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Section OPage i-THE ALVIN SUN-Thuraday, February », 1W0Litton Chooses Alvin As Home For FacilityWorld’s Largest Marine Cable Facility Now Open Here For ProductionKeeping pace with the growing demand for energy resources will undoubtedly be the greatest challenge of the coming decade; and Litton Resources Systems, a Houston-based manufacturer of geophysical equipment, has gone all out to meet it In addition to building marine cables, plant workers also assemble the energy-source equipment used in geophysical exploration on land and sea Its world record in size is not the only first for the facility To assure the delicatebalance needed for perfect functioning of its cables, l-RS has built a 310-foot long Aquanum in which cables can be floated underwater, The largest marine cable seismograph cable facility in the world opened recently as Litton Resources Systems, a Houston-based manufacturer of geophysical equipment, sponsors an Open House for its Alvin facility The Open House was held at the facility located at 1001 Ix)p 35 East in Alvin LRS Vice President Joe Shivers explained some of the firstsfor the plant, including a cable-balancing tank which enables an operator to adjust a cable's flotation before it goes to sea The facility, the largest of its kind, provides 158,000 square feet of manufacturing space on a 26-acre site Designed by Western (ieophysical Chairman of the Board Booth B Strange, the tank is 2 feet deep and holds an entire 300-foot section erf cable. As the cable floats in the tank, the operator can see where internal weights or floats are needed to keep thecable perfectly horizontal The salt content of the water in the tank can be adjusted to approximate the seawater where the cable will be used A standard cable would sink in relatively fresh Alaskan waters, for example, while it would float to the surface in the high salinity of the abian Gulf. This cable-lancing tank can save some 130,000 for each day that the cable on a survey ship does not have to be adjusted at sea LRS has also designed and built weighing tanks in which each separate section of cablecan be weighed in air or underwater to ensure that all sections are identical. Cables can tolerate only about a 2 per cent weight difference from one section to another, and small discrepanices can be caused by a heavier jacket over (me section of cable or even by too much solder in the electrical connections.Another feature at the LRS Alvin facility is a special dehumidifying room in which a damaged cable can be quickly dried out for repair In addition to marine cables, LRS designs and builds a complete line of geophysical equipment, including land cables, geophones, seismicacquisition and data processing systems, and land and marine energy sources. Along with Western Geophysical and Aero Service, LRS is a member of the Litton Resources Group, the resource exploration arm of Litton Industries. The Group provides geophysical services, equipment, and dataprocessing worldwide.Guests at the open house will include Alvin city officials, clients of the Litton Resources Group, and a number of Litton dignitaries, including Booth B. Strange, LRS President Jim Porter, and LRS Vice-President Joe D. Shivers.
Newspaper Details
Alvin Sun
Alvin, Texas, US
Thu, Feb 28, 1980
Page 31
Full Page
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USA 05 Mar 2025
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