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Hooper's Telegraph Works

Hooper's Telegraph Works is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Hooper's Telegraph Works rather than just read about it. In short: The Hooper's Telegraph Works Ltd was established by William Hooper in 1870 to manufacture and lay submarine communications cable using his patented vulcanized rubber core. Before the company was formed to produce finished submarine cable Hooper had furnished core for other companies, particularly that of William Thomas Henley, to armor and sheathe.

Hooper's Telegraph Works — main illustration
Hooper's Telegraph Works — illustration

Key takeaways

  • Hooper's Telegraph Works belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
  • Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
  • Connect Hooper's Telegraph Works to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
  • Reproduce the core statement of Hooper's Telegraph Works from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Hooper's Telegraph Works Ltd was established by William Hooper in 1870 to manufacture and lay submarine communications cable using his patented vulcanized rubber core. Before the company was formed to produce finished submarine cable Hooper had furnished core for other companies, particularly that of William Thomas Henley, to armor and sheathe. The original core works were located at Mitcham, London with the later complete cable, core with external sheathing, production located and later consolidated at Millwall and the company renamed Hooper's Telegraph Works. The company was placed into liquidation in 1877 and operated as a private company until, after Hooper's death in 1888 the company was again operating as a privately subscribed, limited company. By 1894 the company was trading as Hooper's Telegraph and India Rubber Works Ltd.

Cable The company's major operations concerned submarine cables but it and William Hooper's earlier cable core manufacturing business also made cable for surface use, including military use for field telegraph communications. The Hooper core was also used for indoor circuits. The company's first large submarine cable order was from Great Northern Telegraph Company for a 2,300 nmi (2,600 mi; 4,300 km) nautical mile cable linking Vladivostok with Hong Kong, via Shanghai. Hooper's rubber goods factory had previously been contracted by the Indian government to produce 12 nmi (14 mi; 22 km) of insulated cable and another contract producing cable to link India and Ceylon. The cable ship (CS) Great Northern, purchased by Hooper's in 1871, with four cable tanks, two bow sheaves and cable laying machinery for laying the 1871 Vladivostok - Nagasaki - Shanghai - Hong Kong cable.

The company had considered a trans Atlantic cable from England the United States via Bermuda and ordered a ship capable of carrying the entire cable proposed for the England-Bermuda segment. The ship was to be named Great Western but the cable plan was abandoned, with cable and ship completed, in favor of a cable on the east coast of South America with a new company, the Western and Brazilian Telegraph Company, and the ship renamed CS Hooper. The ship, second to be designed as a cable ship, was second in size at the time only to SS Great Eastern. Hooper was launched 29 March 1873 after four and a half months construction, noted as the first ship designed specifically to lay Atlantic cable, with three cable tanks 32 ft (9.8 m) in depth and 46 ft (14.0 m), 53 ft (16.2 m) and 51 ft (15.5 m) in diameter with 88,900 cubic feet (2,517.4 m3) storage capacity. The ship laid cable linking Pará-Maranham-Ceara-Pernambuco-Bahia-Rio de Janeiro in 1873. In connection with a cable linking Europe to Brazil Hooper's became involved in a lawsuit, Menier v. Hooper's Telegraph Works (Limited), that set precedent concerning the rights of minority shareholders. The European Telegraph Company, in which Hooper's owned a majority of shares, was formed to lay a cable linking Portugal and Brazil under a concession granted by Brazil and other governments. Hooper's held 3,000 shares, Emile Justin Menier held 2,000 and Baron de Mauá, a director of the company, held 25 shares. Others held 300 shares. Hooper's was to supply the cable but found it would be more profitable to supply cable to a rival company and concession formed around Baron de Mauá. Hoopers used its majority position to annul the European Telegraph Company's concession in favor of the new company and, when the European Telegraph Company sued, used its majority position to have the suit abandoned and the company dissolved. Menier filed against Baron de Mauá and Hooper's Telegraph Works for its profits from those dealings. His suit was successful and the actions of Hooper's Telegraph Workswere found to amount to blatant and fraudulent appropriation of property. Cables were laid in the Caribbean area and then the company attempted to gain investors for a South African cable but failed.

Footnotes

References

External links Telegraph Cables Description of Hooper's core, Brazil & connecting cable operations CS Great Northern Company owned ship CS Hooper Company built & owned ship

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hooper's Telegraph Works

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hooper's Telegraph Works claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Hooper's Telegraph Works before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Hooper's Telegraph Works ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Hooper's Telegraph Works

In research
Hooper's Telegraph Works appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry
Engineering practice reuses Hooper's Telegraph Works in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom
Hooper's Telegraph Works is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics British companies disestablished in 1877, British companies established in 1870, Cable manufacture in London, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for Hooper's Telegraph Works outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.
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How to study Hooper's Telegraph Works in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what Hooper's Telegraph Works means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain Hooper's Telegraph Works out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hooper's Telegraph Works in simple terms?

The Hooper's Telegraph Works Ltd was established by William Hooper in 1870 to manufacture and lay submarine communications cable using his patented vulcanized rubber core. Before the company was formed to produce finished submarine cable Hooper had furnished core for other companies, particularly t…

Why does Hooper's Telegraph Works matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Hooper's Telegraph Works?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Hooper's Telegraph Works.

Tags

  • British companies disestablished in 1877
  • British companies established in 1870
  • Cable manufacture in London
  • Companies based in the London Borough of Merton
  • Defunct manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom
  • Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1877
  • Manufacturing companies established in 1870
  • Submarine communications cables
  • Telegraph companies of the United Kingdom

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