IMPROVEMENTS IN THE INSULATION AND LAYING DOWN CONDUCTING WIRES FOR THE TRANSMISSION OF TELEGRAMS OR TELEGRAPHIC MESSAGES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Shaw, of the City of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Medical Practitioner, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE INSULATION AND LAYING DOWN CONDUCTING WIRES FOR THE TRANSMISSION
OF TELEGRAMS OR TELEGRAPHIC MESSAGES,"
Sealed the 20th April 1860, and dated the 6th December 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Shaw at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th December 1859.
1, JAMES SHAW, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Medical Practitioner, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE INSULATION AND LAYING DOWN CONDUCTING WIRES FOR
THE TRANSMISSION OF TELEGRAMS OR TELEGRAPHIC MESSAGES," to be
follows:-
as
In laying down con lucting wires either underground or on the surface of
the ground I enclose them in baked clay or earthenware troughs with lids, or
in tubes requiring no lids, either glazed or not at pleasure, made in lengths
and joined together at the ends with ordinary cement of good quality, and over
that I put boiling asphalte or gas pitch, or I use either of them separately
I extend the wires in the said troughs in grooves, or on rests, props, or supports
ID: 0.11

page_text: made of baked clay or earthenware, glazed or not, and notched or otherwise
constructed to hold and keep the wires in their places separate from each
other; or instead of the said troughs or tubes being made of baked clay or
earthenware they may be made of iron, wood, or other suitable metal or
material, with baked clay or earthenware rests, props, or supports, notched
or otherwise constructed to hold and keep the wires in their proper posi-
tions separate from each other and free from contact with the wood or
metal troughs or tubes. I make the troughs or tubes perfectly water-tight with
boiling asphalte or gas pitch, and when necessary to ensure a more perfect
insulation I partially or wholly fill the troughs or tubes with boiling
asphalte or gas pitch.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Shaw in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
5th June 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
SHAW, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Medical
Practitioner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said James Shaw, Her special licence that I, the said
James Shaw, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said James Shaw, 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 THE INSULATION AND LAYING DOWN CONDUCTING WIRES FOR
THE TRANSMISSION OF TELEGRAMS AND TELEGRAPHIC MESSAGES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said James Shaw, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Shaw, 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 (that is to say) :—
My Invention consists in insulating and laying down wires for telegraphic
purposes by means of insulating rests, props, or supports at suitable distances
apart, and notched or curved or hooked with open notches, curves, or hooks,
also at suitable distances apart, for the purpose of receiving, supporting,
insulating, and holding, separate and apart from each other, a number of
underground or surface of the ground, naked and uncovered telegraphic con-
ducting wires, or wires covered with an insulator for the transmission
of telegrams or telegraphic messages, the said wires being extended
on the rests in troughs or tubes made water-tight, and suspended between
rest and rest in the air on the same principle that telegraphic conducting
wires are extended on poles and suspended in the open air.
My improvements will be clearly understood by referring to the figuresand
letters on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a longi-
tudinal section of one of my arrangements of troughs and rests for containing
and extending the telegraphic conducting wires; Fig. 2, a plan; Fig. 3, an
external elevation; and Figs. 4 and 5, transverse sections of the same; Fig. 6,
a section of a portion of the trough and lid drawn to an enlarged scale; Fig. 7
is an end, and Fig. 8 a side view of part of the rest holding some wires, drawn
to about it full dimensions; Figs. 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 are transverse sections
of various troughs with different forms of notched rests; Figs. 14, 15, and 16,
are transverse sections of troughs, having rests with curved projections for
holding the wires; Fig. 17 is a transverse section of a trough with a rest,
leaving an opening on each side along the trough, and shewing a syphon;
Figs. 18, 19, and 20 are transverse sections of troughs, in which the wires
are held by notched rests, and also by a number of enamelled metal hooks;
Fig. 21, a transverse section of the trough in which all the wires are held by
enamelled metal hooks; Figs. 22 and 23 are transverse sections of troughs
with rests adapted for placing the wires in an angular direction or turning a
corner either right or left; Figs. 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, and 29, represent
different forms of enamelled metal hooks; Fig. 30 is a plan of a trough and
hook, shewing another means of turning a corner; Fig. 31 is a side, and
Fig. 32 a front view of an enamelled or earthenware hook intended to be
fastened by screws or pins; Fig. 33 is a transverse section, and Fig. 34 a
longitudinal section of a metal trough having corrugated grooved plates of
enamelled metal for holding the wires; Fig. 35 is a longitudinal elevation of

