AN IMPROVED METHOD OF COVERING WIRE FOR ELECTRICAL PURPOSES, AND IN THE ORDERLY ARRANGEMENT OF MULTIPLE ELECTRICAL CONDUCTORS."
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Ayrton, of Cowper Street, in the
County of Middlesex, Professor of Technical Physics, for an Invention of
"AN IMPROVED METHOD OF COVERING WIRE FOR ELECTRICAL PURPOSES,
AND IN THE ORDERLY ARRANGEMENT OF MULTIPLE ELECTRICAL
CONDUCTORS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Ayrton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th February 1881.
WILLIAM EDWARD AYRTON, of Cowper Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Professor of Technical Physics. "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF COVERING WIRE
FOR ELECTRICAL PURPOSES, AND IN THE ORDERLY ARRANGEMENT OF MULTIPLE
ELECTRICAL CONDUCTORS."
My Invention relates to the covering and more compact and orderly arrangement
of three or more wires for conducting electrical currents in a more or less parallel
direction and alongside each other by weaving them together with a woof of silk,
cotton, or other fibrous material, the wires themselves forming in such case the
warp of such web or ribbon, or vice versa, the wires may be the woof whilst the
covering forms the warp.
In many industrial applications of electricity it is desirable to lay a large number
of wires, either covered or uncovered, in a narrow space, alongside of each other,
and much inconvenience is experienced by reason of the difficulty in discriminating
the different wires and of the mutual induction caused by the several electrical
currents.
Now my Invention ensures the easy recognition of any individual wire at any
point by its distinctive position in the web or ribbon, and the relative insulation of
the wires I find to be as good when insulating fibre is used as in the ordinary
method of covering with silk, cotton, or other similar insulating covering. Further,
the fixed arrangement of my conducting wires obviates crossing or twisting, thus
rendering induced currents controllable and therefore avoidable; this fixed arrange-
ment also offers exceptional facilities for destroying external induction by surrounding
a sending wire with the return wires of the same circuit, the simplest form being
that in which the sending wire has one return wire on either side of it in the

page_text: rubber or web. It is obvious that my Invention is applicable to the arrangement
of already insulated wires, and in such cases the weaving may be much more open
or may be in bands at intervals sufficient to preserve such arrangement.
The web may be steeped if desired in bitumen or melted paraffin, or other similar
liquid, and an extra security of insulation and solidity thus secured. It may be
rolled or twisted up sideways to be placed in a trough. When the wires are woven
in a web or cloth of considerable width any suitable width may be cut off
for use.
It is to be understood that I do not restrict myself to the weaving of the wire
equidistantly, as I may in some cases form my web or ribbon to narrow or vary in
width, whether the wires vary in diameter or otherwise. I may likewise in some
cases weave the web in an irregular shape to cover the interior or exterior of any
irregular object by means of a loom similar to a stocking loom.
The practical applications of my Invention are numerous and advantageous for
simplicity, as, for instance :-
In the present methods of communication by telegraph or telephone it will be
extremely advantageous for easy discrimination of each wire, and for better working
that the wires of electrical communication should be bound together in a ribbon as
described.
In the construction of resistance coils the ribbon is simply wrapped round the
bobbin, the ends of the metallic wires being previously joined two and two and
insulated.
The ribbon in some cases is so woven that it may turn at right angles to itself
without discontinuity of any of the wires, when as in galvanometer coils the
direction of the current in every coil must be the same as in every other.
If a layer of tin-foil be rolled along with the woven ribbon, and if the tin foil
be broader than the ribbon, the coil may be rapidly and uniformly raised in
temperature, as the tin foil can conduct heat directly to every wire in the coil.
In induction coils the wooden or ebonite separating discs or checks may be
dispensed with.
The whole bobbin may be dispensed with in galvanometers,
resistance coils, and electro magnets, as a simple roll of the web or ribbon may be
easily made, and will answer for such purposes.
In all telegraph instruments in which coils are used the application of my woven
ribbon instead of single wire will greatly economize cost of production and facilitate
after unwinding for examination or repair. For if in the case of my woven ribbon
being used for an electro magnet or resistance coil, &c., when any break occurs the
coil need not be unwound, but the single wire in which the break has occurred
may be disconnected from the circuit.
My Invention is equally applicable to electrical condensers whether interspersed
with tin foil or paraffined paper or not, and if the wires are joined end to end so
as to form one complete circuit, and the layer of tin foil everywhere nearly touches,
but is actually insulated from the wire, the arrangement makes an excellent
artificial submarine cable when the tin foil is put to earth. For the winding of
the armatures of dynamo electric machines and for the winding of electro magnets
the use of the ribbon will be equally advantageous.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Edward Ayrton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th August 1881.
WILLIAM EDWARD AYRTON, of Cowper Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Professor of Technical Physics. "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF COVERING WIRE
FOR ELECTRICAL. PURPOSES, AND IN THE ORDERLY ARRANGEMENT OF MULTIPLE
ELECTRICAL CONDUCTORS."
