A Protecting Cover for Telegraph Posts.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Apr., 1895-Accepted, 11th May, 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A Protecting Cover for Telegraph Posts.
I, JOSEPH WOHL of 40 Boulevards, Montparnesse Paris, in the Republic of
France Constructional Engineer 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 :-
My invention relates to an improved apparatus and method designed to ensure
the preservation of telegraph posts in use and to greatly increase their durability.
The life of telegraph posts varies very much and depends on the nature of the
soils (boggy, moist, or dry) where they are placed. Generally speaking they
become rotten at the part a little above the level of the ground, forming very
rapidly a kind of cankered crown from 15 to 25 centimetres in width, which
insensibly eats away the wood to the core, as shewn in Fig. 4 of the accompanying
drawing.
The least shock then throws the posts down, if the precaution has not been
taken to replace them as soon as their strength seerns undermined.
The replacement of a telegraph post, and all the accessory work necessitated by
this replacement gives rise to a considerable annual outlay.
The cause of the rot is always the same, namely the moisture produced by rain,
mist, or vegetation on the surface of the ground and the like.
The rain water flows down the posts to the ground where it is absorbed, forming
at the foot and in contact with the wood a moist layer not generally very deep bu
which remains for a longer or shorter time, according to the season or the state of
the vegetation adjoining the post.
All the means employed or devised up to the present time for precluding the
formation of rot and its disastrous consequences, such as injection into the wood. of
sulphates of iron or copper, with creosote, or a sleeve of sulphur maintained by a
metallic collar, and the like have either been incapable of preventing the
destructive action of the moisture, or have been found impossible from a practical
and economical point of view.
My method is on the contrary essentially economical and of very easy
application; it consists of a simple operation hereinafter described, which may be
carried out by any workmen and needs only the employment of common and cheap
materials.
The part of the posts to be preserved commences level with the ground at the
collar as before stated and continues downwards for a width of from 15 to
25 centimetres at most.
Accordingly 1 free this part from the earth which surrounds it, clean it simply
with a metallic brush if it is still sound, or scrape it to remove the rotten wood if
it is already more or less affected, and wipe it properly.
I then enclose the bare part in a guard or sleeve of glazed stoneware constructed
in two separable parts or semicylindrical halves to enable it to be put in place.
After placing them round the post the two parts are brought together to constitute
the sleeve and are retained and united by means of four pieces of galvanized steel
wire, passed through small holes provided on each side a few centimetres from the
extremities and carefully tightened with pincers.
Then I fill up the annular space which exists between the post and the interior
periphery of the sleeve with a drying substance indicated by experience, mixed
with proportionate parts of silicious sand, small gravel and water in order. to

page_text: compose a cement which completely adheres to the post and to the sleeve, and
which as it dries acquires the hardness of granite. Without discarding any suitable
siccative substance, I preferably employ dross or slag cement which is not expensive
and fulfils the required conditions of hardness and adherence.
After filling up the sleeve with cement I surround the post with a small packing
of tow packed upon its periphery to the height of the sleeve, and which is then
likewise surrounded with a layer of cement applied so as to form a slope for
enabling the rain to flow off. This crown of tow has for its object to stop and
prevent the infiltration of any rain water which might in course of time flow down
the post.
At the height of the tow packing I fix at certain distances apart some nails or
pegs with their heads projecting about 10 to 15 millimetres.
This device forms a kind of frame or carcass for the cement applied to form a
slope, consolidates the crown and thus ensures its complete adherence to the
wood.
It remains only to bring the earth back to the post for filling up the cavity
made for putting the sleeve in its place and to ram it sufficiently so as to render it
as compact as before.
In these conditions the post completely withdrawn from contact with and from
the destructive action of the ground will not be rotted at the foot by the moisture,
and it may be affirmed that its duration will not be less than that of the part
which rises above the ground.
