IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MAKING COMPOUND TELEGRAPH WIRE OR CONDUCTORS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn
Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MAKING COMPOUND
TELEGRAPH WIRE OR CONDUCTORS."-A communication from abroad by
Alanson Cary, of New York, Moses Gerrish Farmer, George F.
Milliken, and John Montgomery Batchelder, all of Boston,
Massachusetts, United States of America.
Sealed the 1st June 1869, and dated the 13th April 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 13th April 1869.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MAKING
COMPOUND TELEGRAPH WIRE OR CONDUCTORS," a communication from abroad
by Alanson Cary, of New York, Moses Gerrish Farmer, George F.
Price 8d1

page_text: Milliken, and John Montgomery Batchelder, all of Boston, Massa-
chusetts, United States of America, o be as follows:-
This Invention relates to peculiar combination and arrangement of
machinery or apparatus for covering or sheathing steel or other wire
with copper or other metal; or for manufacturing or drawing compound
wire.
According to this Invention the various parts of the machine are so
arranged and operated as that the sheathing originally in the form of a
flat ribbon shall be first bent longitudinally into the form of a trough by
passing between a pair of revolving die wheels made with concave and
convex edges respectively, such wheels revolving not only on their own
axes but round the wire to be sheathed, which passes along in company
with the sheathing thro' a 'hollow revolving shaft carrying a face plate
and pair of jaws, one of such jaws being grooved for the passage of
the trough-shaped sheathing and wire enclosed therein. By means of
this rotatory mechanism the sheathing is applied spirally to the wire, that
is to say, in lieu of the junction line between the two edges of the
sheathing running longitudinally along or parallel with the wire it
assumes a spiral course round such wire, and is consequently less liable
to open where kinks occur in the wire. Whilst the sheathing or covering
is thus spirally enclosing the wire they are both drawn through a
stationary die or draw plate of suitable guage and coiled on a drum.
The wire on leaving the die will be found perfectly. covered with a
smooth and even coating of copper or other metal, thus forming a com-
pound wire, which may be protected by the application of tin or other
metal to the surface in the well known manner, such coating serving
moreover to close up the seam at the point of junction of the edges of
the copper or other sheathing.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 13th October 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Gentleman, send greeting

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John Henry Johnson, Her
special license that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Henry
Johnson, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others from time to time and all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MAKING COMPOUND TELE-
GRAPH WIRE OR CONDUCTORS," a communication from abroad by Alanson
Cary, of New York, Moses Gerrish Farmer, George F. Milliken, and
John Montgomery Batchelder, all of Boston, Massachusetts, United
States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
John Henry Johnson, my executors or administrators, 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 John Henry Johnson, 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say:
The said Invention relates to a peculiar combination and arrangement
of machinery or apparatus for covering or sheathing steel or other wire
with copper or other metal, and for manufacturing or drawing compound
wire.
According to this Invention the various parts of the machine are so
arranged and operated as that the sheathing originally in the form of a
flat ribbon shall be first bent longitudinally into the form of a trough,
by passing between a pair of revolving die wheels made with concave
and convex edges respectively, such wheels revolving not only on their

page_text: own axes but round the wire to be sheathed, which passes, along in
company with the sheathing througli a hollow revolving shaft carrying
a face plate and pair of jaws, one of such jaws being grooved for the
passage of the trough-shaped sheathing and wire enclosed therein. By
means of this rotatory mechanism the sheathing is applied spirally to
the wire, that is to say, in lieu of the junction line between the two
edges of the sheathing running longitudinally along or parallel with the
wire it assumes a spiral course round such wire, and is consequently less
liable to open when kinks occur in the wire. Whilst the sheathing or
covering is thus spirally enclosing the wire the two are both drawn
through a stationary die or draw plate of suitable guage and coiled on
a drum. The wire on leaving the die will be found perfectly covered
with a smooth and even coating of copper or other metal, thus forming
a compound wire, which may be protected by the application of tin or
other metal to the surface in any well known manner, such coating
serving moreover to close up the seam at the point of junction of the
edges of the copper or other sheathing.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I
shall now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that
purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of
Drawings, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts
in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of the Drawings is a side elevation of the machine partly
in section; Figure 2 is a transverse vertical section taken along the
line 1, 2, in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view of Figure 1
taken along the line 3, 4; Figure 4 is a top or plan view of the machine
corresponding to Figure 1.
The gearing
of the common wire-
ordinary lathe head,
This stand D supports
A is the bed plate of the machine.
which conveys
motion from the engine or other power is contained in the space
marked B; C is the ordinary drum or block
drawing machine; D is a stand resembling an
which is supported upon an elevated plate E.
in suitable bearings or boxes a hollow shaft F, the journals being covered
by caps in the usual manner, as seen at g,g; h is a part of the hollow
shaft F, and is made open, as seen, for the purpose of allowing the
sheathing in connection with the wire as it is drawn through the shaft
to be inspected. I represents a shaft from which motion is imparted to
the shaft F by means of the belt J and pulleys i, i; K is a hand wheel

