IMPROVEMENTS IN PROTECTING AND LAYING TELEGRAPHIC WIRES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Pier Alberto Balestrini, of Brescia (Italy), for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROTECTING AND LAYING TELEGRAPHIC
WIRES."
Sealed the 25th November 1856, and dated the 11th September 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Pier Alberto Balestrini
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th September 1856.
I, PIER ALBERTO BALESTRINI, of Brescia (Italy), do hereby declare the
nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROTECTING AND LAYING
TELEGRAPHIC WIRES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object a method of protecting telegraph wires for
submarine and other communication. The telegraphic wires are insulated by
gutta percha or vulcanized india-rubber, or they are inclosed in cords of hemp
or other fibre rendered waterproof by a mixture of india-rubber and pitch.
The wires, thus protected, form the core of the telegraphic cable; they are
either laid parallel to each other, or they are laid spirally on a core of fibre or
of iron wire covered with fibre. Eight or other number of cords of hemp or
other fibre waterproofed with the composition before-mentioned are then
closely wound in a spiral direction round this core, and the cable so formed is
consolidated by passing it between grooved rollers. If the cable is intended
for use under a considerable depth of water, it is strengthened by coiling round

page_text: it (in the opposite direction to the coils of the cords) iron wires in long open
spirals, and over these wires the cable is wound round closely with galvanized
iron wire, and by the action of the galvanized wire on the non-galvanized wire
a calcareous deposit is produced round the cable after it has been immersed
for some time, by which it is much protected. Sometimes, with a similar
object, strips of zinc are laid longitudinally of the cable under the wire coating.
In places where the cable is likely to come in contact with rocks, it is pro-
tected by having steel wire wound round it.
To facilitate the laying of the cable, a description of parachute is attached to
it at intervals, which parachute is so arranged, that when the cable enters the
water the parachute opens, and prevents the cable from being drawn violently
through the water. To protect wires, to be used suspended from posts or
otherwise, they are enclosed in cords of hemp or other fibre, waterproofed with
the composition before mentioned, and afterwards painted with zinc white.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Pier Alberto Balestrini in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 6th March 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PIER
ALBERTO BALESTRINI, of Brescia (Italy), send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Pier Alberto Balestrini, Her special licence that I, the said Pier
Alberto Balestrini, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Pier Alberto Balestrini, 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 PROTECTING AND LAYING TELEGRAPHIC WIRES," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Pier Alberto Balestrini, 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

page_text: 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 Pier Alberto Balestrini, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object a method of protecting telegraphic wires for
submarine and other communication. The telegraphic wires are insulated by
gutta percha or vulcanized india-rubber, or they are inclosed in cords of hemp
or other fibre rendered waterproof by a mixture of india-rubber and pitch. The
wires, thus protected, form the core of the telegraphic cable; they are either
laid parallel to each other, or they are laid spirally on a core of fibre or of iron
wire covered with fibre. Eight or other number of cords of hemp or other
fibre waterproofed with the composition before mentioned, are then closely
wound in a spiral direction round this core, and the cable so formed is con-
solidated by passing it between grooved rollers. If the cable is intended for
use under a considerable depth of water, it is strengthened by coiling round it
(in the opposite direction to the coils of the cords) iron wires in long open
spirals, and over these wires the cable is wound round closely with galvanized
iron wire, and by the action of the galvanized wire on the non-galvanized wire
a calcareous deposit is produced round the cable after it has been immersed
for some time, by which it is much protected. Sometimes, with a similar
object, strips of zinc are laid longitudinally of the cable under the wire coating.
In places where the cable is likely to come in contact with rocks, it is pro-
tected by having steel wire wound round it. To facilitate the laying of the
cable, a description of parachute is attached to it at intervals, which parachute
is so arranged, that when the cable enters the water the parachute opens, and
prevents the cable from being drawn violently through the water. To protect
wires, to be used suspended from posts or otherwise, they are enclosed in cords
of hemp or other fibre, waterproofed with the composition before mentioned,
and afterwards painted with zinc white.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I will proceed more fully
to describe the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a side view and section of the core of a cable intended to be
11
1
Samine the ease being laid

page_text: curved wire, as seen at Figure 2, or around an iron wire covered with hemp or
other fibre, as seen at Figure 3. These cores are then surrounded with hemp
or other fibre rendered waterproof, as seen at Figure 4, where the core has
twisted around it eight cords, each composed of four strands. The cable thus
made is then passed between grooved rollers, so as to compress the cords
around the core, and so as to prevent it from stretching when being laid down.
The cords twisted around the core are rendered waterproof in the following
manner-Raw caoutchouc is melted in a pan heated by a well-regulated fire
until it is of the consistency of thick oil, when more and more caoutchouc is
added; a quantity of pitch equal in weight to the raw caoutchouc employed
is then well mixed in. The cords may be saturated with this composition,
either by placing them in the composition and subjecting it to pressure, or by
passing the cord through a series of heated pipes filled with the composition,
each pipe being terminated by a conical gutta percha tube, which scrapes off
the excess of the composition. The cable thus made is then stretched and
bound round closely with iron wire, strips of zinc being placed horizontally
between the coating of wire and the cable, which gives rise to a chemical and
electrical action, which keeps the outside coating from rust, and produces a
calcareous deposit, by which it is much protected.
If the cable is to be immersed to a considerable depth, long open spirals of
iron wire are placed between the cable and its covering of galvanized wire,
as seen at Figure 5, the spirals running in the opposite direction to the coils of
the cord. The iron wire composing these spirals not being galvanized, the
same action takes place between the galvanized and non-galvanized wire, which
preserves the cable until the calcareous deposit is produced. In places where
the cable is likely to come in contact with rocks, it is protected by having steel
wire wound round it. Figure 6 shows a side view of the parachute employed
for facilitating the laying of the cable. Figure 7, a side view of the parachute
when closed; and Figure 8, a section of the same when open. These
parachutes are formed by preference of double sail cloth, cemented together by
caoutchouc, and formed into a cone, the top of which is firmly fixed to the
cable, and at the bottom of the cone there are a number of ropes attached,
which are also fixed to the cable. When the cable is coiled up, these ropes
are doubled up in the parachutes, and the parachutes are folded around the
cable; but when the cable is lowered into the water, these parachutes open, and
by their resistance to the water, they prevent the cable from descending too
rapidly. In certain cases when the parachutes would not be suitable, floats
may be attached to the cable at short distances from each other, by means of
a connecting apparatus filled with any substance soluable in water, and thus

page_text: capable of releasing the float a short time after that the cable enters the
water.
To protect wires to be used suspended from posts, or for military or other
purposes, they are enclosed in cords of hemp or other fibre, waterproofed with
the composition, and in the manner above mentioned, and afterwards painted
with zinc white.
In witness whereof, I the said Pier Alberto Balestrini, have hereunto set
hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
my
Witness,
T. BASSET,
2, Rue Drouot.
PIER ALBERTO BALESTRINI. (1.8.)