IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CABLES OR ROPES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Rowett, of Netherfield Road, Liverpool, in
the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CABLES OR ROPES."
Sealed the 5th October 1858, and dated the 10th April 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Rowett at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th April 1858.
I, WILLIAM ROWETT, of Netherfield Road, Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CABLES OR ROPES," to bo
as follows:-
This Invention principally consists in a method of regulating the specific.
gravity of electric telegraph cables or ropes, so that they shall possess. a semi-
floating quality, which I propose to effect by constructing such said cables or
ropes of Indian grass fibre, New Zealand and Manilla hemp, cotton or coir
fibre, cocoa-nut fibre, and other similar fibrous materials not heretofore !
employed in the construction of electric telegraph cables:
The above materials may be used either separately or combined, and, if
necessary, in combination with ordinary hemp.
I propose also to use, in combination with any or all of the above mentioned
fibrous materials, a solution composed of the following ingredients, matters, or
substances, namely, turpentine, rosin, clean or coal tar, copperas, arsenic,
aloes, bitumen, alum, and gambier, or other ingredients of similar character,

page_text: mixed and incorporated together in any desired proportions, or any two or
more of the said ingredients combined.
Through this solution, the yarn manufactured from the above mentioned
fibrous materials is caused to pass, either before it is formed into strands, or
after the cable or rope is made, or both, and in the centre of the cable or
rope thus made is placed the necessary. insulated metal wire or wires by which
the electrical current is conveyed.
By the use of the solution above described, the cable or rope may have any
required degree of specific gravity imparted to it, the fibre of which the cable
'is made will also be preserved from being damaged be animalcula or marine
insects. The above method of regulating the specific gravity of the cable
admits of its passing with sufficient speed through the water, and when
necessary to under run, or lift the cable again to the surface, its weight being
thus so regulated as to require but little power to effect the same; and an
important feature is, that it may be allowed to run out from the ship employed
to lay it down, without any strain either on the cable or the insulated
electric wire therein.
By the above means, the cable may be laid in any water, irrespective of its
depth, and in any weather, however boisterous, in which a ship can make
her course.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Rowett in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
9th October 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROWETT, of Netherfield Road, Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs, and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Rowett, Her special licence that I, the said William Rowett, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Rowett; 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
terin therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel

page_text: Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CABLES OR ROPES," upon the condition (amongst others),
that I, the said William Rowett, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the saine 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 Rowett, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thercof, that is to say :-
'
My Invention principally consists in a method of constructing, preserving
from decay, and regulating the specific gravity of electric telegraph cables or.
ropes, so that they shall possess a semi-floating quality, which I propose to
effect by constructing such said cables or ropes of Indian-grass fibre, New.
Zealand hemp, Manilla hemp, European and American hemp and flax, also
cotton-wool, coir fibre, cocoa-nut fibre, and other similar fibrous materials
which have not heretofore been used or employed either entirely or prin-
cipally in the construction of electric telegraph cables or ropes. I propose
also to use, in combination with any or all of the above-mentioned fibrous
materials, a solution composed of the following ingredients, matters, or sub-
stances, namely, turpentine, rosin, paiut, clean or coal tar, oil, naptha, water,.
copperas, arsenic, aloes, bitumen, alum, bichloride of mercury, gambier, india-
rubber, shellac, copper-soap, or other metallic soap and brimstone mixed and
incorporated together in the order and proportions herein-after fully described,
or any one or more of the said ingredients, either separately or in combination,
according to the climate of the country, the depth of water, and description
of ground in which the cable is to be laid.
In order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible, I now
proceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the
same into practical effect, as follows:-
First, as regards the construction of cables or ropes, they may be manu-
factured from either of the above-mentioned materials by any of the most
approved methods of manufacturing cables or ropes by machinery; and
further, my improved cables or ropes may be formed of three, four, or more
strands, either shroud or hawser-laid, and "wormed" or plain; or they may
be formed either platted square, round, or flat, with any desired number of
strands, and the centre or core of such cable or rope being composed of an

