IMPROVEMENTS IN SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH CABLES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Chatterton, of Highbury, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, and Willoughby Smith, of Dalston, in the same
County, Electrician, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SUBMARINE
TELEGRAPH CABLES."
Sealed the 19th September 1861, and dated the 25th March 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Chatterton and Wil-
loughby Smith at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 25th March 1861.
We, JOHN CHATTERTON, of Highbury, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer,
and WILLOUGHBY SMITH, of Dalston, in the same County, Electrician, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SUB-
MARINE TELEGRAPH CABLES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to prevent the oxidation and decay of the
metal shield or protecting wires which surround the insulated conducting wire
or wires, and to add to the strength and durability of the cable.
Our Invention consists in coating each wire of which the shield or outer
casing of telegraph cables is formed with an adhesive material or composition, on
or into which we lay yarns, cords, threads, tapes, or ribbons formed of fibrous
material, and this by preference in a line parallel with the wire; we then apply
one or more coats of gutta percha or its compounds, or of caoutchouc or its

page_text: compounds. In some cases, before applying the coats of gutta percha or caout-
chouc, we lay on another coat of adhesive material, but in all cases the outside
coat is formed of gutta percha or its compounds, or caoutchouc or its com-
pounds, or of marine glue or other suitable waterproof compound or substance.
We prefer to prepare each wire forming part of the outer casing as afore-
said at one operation in manner described in the Specification of Letters
Patent granted to John Chatterton, 22 April 1858, No. 883.
The prepared wires are formed into the protecting casing in the manner
ordinarily followed in the manufacture of telegraph cables when simple or
unprepared wires are used.
Our Invention also consists in some cases in substituting for the yarns,
cords, tapes, or ribbons a coating composed of fibrous material mixed with an
adhesive material or composition.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Chatterton and Willoughby Smith in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 25th September 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
CHATTERTON, of Highbury, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, and WIL-
LOUGHBY SMITH, of Dalston, in the same County, Electrician, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said John Chatterton and Willoughby Smith, Her special licence that we, the
said John Chatterton and Willoughby Smith, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said John Chatterton and Willoughby Smith,
our 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN SUBMARINE TELE-
GRAPH CABLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
John Chatterton and Willoughby Smith, our executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of our or their hands
ánd seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what mauner the same was to be performed, and cause

page_text: 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 we, the said John Chatterton and Willoughby
Smith, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
4
The object of this Invention is to prevent the oxidation and decay of the
metal shield or protecting wires which surround the insulated conducting wire.
or wires, and to add to the strength and durability of the cable..
Our Invention consists in coating each wire or strand of wires of which the
shield or outer casing of telegraph cables is formed with an adhesive material
or composition, such, for instance, as gutta percha mixed with Stockholm tar
and resin, as described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to
Willoughby Smith, 9th August 1858, No. 1811, on or into which we lay
yarns, cords, threads, tapes, or ribbons formed of fibrous material, and this by
preference in a line parallel with the wire, though they may be otherwise laid.
And in the case of tapes and ribbons we prefer to lay them spirally. We
sometimes saturate the yarns, cords, tapes, threads, or ribbons (before laying
them) in tar or adhesive composition; we then apply one or more coats of
gutta percha or its compounds, or of caoutchouc or its compounds, or of
marine glue, or other suitable waterproof compound or substance. In some
cases, before applying the coats of gutta percha or caoutchouc, we lay on
another coat of adhesive material, but in all cases the outside coat is formed of
gutta percha or its compounds, or caoutchouc or its compounds, or of marine
glue, or other suitable waterproof compound or substance.
We prefer to prepare each wire or strand of wires forming part of the outer
casing, as aforesaid, at one operation, in manner described in the Specification
of Letters Patent granted to John Chatterton, 22nd April 1858, No. 883.
The prepared wires or strands of wire are formed into the protecting casing
in the manner ordinarily followed in the manufacture of telegraph cables when
simple or unprepared wires are used.
Our Invention also consists in some cases in substituting for the yarns,
cords, tapes, or ribbons a coating composed of fibrous material mixed with an
adhesive material or composition.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we are aware it has
already been proposed to coat the outer protecting wires of telegraph cables
with tarred yarn or other fibrous material alone, and that it has also been pro-
posed to coat them with gutta percha alone. We therefore lay no claim to

page_text: coating such wires with either fibrous material or gutta percha; but we claim
as our improvements in submarine telegraph cables, coating or covering each.
separate protecting wire or strand of wires forming the metal shield which
surrounds the insulated conducting wire or wires with fibrous material and
gutta percha or its compounds, or with fibrous material and caoutchouc or its
compounds, or. with fibrous material and marine glue, or other suitable water-
proof compound or substance, substantially in manner and for the purposes
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Chatterton, have hereunto set my'
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of September, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-one.
JOHN CHATTERTON. (L.S.)