page_text: the apparatus for stretching the wires; and Fig. 36 an end view of the
same.
The troughs represented at Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, are marked a; they
are formed of any suitable length, and are made of clay, which constitutes,
when baked, earthenware or stoneware. In their interiors I form and place
rests, props, or supports b made of the like material of a suitable thickness, to
give them the requisite strength, but I prefer such to be in substance about
one inch thick, and notched or curved at any suitable distances apart, but I
prefer the notches or curves to be about five-eighths of an inch apart from each
other, as seen in Figs. 7 and 8, with a number and size of such notches or
curves as will correspond with the number and size of the telegraphic con-
ducting wires intended to be extended thereon, the number of such notches
and of such wires being governed by the inside proportions of such troughs,
which latter may be of any size or shape,either circular, semicircular,square
oval, or angular, the outline of such rests, props, cr supports being formed to
touch wholly or in part only the sides and bottom thereof, and are placed in
Buch troughs in such positions that corresponding notches or curves in different
rests, props, or supports are of the same height with each other, and such
rests, props, or supports are baked or hardened with heat, and glazed or left
unglazed, but I prefer them to be glazed along with and at the same time as
such troughs. And such troughs may be of any suitable length, but I prefer
them to be of three feet lengths. And such rests, props,cr supports are made
and placed therein at any suitable distances apart, but I prefer them to be
about three feet apart, and I therefore put one such rest, prop, or support in
each length of trough. And such troughs are made with a socket c at one
end thereof into which the endd, without a socket,of another length of trough,
which is to join it when laid down for use, is placed. On the upper edge of
cach side of such trough I make a groove e, the outer boundary fof which is
higher than the inner boundary g thereof; and into these grooves two inverted
flanges of a lid i are placed, when the lid is put on and the trough is closed.
The end of one length of lid, which is of the same length as the trough, closes
against and on a line with the lid of the adjoining trough, and one end being
furnished with an elevated projection k, lies two or three inches over the
adjoining trough and lid and completes the socket of the trough.
In a trench dug in the ground at any suitable depth, but I prefer about
two feet and of any required length, I place one such trough with rest, prop,
or support coutained therein, and into the socket end of such trough I put the
non-socketed end of a like trough, and either put ordinary cement between
uch socket and such end, or leave it without, and in either case to make such

page_text: joint water-tight; I pour over it both inside and outside hot gas or commou
pitch or resin, but I prefer gas pitch alone or combined with one-sixth, it
may be more or less than one-sixth, but I prefer one-sixth part of coal or
other tar, but I prefer coal tar. By continuing this process I lay down
troughs of the required length forming one long cavity in such jointed
troughs, partially only intercepted by such rests, props, or supports.
Naked and uncovered telegraphic conducting wires of any suitable size,
either of iron or copper, or any suitable material, and of the number intended
to be laid down, but not being more that the number of notches or curves
provided in the rests, props, or supports, having been wound upon a drum
may be made fast at the commencement of the troughs by any simple or
convenient means, and the drum rolled along over the troughs resting on the
sides of the trench until fifty or a hundred yards, or more or less, at pleasure,
of wires have been unfolded off the drum. I then take one wire at a time
just outside the trench, and having placed a part of it nearest its commence-
ment in the fixed clip of the stretcher m, Fig. 35, and another part of it
fifty or a hundred or more or less yards off in the moveable clip n, at the
end of the rope o on the shaft p of the other stretcher q, also shewn at Fig. 36,
the two stretchers being prevented from moving by being pegged down to the
earth by spikes at the feet of each. The operator who places the wire in
the fixed clip stands upon the hind feet of that stretcher, and another operator
stands upon the hind feet of the other stretcher and turns the handle s, and
the wire t is straightened by the rope winding on the shaft p. When all the
length of wires are straightened, which they are in a few minutes, I extend
them in the cavity of the troughs, and drop one wire only into each notch or
curve of a rest, prop, or support, and so on at each successive rest for the
length of the wire stretched, taking care to let one wire occupy a corre-
sponding notch or curve in each succeeding rest, prop, or support, that it may
be propped or supported in a straight line at about every three feet of its
length, each of such three feet lengths being suspended in the air between
rest and rest. I then slip an annular metal holdfast u, Figs. 7 and S, with a
notch in it from its circumference to its centre upon each wire, close ou
each end of the notch it occupies, and rests upon and secure it to the wire
with commou solder; and I put the like holdfasts upon each wire in the like
manner about every ten or twelve yards of its length, taking care to put them
on different wires at different rests, that such holdfasts may not touch or be
near each other; they cannot therefore in any way endanger the conducting
power of the wires, and they tend to hold the wires tense, straight and firm in
their places, that they cannot sway in the least. I then cover the troughs with

