11/4/21 – WAI will stage the booth selection process for Wire Expo 2022 on Dec. 2 at WAI’s headquarters in Madison, Connecticut.

The process, known as the Points Meeting, will see the booths assigned based on the WAI’s established priority point program. Representatives from companies with the highest accumulation of points from past participation will be assigned their exhibit space first.

To take part in the meeting, companies would have had to provide a signed and completed application with 100% payment by Nov. 30. The day after the Points Meeting, space assignments will be made on a first-come, first-served basis.

“We’re expecting a lot of interest,” said WAI Sales Director Bob Xeller. “It’s been a long time since the industry has been able to get together, but we’re moving in that direction now, and I’m sure there are a lot of manufacturers that would like to be able to sit down and talk to suppliers again.”

11/4/21 – Martin Thacker, who was the British representative for WAI’s 2020 Clockwinding ceremony, will repeat that remote service at the WAI’s board of directors meeting on Nov. 17. It will be posted later in the month.

Thacker’s grandfather was a wiredrawer in Sheffield, and his father worked for Markham and Company Limited, as did his uncle. He is a Liveryman of the Court of the Worshipful Company of Tinplate Workers Alias Wireworkers in the city of London.

The tradition stems from the grandfather clock that was presented to the Association on behalf of the U.K. wire industry for help during World War II. Each year, a U.K. representative comes to wind the clock.

11/4/21 – We take rapid communication for granted with 5G cell phone service and high-speed Internet. But all technological marvels tend to have modest but ambitious beginnings.

The first transatlantic telegraph cable was laid in 1858 by the Anglo-American Telegraph Company, which was founded just for this project by businessman Cyrus West Field. The cable connected Newfoundland to Ireland and had a capacity of transmitting a few words per hour. The first official communication was a message in Morse code from Queen Victoria to President James Buchanan. 

The cable broke down a few weeks later, and two more attempts were made to provide a successful, lasting connection, which was achieved in 1866. That’s when the speed improved to 6–8 words per minute. But this “faster” rate came at the high price of $10 per word for a 10-word minimum. $100 back then was about two months’ pay for a skilled laborer. The primary users were entities with big pockets, such as the British and American governments and large corporations.

In 1956, TAT-1, the first transatlantic telephone cable system with a total cable length of 326 nautical miles, had a capacity of 36 telephone channels. The inaugural call linked AT&T and FCC company officials in New York with officials in Ottawa and London. By 1976, cables carried 4,000 telephone channels, and in 1996 the capacity was 2 x 5 Gbit/s. Expanding exponentially, by 2001 the Atlantic VSNL (TGN) had a capacity of 2 x 2,520 Gbit/s.

Those early growth years of technology were essential to being where we are now, and yes, advances come with a heady price, but what we take for granted today would have long been considered totally unimaginable. 

11/4/21 – You may recall seeing reports such as the one in the New York Post about irate Tesla owners fuming over rats chomping on the wiring in their $70,000 cars. Owners of Hondas, Toyotas, Hyundais and Kias have also reported chewed wires.

So who is at fault? The topic led to a legal matter, one that has yet to be completely resolved, but it does conjure up a colorful image: a judge in a courtroom with car makers at one table, car owners at the other, and the audience packed with rats with a, “Who, me?” look on their faces. 

A suit was filed against Toyota blamed the auto maker for using wires made with soy-based materials that rodents like to chew on. The plaintiffs claimed that the car maker's choice of materials had created a "defect," while the Toyota countered that it was all about rats being rats, and rats have always like to chew wires.  

In 2018, District Court Judge Andrew Guilford dismissed the case because Toyota’s warranty doesn’t specifically cover wiring damage from rodents. He dismissed claims pressed in 13 states. The plaintiffs appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In August 2020, it found that Guilford misidentified the rats as the problem, when the class action alleged that it was the soybean-based wired coating.

In May 2021, U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney ruled that the court was bound by the Ninth Circuit’s previous findings in the case, which ruled that expressed warranty claims could progress, but California Unfair Competition Law claims remained dismissed. The case continues. From various media reports, it seemed unlikely that the class action lawsuit filed by 21 people car owners would see them recoup their losses even if they prevail.

Throughout the proceedings, the rats have had no comment.