6 inch (15 cm) outside diameter, oil-cooled cables, traversing the Grand Coulee Dam throughout. An example of a heavy cable for power transmission.

Fire test in Sweden, showing rapid fire spread through burning of cable jackets. Of great importance for cables used in installations.

500,000 circular mil (254 mm²) single conductor power cable

A cable is most often two or more wires running side by side and bonded, twisted or braided together to form a single assembly, but can also refer to a heavy strong rope. In mechanics cables, otherwise known as wire ropes, are used for lifting, hauling and towing or conveying force through tension. In electrical engineering cables are used to carry electric currents. An optical cable contains one or more optical fibers in a protective jacket that supports the fibers.

Electric cables discussed here are mainly meant for installation in buildings and industrial sites. For power transmission at distances greater than a few kilometres see high-voltage cable, power cables and HVDC.

History[link]

Ropes made of multiple strands of natural fibers such as hemp, sisal, manila, and cotton have been used for millennia for hoisting and hauling. By the 19th century, deepening of mines and construction of large ships increased demand for stronger cables. Invention of improved steelmaking techniques made high-quality steel available at lower cost, and so wire ropes became common in mining and other industrial applications. By the middle of the 19th century, manufacture of large submarine telegraph cables was done using machines similar to those used for manufacture of mechanical cables.

In the 19th century and early 20th century, electrical cable was often insulated using cloth, rubber and paper. Plastic materials are generally used today, except for high-reliability power cables.

Electrical cables[link]

Electrical cables may be made more flexible by stranding the wires. In this process, smaller individual wires are twisted or braided together to produce larger wires that are more flexible than solid wires of similar size. Bunching small wires before concentric stranding adds the most flexibility. Copper wires in a cable may be bare, or they may be plated with a thin layer of another metal, most often tin but sometimes gold, silver or some other material. Tin, gold, and silver are much less prone to oxidation than copper, which may lengthen wire life, and makes soldering easier. Tinning is also used to provide lubrication between strands. Tinning was used to help removal of rubber insulation. Tight lays during stranding makes the cable extensible (CBA - as in telephone handset cords).

Cables can be securely fastened and organized, such as by using trunking, cable trays, cable ties or cable lacing. Continuous-flex or flexible cables used in moving applications within cable carriers can be secured using strain relief devices or cable ties.

At high frequencies, current tends to run along the surface of the conductor. This is known as the skin effect.

Cables and electromagnetic fields[link]

Coaxial cable.

Twisted pair cabling

Any current-carrying conductor, including a cable, radiates an electromagnetic field. Likewise, any conductor or cable will pick up energy from any existing electromagnetic field around it. These effects are often undesirable, in the first case amounting to unwanted transmission of energy which may adversely affect nearby equipment or other parts of the same piece of equipment; and in the second case, unwanted pickup of noise which may mask the desired signal being carried by the cable, or, if the cable is carrying power supply or control voltages, pollute them to such an extent as to cause equipment malfunction.

The first solution to these problems is to keep cable lengths in buildings short, since pick up and transmission are essentially proportional to the length of the cable. The second solution is to route cables away from trouble. Beyond this, there are particular cable designs that minimize electromagnetic pickup and transmission. Three of the principal design techniques are shielding, coaxial geometry, and twisted-pair geometry.

Shielding makes use of the electrical principle of the Faraday cage. The cable is encased for its entire length in foil or wire mesh. All wires running inside this shielding layer will be to a large extent decoupled from external electric fields, particularly if the shield is connected to a point of constant voltage, such as earth. Simple shielding of this type is not greatly effective against low-frequency magnetic fields, however - such as magnetic "hum" from a nearby power transformer. A grounded shield on cables operating at 2.5 kV or more gathers leakage current and capacitive current, protecting people from electric shock and equalizing stress on the cable insulation.

Coaxial design helps to further reduce low-frequency magnetic transmission and pickup. In this design the foil or mesh shield has a circular cross section and the inner conductor is exactly at its center. This causes the voltages induced by a magnetic field between the shield and the core conductor to consist of two nearly equal magnitudes which cancel each other.

A twisted pair has two wires of a cable twisted around each other. This can be demonstrated by putting one end of a pair of wires in a hand drill and turning while maintaining moderate tension on the line. Where the interfering signal has a wave length that is long compared to the pitch of the twisted pair, alternate lengths of wires develop opposing voltages, tending to cancel the effect of the interference.

Fire protection[link]

In building construction, electrical cable jacket material is a potential source of fuel for fires. To limit the spread of fire along cable jacketing, one may use cable coating materials or one may use cables with jacketing that is inherently fire retardant. The plastic covering on some metal clad cables may be stripped off at installation to reduce the fuel source for fires. Inorganic coatings and boxes around cables safeguard the adjacent areas from the fire threat associated with unprotected cable jacketing. However, this fire protection also traps heat generated from conductor losses, so the protection must be thin.

