Romex history. was : no grounds in my 1950 house

[Speedy Jim]

To satisfy curiosity, "Romex" was invented and first marketed by General Cable in 1922. It was developed at their Rome, NY factory.

From an NFPA history of the NEC, titled "The National Electrical Code and Free Enterprise" NONMETALLIC SHEATHED CABLE

In the early days of electric wiring thin metallic tubes with fiber linings were used, but the linings were finally removed and heavier walled tubes substituted. Metal armored cables were also developed so that people began to think of wiring on knobs and in tubes and in metal enclosures.

When in the 1920's Charlie Abbott of the Rome Wire Co. developed and proposed recognition in the Code of a cable assembly consisting of insulated copper conductors and nonmetallic wrappings, the industry was shocked and violent opposition to recognition in the Code developed.

The representative of one manufacturer of metal wiring products traveled the country with a cage full of rats and samples of nonmetallic cable to show how rats would gnaw into such cable and cause short circuits and fires. Some trial installations in the Chicago stockyards showed that rats would indeed damage such cable, but primarily when it was run across their runways.

Nonmetallic cables with rat repellent coverings were developed and when a special technical subcommittee recommended a limited recognition of the cables, the Electrical Committee accepted the recommendation and the cable was included in the Code under the designation "Nonmetallic Sheathed Cable" although most electricians called it by the originator's trade name "Romex."

Few reports of rat damage followed recognition of the cable, but some failures were reported in the very northern states and Canada from alternate freezing and thawing of the cable where it passed from a warm and humid section of a barn to a completely coId area. Weather-resistant types of cable were then developed and eventually, the plastic coverings that prevented such breakdowns.

Code requirements were gradually modified on the basis of experience and home owners had access to a low-cost wiring method that has been proved safe in millions of installations.

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Buy a pre-1929 Rome Wire Co. stock certificate here:

Jim

[Edwin Pawlowski]

The things you learn on the internet. I wonder how many people know where the name came from. (not that many care) I used Romex to wire up the cabin I stay at when I hunt for Naughtier.

[indago]

I won't go there...

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Should have been Naugahide. Damned spell checker "fixed" it.

[indago]

You must have had something else on your mind when you wrote that...

[indago]

You must have had something else on your mind when you wrote that...

[Marilyn & Bob]

And BX came from a Bronx, NY factory, I believe.

[Speedy Jim]

See this discussion:

[YouDontNeedToKnow]

However, the discussion of why BX is called "BX" (second product; first was "A" hence second must be "B" and the "X" for experimental) is IMO wrong. It violates Occam's razor for one thing. The product was produced by GE at their plant in NYC, specifically in the Bronx, and the accepted abbreviation for "the Bronx", a borough of NYC, is BX. Even back in those days I doubt BX cable was GE's second product. The use of the word Romex, first produced/invented in Rome NY, carries on the tradition (!) of naming the product after the locality.

I suspect the 100% accurate and certified (by whom?) rationale for the name is lost in the mists of time.

[Linda Evans]

replying to Speedy Jim, Linda Evans wrote: I would like to add information, my uncle Romex was the inventor of Romex wire

[Al Gore]

I invented internet wire.

[DerbyDad03]

I'm wired.