New or Improved Machinery for Covering Wire Conductors with Leather.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Aug, 1891-Accepted, 19th Sept., 1891
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
New or Improved Machinery for Covering Wire Conductors with
Leather.
GEORGE HUGHES 38 Chancery Lane London, Middlesex, Patent Agent,
communicated to me by Emile Eduard Legrand of 49 Rue Reaumew Paris,
France, Banker, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to new or improved machinery for covering wire conductors
with leather previously cut into strips or pieces of suitable length and width and
reduced to a more or less fine powder.
To pulverize the leather by mechanical means, I pass it first through a cutting
machine and then through a crushing mill.
The cutting machine is shown in transverse view in Fig. 1. and in end view
in Fig. 2. and consists of a cylinder A upon which are fixed four helicoidal blades B.
Below and in front of this cylinder is arranged a vertical knife G held in position
by the plates or wedges P. P. adjusted by the nuts p p and pl p² so that the said
knife may be brought close to or separated from the cylinder A. In front of this
knife G are placed two rollers D and E the mode of operation of which will be
hereafter described.
The leather requiring to be cut is placed upon the table F and pushed against
the cylinders D and E which carrys it away and brings it before the knife G and
the helicoidal blades of the cylinder A to which a rapid rotary motion (about
3500 revolutions per minute).
As the leather passes between the blade G and the roller B, it is cut up into
small pieces which drop into a receptacle X arranged below the machine.
The upper grooved roller E is mounted upon a movable frame M oscillating
upon the axis G. In Figs. 1 and 2 this frame is shown in a raised position but
when it is lowered in order to set the machine working the two rollers D and E
are brought into contact and turn at a speed of about 100 revolutions per minute,
being geared together by means of the two pinions I and J. These two fluted
rollers are journalled in movable bearings d and e which enables them to be brought
more or less close to the blade G. The above drawing sufficiently illustrates the
manner in which the apparatus is arranged on the stand or frame and how it is
driven.
The crushing mill is shown in side elevation in Fig. 3. Upon the frame A. B. C. D.
is fixed a vertical shaft E. F surrounded by a sleeve G. H. The shaft E. F. rests
upon a movable support I. J. secured to the frame by means of bolts or in
any other suitable manner. Upon the said frame is further fixed a shell or
casing K L M N having the form shown on the drawing and composed of two
parts: the upper part M N O P and the detachable lower part KLO P. the
latter consists also of two parts as hereafter more fully explained. The upper
part M N O P. which has the form of a reversed truncated cone carries inside three
toothed R S T (Fig. 4). Upon the sleeve G H are fixed two helicoidal toothed
counter parts, the teeth of which pass alternately in the recesses or intervals
between the teeth of the segments R S T. when the machine is working. The
lower part has also the shape of a truncated cone its minor surface is furnished
with series of teeth of different size closer to one another as they become smaller
and arranged on helicoidal curves as shown in the drawings.
Inside this hollow truncated cone is arranged another similar cone which is in
relief can be detached at will and is furnished with teeth arranged equally and
symmetrically on helicoidal curves, these teeth entering those of the first and

page_text: fixed cone U U above mentioned. This second cone is fixed on the shaft E. F and
rotates at a great speed while the first cone remains a fixture.
Figs. 4 and 5 are half size views of these toothed cones.
The main shaft E F is. actuated by means of a pair of bevil wheels a and b
mounted upon a shaft e to which motion is imparted by a pulley f. The sleeve G. H
which surrounds the shaft E F receives an independent differential motion from
the bevil wheels c and d. The leather which is finally cut by my first machine is
thrown in the cone M N O P and passes between the teeth rubbing one against
the other, the large pieces left if any being torn to shreds.
From the cone MNOP the leather pieces fall between the surface U U and V V
which are toothed in the manner above described and as they pass between the
teeth of these cones which increase in number and decrease in size as they are
further away from the summit these leather pieces are drawn disintegrated and
gradually reduced to a fine powder.
The leather thus pulverized is used to cover the copper wires used for the
transmission of electricity or for any other purposes. I employ for this operation
the machine shown in Fig. 6. which consists of a vertical cylinder or bevel A B C D
furnished at its tower part with a tubular connection E F G H the diameter of
which gradually decreases from EF to G H as shown in the accompanying
c drawing, to this connection is fixed a tube I J K L of small caliber.
cylinder A B C D carries two posts M which support a cross har N tapped
centrally to allow for the passage of a long screw O carrying a platten QR whose
diameter is equal to the minor diameter of the cylinder A B C D this screw being
actuated by means of a handwheel S T.
