IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND PROTECTION OF TELEGRAPHIC CABLES, AND IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANIPULATION OF THE SAME, PART OF THE INVENTION BEING APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE PRESERVATION OF VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES FROM MARINE ANIMALS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Aspinall, of Harrow, in the County of
Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
AND PROTECTION OF TELEGRAPHIC CABLES, AND IN MACHINERY FOR THE
MANIPULATION OF THE SAME, PART OF THE INVENTION BEING APPLICABLE ALSO
TO THE PRESERVATION OF VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES FROM MARINE ANIMALS."
Sealed the 2nd October 1869, and dated the 9th April 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Aspinall at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 9th April 1869.
I, JOSEPH ASPINALI., of Harrow, in the County of Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION AND PROTECTION OF TELEGRAPHIC CABLES, AND IN MACHINERY
FOR THE MANIPULATION OF THE SAME, PART OF THE INVENTION BEING APPLICABLE
ALSO TO THE PRESERVATION OF VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES FROM MARINE ANIMALS,"
to be as follows:-
The first part of this Invention consists of improvements upon the
cable for which a Patent has been granted to Cromwell Fleetwood Varley,
dated 29th day of August 1868 (No. 2683). The Specification of the
Pl

page_text: Patent above referred to describes a cable which consists of two strands
or ropes and an insulated conductor spun into a rope.
My first improvement consists in serving the rope or cable as it comes
from the spinning machine with a serving of yarn laid on in the opposite
direction, and with a shorter lay than that of the two strands or ropes
and insulated conductor.
A further improvement consists of worming the fore-mentioned
with a worming of yarn more elastic than the material of which the
strands are composed; these wormings afford support and protection
to the insulator and make a rounder and better cable for manipulation
besides adding strength. The serving and wormings may be prepared
with pitch, tar, or other preservative material.
The next part of my Invention consists in protecting the cable from
the attacks of sea boring animals. For this purpose I manufacture what
I call "ante-torredo"; it is composed of animal hair and vegetable fibre
worked together into a sort of paper; strips of this, which may be
saturated with pitch, tar, or other preservative, are laid on the cable
or prior to its being served. This material is applicable when, for other
purposes, it is required to protect vegetable substances from marine
animals.
The next part of my Invention refers to the submerging cable of
very light specific gravity. In order to secure in the paying out
sufficient slack for the cable to adapt itself to the irregularities of the
ocean bed I attach to the paying out wheel steam or other power to
wind it out at the desired speed, and to give the wheel a grip of the
cable I place a jockey wheel on the said paying out wheel. The two
wheels are grooved so as to fit the cable, and I prefer that they are
covered or lined with vulcanized india-rubber or other soft material.
The next part of my Invention is for picking up the cable, and i
make the necessary machinery thus:-There are two drums A and B, with.
grooves in each of them and rotating at equal speed. The cable passes
over the first groove on drum A, then over the first groove on drum B,
then over the second groove on drum A, then over the second groove
on drum B, and so on; lastly it passes through the usual friction jockey
wheels to keep it tight on A and B. There is this peculiarity, the
first groove in A is a trifle larger in diameter than that of B, and the
successive grooves in each are about 2% smaller in diameter than those

page_text: following, so that the cable is always slightly slipping on each wheel;
in this way the usual knives which injure the cable are got rid of and
the danger of the cable being broken by the machinery is avoided,
as each wheel contributes its proper share of hold or friction to the
cable.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Aspinall in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 7th October 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
ASPINALL, of Harrow, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-second
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Joseph Aspinall, Her special licence
that I, the said Joseph Aspinall, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Aspinall, 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 CONSTRUCTION AND PROTECTION OF TELEGRAPHIC CABLES, AND IN MACHINERY
FOR THE MANIPULATION OF THE SAME, PART OF THE INVENTION BEING APPLICABLE
ALSO TO THE PRESERVATION OF VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES FROM MARINE ANIMALS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Aspinall, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Aspinall, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to