page_text: insulated wire or wires employed as the conducting medium for the electrical
current. These wires may be composed either of copper, silver, gold, platinum,
or other suitable metal. The aforesaid conducting wire or wires may be
placed on the outside of the cable or rope instead of at the centre thereof;
but as this would add considerably to the length of the wire or wires and
expose them to injury, I do not recommend its adoption. The cable or rope
thus constructed I propose to steep in or pass through a solution composed as
follows: One barrel of raw turpentine, one barrel of coal tar, one pound of
copperas, one pound of arsenic, two ounces of aloes, two ounces of alum, three
pounds of bichloride of mercury, one gallon of naptha, and three pounds of
india-rubber. These ingredients are to be mixed and intimately incorporated
together in a suitable vessel, and heat applied thereto. The specific gravity
of above solution may be increased by the addition thereto of white lead
and linseed oil. Clean tar and rosin may also be used instead of turpentine
and coal tar, as before mentioned; water may be used whenever it is neces-
sary to dissolve any of the materials. In some cases bitumen may be used
instead of turpentine; shellac may be used instead of india-rubber, and.
gambier may be used instead of aloes, and copper-soap or other metallic soap
may be used instead of turpentine and tar. In cases where the ground in
which the aforesaid cable or rope is to be laid is very foul, either of the above
solutions when properly made and applied to the cable or rope will effectually.
protect it from being injured by worms or animalculæ of any kind in any
situation either in the sea or on land, always taking care to vary the com-
binations of the ingredients of which the solution is composed according as
position, climate, and other local circumstances may require. I consider the
foregoing solution to be generally applicable for preserving and giving specific
gravity to cables or ropes made of either of the before-mentioned fibrous
substances. The coating or saturating of them with the above solution or
solutions may be effected either before the fibrous materials (being spun into
yarn) are formed into strands, or afterwards, or after the cable a rope is
made, or both. The above method of regulating the specific gravity of the
cable or rope by adding more or less of the solution admits of its passing with
sufficient speed through the water for adapting itself to the undulating bottom
or bed on which it is intended to rest. When it is required to under run or
lift the cable or rope to the surface of the water, the weight thereof being
regulated as above mentioned, but little additional power would be required
to effect such lifting of the said cable or rope beyond that which would be
necessary to overcome the friction of the water, which will always be in
proportion to the lenght of the cable or rope to be hauled through the water;

page_text: moreover the said cable or rope will so tighten and contract upon its being
immersed in the water and exposed to the low temperature thereof, that
whatever strain may be applied to the said cable or rope, comparatively little,
if any, tension would be exerted upon the insulated conducting wire or wires
when disposed within the cable or rope as aforesaid, and it is an important
feature that by thus constructing the cable or rope it may be allowed to run
out from the ship employed to lay it down with but a nominal strain either
upon the cable or the insulated conducting wire or wires therein, thereby
avoiding the risk of damaging either of them; and further, by the above
means the cable or rope may be laid in any water irrespective of its depth,
and during any weather, however boisterous, in which a ship could make her
course.
Another mode of constructing electric telegraph cables or ropes according
to my improved method is as follows:-Suppose it is desired to make a cable
three inches and three quarters in circumference, proceed as follows:-Take
120 yarns of well dressed Riga, or Saint Petersburgh, or Italian, or best
American hemp, and prepare them by steeping or saturating with either of
the solutions before described; form these yarns into a rope of four strands
wormed with suitable line of the same material, which may be effected by any
of the known means of patent rope making; observing that in forming the
aforesaid four strands into a cable, the heart or centre thereof should be
composed of three wires or conductors, arranged, disposed, unfixed perfectly
distinct and separate from each other, in one general insulating medium of
gutta percha or other suitable insulating substance; these five parts of the
cable and the worming thereof, namely, the four strands and heart, and the
worming being carefully laid together in the ordinary way of patent rope
making, will produce a most desirable cable or rope suitable for electric
telegraphic purposes, possessing three working medii for transmitting messages
through water. It will be obvious that the cable or rope may be varied in
size, so as to contain either a greater or less number of conducting wires, or
to suit any special or particular purpose; and further the cable may be made
of six or more strands, as may be desired. A similar description of cable or
rope would be produced by employing Manilla hemp in the manufacture
thereof, instead of the Riga or Saint Petersburgh, or Italian, or American
hemp, before mentioned. The specific gravity of Manilla hemp being some-
what less than that of water, and by the proper application of one or other of
the solutions thereto, such a cable or rope could easily be made to possess the
necessary specific gravity for sinking in water at any desired rate of speed.
And further, cables or ropes intended for electric telegraph purposes, when

