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T he year is 1954, and Jack Birnshas surprised his family by takingan abrupt detour from his

successful career as an award-winningphotographer for LIFE Magazine. Afteryears of travelling the world and takingpowerful images of civil war ravaged Chinaand the rugged beauty of Asia during thatturbulent period, Birns finally decided toleave the world of journalism. However, heelected to stay within the realm ofimaging, and opened up Birns & Sawyer, asmall family-run business in Hollywood,USA, that specialised in underwatercamera products. By 1957 the product lineexpanded with the development of the firstunderwater motion picture camerahousings with 400-foot (122-metre)magazines for highly classified projects forthe US Navy. From there, the companywas asked to create more new and excitingproduct lines for underwater use, includingadvanced subsea lighting systems for theUS Navy for its new SEALAB programme.

Thanks to the success of those earlylighting iterations, the company was called

upon to design and produce diving andvehicle lights for the growing offshore oiland subsea science industry. By the mid-1960s, Birns & Sawyer was producingunderwater connectors for some of itsdiving lights, with bulkhead connectors andmating rubber moulded cable connectors.The company’s lights and connectorsystems soon needed to withstand muchgreater depths, as in 1971, when itdeveloped the BIRNS Deepie, tested to an

equivalent depth of 42,000 feet of saltwater(13 kilometres). In 1978, the companybecame BIRNS, Inc., to focus on theexciting opportunities that continued tounfold in the subsea lighting market. Oneof the many company innovationsinvolving both lights and connectorslaunched during that period was the firstself-contained underwater magnetic particleinspection system. The groundbreakingnew BlackBIRN system allowed a singlediver to detect oil leaks and cracks or welddefects in underwater steel structures,eliminating the need for dry-docking forsuch inspections.

While the company’s lighting systems weresetting benchmarks for quality andinnovation, BIRNS also began receiving hugemarket interest in the top quality connectorsthe company was making for its lightinglines. Thus, BIRNS began providing theindustry with connector systems on asubcontract basis by the 1980s, and thenwent on to develop some of the mostadvanced connector systems in the industry.

BIRNS, Inc. celebrates a60th anniversary milestone

Six decades of marine By Amy Brown, director of corporate communications, BIRNS, Inc., USA

BIRNS founder Jack Birns at the Birns & Sawyer Sun City factory in the mid-1960s

The SEALAB habitat featuring Birns & Sawyer lighting systems, with Aquanaut Wilbur Eaton

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Many of the company’s present capabilitiesemerged from its own needs as a connectoruser – as both a connector user, and aconnector manufacturer, the company was,and still is, in a unique position to determinenew ways to innovate and improve on thiskey component of many subsea systems.

HISTORY IN THE MAKINGThe initial BIRNS rubber connectors wererelatively simple systems, like those thecompany designed for the early squareBIRNS Mark IX light (circa 1965), with athree-pin bulkhead connector and matingcable connector. Rubber connectors weretypically used for medium power or signalapplications, or for applications whereweight or magnetic signature were

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considerations. They were made of adurable elastomer that could not chip ordent, but still offered a minimal magneticsignature paired with strong corrosionresistance. By 1988 BIRNS wasengineering epoxy connectors, robustoptions moulded of a rigid high-strengthdielectric glass reinforced epoxy (GRE).They featured higher pin density optionsthan the rubber versions, yet were stillextremely lightweight and rugged.

BIRNS began making robust metal shellconnector lines in 1990, and designed andfabricated advanced tooling in-house oncustom CNC machines. The new metal shellseries had highly sophisticated inserts towithstand cyclically applied open facedpressure to 10,000psi and voltages to

4000VDC between contacts a mere 0.025 ofan inch (0.6 millimetres) apart. The contactswere designed per MIL-C-39029 andmachined in the company’s factory to

e industry excellence

An early iteration of the Mark IX light used on the

SEALAB II habitat, featuring a BIRNS bulkhead connector

with three 14 AWG conductors

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tolerances of ± 0.00025 of an inch (0.006millimetres). The rapidly growing companynow had the capability to mould and/orbond to Teflon, polypropylene, nylon, PEEK,GRE, ABS, neoprene and polyurethane.

A NEW MILLENNIUMShortly thereafter, BIRNS launched theBIRNS Millennium line of deepsubmergence, high-density connectors forboth solid and oil filled cables. Theseadvanced six-kilometre rated connectorspushed the envelope for performance andprecision engineering, and provided newopportunities for excellence in what wasalready becoming a highly competitivefield. BIRNS poured R&D resources intocreating the flagship of its connector line,developing a range of competitiveadvantages for the growing demands ofthe subsea connectivity market. These highperformance connectors were bothextremely robust and high open-facedpressure rated. They featured contacts with50 micron layers of hard gold atop 50microns of hard nickel per MIL-G-45204Type II, Class 1 to provide a highly reliablefinish that reduced voltage drop. The linealso featured insulated solder pots withGRE partway up each shaft to provide acompletely insulated termination,eliminating electrical interference betweenpins. Each solder pot had a scalloped endfor ease of wiring and termination, withthe scallops all pointed out from centre tofurther facilitate wiring access.