There are two methods of providing fire protection to a cable:

1. Insulation material is deliberately added with fire retardant materials
2. The copper conductor itself is covered with mineral insulation (MICC cables)

Electrical cable types[link]

Basic cable types are as follows:

Shape

• Ribbon cable

Construction

Based on construction and cable properties, they can be sorted into the following:

• Coaxial cable
• Mineral-insulated copper-clad cable
• Twinax cable
• Flexible cables
• Non-metallic sheathed cable (or nonmetallic building wire, NM, NM-B)^[1]
• Metallic sheathed cable (or armored cable, AC, or BX)^[1]
• Multicore cable (consist of more than one wire and is covered by cable jacket)
• Shielded cable
• Single cable (from time to time this name is used for wire)
• Twisted pair
• Twisting cable

Special

• Arresting cable
• Bowden cable
• Heliax cable
• Direct-buried cable
• Heavy-lift cable
• Elevator cable

Application[link]

A 250V, 16A electrical cable on a reel.

• Audiovisual cable
• Bowden cable for bicycle
• Communications cable
• Computer cable
• Mechanical cable
• Sensing cable^[2]
• Submersible cable
• Wire rope (wire cable)

See also[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• R. M. Black, The History of Electric Wires and Cables, Peter Pergrinus, London 1983 ISBN 0-86341-001-4
• BICC Cables Ltd, "Electric Cables Handbook", WileyBlackwell; London 3rd Edition edition 1997, ISBN 0-632-04075-0

External links[link]

Look up cable in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cables

Larry the Cable Guy
Larry on June 10, 2007
Birth name	Daniel Lawrence Whitney
Born	(1963-02-17) February 17, 1963 (age 49) Pawnee City, Nebraska
Medium	Stand-up Television Film Radio Books
Nationality	American
Years active	1991–present
Genres	Character comedy, redneck comedy, country comedy, observational comedy, satire
Subject(s)	Culture of the Southern United States, obesity, human sexuality, political correctness, self-deprecation, family, personal hygiene
Influences	Steve Martin,[1] Don Rickles,[1] Milton Berle,[1] Henny Youngman,[1] Jeff Foxworthy, Charlie Callas
Influenced	Billy the Bass Man
Spouse	Cara James (2005–present; 2 children)
Notable works and roles	Blue Collar Comedy Tour Larry McCoy in Delta Farce Himself in Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector Larry in Witless Protection Mater in Cars and Cars 2
Website	Official site

Daniel Lawrence Whitney^[1] (born February 17, 1963), best known by his stage name and character Larry the Cable Guy, is an American stand-up comedian, actor, country music artist, voice artist, and former radio personality.^[2]

He is one of the members of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, a comedy troupe which also includes Bill Engvall, Ron White, and Jeff Foxworthy (with whom he has starred on Blue Collar TV).

Whitney has released seven comedy albums, of which three have been certified gold by the RIAA for shipments of 500,000 copies. In addition, he has starred in three Blue Collar Comedy Tour-related movies, as well as in the films Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector, Delta Farce, and Witless Protection. He is widely known for voicing Mater in the Cars franchise. Whitney's catchphrase "Git-R-Done!" is also the title of his book.

On January 26, 2010, the TV channel History announced that it was ordering a series starring Whitney called Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy, in which he would explore the country and immerse himself in different lifestyles, jobs, and hobbies.^[3] The first episode of the series aired on February 8, 2011.^[4]

Early life[link]

According to a CMT biography, Whitney grew up on a pig farm in Pawnee City, Nebraska.^[5] He went to college at the now defunct Baptist University of America.^[6] He credits his roommates from Texas and Georgia for inspiring his imitation Southern accent.^[7] He dropped out after his junior year after trying his hand at comedy.^[7]

Career[link]

Radio career[link]

Whitney started his career in radio as a disc jockey in Blue Springs, Missouri. He became known in the early 1990s when he made regular radio appearances via phone on programs such as The Ron and Ron Show, The Chris Baker Show on KOOO and KEZO's The Todd and Tyler Show in Omaha, Nebraska, as well as the Kirk, Mark, and Lopez morning show on WIYY in Baltimore, Maryland. He was also a frequent guest on the The Johnny Dare Morning Show show on 98.9, KQRC, Kansas City. He also did appearances on WJRR in Orlando, Florida, on the Monsters in the Mid Day (presently the Monsters in the Morning), as he was a personal friend of BlackBean (Carlos Navarro) with whom he had done voice-over work. He was brought to New England on Greg and the Morning Buzz on WHEB 100.3 and WGIR 101.1 in Portsmouth and Manchester, New Hampshire, respectively, doing two commentaries a week.