The
The apparatus is placed on a table or upon a frame U V X Y. The
pipe E F G H is furnished with an opening a bopposite the tube 1 J K L.
Lastly a bobbin Z₁ which is carried by an extension or bracket of the
frame UV X Y is wound with copper wire which after having passed through the
opening a 6 and the tube I J K L is wound upon a second bobbin Z, actuated by.
a crank not shown in the drawing.
Having thus described the construction of my machine I will now proceed to
explain how I operate in order to cover the copper wire. I first raise the
platten QR above the edge A B of the cylinder A B C D, then I turn the cross
bar upon one of the posts M the other of which is unscrewed. The opening A B
of the cylinder being thus disclosed I place therein a leather paste made in the
manner hereafter described and I close the said opening by means of the
platten QR. By acting upon the screw O with the aid of the hand wheel S. T,
1 lower the platten Q. R. and hence strongly press the substance below which will
have a tendency to issue from the tube I J K L
At the same time as I low the platten QR I actuate the bobbin Z, the copper
wire is pulled from the bobbin Zand as it passes through the tube I J K L, the
leather paste is applied thereon and adheres thoroughly to it in consequence of the
strong pressure to which it is subjected. A copper wire surrounded by a continuous
and solid leather sheath is thus obtained as shown in section in Fig. 7.
The opening a b is such that the copper wire but not the inside mixture may
pass through it.
In order that the operation may be successfully accomplished it is necessary that
the wire should be thoroughly well stretched which is effected by providing two
guiding pulleys P¹ P' one to each bobbin Z, & Zig.
The mixture placed in the cylinder A B C D has the following composition.
It contains pulverized leather to which is added a mixture consisting of about four
to five per cent. of caoutchouc having a pasty consistance of holly lime in the
proportion of from ten to twenty per cent. and of linseed oil boiled with from forty
to fifty per cent. of nitric acid; these three substances are soluble in sulphide of
carbon. The above ingredients are placed in a mixing machine wherein they are
stirred for about an hour when a very thick paste is obtained and fed in the
cylinder A B C D for the purpose above described.

page_text: 1. In machinery for covering wire conductors with leather a machine for cutting
the leather in small pieces consisting of a cylinder upon which are arranged four
helicoidal cutting blade and a vertical knife between which the leather is conveyed
by means of two fluted feed rollers substantially as described and shown in Figs. 1
and 2 of the accompanying drawings.
2. In machinery for covering wire conductors with leather a machine for
pulverizing the leather cut up by the machine above claimed, consisting of a metal
casing formed of two parts the upper of which is a fixture, has the shape of a
reversed truncated cone and is furnished internally between the summit and the
base with toothed sections in which pass helicoidal toothed sectors, while the lower
part is movable, has the form of a straight truncated cone and is made of two parts
fitting one within the other and whose surface is provided with teeth of different
size arranged helicoidally and rubbing against one another when the above two
parts rotate substantially as herein described and shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5 of the
accompanying drawings.
3. In machinery for covering wire conductors with leather the treatment of the
leather powder formed by the last claimed machine with a mixture of india rubber
of holly lime and of linseed oil boiled with nitric acid so as to form a paste capable
of being compressed substantially as herein described.
4. In machinery for covering wire conductors with leather, the treatment of
copper or other wire with the paste claimed above in such a manner as to surround
the former with a leather sheath by means of a machine consisting of a cylinder or
barrel partly filled the the above paste and termination below by a tapering tubular
connection to which is screwed a tube having a tube corresponding with that of the
wire required to be covered and through which this wire is passed being wound
upon two bobbins or drums arranged in front and at the rear of the machine
respectively, the said leather paste being compressed in the cylinder by means of
a platten moved by a screw actuated by a hand wheel, so as to pass into the tubular
connection aforesaid for the purpose of covering the wire substantially as herein
described and shown in Figs. 6 and 7 of the accompanying drawings.
Dated thin 15th day of An 1801
HUGHES, SON & Co.,
38, Chancery Lane, Agents.