Product Category
Curly Cords
UL-listed curly cords for telephone handsets, healthcare equipment, dispatch radios, control panels, and test leads. Retractile by design, manufactured in North Branford, CT since 1947.
UL-listed curly cords for telephone handsets, healthcare equipment, dispatch radios, control panels, and test leads. Retractile by design, manufactured in North Branford, CT since 1947.
Curly cords — also known as retractile or coiled cords — keep workspaces organized while providing the reach you need. Autac curly cords are built for reliability in demanding communications, control, and testing environments.
Telephone handset cords, headset cables, and communication panel connections. Multi-conductor designs for signal integrity across voice and data lines.
Electronic control cords for industrial panels, pendant controls, and operator stations. Available in 2 to 12 conductors for complex control circuits.
Auta-Prene test leads for utility meters, multimeters, and field testing. Our proprietary TPE jacketing delivers superior flexibility and durability in all conditions.
The curly handset cord is one of the most familiar coiled-cable applications in the world — and the engineering reason behind it is the same reason curly cords are used across industrial, medical, and dispatch environments today. A handset has to reach the user's ear from a base station and return to a compact resting state when not in use. A straight cord either has to be too short to be useful or constantly tangled across the desk. The helical coil solves both problems simultaneously: it extends to several times its retracted length under tension and pulls itself back into place when released.
Curly cords are manufactured by winding straight insulated cable around a heated mandrel, then heat-curing the jacket compound at controlled temperature and time. The cure permanently sets the helix into the molecular structure of the jacket — not as a temporary deformation but as the cable's new resting shape. The same heat-set process Autac has refined since 1947 produces every Autac curly cord, from a 26 AWG telephone handset cord to a multi-conductor dispatch radio cable.
The terminology gets confusing because every industry uses different words for the same product family.
Whichever term you searched for, you are looking at the same underlying product. Autac builds them all under the same UL-listed manufacturing process at our North Branford facility.
Despite the rise of mobile devices, curly handset cords and other curly-cord applications remain critical infrastructure across half a dozen industries. Reliability, signal integrity, and the ability to disinfect or service a fixed cord matter more than mobility in these environments.
Patient room phones, nurse stations, and medical-cart handsets. Antimicrobial PVC jackets meet healthcare cleaning protocols.
Hotel guest-room phones, bell desks, and front-desk operations. Long service life and a familiar user experience for guests of any age.
Multi-line phone systems, headset cables, and dispatch consoles where 24/7 reliability is non-negotiable.
911 dispatch handsets, public safety radios, and fire/police/EMS communications. Shielded options block radio interference.
Pendant controls, hand-held programming terminals, and machine operator stations on the factory floor.
Auta-Prene test leads for utility meters, multimeters, and field instruments. Flexes reliably in cold and oily environments.
Secure facility phones, tactical communications, and federal procurement contracts. WBENC-certified woman-owned supplier.
Built-to-spec curly cords with custom terminations, jacket colors, and conductor counts for medical, AV, and specialty equipment.
We build custom curly cords to order — any gauge, conductor count, length, material, and color.
Tell us about your application and we'll recommend the right cord — or build one from scratch.