IMPROVED APPA- DATINO AND MACHINERY FOR LAVING OF SHADING CART FOR. THE LAYING OF SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH CABLES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Conybeare, of Abingdon Street, in the City
of Westminster, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPA-
DATINO AND MACHINERY FOR LAVING OF SHADING CART"
Sealed the 28th January 1859, and dated the 31st July 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Conybeare at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
31st July 1858.
I, HENRY CONYBEARE, of Abingdon Street, in the City of Westminster,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVED APPARATUS AND MACHINERY FOR. THE LAYING OF SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH
CABLES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the construction of machinery composed of a
resilient and articulated series of segments or frames, which extend from the
stern of a vessel employed in the submerging of submarine telegraph cables,
and over which machinery the cable is to be paid out, being delivered from a
trumpet-mouth shaped congeries of friction rollers situated at the extremity of
the frame farthest from the stern, in which machinery the resiliency decreases
gradually from that part of the apparatus next the stern to the extreme outer
end thereof, in a manner similar to that in which the resiliency diminishes
from the but to the top joint of a jointed fishing rod. The articulated joints
or segments of the apparatus are formed of frames, each frame starting from

page_text: the stern, being smaller than that supporting it. Strong springs, such as coach
springs fixed to one frame and linked to the farthest extremity of the series,
are employed to give resiliency to the articulation between each frame, and
that next to it, and the frame farthest from the stern terminates in a semi-
conoidal or trumpet-mouth shaped debouchure consisting of rings of friction
rollers breaking joint with each other, and so arranged as to present a rolling
surface of moderate curvature to the escaping cable, at whatever angle with
the course of the ship it is compelled by side currents or lee-way to quit the
apparatus. Over the resilient and articulated series of frames is a rigid spur
of wood or metal, having suspended from it outward as many pulleys as there
are joints in the apparatus last described. An equal number of pulleys is pro-
vided inboard. A rope or chain is connected to the extremity furthest from
the stern of each frame, then to a spring or not, as deemed necessary, and
then passing over one of the outboard pulleys, each one of the inboard in the
rigid beam is attached to a spring apparatus so arranged as to give a resiliency
graduated according to the position of such particular frame in the series.
This spring apparatus consists of a series of wheels and axles. The resilient
springs act on the axles in each case, and the ropes or chains leading to the
various parts of the laying apparatus are attached to the wheels; the ratio of
the diameter of the wheel to the axle varies in each case according to the
amount of resiliency required by the particular joint or frame of the fishing rod
apparatus with which such wheel and axle are connected. Thus as the
delivery extremity of the apparatus is required to be moved through a com-
paratively large space, by the exertion of a comparatively small strain, the ratio
of the wheel to the axle in the resilient apparatus pertaining to this end frame
is consequently greater than in that pertaining to any of the frames nearer the
stern, and thus a graduated resiliency is obtained, or the same end is obtained
by the employment of a spindle. wheel like that of the verge of a watch.
The required resiliency is obtained, either by a vacuum or compressed air
cylinder, by volute springs, or springs of vulcanized india-rubber.
The required graduated resiliency may be wholly obtained by the coach-
like springs, which give resiliency to the articulation-of-the-frame-;-the-chains
or ropes led inboard from each joint over the rigid spar being merely employed
to counterbalance the weight of each frame; or the resiliency may be wholly
given by the wheel and axle apparatus inboard.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Conybeare in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
31st January 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
CONYBEARE, of Abingdon Street, in the City of Westminster, Civil Engineer, "
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of July, 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 Henry Conybeare, Her special licence that I, the said Henry
Conybeare, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Henry Conybeare, 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 "IMPROVED APPARATUS
AND MACHINERY FOR THE LAYING OF SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH CABLES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry Conybeare, 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 perforined, 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 Henry Conybeare, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
My Invention consists in the construction of machinery composed of a
resilient and articulated series of segments or frames which extend from the
stern of a vessel employed in the submerging of submarine telegraph cables,
and over which machinery the cable is to be paid out, being delivered from a
trumpet-mouth shaped congeries of friction rollers situated at the outer
extremity of the frame furthest from the stern, in which machinery the
resiliency decreases gradually from that part of the apparatus next to the stern
to the extreme outer end thereof, in a manner. similar to that in which the
resiliency diminishes from the butt to the top joint of a jointed fishing rod.

