IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH CABLES."
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Robert Guy, of 19, London Street, in the
City of London, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH CABLES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Robert Guy at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th August 1865.
I, HENRY ROBERT GUY, of 19, London Street, in the City of London,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "IMPROVE-
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH CABLES," to be as
follows:-
The object of my Invention is to diminish the specific gravity of submarine
telegraph cables, thereby lessening the strain upon them and the liability to
part, especially in deep water. For this purpose the cable, after being first
covered with any insulating substance now in use, and which is capable of
resisting the action of water, is coated with a combination of ground cork and
india-rubber, such as is used in making eork carpet or kamptulicon. The
mode of preparing this compound is described. in the Specification filed in
pursuance of Letters Patent granted to William Richard Jeune on the 3rd

page_text: of June 1861, and numbered 1387, "for improvements in the manufacture
of kamptulicon," and which improved kamptulicon is now known by the name
of cork carpet. The coating of ground cork and india rubber must be of such
a thickness as to diminish the specific gravity of the cable to the required
amount. This may be determined by immersing in water (under pressure if
necessary) short lengths of the cable coated with different thicknesses of
ground cork and india-rubber. The ground cork may be mixed with other
elastic cementing substances instead of india-rubber, such as gutta percha
and linseed oil, thickened sufficiently by long boiling with oxide of lead, white
copperas, or any other substance used for that purpose.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed.
by the said Henry Robert Guy in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 6th February 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
ROBERT GUY, of 19, London Street, in the City of London, Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing.date the Eleventh day of August,-in the year of our Lord:
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Henry Robert Guy, Her special licence that I, the said Henry
Robert Guy, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Henry Robert Guy, 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 OF SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH CABLES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry Robert Guy, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 Henry Robert Guy, 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 object of my Invention is to diminish the specific gravity of submarine
telegraph cables, thereby lessening the strain upon them and the liability to.
part, especially in deep water. For this purpose the cable, after being first
covered with any insulating substance now in use, and which is capable of
resisting the action of water, is coated with a combination of ground or,
granulated cork and india-rubber, such as is used in making cork carpet or
kamptulicon. The mode of preparing this compound is described in the
Specification filed in pursuance of Letters Patent granted to William Richard
Jeune on the Third day of June One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and
numbered 1887, for "Improvements in the Manufacture of Kamptulicon,"
and which improved kamptulicon is now known by the name of cork carpet.
The coating of ground or granulated cork and india-rubber must be of such
a thickness as to diminish the specific gravity of the cable to the required
amount. This may be determined by weighing, in water and out of it short
lengths of the cable coated with different thicknesses of ground or granulated
cork and india-rubber.
I find the most convenient way of performing my Invention to be as
follows I cover the telegraph wires with a sufficient thickness of gutta
percha, or any other known elastic insulating substance capable of resisting the
action of water, and if necessary for the purpose of giving increased strength
to the cable. I then cover it with iron or other wire in any of the modes
now practised. I then take the ground or granulated cork and india-rubber,
berein-after called cork carpet mixture, cut in a long strip of about half an
inch broad and of a thickness equal to the required thickness of cork carpet
mixture ; this is passed through a solution of india-rubber in coal tar,
naptha, or other known solvent, and then through a drying box or oven-to
evaporate the solvent, leaving the coating of india-rubber in a sticky state, so
that the edges will readily adhere. I then wind the strip of cork carpet
mixture round the cable, taking care that the edges of the strip are brought
close together. The whole is then to be covered with india-rubber, gutta
percha, or any other known elastic substance capable of resisting water in
any of the modes hitherto practised. I find it convenient sometimes to make
the strip of cork carpet mixture with bevelled edges, so that its section would
be a rhomboid and coil it round the cable, the edge of one coil overlapping
the edge of the preceding one. Instead of india-rubber the ground or granu-
lated cork may be mixed with gutta percha, previously dissolved in or softened
by coal tar, naptha, or other known solvent, or with linseed oil thickened

page_text: sufficiently by long boiling with oxide of lead, white copperas, or any other
substance used for that purpose.
I claim as my. Invention the covering telegraph cables, or the wires of telegraph
cables, previously insulated with a mixture of ground or granulated cork mixed
with india-rubber or other similar elastic cementing substance as above de-
scribed, so as to lessen the weight of the cable in water in the manner above.
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Robert Guy, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
HENRY ROBERT GUY. (L.B.).