page_text: be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, that is to say: -
The first part of this Invention consists of improvements upon the
cable for which a Patent has been granted to C. F. Varley, dated 29th
day of August 1868, No. 2683. The Specification of the Patent above
referred to describes a cable which consists of two strands or ropes and
an insulated conductor spun into a rope.
My first improvement consists in serving the ropes or cable as it
comes from the spinning machine with a serving of yarn laid on in the
opposite direction, and with a shorter lay than that of the two strands or
ropes and insulated conductor.
A further improvement consists of worming the fore-mentioned with
a worming of yarn more elastic than the material of which the strands
are composed, these wormings afford support and protection to the
insulator, and make a rounder and better cable for manipulation besides
adding strength. The serving and wormings may be prepared with
pitch, tar, or other preservative material.
In carrying out my Invention I prefer to construct the cable in all
respects as is described in the Specification of the above-mentioned
Patent No. 2683 in the year 1868, and as the strand, cords, or ropes, and
the insulated conductor are being laid together, I lay in also the worming
for which I prefer to use coir, yarn, or Italian hemp of a size suitable
to fill the hollows of the lay. When Italian or other hemp is used for
the worming I give it the necessary elasticity by twisting or spinning
it with a shorter more rapid ley than that of the ropes which give the
principal strength to the cable. Over the whole as the operation of
laying progresses I apply a serving of yarns, by preference of Russian
or Italian hemp. These yarns are comparatively fine and are laid on
by a yarn carrier revolving around the cable. I prefer that the lay of the
serving should be about one-fourth of the length of that of the cable
and in the opposite direction. The number of serving yarns employed
should be such that the serving yarns may lie close together and
entirely cover the table. Both the worming and serving may in some
cases be saturated with Stockholm tar or other preservative material.
The worming may in some cases be omitted, and the serving employed
alone. This however is not so advantageous as the employment of both
the worming and the serving.

page_text: "
Another part of my Invention relates to protecting the cable from
the attacks of sea boring animals and to the preparation of a material
for this and similar uses. For this purpose I manufacture what I call
'ante-torredo," it is composed of animal hair and vegetable fibre worked
together into a sort of paper; strips of this, which may be saturated
with pitch, tar, or other preservative, are laid on the cable prior to its
being served. This material is applicable when for other purposes it is
required to protect vegetable substances from marine animals. This
part of my Invention I carry out in the following manner:-To
ordinary coarse paper pulp made of vegetable fibre I add animal hair,
by preference cow hair well cleaned and carded. The hair is mixed with
the pulp in the proportion of 50 parts of hair to 50 parts of vegetable
fibre. A stout paper is made from the pulp in the ordinary manner.
prefer before using the "ante-torredo" paper to saturate it with a
mixture of tar and pitch. When the "ante-torredo" paper is to be used
in the construction of the telegraph cable above described, I prefer
laying the "ante-torredo" between the cable and the serving in longi-
tudinal slips, the application of the serving yarns over it as above de-
scribed fixes it in its proper place. "Ante-torredo" paper may very
advantageously be used upon the bottoms of wooden ships under the
metal sheathing. It takes the place of the ordinary sheathing paper
or felt.
"
I
I have now described the whole of the improvements to which I make
claim under the before in part recited Letters Patent, nevertheless in
the Provisional Specification filed by me in petitioning for the grant of
the said Letters Patent I described further matter of Invention. I have
since ascertained such further matter of Invention to have been pre-
viously publicly known. The said matter of Invention is stated in my
Provisional Specification in the words following:-
"
66
"The next part of my Invention refers to the submerging cables of
very light specific gravity. In order to secure in the paying out
sufficient slack for the cable to adapt itself to the irregularities of the
ocean bed I attach to the paying out wheel steam or other power
"to wind it out at the desired speed, and to give the wheel a grip of
the cable I place a jockey wheel on the said paying out wheel. The
"two wheels are grooved so as to fit the cable, and I prefer that they
are covered or lined with vulcanized india-rubber or other soft
"material,
"
64

page_text: "
"The next part of my Invention is for picking up the cable, and I
"make the necessary machinery thus:-There are two drums A and B.
with grooves in each of them and rotating at equal speed. The cable
passes over the first groove on drum A, then over the first groove on
drum B, then over the second groove on drum A, then over the second
'groove on drum B, and so on, lastly it passes through the usual
"friction jockey wheels to keep it tight on A and B.
There is this
'peculiarity, the first groove in A is a trifle larger in diameter than that
"of B, and the successive grooves in each are about 2% smaller in
"diameter than those following, so that the cable is always slightly
"slipping on each wheel; in this way the usual knives which injure
"
the cable are got rid of, and the danger of the cable being broken
"by the machinery is avoided, as each wheel contributes its proper
"share of hold or friction to the cable."
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Aspinall, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this First day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
JOSEPH ASPINALL. (L.S.)