IMPROVEMENTS IN SUBMARINE CONDUCTORS OF ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Cornish Harcourt Sievier, of Upper Holloway,
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SUBMARINE CONDUCTORS OF ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS."
Sealed the 9th August 1858, and dated the 13th February 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Cornish Harcourt
Sievier at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 13th February 1858.
I, JOHN CORNISH HARCOURT SIEVIER, of Upper Holloway, in the County
of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SUBMARINE CONDUCTORS OF ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in coating copper wire to be employed as a sub-
marine conductor of electricity with bismuth, tiu, iron, lead, brass, antimony,
zinc, nickel (by preference containing arsenic), or German silver, or with any
combination or alloy of two or more of these metals, prior to the treatment of
such copper wire with any means of insulating, either by gutta percha,shellac,
tar,bituminous or resinous substances, fibrous materials, or other substances,
and likewise prior to the application of the wire cable.
Copper being a powerful conductor of electricity, my object is to cont
copper wire with a metal or alloy or combination of metals having a much
less degree of conductibility than copper, in order that the copper may become
more easily insulated than it would otherwise be if surrounded or encased as
[Price 8d.]

page_text: usual with gutta percha or other insulating substances without being first
coated with metal or alloy or combination of metals having comparatively
slight degrees of conductibility; or I coat copper wire with tin and then with
lead, or with iron, or brass, or antimony, or bismuth, or zinc, or nickel (by
preference containing arsenic), or German silver, and then with lead or with
a combination or alloy of any of these metals, and finally with lead; or I coat
the copper wire in the first instance with bismuth, this inctal having a very
slight amount of conductibility, and then I apply a coating of tin, or lead, or
other metal or alloy of metal, and I may then repeat the coating of bismuth,
and finally employ the lead coating; or I coat with tin, iron, lead, German
silver, nickel (by preference containing arsenic), or with other metal or alloy
in the first instance, and I then apply a coating of bismuth ; this may
be
repeated as often as necessary, and, if desired, a final coating of lead or other
metal may be applied; or, if necessary, I employ a second or third coating or
any desired number of coatings of any of these metals or alloys of metals,
using the same or different metals or alloys of metals for the several coatings
as I may think advantageous, and I then employ, if desirable, the final
coating of lead; or, after having coated the copper wire with one of the
foregoing arrangements, I apply a coating of gutta percha or other insulating
substance or compound, and then, by the aid of plumbago (carbonate of iron)
and the electro-metallurgic process, I again apply any of the said metallic
arrangements. And I can (if I prefer so to do) employ these several arrange-
ments with or without any further covering of gutta percha,shellac, bituminous
substances, caoutchouc, fibrous materials, or any other insulating substances
or combinations thereof, and even without the wire cable, because the exterior
lead coating is absolutely imperishable in sea water and becomes coated with
saline matters, which not only preserve it from decay, but cause the most
perfect insulation of the conducting wire.
Any of the well-known methods of coating copper or other metals with
metals or alloys of metals may be employed to carry out my Invention, which
is also applicable to electric telegraph conductors on land or in many other
situations.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Cornish Harcourt Sievier in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 13th August 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CORNISH HARCOURT SIEVIBR,Of Upper Holloway, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her nost Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of February, in the year
of our Lord Oue 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 John Cornish Harcourt Sievier, Her special
licence that I, the said John Cornish Harcourt Sievier, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Cornish Harcourt
Sievier, 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, aud
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SUBMARINE CONDUCTORS OF ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Cornish Harcourt Sievier, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument 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 same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar mouths next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Cornish Harcourt Sievier, do
hereby declare the nature of my said.Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement:-
My Invention cousists in coating copper wire to be employed as a sub-
marine conductor of electricity with bismuth, tin, iron, lead, brass, antimony,
zinc, nickel (by preference containing arsenic), or German silver, or with any
combination or alloy of two or more of these metals, prior to the treatment of
such copper wire with any means of insulating, either bygutta percha,shellac,
tar, bituminous or resinous substances, fibrous materials, or other substances,
and likewise prior to the application of the wire cable. Copper being a
powerful conductor of electricity, my object is to coat copper wire with a metal