Stand-up career[link]

He became famous developing the Larry character, a personality that he now maintains throughout his stage act. The Larry character has a stereotypical redneck appearance and a thick Southern accent, recounts stories about his "family," and uses, among other common expressions, his own catchphrase "Git-R-Done!" A part of Whitney's routine is his affected Southern accent. He says in interviews and in his autobiographical book GIT-R-DONE that he deliberately "turns on" the accent both on and off stage, because he may forget it if he kept his normal accent intact.^[8] He uses catchphrase humor, including "Git-R-Done", "Lord, I apologize, and be with the starvin' Pygmies down there in New Guinea. Amen." and "I don't care who ya are, that's funny right there" after certain jokes. He appears in Nutrisystem commercials with Dan Marino. Marino delivers the catchphrase "Git-R-Done", and is shown dressed in Whitney's trademark attire, including a pair of jeans, a cut-off, untucked flannel shirt, and camouflage hat.

His first two comedy albums, Lord, I Apologize (2001) and The Right to Bare Arms (2005), have both been certified gold by the RIAA. A third album, Morning Constitutions, and its accompanying TV special were released in 2007.

Other work[link]

In 2006, he was approached by Comedy Central to voice a character for an as-yet-unnamed animated series. The show would involve his character as one of two owners of a small cable channel (the other, a high-classed, high-attitude woman). A half-hour pilot was ordered by the network, but has yet to air.^[9]

Whitney was roasted in a Comedy Central special on March 15, 2009.^[10] During the roast, he can be heard greeting roasters out of character and in his normal speaking voice, as well as being called "Dan" by Bill Engvall.^{[citation needed]}

On Tuesday, February 8, 2011, the première of his newest travelogue series, Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy, was broadcast on the History Channel. A total of 4.1 million viewers, 1.7 million adults 25–54, tuned in, nearly doubling the total for the "Top Shot" season 2 opener.^[11] During season two in the episode "Larry Goes To Washington", Larry was the first on-air talent from a non news crew allowed in the War Room, also known as the Command Center, as he explained during the program.

A company in North Dakota developed a line of Larry the Cable Guy food products, such as boxed hamburger dinners. It is sold in Big Lots stores, and the packaging states proceeds from sales benefit his "Git-R-Done Foundation".

Personal life[link]

Whitney resides in Lincoln, Nebraska. He married his wife Cara in 2005. They have two children together, a son, Wyatt (born August 2006), and a daughter, Reagan (born October 2007). In 2010, Whitney and his wife disclosed in an article that their son Wyatt has hip dysplasia.^[12]

His home town of Pawnee City, Nebraska has a street named after him. Whitney also donated money to buy new theatrical equipment for the local high school.^[13]

He is an avid Nebraska Cornhuskers fan and his signature camouflage hat has the Nebraska "N" emblazoned on it.^{[citation needed]}

In September 2010, Dan donated $5 Million to the Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando, Florida. The huge gift was for further development of the International Hip Dysplasia Institute at the Orlando hospital. After Dr. Chad Price at Arnold Palmer Hospital helped cure their son, Wyatt of his dysplasia when he was an infant, Whitney and his wife, Cara, made private donations to the hospital and Whitney raised money through appearances on "Family Feud" and "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" The Hospital Opened a new wing called the "Wyatt Whitney Wing" of the hospital. The construction was complete in May 2012.^[14]

Radio shows[link]

Whitney was a radio personality on:

• KKAR 1290 AM in Omaha, Nebraska
• KGDE 101.9 The Edge in Omaha, Nebraska
• KEZO "Z-92" in Omaha, Nebraska
• KQRC 98.9 FM "The Rock" in Kansas City
• KMYZ "Z104.5 The Edge" in Tulsa, Oklahoma
• WYNF 94.9 FM "95YNF" in Tampa, Florida
• WJRR 101One in Orlando, Florida
• WDIZ in Panama City, Florida
• WPLA "Planet Radio" 107.3 in Jacksonville, Florida
• WIYY 97.9 "98 Rock" in Baltimore, Maryland
• WPYX in Albany, New York
• WHEB in Portsmouth, New Hampshire
• KTPI-FM in Tehachapi, California
• WPBZ 103.1 "The Buzz" in West Palm Beach, Florida
• Blue Collar Radio on Sirius XM Radio

Discography[link]

Filmography[link]

• Larry the Cable Guy: Git-R-Done (2003)
• Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie (2003)
• Blue Collar Comedy Tour: Rides Again (2004)
• Blue Collar TV (2004–2006) as Various Characters
• Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector (2006)
• Cars (2006) as Mater
• Blue Collar Comedy Tour: One For the Road (2006)
• Delta Farce (2007) as Larry
• Witless Protection (2008) as Deputy Larry Stalder
• Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales (2008–2011) as Mater
• Comedy Central Roast (2009)
• Larry the Cable Guy's Hula-Palooza Christmas Luau (2009)
• Larry the Cable Guy: Tailgate Party (2010)
• Cars 2 (2011) as Mater
• Tooth Fairy 2 (2012) as Larry Guthrie

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Larry the Cable Guy

• Official website
• Larry the Cable Guy at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview with Larry the Cable Guy about Cars 2