My Invention relates to the covering and more compact and orderly arrangement
of three or more wires for conducting electric currents in a more or less parallel
direction and alongside each other by weaving them together with a weft of silk,
cotton, or other fibrous insulating material, the wires themselves forming in such
case the warp of such web or ribbon; and my Invention also relates to the covering
of a single continuous wire, or of several continuous wires, by using the wire as a
weft to weave together a number of fibres of silk, cotton, or other insulating
material which form the warp.
In many industrial applications of electricity it is desirable to lay a large
number of wires, either covered or uncovered, in a narrow space alongside of each
other, and much inconvenience is experienced by reason of the difficulty in
discriminating the different wires, and of the mutual induction caused by the
several electric currents. In other cases, as in resistance coils, it is desirable to
lay several convolutions of the same wire side by side in such a way that the
whole has no external magnetic action and no self-induction.
Now my Invention ensures the easy recognition of any individual wire at any
point by its distinctive position in the web or ribbon, provides an easy and certain
means of destroying mutual induction when there are several conductors, as well
as a simple method of constructing a coil of a single continuous conductor which
has no external magnetic action nor self-induction. And I find that the relative
insulation of the several wires from one another, or of the different layers of the
same wire from one another, as well as of the whole from any metallic surface laid
down on the web, to be as good as when the ordinary method of covering with
silk, cotton, or other similar insulating material is employed. Further, the fixed
arrangement of my conducting wires obviates crossing or twisting, thus rendering
induction currents controllable, and therefore avoidable. This fixed arrangement
also offers exceptional facilities for destroying external induction by surrounding a
sending wire with the return wires of the same circuit, the simplest form being
that in which the sending wire has one return wire on each side of it in the ribbon
or web. It is obvious that my Invention is applicable to the arrangement of
already insulated wires, and in such case the weaving may be more open, or may
be in bands at intervals sufficient to preserve such arrangement.
The web, whether composed of a warp of wires and a weft of insulating
material, or a warp of threads of insulating material and a weft of wire, may, if
desired, be steeped in or passed through a bath of bitumen or melted paraffin-wax
or of other similar liquid, and an extra security of insulation and solidity thus
secured. It may be rolled or twisted up sideways to be placed in the bath. The
web or ribbon, in the flat state as woven, can be very easily painted with any fluid
compound if desired, an ordinary paint brush being employed for the purpose, or
the web or ribbon may be covered with gutta percha, or with some similar
substance, by being passed through a die where the compound is under pressure.
It is to be understood that I do not restrict myself to the weaving of the wires
equi-distantly, as I may in some cases form my web or ribbon to narrow or vary in
width whether the wires vary in diameter or not. I may likewise in some cases
weave the web in any irregular shape to cover the interior or exterior of any
irregular object by means of a loom similar to a stocking loom.

page_text: A
The practical applications of my Invention are numerous and advantageous for
simplicity and economy, as for instance:-In the present methods employed for
communication by telegraph or telephone, the use of the ribbon will be extremely
advantageous for enabling each wire to be easily discriminated at any part of the
circuit, and for improving the working by enabling the mutual induction of wire
on wire to be totally destroyed. Again, it is extremely important at the present
time to be able to manufacture cheap and accurate resistance coils for schools and
general laboratory purposes, and this I can do with the aid of my Invention thus:-
The wire, which may be German silver, platinum, silver, &c., or simply copper or
iron, if great cheapness of construction be desired, is wound bare on the shuttle
and used as the weft, being woven backwards and forwards between parallel
fibres of silk, cotton, or any suitable material employed as the warp.
sufficient length of such a ribbon having been cut off to give the resistance required,
it is first brushed over with a flat brush dipped in melted paraffin wax or other
suitable liquid, and then placed flat between a strip of paraffined paper, silk, or
cloth rather longer than my ribbon, and of such a width that after having been
folded double along its length it is a little wider than my ribbon. The whole is
then placed in a strip of thin copper, brass, or other metal, a little longer than the
paraffined paper, silk, or cloth, and of such a width that after having been folded
double along its length it is a little wider than the paraffined paper, silk, or cloth.
Two short pieces of ordinary gutta percha or india rubber covered wire having
been soldered to the two ends of the wire contained in my woven ribbon, the edges
of the doubled strip of metal are then soldered up all round, except just where the
two leading wires protrude, at which places, by means of gutta percha, india
rubber, or some adherent cement, the openings are closed up watertight. The
whole strip may now be rolled up into any convenient shape without the employ-
ment of any bobbin, and from the mode of construction above described it will
have practically no self induction nor magnetic action. The whole or a portion of
the apparatus thus made is now immersed in water of a known temperature, which
temperature is rapidly acquired by the wire from the mode of construction
employed. The resistance, whatever it may be, of the wire is accurately tested,
and both the temperature and the resistance scratched or otherwise marked on the
thin metal case of the instrument above referred to. If then, whenever the coil is
used, it be always put into a water bath of known temperature, and which, as
above explained, is from the mode of construction rapidly acquired by the wire
itself, its resistance, even when tolerably strong currents are passing through it,
will be more accurately known than that of resistance coils as hitherto constructed,
and its cost will be very much less. When my resistance coil is used for approxi-
mate measurements, or with not very strong currents, then it will not be necessary
to place it in a water-bath, since the temperature of the air will be sufficiently
nearly that of the wire to enable the temperature of the air near it being employed
in any estimate of the resistance of the wire.
