Testing Methods and Corrosion Control Measures For Buried Telephone Cable

Abstract

Abstract Most of the thousands of miles of buried telephone cable installed by the Bell System have been placed within the past 10 to 15 years. Although relatively few serious corrosion troubles have been experienced on these cables to date, investigations have indicated that damage due to corrosion on this type of plant may be expected to increase unless special mitigative measures are employed. The number of miles of cable involved has made desirable the development of special layout records which will serve as a base for recording such field data as potential of cable to reference electrodes, sheath current flow measurements, location of corrosion troubles, etc. One such record developed by the author is described. The difficulty involved in obtaining access to buried cable at the frequent intervals desirable for measurement of current flow on the cable sheath has led to consideration of other means of testing to more precisely locate areas of current loss and the amount of current discharged to the so...