New Cable Designed To Deter Copper Thieves 668
Hugh Pickens writes "Pervasive thefts of copper wire from under the streets of Fresno, California have prompted the city to seal thousands of its manhole covers with concrete. In Picher, Oklahoma, someone felled the town's utility poles with chain saws, allowing thieves to abscond with 3,000 feet of wire while causing a blackout. The theft of copper cables costs U.S. companies $60 million a year and the FBI says it considers theft of copper wire to be a threat to the nation's baseline ability to function. But now PC World reports that a U.S. company has developed a new cable design that removes almost all the copper from cables in a bid to deter metal thieves. Unlike conventional cables made from solid copper, the GroundSmart Copper Clad Steel Cable consists of a steel core bonded to a copper outer casing, forming an equally effective but far less valuable cable by exploiting the corrosion-resistance of copper with the conductive properties of steel. 'Companies trying to protect their copper infrastructure have been going to extreme measures to deter theft, many of which are neither successful nor cost effective,' says CommScope vice president, Doug Wells. 'Despite efforts like these, thieves continue to steal copper because of its rising value. The result is costly damage to networks and growing service disruptions.' The GroundSmart Copper Clad Steel cable is the latest technical solution to the problem of copper theft, which has included alternatives like cable etching to aid tracing of stolen metal and using chemicals that leave stains detectable under ultra-violet light. However the Copper Clad Steel strikes at the root of the problem by making the cable less susceptible to theft by both increasing the resistance to cutting and drastically decreasing the scrap value."
Just coat them with plutonium (Score:5, Funny)
Eventually, the thieves will take care of themselves.
The problem is thieves. Get rid of them. (Score:1, Funny)
Something like 70% of copper thieves have been convicted of theft once before. If there was a death penalty for thieves - and really, why not for all felonies? - this problem would quickly end.
But no, we have to worry about their feelings.
Theif soultions (Score:5, Funny)
Re:The problem is thieves. Get rid of them. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:The problem is thieves. Get rid of them. (Score:5, Funny)
I like it, though I'd execute the children, too. A crime-free society is less than a generation away.
We think much alike, you and I.
Easier solution (Score:5, Funny)
Re:This won't work (Score:4, Funny)
Re:This won't work (Score:3, Funny)
They must be very good at NetHack.
Article (Score:4, Funny)
GSmart: Let's steel copper cables!
Re:Just coat them with plutonium (Score:5, Funny)
Plutonium is only mildly radioactive thanks to its long half life. Cesium-137 would be a far better deterrent.
What about having a tube around the wire that is filled with white phosphorus? If they mess with the wire, they start on fire!
Re:Just coat them with plutonium (Score:2, Funny)
Wow another Alabama Slashdotter :)
A cheaper solution (Score:2, Funny)
Use lead instead of steel. Don't incorporate it into the wire, just have a guy standing there with a semi-automatic lead dispenser, and when thieves try to steal your copper, you can lead them out.
Re:This won't work (Score:5, Funny)
Another scrapyard karma story:
Many, many years ago my mother worked at an iron foundry. One day she transferred a call from a scrap dealer to the president, and afterward he told her the story. The scrap dealer had called to ask if the foundry really had sent these guys to sell the pig ingots back that they had just shipped the previous afternoon, and the answer was of course "no." The dealer knew exactly who to call because several of the ingots still had his chalkmarks indicating which foundry he had sold them to!
Seems these enterprising thieves broke into the back gate from the railroad tracks, saw a large number of shiny pig ingots stacked on the back dock, and thought they were valuable (probably not knowing that pig iron was going for about $20/ton.) They must have sweated all night carrying these forty pound pigs a block and a half down the railroad tracks, then up a railroad bridge embankment, to their waiting truck. The scrap dealer also told the president that these guys had broken the springs on their truck by overloading it. Since he was keeping the thieves busy outside by having them unload the ingots from their busted truck, he asked the foundry president if he should call the police for him. The president was laughing by this time and said as long as he got his iron back, they'd been punished enough. "Hell, if they hadn't stolen from us, I'd hire them! Nobody around here works that hard!"
Re:Just coat them with plutonium (Score:5, Funny)
Steeling infrastructure today is like steeling horses in Wild West time
What, they made horses out of steel with just a thin cladding (of hide?) in order to deter thieves?
Re:This won't work (Score:4, Funny)
I had a can labelled "unleaded petrol" stolen out of my shed a few weeks ago. It was full of diesel. I really, really hope somebody tried to use it as petrol without checking. :)
Re:Just coat them with plutonium (Score:5, Funny)
Eventually, the thieves will take care of themselves.
I'm sure that in 1985 plutonium is available in every corner drug store, but in 2012 it's a little hard to come by. Just ask Iran... plus their scientists have a tendency to spontaneously blow up.
Re:Just coat them with plutonium (Score:4, Funny)