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The Book of Terms

The Book of TermsThe WJI Book of Wire & Cable Terms: an interactive experience of learning and sharing
This book, written by industry volunteers and containing more than 5,000 entries, is an asset for newcomers to wire and cable.

At the same time, it also represents an opportunity for industry veterans to give back by either updating or adding to the more than 5,000 entries. This is an honor system process. Entries/updates must be non-commercial, and any deemed not to be so will be removed. Share your expertise as part of this legacy project to help those who will follow. Purchase a printed copy here.

   

 

All   0-9   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Common Carrier

An organization that provides regulated telephone, telegraph, telex and data communications systems. Also, a term for ordinary shipping of materials.

Common Draw Size

See Base Size.

Common Mode

Noise caused by a difference in ground potential. By grounding at either end rather than both ends (usually grounded at source) one can reduce this interference.

Common Solder

Soft solder containing about 60 percent lead and 40 percent tin.

Community TV Cable

Coaxial cables used to transmit television signals from a master antenna to a group of receivers in a community.

Commutator

A series of bars or segments so connected to the armature coils of a dynamo that rotation of the armature will, in conjunction with fixed brushes, result in unidirectional current output in the case of a generator and in the reversal of the current into the coils in the case of a motor. A switch for reversing the direction of an electric current.

Commutator Segment Bar

A shape of trapezoidal cross-section for manufacturing into commutator segments.

Commutator Segments

Elements usually cut from commutator segment bar.

Compact

See Stranding, Compact.

Compact Conductor

Stranded conductor drawn to deform the round wires to fill the normal interstices between the wires in a strand.

Compact Stranding

A stranding configuration with concentric strands in which each layer is passed through a compacting die to reduce the diameter by approximately 10 percent.

Compatibility

The ability of dissimilar materials to exist in mutual proximity or contact without changing their physical or electrical properties.

Compax®

A General Electric trade name for the manufacturing of diamond die blanks that are a combination of synthetic polycrystalline diamond and cemented tungsten carbide. The two materials are produced as an integrated unit by means of a high temperature-high pressure process closely approximating the conditions, which cause natural diamonds to form.

Complex Number

A mathematical expression (a + bi) in which ‘a’ and ‘b’ are real, i2 = 1; useful in analyzing certain vectors, especially of electrical fields: j is substituted for I in formula for electrical circuits, i.e., (a + jb).

Composite (Clad) Wire

A wire having a core of one metal to which is clad an outer shell of one or more different metals. See Cladding.

Composite Cable

A cable containing more than one type or gauge size of conductors (i.e., power and control conductors in one assembly).

Composite Conductor

A composite conductor consists of two or more strands of different metals, such as aluminum and steel, or copper and steel (i.e., ACSR, ACAR, AWAC). A conductor con­sisting throughout its length of two or more metal conductors providing parallel paths sharing the load. A composite cable is one in which the gauge of the conductors, and/or the type of construction, is not the same throughout its cross-section.

Compound

A mixture of resin and the ingredients necessary to modify the resin to a form suitable material for processing into the finished article (wire insulation, jacket, tape or tubing).

Compounding

The step/process of mixing a basic resin with additives such as plasticizers, stabilizers, fillers and pigments in a form suitable for processing into finished articles.

Compressed Strand

A stranding configuration with concentric strands in which either all layers or the outer layer only is passed through a die to reduce the conductor diameter by 3 percent.
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