IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC CABLES
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Edward Gouraud, of Lombard Street, in the
City of London, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC CABLES."
A communication from abroad by Patrick Bernard Delany and Edward
Hibberd Johnson, both of New York, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Edward Gourand
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th June 1881.
GEORGE EDWARD GOURAUD, of Lombard Street, in the City of London.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC CABLES," A communication from abroad by Patrick
Bernard Delany and Edward Hibberd Johnson, both of New York, United States
of America.
This Invention relates to electric cables of that class in which several independent
conductors insulated from one another are included in a single cable, and enclosed
by the same protecting covering, and it has for its object to prevent so far as
possible the electric impulses or currents passing over any one of said conductors
from producing induced currents in the adjacent conductors of the cable; and
another object is to produce a cheap and practicable cable, embodying means for
this purpose, which will afford a good protection for the wires, will retain them in
their relative positions, and can be readily bent and twisted so as to take any desired
direction.
The foregoing objects are accomplished by arranging the separately insulated
wires side by side, and compressing upon them a metal covering (preferably of
lead), the whole forming a flat cable, in which the inductive energy of the electric
currents in any one of the conducting wires will be expended almost entirely upon
the surrounding mass of conducting material instead of upon the adjacent wires,
since the covering of the flat cable, although it may be of lower specific conductivity,
has a much greater conducting area and is nearer to each one of the wires than the
nearest of its neighbouring wires.
To further avoid the deleterious effect of induced currants in the wires of such a
cable, the wires are arranged so that their relative positions will be changed a

page_text: number of times throughout the length of the cable, and so that each wire at every
change will be brought next to or between different wires, and the currents induced
by one wire will be divided between all or a number of the wires of the cable, thus
diminishing greatly its effect in any one of them. The carrying out of this
arrangement is facilitated by the location of the wires side by side in a flat cable.
In constructing this cable, it is preferred to take a pipe or tube of lead and
flatten it out, leaving sufficient room between its collapsed sides to allow of the
easy insertion of the insulated wires. These are then inserted in the flattened
pipe side by side, and so as to fill the same completely, and the pipe is run between
rolls, which force the metal down between the wires and fill all the interstices,
holding the wires in place and forming a flat cable. The rolls through which the
pipe is run may have flat faces, or they can be grooved so as to bear with equal
pressure upon the insulating coating of each wire, and avoid the danger of flattening
out such insulation.
Instead of covering the wires by means of a flattened pipe, they can be wrapped
in a lead sheet, and then run through rolls, the resulting cable having the same
form as that first described. Such sheet may be grooved on its inner surface or
corrugated to receive the insulated wires.
The wires will be given their proper arrangement at the joints which connect
the sections of the cable. For instance, suppose that six wires are used in one
✓ cable, the cable will be divided into three sections. In the first the order of the
wires will be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, at the points of junction of the sections; this arrange
ment will be altered so that in the second section they are in the order 3, 1, 5, 2, 6, 4,
and in the third 5, 3, 6, 1, 4, 2
Thus each will be adjacent for equal lengths to every other wire, and its
inductive effect divided evenly among them, lessening such effect in any one.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said George Edward Gouraud in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th December 1881.
GEORGE EDWARD GOURAUD, of Lombard Street, in the City of London.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC CABLES." A communication from abroad by Patrick
Bernard Delany and Edward Hibberd Johnson, both of New York, United States
of America.
This Invention relates to electric cables of that class in which several independent
conductors insulated from one another are included in a single cable, and inclosed
by the same protecting covering, and it has for its object to prevent so far as
possible the electric impulses or currents passing over any one of said conductors
from producing induced currents in the adjacent conductors of the cable; and
another object is to produce a cheap and practicable cable embodying means for
this purpose, which will afford a good protection for the wires, will retain them in
their relative positions, and can be readily bent and twisted so as to take any desired
direction.
The foregoing objects are accomplished by arranging the separately insulated
wires side by side, and compressing upon them a metal covering (preferably of lead),
the whole forming a flat cable, in which the inductive enery of the electric currents
in any one of the conducting wires will be expended almost entirely upon the
surrounding mass of conducting material instead of upon the adjacent wires, since
the covering of the flat cable, although it may be of greater specific conductivity,
has a much greater conducting area, and is nearer to each one of the wires than the
nearest of its neighbouring wires.
To further avoid the deleterious effect of induced currents in the wires of such
a cable, the wires are arranged so that their relative positions will be changed
a number of times throughout the length of the cable, and so that each wire,
at every change, will be brought next to or between different wires, and the currents
induced by one wire will be divided between all or a number of the wires of the
cable, thus diminishing greatly its effect in any one of them. The carrying out
of this arrangement is facilitated by the location of the wires side by side in a flat
cable.
In constructing this cable it is preferred to take a pipe or tube of lead and flatten
it out, leaving sufficient room between its collapsed sides to allow of the easy
insertion of the insulated wires. These are then inserted in the flattened pipe side
by side, and so as to fill the same completely, and the pipe is run between rolls,
which force the metal down between the wires and fill all the interstices, holding
the wires in place and forming a flat cable. The rolls through which the pipe is
run may have flat faces, or they can be grooved so as to bear with equal pressure
apon the insulating coating of each wire, and avoid the danger of flattening out
such insulation.
Instead of covering the wires by means of a flattened pipe, they can be wrapped
in a lead sheet and then run through rolls, the resulting cable having the same
form as that first described.
Such sheet may be grooved on its inner surface or corrugated to receive the
insulated wires.
The wires will be given their proper arrangement at the joints which connect
the sections of the cable. For instance, suppose that six wires are used in one
cable the cable will be divided into three sections. In the first the order of the
this arrange-
wires will be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, at the points of junction of the sections;

