A NEW AND IMPROVED MODE OR PROCESS OF COVERING OR INSULATING WIRE POR TELEGRAPHIC AND OTHER USES OR PURPOSES WITH TWINE, CORDAGE, AND OTHER COVERING OF A LIKE CHARACTER
Year: 1863

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Aylesworth Bailey and John
James Speed at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 14th December 1863.
We, JOHN AYLESWORTH BAILEY, of Brooklyn, State of New York, and JOHN
JAMES SPEED, of Gorham, State of Maine, United States of America, Tele-
graph Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"A NEW AND IMPROVED MODE OR PROCESS OF COVERING OR INSULATING WIRE POR
TELEGRAPHIC AND OTHER USES OR PURPOSES WITH TWINE, CORDAGE, AND OTHER
COVERING OF A LIKE CHARACTER," to be as follows:-
The nature or character of our said Invention consists in so covering or
encasing wire to be used for telegraphic and other purposes with any material
capable of being made into twine or cordage, or of being wound about a wire;
that the material used as a covering shall be compressed to a firm solid
mass or body so hard and compact as to resist the action of moisture upon it,
at least for a very considerable time, and thereby making more perfect and
complete the insulation of the wire. Twine, cordage, or any material or.
substance capable of being wound upon a wire, and which can be compressed;
may be made use of to cover the wire, and such material may be saturated
before it is wound and compressed upon the wire with any non-conducting
substance; or it may first be wound and compressed, and afterwards saturated
or covered with the non-conducting substance. It will probably be found,
most advisable to saturate the covering before it is wound and compressed
upon the wire, and then again cover the wire after it has been so wound, and the

page_text: covering compressed with a coating of a like substance. The twine or cordage
as it is being wound upon and around the wire is at the same time com-
pressed both endwise or longitudinally with the wire, and also spirally, and
to such a degree that the covering will be of such compactness and solidity
desired or required. The mechanism at present made use of to wind and
compress the twine upon the wire consists more particularly of two tubes
through which the wire passes, one of which is stationary and receives the
wire after it is wound, and the other of which revolves around the wire and
guides and delivers the cord, and at the same time compresses it to a firm
body. The fixed tube has its inside diameter a little larger than the thickness
of the wire when wound, while the revolving tube has through it a hole only
large enough to allow of free motion about the wire before it is covered. The
mouth of the stationary or fixed tube is also expanded, or flaring like a funnel,
and the end of the revolving tube is conically shaped, so as to fit within the ex-
panded mouth of the other tube. The extreme end of that part of the revolving
tube which enters within the mouth of the fixed tube, does not, however,
terminate in an edge, but has a flat face or surface to act against the twine as
it is wound on the wire and compress it longitudinally. In the conical surface
of such revolving tube there is also made a groove, through which the twine
is delivered and wound upon the wire, and which should be deep and large
enough to receive the cord or twine which is to be wound upon the wire, so
that the twine will not be cut or interfere with the revolutions of such tube.
The twine is supplied to such revolving tube from a reel 'or in any convenient
manner. The cord or twine being wound a few times around or fastened to
the wire, and the end of the revolving tube being entered within the mouth
of the fixed one, motion or revolution is given to the revolving tube, which,
as it revolves both winds the cord or twine around the wire, and at the same
time with its face or flat end compresses the twine as it is wound. It will be
perceived that the continued winding of the twine around the wire, and the
action of the revolving tube in compressing the twine drives or moves along
the wire, and that if the wire is allowed to pass freely through the tube the
covering will be but very slightly compressed, while if the movement of
the wire is retarded the covering will be more firmly and closely pressed
together. The degree of compactness to be given to the covering is thus
governed by the motion allowed to the wire, and such allowed motion of the
wire may be controlled by friction upon the wire, or by any device which shall
act upon
the wire to govern or control its passage through the tube.
The other parts of the mechanism used, in addition to the two tubes before
described, are substantially like those heretofore found in machines for winding

page_text: wire; other machines can, however, be devised or arranged for winding
wire and compressing the covering. The particular form or arrangement of
mechanism used is not, however, so material, the important feature or cha-
racteristic of our Invention being the compressing of the covering about and
upon the wire, so as to envelop it in a covering which shall be impervious to
moisture for at least a very considerable length of time. Single wires thus
covered may also be made into a cable, and then such cable be wound and
compressed in the same manner. For convenience the wire may be taken
from a reel and then again wound upon another reel after it has been
covered.