IMPROVEMENTS IN THE JOINTS OF PIPES FOR CONTAINING UNDERGROUND TELEGRAPH WIRES
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE JOINTS OF PIPES FOR CONTAINING UNDERGROUND TELEGRAPH WIRES."
A communication from abroad by Louis Adolphe Herrmann, of Paris, France.
Sealed the 30th December 1879, and dated the 21st July 1879.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville Clark at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st July 1879.
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE JOINTS OF PIPES FOR CON-
TAINING UNDERGROUND TELEGRAPH WIRES." [A communication from abroad by
Louis Adolphe Herrmann, of Paris, France.]
This Invention relates to improvements in the joints of the pipes in which under-
ground telegraph wires are laid. These are usually spigot and socket joints like
those of water-pipes, provision being made for repairs and new connections by
sleeve couplings at certain intervals, consisting of a short length of pipe of large
diameter sliding on and connecting the adjacent separated ends of two other pipes.
These joints are run with lead which is afterwards "set up " in the usual way; they
therefore involve the use of fire and tools as well as skilled labor, which under some
conditions, as regards space and position, renders the execution of the work difficult
and expensive. These objections are avoided by the improved form and the mode
of making the joints, which I will now describe.
Figure 1 of the annexed Drawings is a longitudinal section of one form of joint.
The socket A of pipe B for a portion of its length a to b is of a size to receive the
spigot end of the other pipe B¹ with the necessary freedom; the remainder of the
socket from b to c is slightly enlarged and formed with a circumferential groove d
to receive the lead packing C. This is prepared beforehand of a particular form,
and when "set up "makes a tight joint.
The lead-packing C may be of one of the following forms :-
1. A ring (cut into two halves diametrically) equal in length and diameter to the
annular space it is to fill plus an excess of length necessary for cleaning.

page_text: 2. A wire or rod of round, oval or rectangular section wound around the spigot
end and afterwards set up. This form is shown in the lower half of Figure 1.
3. The lead may be.run_in_in_the_ordinary way, in which case the form of the
space in which the lead is received is the chief novelty. The spigot end of the pipe B'-
-is-rounded internally at e to avoid injuring the covering of the telegraph wires
when they are hauled in.
Figure 2 shows the means of making-the joint between one of the tubes and the
sleeve by which it is connected with another tube, not shown. B is the tube whose
end is to be connected with another-tube-by-a-sleeve-E, or-length of tube.of.larger
diameter. The joint between B and E is made by a cast-iron ring or socket D
encircling B and E, as shown, with two annular spaces ƒ and g around B and E
respectively to receive lead packings of one of the above mentioned kinds.
The joint being thus made, when access is required to the pipe the joint is easily
broken by driving the ring D off in the direction of the pipe, thereby exposing the
lead packing C which is then casily removed, whereupon the sleeve E is free and
can be easily slid along the pipe one way or the other.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Alexander Melville Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th January 1880.
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE JOINTS OF PIPES FOR CON-
TAINING UNDERGROUND TELEGRAPH WIRES." A communication from abroad by
Louis Adolphe Herrmann, of Paris, France.
This Invention relates to improvements in the joints of the pipes in which under-
ground telegraph wires are laid. These are usually spigot and socket joints like
those of water pipes, provision being made for testing the wires, repairing them,
and making new connections by sleeve couplings at certain intervals, consisting of
a short length of pipe of larger diameter connecting the ends of two other pipes laid
with a short interval or space between them, the said coupling pipe being capable
of being slid along either of the pipes which it connects in order to give access to
the wires. The joints both of the pipes and couplings are first packed with tarred
rope and then run with lead, which is afterwards "set up" in the usual way; they
therefore involve the use of fire and tools as well as skilled labor, which under
some conditions as regards time, space, and position renders the execution of the
work difficult and expensive. These objections are avoided by the improved form
and the mode of making the joints, which I will now describe.
Figure 1 of the annexed Drawings is a longitudinal of one form of joint. The
socket A of pipe B for a portion of its length a to b is of a size to receive with
the necessary clearance the spigot end of the other pipe B¹, and the two pipes B, B¹,
thus fitted, the one in the other, are enabled to resist flexure; the remainder of tho
socket from 6 to c is slightly enlarged and formed with a circumferential groove d
to receive the lead packing C. This is prepared beforehand of a particular form,
and when "set up or compacted with the cold chisel makes a tight joint. The
lead packing C may be of one of the following forms :—
(1.) A ring (cut into two halves diametrically) equal in length and diameter to
the annular space it is to fill plus an excess of length necessary for cleaning.
(2.) A lead wire or rod of round, oval, or rectangular section, wound around the
spigot end and afterwards set up. This form is shown in the lower half of
Figure 1.
(3.) The lead may be run in in the ordinary way, in which case the form of the
space in which the lead is received is the chief novelty. The spigot end of the
pipe B' is rounded internally at e to avoid injuring the covering of the telegraph
wires when they are hauled in.
The
Figure 2 shows the means of making the joint between the sleeve and the tubes
which it serves to connect. B is the tube whose end is to be connected with
another tube, not shown, by a sleeve E or length of tube of larger diameter.
joint between B and E is made by a cast iron ring or socket D encircling B and E,
as shown, with two annular spaces ƒ and g of different diameters, corresponding to
and surrounding B and E respectively to receive lead packings of one of the above
mentioned kinds. The joint being thus made, when access is required to the pipe
the joint is easily broken by driving the ring D off the end of the sleeve E, thereby
exposing the lead packings, which are then easily removed, whereupon the sleeve E
is free and can be casily slid along the pipe one way or the other.
Having described the nature of the Invention and the manner of performing the
same I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be protected by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
1st. A spigot and socket joint for pipes to contain telegraph cables in which the
socket is made substantially as shown in Figure 1 of the Drawings with a groove d
to contain the lead packing
.

page_text: 2nd. The combination of the socket thus constructed with a lead packing formed
either by running in the molten metal as usual or by "setting up or compacting
a-ring-of-lead divided diametrically, or by winding a lead wire several times round
the spigot end and setting it up or compacting-it-when-in-place, substantially as
described.
3rd. The means of uniting a pipe and sleeve or pipe of larger diameter consisting
of-a-ring-or-socket baving two internal diameters forming two annular spaces
around the pipe and sleeve to receive a double lead packing, substantially as shown
and described-in-reference-to-Figure 2...
4th. The combination of the ring or socket with a double lead packing, formed
either by running in the metal, setting up a ring divided diametrically, or by
winding lead wire round the spigot ends of the pipe and sleeve and setting it up
when in place, substantially as described.
5th. Rounding internally the spigot ends of pipes to contain telegraph wires, as
and the purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty.
A. M. CLARK. (L.S.)