With this series BIRNS also introducedexclusive new technology to simplify insertreplacement and protect its dual O-rings, by

adding a unique 15-degree angled mouldedO-ring chamfer. The line featured heat-treated BeCu sockets, dual integral self-guiding stainless steel keys, positive stainlesssteel stops to preclude over-tightening andsquare threads to resist mechanical damage.Additionally, each connector had severallocking set screws to reduce vibration duringuse. The series permitted the use of 22, 20,16, 14, 12 and 10 AWG (American wiregauge) contacts in the same connector,without the need for cumbersome,incompatible ‘Regular’ and ‘Long’ sizes.

This versatile, high performance connectorseries has now advanced to its thirdgeneration, and is available in electrical,electro-optical, electro-opto-mechanical,coax and electro-coax options. It can beconfigured for high voltage – hybrid electro-optical options can include both highvoltage (≤ 3.6kV) and low voltage (≤ 600V)conductors – along with a wide range ofspecial configurations for a diverse suite ofapplications. The series is used worldwidefor demanding subsea applicationsrequiring the transmission of huge datastreams while minimising electrical noise.Typical optical losses recorded in cableassemblies for the series are ≤ 0.1dB forsingle-mode and ≤ 0.2dB for multimode.

HYBRID ADVANTAGESDuring subsequent years, BIRNS continuedto develop new performance attributes inits metal shell connectors, which wereused in especially challenging conditions,from extreme depth submergenceapplications to 2.5 kilometres in the polarice for the IceCube Neutrino detector

project in Antarctica. An early sophisticatedhybrid connector contract for the companycame in 1991 when major marine geo-physical equipment manufacturer,Halliburton Geophysical Services, USA,standardised on BIRNS electromechanical30-pin connectors for its towed 3D/4Dgeoseismic streamer line, which sent hugevolumes of multiplexed data throughBIRNS connectors that also supportedseveral thousand pounds. Subsequently,BIRNS was asked to develop a robusthybrid high voltage electro-optical cableassembly for the US Naval FacilitiesEngineering Service Center (NAVFAC ESC)for a new low frequency active sonar(LFAS) system. It included a BIRNSMillennium 3T connector pair with twomultimode optical fibres, eight 2.5kVconductors and four 600V conductors.

CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT The company continued to grow andadvance both its product lines andinfrastructure, and in 2009 BIRNS’ QualityManagement System was awarded ISO9001:2008 certification. To add to thecompany’s impressive list of rigorousindustry qualifications, all of BIRNS’ expertelectrical technicians and assembly andinspection personnel received and continue

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Rugged BIRNS cable assembly for the IceCube Neutrino

Observatory in the South Pole: a high-power BIRNS

Primum connector with four 2 AWG contacts for the hot-

water drill pump at depths of 1.5km to 2.5km in the ice

cap, and BIRNS Millennium 3G connectors for its

temperature and pressure sensors

Development of a custom electro-optical cable assembly with two multimode optical fibres, eight 2.5kV conductors and

four 600V conductors for the US Naval Facilities Engineering Command/Engineering Service Center

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to hold J-STD-001 Class 31 (Requirementsfor Soldered Assemblies) and WHMA-A-620-A Class 3 (Requirements andAcceptance for Cable/Harness Assemblies)certification. BIRNS’ moulding facilityreceived coveted NAVSEA PRO-020certification, making it one of only sevensuch commercial organisations in the US.This elite qualification is from the US Navy,and is awarded to organisations deemedcapable of overmoulding outboard cables fornaval submarines. With a state-of-the-arthydrostatic pressure testing facility withnumerous test vessels, BIRNS pressure testsits connectors and cables assemblies up to20,000psi, and also serves as an independenttesting resource for the industry.

Today BIRNS is a global leader in highperformance connectors and custom cableassemblies that continue to shape the faceof innovation in the market. BIRNS answersthe call for more power, more data andmore bandwidth in increasinglysophisticated systems with smaller footprints

than ever before. The company is renownedfor highly advanced connectors rangingfrom robust, deep submergence electricaloptions to complex custom electro-opto-mechanical (EOM) cable assemblies. Thesegroundbreaking EOM hybrids are capable ofcombining delicate single or multimodeoptical fibres and high voltage and providingmechanical load bearing > 50,000 pounds(22,700 kilograms).

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BIRNS has been pioneering in thisindustry for the last six decades, deliveringpowerful, elegant systems that providehigh performance under pressure. As theexploration of the ocean continues toadvance for everything from mannedsubmersibles and towed data acquisitiondevices to ROVs and AUVs, so does thedevelopment of connectivity solutions foruse in it. ■

Custom electro-opto-mechanical tow cable assembly with BIRNS

Millennium 3T CPs with two single-mode fibres and 12 electrical pins

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