Or for the manufacture of resistance coils the wire may be used as the warp, and
after a sufficient length of the ribbon has been cut off to give the required resistance
the ends of the first and second wires are joined together, also the ends of the third
and fourth wires respectively, and the ends of the fifth and sixth, and so on, while at
the other end of the ribbon it is the ends of the second and third, the ends of the
fourth and fifth, &c., that are respectively joined together, so that all the separate
wires forming the warp now constitute one continuous conductor. The strip of
ribbon is then treated as before, in both cases no bobbin being necessary to wind
the ribbon on.
When my ribbon is employed in the construction of the coils of galvanometers,
electromagnets, &c., where the direction of the electric current in every convolution
must be the same, the wire is used as the warp, and the ribbon may be so woven that
at one end it turns at right angles to itself in the plane of the ribbon without dis-
continuity of any wire. This right angle piece is placed with one end slightly
projecting, parallel to the axis of the bobbin if one be used, or parallel to the axis

page_text: of the coil about to be formed, if no bobbin be employed, and the slightly stiff
ribbon wound over it. After sufficient length of the ribbon has been wound on
the two ends of the ribbon are brought together, and a joint is made between the
first wire at one end of the ribbon and the second at the other end, and between
the second wire at the first end of the ribbon and the third wire at the second end,
also between the third wire at the first end and the fourth wire at the second end,
and so on.
In making such a set of joints I have found it convenient, after slightly
solidifying each end of the ribbon with melted paraffin wax, or other solidifying
adherent, to cut each end of the ribbon obliquely, using a templet, so that the ends
of the ribbon are cut symmetrically. I then scrape off a small portion of the
insulated silk or cotton, also obliquely and parallel to the direction in which the
ribbon was cut, so that at each end of the ribbon there are a number of short ends
of bare wire each of the same length; these I bend at right angles to the direction
in which the ribbon was cut, in order that, as the length of the cut is longer than
the breadth of the ribbon, to separate somewhat the bare ends, and make the
subsequent jointing easy to perform. The joints are then made in the order
described above. When I use on the construction of galvanometer, electromagnet,
or other similar coils, a strip of ribbon which has not been woven so as to turn at
the end at right angles to the length, I merely fold the end (which would otherwise
be straight) at right angles to the length, and proceed as before.
In some cases I select a ribbon of woven wire of such a width that it exactly
fits the bobbin on which it is to be wound; in others I cut a strip of the right
width from a piece of material which has been woven of greater width, utilising
the remainder for other coils, but when the length of ribbon to be employed in
making the coil is considerable, then I sometimes use a tape narrower in width
than the coil, as this simplifies the subsequent jointing of the wires.
In induction coils the wooden or ebonite separating disks or checks may be
dispensed with, each section of the secondary coil being narrow and rolled on from
a narrow tape containing a comparatively small number of wires, and each such
section being separated from the next by a thin disc only of some thin insulating
material, such as paraffined paper.
In all telegraph instruments in which coils are used the application of my woven
ribbon instead of the ordinary covered wire will greatly economise cost of con-
struction, and facilitate after unwinding for examination or repair, since, even when
the tape be quite narrow, the additional strength introduced by the group of wires
composing it will prevent any one of them, even when they are quite fine, being
broken in the winding or unwinding, whereas at present such breakage not
unfrequently occurs from the strain in winding or unwinding being only on one
wire. Again, when a break is found (from a flaw in the metallic wire or other-
wise) to have occurred in a finished coil, the coil need not be unwound, but only
the single wire in my ribbon in which the break has occurred, disconnected at its
two ends, and cut out of the electric circuit.
My Invention is equally applicable to electrical condensers, whether interspersed
with tinfoil or paraffined paper or not, and if the wire or wires be used as the weft
in the weaving, or if used as the warp joined together end to end, exactly as in the
manufacture of resistance coils described above, and a layer of tin foil placed on the
ribbon and rolled up with it so as to be everywhere close to the wire or wires, but
actually insulated from them, then the arrangement makes an excellent artificial
submarine cable when the tinfoil is connected electrically with the earth. For the
winding of the armatures of dynamo electric machines and of the inducing electro
magnets my ribbon may be also advantageously employed.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I would have it understood that I claim,―
First. The construction of woven wire, whether the wire be used as the warp or
the weft, in the manner described.
Second. The construction of resistance coils, substantially according to the manner
described.

page_text: Third. The construction of coils for galvanometers, electro-magnets, induction
coils, or for other electrical instruments, or for experimental purposes; by the
employment of such woven wire in the manner substantially as described.
Fourth. The construction of condensers and of artificial submarine cables by the
employment of such woven wire in the manner substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Ayrton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty fourth day of August, in the year of our
Lord Eighteen hundred and eighty one.
WILLIAM EDWARD AYRTON. (L.S.)