page_text: the lids, which simply require putting on and pushing the ends against each
other, and when they are on I pour on the whole top of them the like hot
bituminous or resinous cement I pour over the joints of troughs, preferring
here also gas pitch and coal tar combined as aforesaid, and the outer
boundaries of the grooves e guide the cement into such grooves, and the
projections at one end of such lids guide the cement into the end joints
thereof, and the whole is firm and water-tight, and ready for covering over
with earth. Or, if desirable, in wet localities to use additional precaution to
keep the insulating rests, props, or supports dry, I pour over them and
fill the troughs with the hot bituminous or resinous cement previously
described, preferring as before the gas pitch and coal tar combined, and then
put on the lids and cover them as before mentioned with hot cement.
By continuing the process of laying down troughs and wires as described,
I complete any required length thereof quickly, expeditiously, and durably,
and at a comparitively small cost.
When
In turning a corner with a line of troughs I use a trough with a bend
therein in the required direction, and at such bend I use the notched rests, as
shewn in Figs. 22 and 23, and the hooked rests as shewn in Fig. 30.
the line terminates, or it is necessary that the conducting wires should ascend
and leave the rests, props, or supports in the troughs, I use a trough made
with a bend upwards with an inverted curved support, Fig. 14, about six
inches from the end fixed therein, and against such support I place a piece of
earthen or stone ware of the inside shape and size of the trough, and of about
an inch in thickness, and cleft with the same number of clefts as there are
wires, and shut it down against such support, each wire going into a cleft;
and I slut another such like piece against the end of such trough, and fill the
cavity between the two pieces with the like hot cement previously described.
The wires being then in the open air may be conveyed forwards into any
station as overground wires are conveyed.
The aforesaid rests, props, or supports, may also be made of wood, glass,
enamelled metal, or metals covered with any insulator or of gutta percha,
slate, or any insulator, but I prefer them made of earthen or stone ware,
enamelled iron or wood soaked in hot coal tar, and all or any of such rests,
props, or supports may be used for the like purposes and in the like manner
in troughs of any suitable material, such as glass, wood, iron, enamelled iron,
slate, gutta percha, such troughs being of any size or shape, with lids of any
kind or make, or covered in any suitable way. Wood or any kind of troughs
likely to absorb moisture may be covered all over outside or inside with the
hot cement previously described.

page_text: Such rests, props, or supports need not necessarily form part of or be made
in conjunction with the troughs in which they are used, for when the material
of rests, props, or supports differs from the material of tne troughs in which
they are used, it could not be so, but in such case I place and fix them in
such troughs by auy suitable means, or by means of holes about half way
through the substance of the troughs at suitable places plugged with wood
or lead or other suitable material, and through holes corresponding thereto
in such rests, props, or supports, I screw, nail, or peg them fast to such
troughs. In some instances it is only necessary to fasten them with the
hot cement before mentioned.
Telegraphic conducting wires covered with an insulator of any kind may
also be extended on all or any of such rests, props, or supports placed at
suitable distances apart from each other in troughs or tubes of any kind,
shape, or size; and such rests, props, or supports may be used with great
advantage in troughs or tubes already laid to hold, support, and insulate
telegraphic conducting wires' contained therein, covered with gutta percha
or any perishable insulator, and keep them separate and apart from each
other, though all in one cavity.
In troughs of iron of suitable lengths, and enamelled both outside and
inside, or inside only, or not enamelled at all, I place a grooved or corrugated
euamelled iron sheet, as shewn in Figs. 33 and 34, leaning obliquely from the
middle of the bottom of the trough to the top of the side, and another such
sheet in like manner against the other side, and the two meet at the lower
edges thereof along the middle of the bottom of the troughs, and other such
sheets being laid in like manner form continued grooves or supports of
enamelled iron. Into each of such supports, with the like process of stretch-
ing telegraphic conducting wires, I lay one naked and uncovered wire, which
wires are insulated by the enamel on the metal. The troughs, if of iron, may
be joined either with or without iron cement, and in any case I pour the hot
cement for joints previously described thereon; and at one end of each length
the support may project over the line of the edge of the sheet in separate juts
from each support that if from the joining or closing of the trough being
carelessly or negligently executed, any moisture should get in it may drop
therefrom on to the bottom of such troughs; and I lay such troughs inclining
one way, that water accidently getting in at any place would pass down in
that direction, and through a syphon or plug hole made in the bottom edges
of the troughs may be drained out without the necessity of opening the whole
length of troughs, and the wires being separate and apart and no water
lodging in the support no impediment to the transmission of electric currents

