Wire Reel

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by Matthew P

Is it anything like the US reel? That's a DR8 and is about that size, maybe 8"x8" DR8-A and DR8-B reels are nearly identical and easy to obtain.

Matt

I think they're bigger than that (the DR8 reels), but I'd need to check.

For a UK/Commonwealth signals jeep, it's probably the Reel, Cable, No.1 which fitted the infantry cable layers and also the "Barrows, Drum" which would take much larger sizes of reel. That would give about half a mile of single (D3) cable or a quarter of a mile of twin (D3 twisted) per reel. They'd need to carry a cable layer of some kind to be able to reel it back in, I suspect, because the reproduction mounting doesn't appear to have a winder - it's just a round spindle.

D3 was rubber insulated with a waxed woven (linen) jacket in various colours, and is fairly thick. I don't know when the plastic (or paint (!)) insulated cables appeared on the scene, though certainly before D-Day as "Assault Cable No.1" (copper plated steel wire with an insulating coat of paint) was issued on wooden reels and considered disposable (no attempt made to recover it for re-use), while Assault Cable No.2 (7 strands steel, 1 copper, PVC jacket) was issued in hessian-wrapped doughnuts for use with Reel No.4 (and ACL No.10 - which was just an arm-hook with attached spindle).

(Wanders off to measure some reels...)

OK, DR8B is 9" diameter and 9" wide (exterior dimensions) and intended for twin cable. (I assume the DR8A was for single cable.) It has a square socket for the spindle, presumably for RL-79 and similar laying equipment. Both ends of the cable are brought out to insulated terminals on one face of the drum.

Reel, Cable, No.1 is 11" diameter and 6.5" wide (6" internal) for a round spindle with square sockets at the end for the winding handle, it has a wooden core with a recessed single terminal connected to a slip-ring on one face of the drum to allow the cable layer to communicate while laying or reeling-in if desired. (There was a strap-on heel-plate for the person carrying the cable layer to provide earth return - it probably only worked well in really wet and muddy conditions!)

D3 cable is thinner than I remember it, so a reel might have been 880 yards of twin or 1 mile of single. (I was probably thinking of D8, which was a rather thicker item for longer circuits (more copper and insulation to reduce circuit losses).

Chris.