page_text: No red at in the second section they are in the order 3, 1, 5, 2, 6, 4,
and in the third 5, 3, 6, 1, 4, 2.
Thus each wire will be adjacent for equal lengths to every other wire and its
inductive effect divided evenly among them, lessening such effect in any one.
In order that the Invention may be more fully understood reference is made to
the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
Figure 1 is a cross section of the conducting wires, showing the flattened covering
pipe before the same is run through the rolls.
Figure 2 is a cross section of the flat cable finished by rolls having smooth flat
faces.
Figure 3 is a similar view when the table is finished by grooved rolls.
Figure 4 is a cross section of the wires and a plain covering sheet partly wrapped
around the same.
Figure 5 is a similar view when the covering sheet is grooved on its inner
surface, and
Figure 6 is a diagram showing the arrangement of the wires.
The conducting wires a are separately surrounded by insulating material b; A is
the flattened covering pipe which is made of metal, preferably lead. The wires a
are arranged side by side in this pipe which is then run through rolls, the metal
being forced down between the insulating covering of the wires, as shown at
Figures 2 and 3.
These rollers may have plain faces, producing the cable shown at Figure 2, or
they can be constructed with grooved faces, in which case the resulting cable will
appear as shown at Figure 3. The latter construction is preferable for the reason
that the pressure upon the insulating covering of each wire during the operation of
rolling is equal throughout, and there is no danger of flattening such insulation.
It will be seen that each wire is separated from the metal covering by only one
thickness of the insulating covering, while the wires are separated from each by
two thicknesses of such insulation. For this reason and the further fact that the
metal covering presents a larger conducting area, the inductive energy of the
electric currents in any one wire will be mostly expended upon the surrounding
mass of the metal covering.
The wires are retained in position and protected by the covering, and the cable
being flat it can be bent and twisted so as to take any desired direction.
Instead of using a flattened pipe for the purpose, the wires may be covered by a
sheet B of metal, preferably lead (Figures 4 and 5), which is wrapped around the
insulated wires, laid out side by side in flat form, and run through rolls to complete
the cable section. This sheet may be plain, as shown at Figure 4, or it can be
grooved or corrugated to receive the wires, as shown at Figure 5.
A manner of arranging a cable of six wires so that the inductive energy of each
wire will be divided among all the wires of the cable is shown at Figure 6. The
cable is divided into three sections X, Y, Z. In each section the wires run parallel
with each other, but at the joints they are crossed and take different positions
relatively in the succeeding section. In section X the wires are arranged in the
order 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; in section Y in the order 3, 1, 5, 2, 6, 4; and in section Z in 4
the order 5, 3, 6, 1, 4, 2. In following the course of wire 1 (for instance) we find
that in section X it acts inductively upon 2, in section Y upon 3 and 5, and in
section Z upon 6 and 4.
Hence its inductive energy, other than that expended upon the metal covering,
will be divided among all the wires of the cable, and each will only be acted upon 5
by a fraction of the remaining energy.
The wires can be given the arrangement shown more readily in the flat cable
described than if used in a compound round cable.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
5
First. A flat electric cable composed of insulated wires laid side by side and
same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,—
enclosed by a metal covering, substantially as described.

page_text: Second. A flat electric cable composed of insulated wires laid side by side and
inclosed by a soft metal covering compressed upon the wires and filling the
interstices between them, substantially as described.
Third. A flat electric cable composed of insulated wires laid side by side and a
soft metal covering made from a flattened pipe compressed upon the wires,
substantially as described.
Fourth. A flat electric cable composed of insulated wires laid side by side and a
soft metal covering compressed upon them by pressure acting evenly upon the
insulating covering of the wires, substantially as described.
Fifth. A flat electric cable composed of the metal covering and the wires arranged
so that each wire will act inductively upon a number or all the wires of the cable,
substantially as described.
Sixth. A flat electric cable composed of the metal covering and the wires arranged,
as shown at Figure 6.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Edward Gouraud, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Fifth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
Witness,
F. R. GRIGG.
G. E. GOURAUD. (L.S.)