ECN Forum Forums Photo Discussion Forums Electrical Nostalgia Old UK Cable Labels

Good question. It may be that the rubber has to be vulcanized to copper; er, "cooked". Don't know if the same reaction occurs with bronze or brass.

It's during the production process. Unvulcanised rubber is a gooey sticky mess, so it needs to be vulcanised by adding sulfur and heating it up. And during this process the sulfur would ruin bare copper conductors. After the rubber is vulcanised the sulfur doesn't do any more harm.

sanUK,
And in this time, this company (and others) exported this type of wire to New Zealand.
I have seen these very same tags and labels up in roof voids where we have been re-wiring houses of this era.
Not sure of the geography of the UK, but I have seen a few labels with Manchester, Surrey and Sheffield on them.
There was one that had the Manchester Cable Company on it, does anyone know of this company?.