations through which each of the strands pass, thence being immediately wrapped on the cable, which slides through a bearing at this point. Toothed gears having certain definite ratios are used to cause the winding drum for the cable and the cage for the spools to rotate at suitable relative speeds which do not vary. The cages are multiplied for stranding with many tapes or strands, so that

1363-512: The import of foreign cards was affirmed to be illegal in 1597, wire was at that time permitted to be imported from abroad, perhaps affirming the complaints of manufacturers of wire goods, who maintained that English wire was often of poor quality and in insufficient supply. Thomas Hackett became farmer in 1597. The Company built a further wireworks at Whitebrook , (north of Tintern), in 1607. Subsequently, Sir Basil Brooke of Madeley (from 1627) and George Mynne were associated with him. Brooke

1410-432: The lower-pitched sound-producing "strings" in stringed instruments , such as violins , cellos , and guitars , and percussive string instruments such as pianos , dulcimers , dobros , and cimbaloms . To increase the mass per unit length (and thus lower the pitch of the sound even further), the main wire may sometimes be helically wrapped with another, finer strand of wire. Such musical strings are said to be "overspun";

1457-416: The lowest number of strands usually seen is 7: one in the middle, with 6 surrounding it in close contact. The next level up is 19, which is another layer of 12 strands on top of the 7. After that the number varies, but 37 and 49 are common, then in the 70 to 100 range (the number is no longer exact). Larger numbers than that are typically found only in very large cables. For application where the wire moves, 19

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1504-408: The machines are somewhat different in construction. The wire is still carried through a hollow shaft, but the bobbins or spools of covering material are set with their spindles at right angles to the axis of the wire, and they lie in a circular cage which rotates on rollers below. The various strands coming from the spools at various parts of the circumference of the cage all lead to a disk at the end of

1551-487: The minute books in 1709 and called a meeting at his "elaboratory" and foundry in Blackfriars , which delegated complete power to him as "Mineral Master General". Some effort was made to exploit the companies' monopoly, by licensing mining, but probably with little success. The companies' shares were bought in 1718 by a syndicate known as Onslow's Insurance, who wished to operate through a joint stock company . This

1598-520: The needle and fish-hook industries; nail, peg, and rivet making; and carding machinery consume large amounts of wire as feedstock. Not all metals and metallic alloys possess the physical properties necessary to make useful wire. The metals must in the first place be ductile and strong in tension, the quality on which the utility of wire principally depends. The principal metals suitable for wire, possessing almost equal ductility, are platinum , silver , iron , copper , aluminium, and gold ; and it

1645-538: The outline of the holes in the draw-plate through which it is passed in the process of manufacture. The draw-plate or die is a piece of hard cast-iron or hard steel, or for fine work it may be a diamond or a ruby . The object of utilising precious stones is to enable the dies to be used for a considerable period without losing their size, and so producing wire of incorrect diameter. Diamond dies must be re-bored when they have lost their original diameter of hole, but metal dies are brought down to size again by hammering up

1692-405: The production of brass at the wireworks went poorly, and the more profitable production of iron wire became paramount. The works were eventually let to 'farmers,' the first being Sir Richard Martyn, and Andrew Palmer, in 1570. Wheler died in 1575 and his widow sold her interest to Richard Hanbury. In the late 1570s, there were conflicts over wood for charcoal for ironworks. In 1583, the wireworks

1739-579: The raw material of many important manufacturers , such as the wire netting industry, engineered springs, wire-cloth making and wire rope spinning, in which it occupies a place analogous to a textile fiber . Wire-cloth of all degrees of strength and fineness of mesh is used for sifting and screening machinery, for draining paper pulp, for window screens, and for many other purposes. Vast quantities of aluminium , copper , nickel and steel wire are employed for telephone and data cables , and as conductors in electric power transmission , and heating . It

1786-416: The rigidity of solid wire would produce too much stress as a result of movement during assembly or servicing; A.C. line cords for appliances; musical instrument cables; computer mouse cables; welding electrode cables; control cables connecting moving machine parts; mining machine cables; trailing machine cables; and numerous others. At high frequencies, current travels near the surface of the wire because of

1833-430: The smallest machines for cotton covering have a large drum, which grips the wire and moves it through toothed gears; the wire passes through the centre of disks mounted above a long bed, and the disks carry each a number of bobbins varying from six to twelve or more in different machines. A supply of covering material is wound on each bobbin, and the end is led on to the wire, which occupies a central position relatively to

1880-420: The strip wire drawing method. The strip twist wire manufacturing method was superseded by drawing in the ancient Old World sometime between about the 8th and 10th centuries AD. There is some evidence for the use of drawing further East prior to this period. Square and hexagonal wires were possibly made using a swaging technique. In this method a metal rod was struck between grooved metal blocks, or between

1927-494: The strips to fold round on themselves to form thin tubes. This strip drawing technique was in use in Egypt by the 2nd Dynasty ( c.  2890  – c.  2686  BCE ). From the middle of the 2nd millennium BCE most of the gold wires in jewelry are characterized by seam lines that follow a spiral path along the wire. Such twisted strips can be converted into solid round wires by rolling them between flat surfaces or

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1974-480: The united companies. Wood and his associates would receive £60,000 and a block of shares. However Wood was unable to deliver anything like the quantity agreed. He sought the incorporation of the "Company of Ironmasters of Great Britain", but this was not granted. The affair was the subject of an enquiry by the Privy Council , but Wood died in 1730 and two of his sons were ultimately made bankrupt. £18,000 of

2021-464: The wireworks to his son another Thomas , for whom they were managed by Henry Glover . With the competition from the import of foreign cards (which was supposed to be illegal), Foley was able to persuade the company that its privileges were of little value, and that his rent to them for Whitebrook should only be £5. The Tintern works reverted to the Duke of Beaufort as landlord in 1689, but Foley continued

2068-638: The £40,000 actually advanced by the company was from Sir John Meres in the form of shares in the Charitable Corporation , another company soon to collapse. The company's advances were probably largely lost. Subsequent references to the two companies are to them separately. The Mineral and Battery Company is recorded as mining in Ireland in 1741. It may also have had a copper battery work at (or near) Rogerstone near Newport . A company called Mines Royal, which may (or may not) have been

2115-551: Was a Catholic and his estate was sequestrated during the Civil War . In 1646, the Company accepted the offer of Thomas Foley of Stourbridge and later of Great Witley , Worcestershire to take over the wireworks, probably buying out the existing farmers. However wire made at Tintern was suffering competition from imported wire, and the company was unable to enforce the prohibition on its import. Foley died in 1677, leaving

2162-588: Was founded in 1717 and invited subscriptions for shares between August 1717 and January 1718 as the "Mercer's Hall Marine Company" or the "Undertaking kept at the Royal Exchange for insuring ships and merchandise at sea". They petitioned the Attorney-General for incorporation, but this was refused. They then bought the shares in the united Mines Royal and Mineral and Battery Works companies for £2904. 14 shillings and operated through this. However

2209-571: Was leased to Martyn and Humfrey Mitchell (surveyor to Windsor Castle ) for 15 years and Hanbury agreed to supply osmund iron to them. Conflicts followed over the price to be paid for osmund iron. This ended with Hanbury and his son-in-law Edmond Wheler being imprisoned in February 1598 in the Fleet and their property being sequestrated that July. The latter quickly led them to submit. The farmers were sometimes accused of poor management, and although

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