page_text: The
on the shaft F having curved arms 1, by which the rim of the wheel is
made to overhang, as seen in the Drawing. Within the rim and rigidly
attached thereto are two bars m, m, which stand parallel with each
other, and support (on suitable shafts or arbors) two die wheels n, n¹.
The face or periphery of n is concave, and the face or periphery of n' is
convex (see Figure 2). The metallic ribbon or sheathing is drawn
between these wheels and crimped into the form of a gutter or trough.
The ribbon is guided into the die wheels by the flanged pulley o, which
is supported on arms p, which arms project from the bars m, m. R is a
drum upon which the ribbon (copper or other metal) is wound, and from
which it is fed through the machine. This drum is supported on a
double bracket S secured to the hand wheel K, as seen in the Drawings;
T represents the metallic ribbon; u is the wire which is drawn through
the machine simultaneously with the ribbon, but to which only a
longitudinal motion is imparted, as in ordinary wire drawing.
copper or metallic ribbon T is revolved while it is being drawn through
the machine by the revolution of the shaft F, as it will be seen that it
is confined between the die wheels while being drawn in, which wheels
revolve with the hand wheel and shaft, while they also revolve on their
own arbors by the longitudinal motion of the ribbon. There is a face
plate on the inner end of the shaft F, to which two jaws w (Figure 3)
are attached by clamps or otherwise. These jaws are formed of wood or
other suitable material, and the sheathing with the wire enclosed is
drawn between them. One of these jaws has a channel or grove to
fit the convex side of the gutter formed sheathing. The two edges of
the gutter are in contact with the flat side of the other jaw. 'As before
stated the wire is enclosed by the sheathing or confined in the gutter.
While the sheathing or covering is thus spirally inclosing the wire they
are both drawn through a die x of suitable gauge. The wire leaves the
die perfectly covered with a smooth and even coating of copper or other
metal, and adopted to various uses. By this method of coating wire,
although the edges of the coating where they come in contact are not
soldered or welded together, the spiral form of the joint prevents its
The wire may be
opening when the compound wire is kinked or bent.
used as an electric conductor in the same condition that it leaves the
die, or its surface may be coated with tin or other metal, which serves
as a protection, and at the same time fills the seam at the junction of
the edges of the copper ribbon or fillet. A section of the wire is
represented in Figure V, the steel core being marked S, the copper

page_text: sheathing C, and the junction or seam J.
When deemed desirable
the steel wire or core may be coated with tin before it is covered with
the copper, this being effected by passing the wire through a bath of
melted metal in the usual manner.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of
the said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be
used or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what
I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is;-
First. The combination of the apparatus for folding the sheathing
upon the wire with the apparatus for drawing the compound wire
conductor, substantially as herein-before described.
Second. The application and use to and in machines for simultaneously
grooving and twisting sheathing upon wire of the rotating shaft F, in
combination with the die wheels n, n', or other equivalent device, sub-
stantially in the männer and for the purpose herein-before described.
Third. The method of making telegraph wire by twisting round a
central wire a sheathing of metallic ribband, and drawing them both
through a suitable die, which closes the sheathing round the central
wire or core, and thereby forms a compound cylindrical wire or rod,
substantially in the manner herein-before described.
Fourth. The application of tin or other metal to the surface of the
compound wire herein referred to for its protection, and with a view to
closing the seam at the point of junction of the edges of the spirally
applied sheathing.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to this
my Specification set my hand and seal, the Thirteenth day of
October One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.s.)