IMPROVEMENTS IN SUBMARINE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CABLES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Rogers, of No. 9, Queen's Square, Bar-
tholomew Close, in the City of London, Rope Maker, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SUBMARINE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CABLES."
Sealed the 29th March 1859, and dated the 2nd October 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Rogers at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd October 1858.
I, JOSEPH ROGERS, of No. 9, Queen Square, Bartholomew Close, in the City
of London, Rope Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SUBMARINE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CABLES," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists of covering one or more telegraphic wires, either
insulated in gutta percha or not, by laying along them longitudinally plaited
bands of hemp, flax, jute, cotton, or other fibrous material, using a sufficient
number of bands completely to encircle the wire or wires, which is then formed
into a kind of rope by binding it with coils of twine seamed, roped, over-
hitched, clove-hitched, or served down, and then any number of ropes so
formed, if more than one is required, may be laid together to form one cable,
which I should again encircle as above with longitudinal bands of plaited flax;
hemp, jute, cotton, or other fibrous material, fitted for the purpose for which
the cable is required, and repeat the process of binding them together by
seaming, roping, over-hitching, clove-hitching, or serving down, as before
mentioned; if these portions of the manufacture are properly completed, the
electric wire or wires will be completely insulated. The placing of the bands

page_text: longitudinally will strengthen the rope or cable, and protect the wire or wires
within from being broken or strained. I then thoroughly saturate the rope
with a waterproofing material, consisting of about 8 parts of resin, one part of
tallow, and 8 parts of linseed oil or boiled oil, and 2 parts of patent driers
thoroughly mixed and boiled together; this mixture will preserve the rope and
resist the passage of water to the enclosed wire or wires; when this saturation
is complete, I plait the rope or cable over with an outside coating of flax,
hemp, or other fibrous material similarly saturated with the above mixture,
and the rope or cable will be then fit for use.
The object of this Invention is to produce an electric telegraph cable much
lighter, more durable, cheaper, and better fitted for the purposes of submarine
telegraphs than any telegraph wires coated or covered with wire or any
metallic substance. And a further advantage to be derived from the adoption
of this process is that the cable will enclose any number of wires, may be made
of any required length, is easily joined together, and will be longer in sinking
to the bed of the ocean, thereby greatly reducing the strain upon the cable
whilst being laid, and when sunk it will, from its buoyancy, be less liable to
friction than a cable made of a heavier material.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Rogers in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd April 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
ROGERS, of No. 9, Queen's Square, Bartholomew Close, in the City of London,
Rope Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Joseph Rogers, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph
Rogers, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Joseph Rogers, 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, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SUBMARINE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CABLES," upon the con-

page_text: dition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Rogers, 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
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Rogers, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in submarine electric
telegraph cables. For this purpose the wire or strand of wires to be used as
the electric conductor, either first covered with gutta percha or not, has laid
round it longitudinally a number of plaited bands of fibre, so as entirely to
surround it, and the bands are secured to it by binding them round with
twine; the whole is then covered by plaiting over it yarns or cords of fibrous
material.
Figure 1 is a side view of a portion of such a cable, and Figure 2 is an end
view of the same; a is a strand of small copper wire; 6 is a coating of gutta
percha, which it is preferred to apply at two or more separate operations, or,
should it be preferred to omit the coating of gutta percha, I apply in place of
it, a coating of other insulating material, such for example as india-rubber; c
are plaited bands laid longitudinally, each composed of five or other convenient
number of strands of fibrous material, by préference hemp; these bands are
secured by the twine d, bound round it either spirally or by preference in the
manner shown in the Drawing; e, e, are yarns of hemp or other fibre
plaited over the longitudinal bands, and applied by an ordinary plaiting or
braiding machine. In the specimen shown in the Drawing, eight separate
bundles of yarns are employed, four passing round the cable in each direction,
and each bundle is made up of about a dozen small yarns, but this may be
greatly varied. In some cases, in place of securing the longitudinal bands by
binding with twine as above described, I apply the longitudinal bands as the
plaiting proceeds, and the plaiting then serves to secure the bands.
Before applying the fibrous bands and yarns to the covered wire or strand,
I saturate them with a composition formed by mixing 8 parts of rosin, 1 part
of tallow, 8 parts of linseed oil or boiled oil (preferring boiled oil), and 2
parts of patent driers; these materials are boiled and stirred together until
thoroughly mixed. The bands and yarns are passed through the composition
while it is kept. boiling in a cauldron. The Invention also consists in

page_text: producing a submarine electric telegraph cable, containing more than one
conductor by surrounding separately each of the conducting wires or strands,
whether covered with gutta percha or not, with longitudinal plaited bands,
saturated and secured as in the cables shown at Figures 1 and 2, but without
the external plait of yarns, and afterwards laying together the conducting wires
or strands thus protected, and again surrounding them with longitudinal
plaited bands secured by twine, and saturated with the composition already
described; Figure3 is a side view, and Figure 4 an end view of a cable so
constructed. a, a, are the conducting strands; b, b, the interior plaited bands;
c, c, the twines which secure them; d, d, the exterior plaited bands; e, the
twine which secures these bands; the cable thus formed, may be further
protected by plaiting yarns over it, as before described.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that am aware that
submarine electric telegraph cables have before been constructed by coating
the wire or conductor with gutta percha, and arranging around it longitudinal
plaited bands as herein described; I do not therefore claim the same, but what
I claim is,―
First, the enclosing a cable so formed or similarly formed with a wire or
conductor not surrounded with gutta percha, but with india-rubber or other
insulating material, by plaiting it round with fibrous materials, as herein
described..
Second, the forming a submarine electric telegraph cable, having more
than one conducting wire or strand by laying together two or more wires or
conductors each surrounded with longitudinal plaited bands, and afterwards
again surrounding the whole with longitudinal plaited bands, as herein
described.
Third, the saturating the fibrous portion of a submarine electric telegraph
cable with the composition herein described.
. In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Rogers, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
JOSEPH ROGERS. (L.S.)
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.