History of AWG - Short #186
HVAC School - For Techs, By Techs
Bryan Orr
4.8 • 985 Ratings
🗓️ 6 February 2024
⏱️ 9 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this short podcast, Bryan explains the history of AWG, or American wire gauge, which is the sizing system we use for conductors in the United States.
Wires weren't standardized before the 18th century (1700s). As fencing, telegraph, and electrical wires started coming out, there was a need for a standardized system. In England, a standardized system called the Birmingham wire gauge (BWG) was developed in the 1800s. The American Telegraph Company developed the American equivalent, the AWG, shortly afterward. These systems standardized wiring diameters, and the AWG's wire sizes get bigger as they get lower (including NOT wires, which are noted by the number 0 on the gauge, like 2/0).
The AWG scale is a logarithmic scale, meaning that the wire sizes don't vary by a fixed amount; there is a 20% variation between diameter sizes. Our brains are programmed to understand proportionality (i.e., logarithmic values and patterns) better than discrete values. This sizing system based on a logarithmic scale makes it easier for us to observe differences between the diameters.
The metric system for wire sizing is NOT logarithmic; there is a root-10 progression between sizes; this standard is called IEC 60228.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, hey, hoh-ho, this is the HVAC school podcast and I am Brian, and this is a short episode, and we're talking |
| 0:08.8 | about AWG, otherwise known as American Wire Gauge, and its history. |
| 0:14.1 | I've repeated something a long time, |
| 0:16.1 | and I don't know if it's true or not. |
| 0:17.9 | And I still haven't been able to fully confirm it. |
| 0:19.9 | It seems like it's partially true at least. |
| 0:22.3 | And that's what we're going to talk about |
| 0:23.2 | AWG in the history of American Wirecage. Coming up right after our great sponsors |
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... |
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