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How did they make wire conductors in the early years ?
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coppercone2:

an advanced jeweler will still use equipment like this to make wires to repair old custom necklaces etc. pretty sure it does not need to be square either, just an example.

If you have a mandrill with many reductions then you do not need a great amount of force, just time.

For soft materials, you can get hand held wire making pliers that basically compress a ball through a orifice to make wire (used in chemistry to make soft alkali wires etc)

I would say the bigger 'breakthrough' for electrical wire is development of good varnish coatings that have high durability and temperature resistance.. this lets you get more out of your copper in a reliable way. (started with the 1900's chemical industry revolution). I imagine the wire is easy to make in comparison to reliable insulation. Silk, tar, paper, etc. IMO the first strong 'development' for power transmission was the invention of PILC (paper insulated lead cable), which is actually oil filled, that allowed for reliable high voltage cable runs.




And I suspect a bronze casting of the roller mill that is hand finished would work and that tech would be available back in the bronze age, for a wealthy craftsman... probobly more like individual rollers not a big consolidated multi gauge thing. (at least for working silver, its softer then bronze). I wonder if you can make silver wire with granite rollers too... if you preheat the wire before roll milling you can probobly get away with quite a bit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire#History
basinstreetdesign:

--- Quote from: MathWizard on February 08, 2022, 03:49:00 am ---
... I bet people were not afraid to try chewing on solder back then. ...

--- End quote ---

At least not on raw lead during the early 1800's.  According to the tour guides at the reconstructed Hudson's Bay trading post at Fort William in Thunder Bay, ON, rambunctious kids were given a lump of lead to chew on.  They say it was wonderful how it would slow them down...
G7PSK:
Early electrical experimenter had to wrap bare wire in linen or silk by hand themselves as no calendaring services were available back then.
TimFox:
In the history of technology, the use of wire to wind electromagnets, etc., could not happen until wire was readily available.
SeanB:
Last time I saw a lead cable being properly terminated, as in wiping the lead, and using bitumen, as opposed to just using epoxy and shrink sleeving, was around 1998, when they were installing a new paper cable for a building. Since then all the joints are now made using Scotchcast kits, which are so much less training to use, as you do not have any hot metal or filler to apply, and less training needed to use them. Seen them used all the way from 400V 3 phase application, up to 132kV underground supply cables, where you still need a lot of skill to keep voltage gradients even, as otherwise your joint will explode soon after you apply power, could be anywhere from seconds to weeks, depending on just what you did wrong, and what small step you left out. That 132kV kit comes with a massive colour install booklet, on water resistant paper, with detailed instructions, and lots of pictures, in around 30 languages, for the installer to use.

Of course, assumes installer can actually read.
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