page_text: along the wires could exist, and the place only where the water had found
ingress would need be examined and repaired.
Such enamelled metal supports or enamelled metal curved, notched, or
hooked rests, props, or supports may be used for the purposes of holding,
supporting, and insulating, separate and apart from each other, naked and
uncovered orcovered telegraphic conducting wires extended thereon or therein
in troughs or tubes made of earthen or stoneware, glass, wood, iron, enamelled
iron, slate, gutta percha, or any suitable material of any shape or size.
All or any of such notched, curved, or hooked rests, props, or supports may
also be used, placed, fixed, or fastened into any shape or size of tube of
wood, glass, earthen, or stoneware, iron, enamelled iron, gutta percha, or
other suitable material, for the purposes of extending thereon or therein
naked and uncovered or covered telegraphic conducting wires; and I use
a similar method of laying the same, as before described, in the troughs,
except that the wires have to be drawn through such tubes, instead of being
laid with facility therein, as in troughs, and I therefore prefer their use in.
troughs. And all or any of such rests, props, or supports may be used for
the purposes of extending thereon or therein naked and uncovered or covered
telegraphic conducting wires in troughs or tubes upon the ground or upon
wood, iron, stone, or brickwork upon the ground. And such a line of
enamelled metal supports in troughs of any suitable size, shape, or material,
with a syphou or plughole in the lowest places along such liue of troughs,
or a line of such insulating, notched, curved, or hooked rests, props, or
supports in troughs of any suitable size, shape, or material, with a syphon
or plughole in the lowest places along such line of troughs, laid on woodwork
along the ground, and naked and uncovered telegraphic conducting wires
extended and laid thereon in the like manner described for underground, and
protected from moisture, also in the like manner may be quickly and ex-
peditiously laid, and would at all times be capable of examination with facility,
and kept in good working order at a trifling cost; and should moisture by any
accident find its way therein at any place it may be let out at any syphon near,
without having disturbed the insulation of any but the lowest wire, or
rendered their conducting power in the least defective. In such a line the
lower corners of the transversely placed notched or curved rests would have to
be slanted off to give the troughs a channel through, as shewn at a, Fig. 17.
I do not think it possible by any fair means that moisture could get into the
interior of troughs constructed with grooves in the upper edges of the sides,
and well and properly laid, and covered with the hot cement described. It is
only, therefore, on a supposition that some imperfection in the work of laying

page_text: and covering might occur, that I make the provision of a syphon or plug-
hole, shewn at y, in Figs. 17 and 33, as herein described, but may be left
out or used at pleasure. Test boxes of stoneware or enamelled iron may
be placed at suitable distances along the line with curved or hooked rests
fixed therein upon which naked or covered telegraphic conducting wires
may be separately extended, supported, and insulated, and tested with facility.
The troughs shewn in the Drawings are square or rectangular in their
transverse sections, but, as I have before stated, they may be made of any
suitable form, and the rests may be varied in shape to any desired extent,
and also employed with notches, curves, or hooks separately, or a com-
bination of notches and hooks, or curves and hooks, or notches, curves, and
hooks formed and arranged in any desired manner.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be distinctly understood
that I do not confine myself to the exact details as herein set forth; but I
claim as my Invention the insulation and laying down of telegraphic wires
supported and protected in troughs or tubes, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Shaw, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Signed, sealed, and delivered, by the
within-named James Shaw, in the
presence of
E. J. HUGHES, Patent Agent,
Manchester.
JAMES SHAW. (L.S.)