By the use of my method I therefore realize a considerable saving of cost due
to the prolonged duration of the posts; moreover, owing to this operation, the
thickness of their diameter being almost doubled at the level of the ground
precisely at the point which has to bear the greatest strain their area of resistance
is augmented to a very great extent and by this means greater strength is ensured.
They are consequently better protected against the violent oscillating movements
which frequently throw down telegraph posts, especially when they are already
a little damaged at the collar and thereby cause a great deal of expense.
This result of increased security acquired by the greater strength of the posts
has no less importance than their preservation from rot and must not be
overlooked.
Experience has also shown that sleeves of glazed stoneware are much more
suitable than any other means for preserving posts.
Their strength will bear any test, and their duration may be considered
unlimited.
This is not the case with sleeves of wrought or cast metal, the price of which
would in the first place be much higher, and which would moreover have the
great inconvenience of becoming oxidized in the ground, and deteriorating very
quickly.
While therefore reserving the right of using metallic sleeves, I prefer to employ
in practice these made of glazed stoneware.
My sleeve is cylindrical or square and made in one piece A; before the baking
I form, by means of a special instrument, two longitudinal igrooves a. a. which
extend into the body of the sleeve throughout its height to a depth of about two-
thirds of its thickness. I also provide four small holes bifor the passage of wire
serving to maintain the sleeve when it has been placed in its position.
After the varnishing and baking, the sleeve may be either used as it is or divided
into two parts for enabling it to be applied to posts already in their place without
any need for interfering with them; in this case it is only..necessary to give .some
blows with a hammer upon a chisel applied to the end and. along the grooves a for
detaching the two parts, in order to be able to put them in their place, and re-form
the sleeve by means of four strongly tightened wire hooks or ties.
I have said that my sleeve should be made in one piece which by the before-
described mode of manufacture can be easily divided into two parts; in fact it
would appear to be simpler to produce the same at once in two parts which are

page_text: similar and interchangeable, but it is necessary to take into account the baking
which deforms more or less the moulded articles, and thus has the effect of
preventing two parts baked separately from joining after the baking; whilst by
my mode of construction of the sleeve the two parts separated in the cold state
will join again perfectly.
In the accompanying drawings
Fig. 1 represents a cylindrical sleeve ready to be used.
Fig. 1 represents a sleeve having a square section ready for use.
Fig. 2 shows a cylindrical sleeve, the two halves A. A¹ being detached.
Fig. 2 represents a square sleeve the two halves A. A' being detached.
Fig. 3 represents a cylindrical sleeve the two halves A. A' being hooked or tied
together.
Fig. 4 shows the affected or attacked part of an ordinary telegraph post.
Fig. 5 shows a post provided with my sleeve A shewn in section.
Fig. 6 is an exterior view of the same.
I reserve the employment of my system with metallic sleeves, with or without
additions of any insulating siccative or other mineral substances.
I reserve the employment of my method for any kind of post or pole and in
general any pieces of wood fixed in the ground.
I also reserve the employment of my method not only with the protecting sleeve
but also without a sleeve, having a sufficient packing of my cement for posts or
poles of small dimensions, and adapted to be used without the sleeve.
The whole as hereinbefore described and represented in the accompanying
drawing.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :
1. An improved post or pole protector characterized by the combination of a
sleeve of glazed stoneware or other suitable substance, with siccative packing, the
whole surrounding the post to be preserved, for a sufficient height and depth
varying according to circumstances, as herein described and set forth.
2. The special construction of my sleeve enabling it to be used either in two
parts with lateral ties or in one part, as herein described and set forth.
3. The combination with the sleeve, and the material introduced therein, of a
crown of tow, fixed to the post at the height of the collar, and of a certain number
of nails or pegs for giving greater cohesion to the sloping cement, as herein
described and set forth.
Dated this 5th day of Antil 1895
S. S. BROMHEAD,
97, Newgate Street, E.C., Agent for Applicant.