IMPROVED MEANS FOR SUPPORTING TELEGRAPH WIRES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Pole, of Birdcage Walk, in the County
of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MEANS FOR SUPPORTING
TELEGRAPH WIRES."-A communication from Charles Coles Adley, of
Serampore, East India.
Sealed the 22nd December 1857, and dated the 30th June 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Pole at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th June 1857.
I, WILLIAM POLE, of Birdcage Walk, in the County of Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS
FOR SUPPORTING TELEGRAPH WIRES," to be as follows:-
This improvement relates to the substitution, for the ordinary wooden posts
for supporting insulated metallic wires for telegraphic purposes, of a novel con-
struction of metallic support, composed of two, three, or more bars or tubes of
wrought or cast iron, whether galvanized or ungalvanized. The bars or tubes
may be used in various forms, but it is preferred to employ three bars or tubes
in the form of a tripod. At the apex the three bars or tubes are welded or
rivetted together, and then bound round by a wrought-iron collar. A pro-
jecting piece for attaching the arms to carry the insulators may be made either
by welding the three bars or tubes into one piece, or by driving in or welding
on a separate piece of bar iron, while the three bars or tubes are in a heated

page_text: state, and before the fixing of the collar. The three bars or tubes, after being
joined together at the apex, separate to form the legs of the tripod, and stand
at such distances apart at the base, as may be thought convenient, and they
are kept equidistant by means of an equilateral triangle of wrought or cast
iron to which they are secured.
It will be obvious that many modifications in the details of construction
will suggest themselves to different manufacturers, but the form of tripod, as
herein described, is preferred, as being best suited for the purposes required.
To give strength to the tripod it may have one or more bands of iron, to tie
the three bars or tubes together at one or more places, if desired.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Pole in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th December 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
POLE, of Birdcage Walk, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Pole, Her special license that I, the said William Pole,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Pole, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS
POR SUPPORTING TELEGRAPH WIRES," being a communication from Charles Coles
Adley, of Serampore, East India, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said William Pole, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause
the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Pole, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following

page_text: statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
:-
This Invention, as communicated to me from abroad, relates to the sub-
stitution, for the ordinary single posts for supporting insulated telegraphic
wires, of a novel construction of metallic support, composed of two or more
bars or tubes of wrought or cast iron, whether galvanized or ungalvanized.
These bars or tubes are arranged on the principle of strut supports, so as to
get the greatest amount of stability with the smallest expenditure of metal;
and for this purpose two, three, or more bars or tubes may be used to make one
support, according to the amount of stability required. The Inventor, how-
ever, in general prefers employing three bars or tubes, in the form of a tripod,
as shewn in the accompanying Drawing, wherein Fig. 1 is an elevation of the
tripod support, fitted to carry two lines or groups of lines of telegraph wires,
and Fig. 2 is a plan view of the triangular base of the tripod.
A, A, A, are three bars or tubes, arranged as struts, and welded or rivetted
together at their apex, thus forming a tripod. At this part they are bound
round by a wrought-iron collar B, and a projecting piece C is formed, cither
by welding the three bars or tubes together, or by driving in or welding a
separate piece of bar iron while the three bars or tubes are in a heated
state, and before the fixing of the collar. This projecting piece C is intended
to carry the arms D from which the insulators are suspended, and in addition
thereto it acts as a lightning conductor.
In Fig. 1 it will be observed that the three bars or tubes A after being
joined together at the apex are separated to such distances apart at the base
as may be thought convenient, and they are kept equidistant apart by means
of an equilateral triangle of wrought or cast iron E, E. The equilateral
triangle may be fixed to the base of the tripod in various ways, but it is pre-
ferred to fix it by shoulders and cottars, as shewn in the Drawing, or by means
of nuts and screws.
Figure 3 shews, in elevation, a modification of the tripod support, in which
it will be perceived that the three bars or tubes are brought together for half
the length of the tripod, and then firmly fixed together by an additional
wrought-iron collar F. The three bars or tubes are then spread out and kept
equidistant by being fixed to a wrought or cast iron triangular base piece E,
shewn in plan view at Fig. 4, which base piece is to be buried in the ground,
to afford stability to the structure.
I do not confine myself to the use of tripods or metallic supports manu-
factured precisely after the foregoing manner, but consider metallic supports
however manufactured, so long as they are composed of two or more bars or

page_text: tubes, spread out like struts towards the base, and fitted with suitable bearing
surfaces, to fall within the scope of my Patent. Thus, for example, two bars
or tubes may be set together as struts, and also four or more bars or tubes,
according to the amount of stability required, may be in like manner secured
together at their upper ends, and fitted with a base piece, as above explained.
It has, however, been found in practice that the tripod is the arrangement
most to be preferred, as a sufficiently large base to ensure stability, combined
with a suitable elevation of the arms D, is obtained with greater economy in
this than in other arrangements. The base pieces may (for the convenience of
packing or otherwise) be made in three pieces instead of one picce, as above
described.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improved Means for
Supporting Telegraph Wires," as communicated to me by my correspondent,
and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be
understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim the
manufacture and use of supports for insulated telegraph wires, composed of
two or more bars or tubes of wrought or cast iron (whether galvanized or
ungalvanized) arranged as struts, but more particularly in the form of a
tripod, as herein-before described with reference to the accompanying
Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Pole, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-eighth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lanc.
WILLIAM POLE. (L.S.)