page_text: The articulated joints or segments of the apparatus are formed of frames,
each frame starting from the stern being smaller than that supporting it
strong springs, such as coach springs, fixed to one frame and linked to the
farther extremity of the vessel, are employed to give resiliency to the articula-
tions between each frame and that next to it, and the frame farthest from the
stern terminates in a semi-conoidal or trumpet-mouth shaped debouchure, con-
sisting of rings of friction rollers breaking joint with each other, and so arranged
as to present a rolling surface of moderate curvature to the escaping cable at
whatever angle with the course of the ship it is compelled by side currents or
lee-way to quit the apparatus. Over this resilient and articulated series of
frames, is a rigid spar of wood or metal, having suspended from it outward as
many pulleys as there are joints in the apparatus last described; an equal,
number of pulleys is provided inboard. A rope or chain is connected to the.
extremity farthest from the ship of each joint, then to a spring or not, as
deemed necessary, and then passing over one of the outboard pulleys, and one.
of the inboard in the rigid beam is attached to a spring apparatus so arranged
as to give a resiliency graduated according to the position of such particular.
piece in the series.
This spring apparatus consists of a series of wheels and axles. The resilient.
springs act on the axles in each case, and the ropes or chain leading to the
various parts of the laying apparatus are attached to the wheels. The ratio of
the diameter of the wheel to the axle varies in each case according to the
amount of resiliency required by the particular joint or frame of the fishing rod
apparatus with which such wheel and axle are connected. Thus as the delivery
extremity of the apparatus is required to be moved through a comparatively
large space by the exertion of a comparatively small strain, the ratio of the
wheel to the axle in the resilient apparatus pertaining to this end frame is
consequently greater than in that pertaining to any of the frames nearer the
stern, and thus a graduated resiliency is obtained, or the same end is obtained
by the employment of a spindle wheel like that of the verge of a watch.
The required resiliency is obtained either by a vacuum or compressed air
cylinder, by volute springs, or by springs of vulcanised india-rubber.
The required graduated resiliency may be wholly obtained by the coach-like
springs which give resiliency to the articulation of the frames; the chains or
ropes led inboard from each joint over the rigid spar being merely employed to
counterbalance the weight of each frame; or, the resiliency may be wholly
given by the wheel and axle apparatus inboard.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed I have illustrated my improved apparatus
and machinery. Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of part of the stern of a

page_text: ;
large ship fitted with the same; Figure 2 is a plan view of the apparatus;
Figure 3 is an isometrical perspective view of the outer parts of the apparatus
on a larger scale; Figure 4 is a vertical longitudinal section of the trumpet-
mouth delivery frame on a still larger scale; and Figure 5 is an end view of
that frame on the same scale as Figure 4. A, A, are the articulated frames;
B is the trumpet-mouth, on which several sets of friction rollers r, r, are fitted.
C, C, are the springs by means of which the resiliency is obtained; D is the
rigid spur above the frames; and E, E¹, E", &c., are the pulleys suspended
from it; F, F, F", &c. are the corresponding inboard pulleys; G. G', G", &c.
are the ropes or chains which are connected to the several frames at their
lower ends, and to the springs H, H', H", &c., at their upper ends. From
these springs other ropes or chains I, I, I", &c., rise, and passing respectively
over the outboard pulleys E, E', E", &c., and the outboard pulleys F, F¹, F",
have their other ends attached to the spring apparatuses K, K', K", &c., an
enlarged view of one of which, K, is shewn in Figure 6. The arrangement
and action of these spring apparatuses have been already explained. The springs
which form part of them may be of vulcanised india-rubber, as in Figure 6, or
volute metallic springs, as in Figure 7, or compressed air cylinders and pistons,
as in Figure 8, or vacuum cylinders and pistons, as in Figure 9. The requisite
graduated resiliency may likewise be obtained, if thought desirable, by means of
a wheel and spring formed and arranged as shewn in Figure 10. The cable
after leaving the paying-out machine P (Figure 1) passes under the pulley p,
thence between the pairs of pulleys p', p', placed on the articulated frames, then
over the outer pulley q, and finally over the friction rollers r, r, into the sea.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same may be performed, I declare that I do not confine myself to
the details herein-before described; but I claim the construction of apparatus
and machinery for the laying of submarine telegraph cables essentially in the
manner and for the purposes herein-before described and illustrated in the
Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Conybeare, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of January, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-nine.