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| Subject - Birth of Romex | |
| cs409 |
 anyone know where Romex was developed.What year. how it got its name? and any etc associated with Romex?Try this one without doing any research,,,just shoot from the hip.... |
| YukonRay | OK - here is a shot. "Romex" is a brand name that came from the "Rome" cable company. That is about as far as I can figure. Maybe it first was available in the 50's. Back then it had a cloth braided cover. How good was my aim? |
| aussiesparky | cs409 Sorry for my ignorance but what the hell is "Romex" I guesed it's some type of cable. Is it a mulit stranded conductor? How many conductors are contained in the sheath? Conductor sizes? Is it PVC/PVC? |
| JimmyDee | Its type NM cable used in house wiring and I know it goes back to at least the 1940s. Jim |
| cs409 | Keep up the responses, |
| cs409 | i will post the answer at 10pm central time....... i will tell yall this,,,,nec made ref to it in 62,,,but they also made ref before that also......so keep working,,,, Rome was the city it was made in...that is Rome NY.... anyone care to play with EMT? |
| JimmyDee | quote:Jack Benfield, the inventor of the EMT bender tells about this in his bending training tape. I think it was invented the same year the great depression hit, 1929 by Republic Steel Co. No one knew what to do with it because it couldn't be bent, so Jack invented the bender and the method of how to do the bending. He had to go to job sites and sell the electricians on the tubing and his bender. i think he started as an engineer for Republic Steel. To follow: Rigid conduit. Jim |
| cal_sparky | Romex was first manufactured in the late '20s--first commercial advertising in '28 or thereabouts. Didn't come into widespread use in some regions until just after WWII. The demand for housing postwar led to a lot of changes in building materials and construction techniques, so that more housing could be built as quickly as possible. Cliff |
| cs409 | cliff is close enough.... 1922..... nec req bare ground in 28,,,sorta disappeared until after the war(bare ground)... i remember helping my Dad install knob and tube once or twice,back in 1958....and soldering connections! thank General wire(Rome wire co.) for NM.... if you go into some real old chemical plants etc,that where built back during WW2,,,u will see a lot of large Romex runs where they could do away with conduit,,,aka, metal need for the war! and a lot of this installation is still in service and in good order! |
| aussiesparky | Hey Guys slow down and wait for me. I'm still curious about the construction of this "Romex". Sorry Jim but type NM doesn't make any sense to me. For house wiring we use PVC insulated and sheathed cables, is it simmilar? Prior to PVC it was Vulcanised rubber and that was before I was born!! |
| JimmyDee | Type NM cable. (article 336-3) Definition: Nonmetallic sheathed cable is a factory assembly of two or more insulated conductors having an outer sheath of moisture resistant, flame retardant, nonmetallic material. Jim |
| aussiesparky | Thanks Jim Same beast different name Aussie Equivelent is TPS [Thermo Plastic Sheathed]. Don't know why but the name made it sound mineral insulated metal sheathed! Thanks for expanding my knowledge, May cone in handy for my next Airshow. |
| Trouble Shooter | Do any of you guys know if asbestos was used in romex. I do a lot of rewire in old houses and some of the old cloth type seems like it is. I've asked around even suppliers don't seem to know. |
| JimmyDee | quote: To the best of my knowledge it was an asphalt impregnated asbestos cloth that covered the old romex. Jim |
| cs409 | Older Electrical Panel Partitions, Electrical Cloth,, Electric Wiring Insulation where/are suspect of asbestos... |