IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WIRE ROPE AND IN MACHINERY FOR THAT PURPOSE, WITH SPECIAL APPLICATION TO THE MANUFACTURE OF TELEGRAPH CABLES
Year: 1860

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Grantham, William Sin-
nock, and Lazarus Simon Magnus at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition, on the 11th May 1860.
We, JOHN GRANTHAM, of No. 31, Nicholas Lane, in the City of London,
Engineer, WILLIAM SINNOCK, of No. 14, Warkworth Terrace, in the County
of Middlesex, Ropery Engineer, and LAZARUS SIMON MAGNUS, of 8, Adelaide
Place, London Bridge, in the City of London, Merchant, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
WIRE ROPE AND IN MACHINERY FOR THAT PURPOSE, WITH SPECIAL APPLICATION TO
THE MANUFACTURE OF TELEGRAPH CABLES," to be as follows:-
By the employment of this Invention, the iron wires or bars used in the
manufacture of telegraph cable can be twisted and the cable made without
employing reels or bobbins hitherto considered necessary to carry each wire,
and is especially applicable to the heavier description of cables.
In our improved arrangement, all the wires, together with the core, are led
to within a short distance of the register or lay plate in straight line. To
accomplish this a long rope walk is necessary. In this is placed a long shaft
or tube containing the wire to be twisted; this shaft or tube is formed in
short lengths, having supports about every fifteen feet. It is also made open
on one side throughout its entire length to receive the wires, which being put
in, are kept there by short pieces of iron or wood let into the opening or
groove at proper intervals. The supports employed for this shaft consist of

page_text: large flanches or discs about twelve inches diameter; these may revolve on
solid bearings, or on friction rollers. In these discs a slot or groove is cut as
through the shaft, and these are also filled up by suitable pieces of iron so
completing the circumference of the flanche, and preventing the friction roller
(if employed) from falling into the groove. Parallel to this shaft, and on the
same discs is borne a small tube, having within it the core intended to form
the cable, and this tube revolves with the shaft. The shaft and tube are thus
carried forward till within about twenty yards of the register plate. The
wires in the shaft are here allowed to separate, and are drawn each through a
separating plate into two nearly parallel lines, so that the core can now leave
its tube, and take its place in the centre of the wires. These are then drawn
through a second separating plate, and form a complete circle round the core;
after this they are passed through a lay plate and tubing apparatus, and
twisted into a cable. The shaft which contains the wire is set in motion by
another shaft and spur wheels driven by the engine, and is caused to make
the same number of revolutions as the lay plate, so that the individual wires
get no twist in the make. To prevent the wires twisting round each other, or
shifting their relative position while passing through the shaft as the shaft
revolves, a blade of steel sharpened towards each end, so that the looso wire
may pass freely by it, is inserted in the inner part of each bearing, running
lengthwise of the shafts for about twelve inches, and projecting about half the
diameter of the bore of the shaft. It is also necessary that the tube con-
taining the core, while being carried round with the shaft, should not turn on
its own axis. This is prevented by cams placed on the outside at distant
intervals, and these are caused to rub against frames having their surface
next the shaft so formed that their united action preserve the tube in its
proper position. Sometimes it will be convenient to place the core in centre
and the wires eccentric, in which case the core is prevented from revolving by
leaving its tube free to move in the disc which carries it, and weighting it at
its under side; in this case motion is given by a driving shaft the whole length
of the machine. This mode of preventing the core from revolving can also be
adopted in lieu of cams, even when the core is placed eccentric. The wires to
be used are to be prepared as long as the machine will admit; and it is
proposed to employ lengths of about a quarter of a mile if they can be
obtained. Motion being given to the shaft, a draw-off of great power is
applied, and the lay of the rope is perfected by passing the wires surrounding
the core as they leave the register plate through a tubing apparatus, and then
between gripping rollers. The draw-off is applied in the ordinary manner.
Fresh wires are supplied as follows:-A table or bench is formed alongside the

page_text: shaft upon which the wires to be next used are laid, so that as soon as those
in the shaft are worked off, the machine is stopped, the small filling pieces aro
taken out, and the new wires are laid in by a number of men; the table
being so formed that the wires when pushed off fall into the groove.
The welding process is performed as follows:-A portable furnace, con-
sisting of one or more blow pipes made upon the principle described in Mr.
Griffin's "Chemical Recreations," is employed; this is made to receive tho
two ends of the wire to be welded. The handle of the furnace consists of two
cylinders or tubes one within the other, through which the gas and air
pass; the overlapping ends being heated to welding beat are welded by
compression.