Cable - Definition and Overview

A cable is two or more wires bound together which may be bare or covered or insulated. It may be protected by a jacket| sheath which protects all. Electrical cables can also act as carriers for other media, including optical fibers.

Cables may be made flexible by stranding, usually twisting or braiding. Smaller individual wires allows more flexibility. Bunching small wires before concentric stranding adds the most flexibility. A thin coat of tin on the individual wires provides lubrication for longest life. Tight lays during stranding makes the cable extensible; eg: telephone handset cords.

Types of cable

• communications cable
• coaxial cable
• twinax cable
• twisted pair cable
• fiber optic cable
• mechanical cable
• bowden cable, a type of flexible sheathed cable used to transmit mechanical force.
• wire cable (also known as wire rope)
• power cable
• insulated cable
• shielded cable

Other uses

• Cable is generally used in reference to cable television. From 1860 to 1960 it would have referred to a telegraph message. See also cable modem.
• The term cable is sometimes used for the cable length, a non SI unit of measurement
• Cable is a comic book superhero in the fictional Marvel Universe
• There is a small town in Wisconsin named Cable
• In financial markets, "cable" stands for the British Pound Sterling

See also

• extension cable
• rope
• cable modem
• DOCSIS
• Submarine communications cable