page_text: 'manufactured of any of the other before mentioned fibrous materials, can also
in the same manner be made to possess the same properties as the foregoing
cable. A cable of three inches and three quarters in circumference, made of
well selected and well dressed hemp or Manilla, would bear a strain of about
five tons, but to submerge such cable no strain whatever would require to be
exerted thereon. The speed of the ship employed to lay the above cable, and
the speed at which such cable may be made to sink, can always be so arranged
and regulated by the means before described as to make it lie fairly upon the
I would here
undulating surface upon which the cable is intended to rest.
observe that cables manufactured of either of the before-mentioned fibrous
materials may have an insulated conducting wire placed in each strand; but
this would require such an increased length of wire, also add to the expence of
the cable, and present electrical difficulties and risk of injury, that I do not
consider this mode of construction at all desirable. The cable, instead of being
manufactured as above described, may be woven like a sword mat, directly
over and around the insulated wire or wires, and thus avoid the helical form
of the outside strands of the cable when made according to the ordinary
method of patent rope making.
And further, cables or ropes manufactured of the materials before men-
tioned, or cither of them, may have the proper specific gravity imparted
thereto for submerging them by the application of a wire or wires to either or
to each of the strands thereof during its manufacture or afterwards, and this
either with or without the solutions before described.
.
And I desire it to be distinctly understood that I do not employ the afore-
said wire or wires for giving strength to. the cable, as I do not consider this
necessary; but I employ the said wires solely for the purpose of submerging
the cable at the necessary or desired speed, as above stated, when the cable or
rope is extremely light, as it would be when made of coir or cotton. This
last described cable will be found specially adapted for extremely deep water.
but for shallow or tidal waters, or in situations where the water is likely to be
much agitated, I then recommend the application of a stout iron. wire
"rounding" to the cable to bear any chafe, nevertheless taking care to apply
sufficient weight. to the cable to maintain it in an undisturbed position on the
bottom on which it is to rest; for if it is so light as to be moved by the tide
no cable will last long; or, instead of the aforesaid wire "rounding," a sub-
stantial wire cable may be spliced thereon. The above improved method of
constructing electric telegraph cables or ropes applies also to ropes used on
land for telegraphic purposes, and will be found more durable and less costly
than the electric telegraph ropes as heretoforé manufactured, and by covering

page_text: the gutta percha or other insulator or wires with yarns, rope, or cloth, made of
any kind of fibre saturated and prepared with the solutions before described,
their mixture or combination being regulated according to the character of the
ground or situation in which it is placed as aforesaid, the character of the rope
will be still further improved.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of my said
Invention of "Improvements in the Construction of Electric Telegraph Cables
or Ropes," together with the best means I am acquainted with for carrying
the same into practical effect, I would remark, in conclusion, that I hereby
declare my Invention to consist in, and I claim, constructing electric telegraph
cables or ropes substantially in the manner set forth and described; and
especially I claim the solutions above mentioned, whereby I am enabled to
impart to such said cables or ropes the property of sinking at any desired
speed to any required or unknown depth in water; also the use of the afore-
said solutions for preserving such said cables or ropes from decay when exposed
to any and all kinds of corruptive or corroding influences both at sea and on
shere, as above stated.
And I desire it to be distinctly understood that I do not intend to limit
myself to the precise proportions of the ingredients employed in the com-
position of the before-mentioned solutions, as they will require to be varied to
suit local circumstances; but I have found solutions composed as above to
answer well.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Rowett, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
BENJ. BROWNE, Patent Agent,
6, Duke Street, Adelphi.
WILLIAM ROWETT. (L.B.)