IMPROVEMENTS IN INSULATING COVERING THE CONDUCTING WIRES USED FOR TELEGRAPHIC PURPOSES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hermann Hirsch, of Berlin, in the Kindgom of
Prussia, and of Bridge Road, Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN INSULATING
COVERING THE CONDUCTING WIRES USED FOR TELEGRAPHIC PURPOSES."
Sealed the 30th August 1861, and dated the 4th March 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hermann Hirsch at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th March 1861.
I, HERMANN HIRSCH, of Berlin, in the Kingdom of Prussia, and of Bridge
Road, Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN INSULATING AND
COVERING THE CONDUCTING WIRES USED FOR TELEGRAPHIC PURPOSES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists in insulating and covering telegraphic wires in
a manner not hitherto adopted for the same purpose, and is as follows:-
I propose in the first instance covering the conducting wire with spun
glass, for which Letters Patent were granted to me on the 8th day of January
1861, No. 47. This spun glass is to be wound round the wire, not in a coil
or bulk but in thin loose fibres sufficient to completely cover the external surface
of the wire. I then cover this coating of spun glass with strips of tin, copper,
or other suitable metallic foil wound round in a spiral or other form, the edges
of which strips slightly overlap. I then pass the wire so coated and covered

page_text: through a tin, or other fluid metallic bath of high temperature or by means of
the electro-galvanic process, by which means the interstices between the strips
become filled up with metal, and the entire surface of the foil covered with
the metallic base. I would here remark that although in some cases tin or
other metallic foil may be used, I prefer in most cases to use copper on
account of its extreme ductility and strength, also for the purpose of using the
copper covering as a second conducting medium, in which case the spun glass
is to be again applied, and covered with metallic strips and treated in the bath
as before described. In some cases where it may be found desirable to
employ several separate conducting mediums, I propose to wind the strips of
copper in a long spiral form, leaving a wide serpentine space by which several
strips may be wound round at one and the same time without being in close
contact with each other, or one only may be applied when a thin coating of
spun glass is placed over it, and in the intervals or spaces another strip may be
wound and so on, without adding much to the size of the cable, rope, or wirè.
After these strips are wound as desired, another layer of spun glass is to be
placed over the whole, and again covered with a metallic foil and passed
through the bath or battery as before described. Gutta-percha, india-rubber,
or other suitable material may be used either beneath or above the layer of
spun glass, but in all cases the outer covering or casing must be metallic as
above described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Hermann Hirsch in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th September 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HERMANN
HIRSCH, of Berlin, in the Kingdom of Prussia, and of Bridge Road, Lambeth,
in the County of Surrey, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth 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 me, the
said Hermann Hirsch, Her special licence that I, the said Hermann Hirsch,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Hermann
Hirsch, 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,

page_text: and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
INSULATING AND COVERING THE CONDUCTING WIRES USED FOR TELEGRAPHIC PURPOSES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Hermann Hirsch, 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 Hermann Hirscb, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
This Invention consists in insulating and covering telegraphic wires in a
manner not hitherto adopted for the same purpose.
In order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible, I now proceed
to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the same into
practical effect, as follows:-
In the first instance I cover the conducting wire with spun glass, for which
Letters Patent were granted to me on the 8th day of January, 1861, No. 47.
This spun glass is to be wound round the wire, not in a coil or bulk but in
thin loose fibres, sufficient to completely cover the surface of the wire. I then
cover this coating of spun glass with strips of tin, copper, or other suitable
metal or metallic foil wound round in a spiral or other form, the edges of
which strips slightly overlap. I then pass the wire so coated through a
tin or other fluid metallic bath of high temperature, or subject it to the
action of electro-galvanism, by which means the interstices between the
strips become filled up with metal and the entire surface of the foil covered
with a metallic base. I would here remark, that although in some cases
tin or other metallic foil may be used, I prefer in most cases to use copper
on account of its extreme ductility and strength, and also for the purpose
of using the copper covering as a second conducting medium, in which case
the spun glass is to be again applied and covered with metallic strips and
treated in the bath as before described.
In cases where it may be found desirable to employ several separate
conducting mediums, I propose to wind the strips of copper in a long spiral
form, leaving a wide serpentine space, by which several strips may be wound
round at one and the same time, without being in close contact with each

page_text: other, or one only may be applied, when a thin coating of spun glass
is placed over it, and in the intervals or spaces another strip may be wound,
and so on without adding much to the size of the cable, rope, or wire. After
these strips are wound as desired, another layer of spun glass is to be placed
over the whole, and again covered with a metallic foil and passed through the
bath, or subjected to the action of the battery, as before described.
Gutta percha, india-rubber, or other suitable material may be used either
beneath or above the layer of spun glass, but in all cases the outer covering
or casing must be metallic, as above mentioned.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention of "Improvements
in Insulating and Covering the Conducting Wires used for Telégraphic
Purposes," and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I would
remark in conclusion that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein
specified, as other means substantially the same may be adopted to effect the
same purpose, without in any way departing from the principle of my Inven-
tion, but what I claim as my Invention, intended to be secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is the application of spun glass
to the purpose of covering and insulating telegraphic wires, in conjunction
with the coating or coatings of metal or metallic alloy, in the manner herein
described, and set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hermann Hirsch, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
HERMANN HIRSCH. (L.S.)
Witness,
L. I. FAURER.
9, Rue Neuve des Capucines à Paris.