page_text: or alloy or combination of metals having a much less degree of conductibility
than copper,in order that the copper may become more easily insulated than it
would otherwise be if surrounded or encased as usual with gutta percha or
other insulating materials, without being first coated with a metal or
alloy or combination of metals having comparatively slight degrees of con-
ductibility.
I coat copper wire with tin and then with lead, or with iron, or brass, or
antimony, or bismuth, or zinc, or nickel (by preference containing arsenic), or
German silver, and then with lead, or with a combination or alloy of any
of these metals, and finally with lead, Or,after having coated the copper wire
with one or more of the foregoing arrangements, I apply a coating of gutta
percha or other insulating substance or compound, and then again apply a
coating or coatings of any of the before-described metallic arrangements. The
electro-metallurgic process might be adopted for the latter operation by the
aid of plumbago.
Or I coat the copper wire in the first instance with bismuth, this metal
having a very slight amount of conductibility, and then I apply a coating of
tin or lead or other metal or alloy of metal, and I may then repeat the coating
of bismuth, and finally employ the lead coating.
Or I coat with tin, iron, lead, German silver, or with other metal or alloy
in the first instance, and I then apply a coating of bismuth; this may be
repeated as often as necessary, and, if desired, a final coating of lead or other
metal may be applied.
Or, if necessary, I employ a second or third coating or any desired number
of coatings of any of these metals or alloys of metals, using the same or
different metals or alloys of metals for the several coatings as I may think
advantageous, and I then employ, if desirable, the final coating of lead. And
I can (if I prefer to do so) employ these several arrangements with or without
any further covering of gutta percha, shellac, bituminous substances, caout-
chouc, fibrous materials, or any other insulating substances or combinations
thereof, because the exterior lead coating is absolutely imperishable in sea
water, and becomes coated with saline matters, which not only preserve it from
decay, but cause the most perfect insulation of the conducting wire. With
respect to the use of the exterior strengthening material to enable the
conductor to be laid, I adopt the usual iron wire rope in shallow water where
danger might arise to the conductor from the dragging of ships' anchors.
In these cases I adopt the usual exterior twisted iron wire, first eucasing the
conductor in some protecting material, such as gutta percha, caoutchouc,
resinous matters, and fibrous materials. But in deep waters, where no danger

page_text: from the dragging of anchors can exist, I strengthen my conductor with an
exterior rope manufactured from fibrous materials, either platted or twisted,
and treated with waterproofing materials, such as tar,gutta percha, caoutchouc,
resinous or bituminous matter, &c., &c.
This system may also be adopted in shallow waters where there is no danger
from anchors or other causes, moreover, inasmuch as a depth of from three to
five miles has been proved to exist in the ocean, it is obvious that an iron wire
rope would be utterly useless for strengthening an oceanic conductor in such
deep seas, because, according to data which have been known and printed for
years past, iron wire will only resist a tension equal to the weight of about
three miles of its own length.
I
But the conductor strengthened with fibrous materials twisted parallel or
plaited by machinery, known as "braiding machinery," would be sufficiently
strong to sustain ten miles of its own length in water, because its specific
gravity would be low, and the conductor or cable would sink slowly to the
bottom of the sea.
Any of the well-known methods of coating copper or other metals with
metals or alloys of metals may be employed to carry out my Invention, which
is also applicable to electric telegraph conductors on land, or in many other
situations.
Although I have enumerated the above metals or alloys as preferable, I do
not confine myself to them, but reserve to myself the right of using others so
long as the principle of my Invention is adhered to. I also take copper wire
treated by my process, and coat it with fibrous materials, gutta percha,
caoutchouc, bituminous or resinous matter, and then with plumbago. I then
electrotype or coat this with one or more of my metallic arrangements, and
then cover the whole with gutta percha or other suitable protecting substance,
surrounded with hemp,flax, or other fibrous material to give strength to the
whole.
I also cause the copper conductor, treated according to one or more of my
irst-named processes, and then coated with gutta percha or other insulating
substances as a very thin coating, to be electrotyped or coated by other means
vith metal, by preference with lead or with some other metal or metals herein
amed by me, and then with lead, and finally covered with gutta percha con-
aining or enclosed within strengthening fibrous materials laid parallel or
laited or twisted.
I also cause the copper conductor, electrotyped or coated in the first instance
s described, and then coated with gutta percha or other insulating substances
o form a thin coating (say, as thick as strong card), and then coated with

page_text: plumbago and electrotyped or coated as described, to be again coated with
gutta percha or other insulating or suitable matter,and again electrotyped or
coated as described (with reference more particularly to the lead coating), and
then finally protected from injury by the ultimate gutta percha covering and
fibrous materials.
In which cases, assuming that the water, by reason of the great pressure it
exerts at great depths, would penetrate the outer covering of gutta percha,the
metallic coating would stay its further penetration, and provided that lead
should form such coating, the sea water would have no power to decay
the same. The gutta percha should be subjected to pressure between grooved
rollers after it has served to coat the wire, in order to render it firmer and
more solid and to compress it into less space, and after a metallic coating
has been applied to the gutta percha, which metallic coating is itself covered
in turn by a distinct coating of gutta percha, this last coating of gutta percha
may be compressed firmly between rollers previously to the application of
the fibrous materials.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Cornish Harcourt Sievier, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
J. C. H. SIEVIER. (L.S.)