IMPROVEMENTS IN INSULATING TELEGRAPHIC WIRES OR CONDUCTORS, AND IN APPARATUS FOR STRETCHING SUCH WIRES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hippolyte Benigne Girard, of Paris, in the Empire
of France, Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN INSULATING
TELEGRAPHIC WIRES OR CONDUCTORS, AND IN APPARATUS FOR STRETCHING SUCH
WIRES."
Sealed the 25th September 1857, and dated the 28th March 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hippolyte Benigne
Girard at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 28th March 1857.
I, HIPPOLYTE BENIGNE GIRARD, of Paris, in the Empire of France, Chemist,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
INSULATING TELEGRAPHIC WIRES OR CONDUCTORS, AND IN APPARATUS FOR STRETCHING
SUCH WIRES," to be as follows:-
I insulate telegraph wires by the application of two coatings, the first
composed of graphite or plumbago, sifted and mixed with glue or size, kept
liquid by a gentle heat. This coating, unaffected by water, preserves a certain
elasticity, which prevents any dilatation or contraction of the metal from
acting upon or being communicated to the second coating, which is composed
of flower of sulphur, heated to 240° centigrade, out of contact with the
atmosphere, and then cooled by immersion in cold water, tar, and oreansson
(orcansson.) Place the whole in a suitable pot over a fire until perfect fusion
of the substances, then pass the wire to be coated in the hot melted mass, and

page_text: allow it to dry before coming in contact with anything until perfectly cool.
Where necessary to insulate suspended wires without taking them down, I
construct a travelling cage with a vessel at the bottom, in which the coating
to be applied is kept hot by lamps carried by and forming part of the cage.
The cage is suspended from wires stretched between posts over the wire to be
coated.
My apparatus for stretching telegraph wires consists of a wheel or disc of
porcelain, glass; or other like non-conducting material, pierced through the
centre to receive a metal axis, on one end of which there is a ratchet wheel and
on the other a handle; a paul from a post takes into the ratchet wheel. The
end of a wire leading in one direction is connected to one side of the disc, and
the end of another wire leading in the contrary direction is attached to the
opposite side of the disc, so that on turning the handle both wires are stretched
at the same time.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Hippolyte Benigne Girard in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 28th September 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HIPPOLYTE
BENIGNE GIRARD, of Paris, in the Empire of France, Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Hippolyte Benigne Girard, Her special licence that I, the said
Hippolyte Benigne Girard, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Hippolyte Benigne Girard, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 INSULATING TELEGRAPHIC WIRES OR
CONDUCTORS, AND IN APPARATUS FOR STRETCHING SUCH WIRES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Hippolyte Benigne Girard, 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 Hippolyte Benigne Girard, do hereby
5 declare the nature of my 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed (that is to say) :-
I insulate telegraph wires by the application of two coatings, the first
composed of graphite or plumbago, sifted and mixed with glue or size, kept
liquid by a gentle heat. This coating, unaffected by water, preserves a certain
elasticity, which prevents any dilatation or contraction of the metal from
acting upon or being communicated to the second coating, which is composed
of two parts. For the first, take four parts of linseed oil, rendered siccative,
and one part of flower of sulphur, boil these substances until no more
sulphurous vapours pass off, and then add one-eighth part of gutta percha;
the second, melt four parts of orcansson with one part of tar, place the
substances forming the first and second parts of the second coating in a
suitable pot over a fire until perfect fusion of the substances, then pass the
wire to be coated in the hot melted mass, and allow it to dry and become
cool before coming in contact with anything. Where necessary to insulate.
suspended wires without taking them down, I construct a travelling cage,
which may be furnished with a vessel at the bottom, in which the coating to
be applied is kept hot by lamps carried by the cage. The cage is suspended
from wires stretched between posts over the wire to be coated, or is drawn
along the wire to be insulated.
My apparatus for stretching telegraph wires consists of a wheel, a disc of
porcelain, glass, or other like non-conducting material, pierced through the
centre to receive a metal axis, on one end of which there is a ratchet wheel
and on the other a handle; a paul from a post takes into the ratchet wheel.
The end of a wire leading in one direction is connected to one side of the disc,
and the end of another wire leading in a contrary direction is attached to the
opposite side of the disc, so that on turning the handle, both wires are stretched
at the same time.
Figure 1 of the Drawings annexed is a side view of an apparatus con-
structed according to my Invention for insulating telegraph wires, and which
contains the material to insulate the wires; Figure 2 is an end view thereof;
and Figure 3 is a view of a stirrup and pulley connected with the apparatus.
A, A, are the sides of the apparatus or trough containing the insulating

page_text: material; b, b, are cylindrical iron pins, fixed to the lower part, and provided
with a moveable friction roller, which is covered with a.strong sheet of gutta
percha or other suitable material. These pins b, b, are placed at the extremi-
ties of the apparatus and the wire laid between them. C, C, are reservoirs
to receive the material that runs away; B, B, B, is a stirrup to carry the
guide pulley L, shewn at Figure 3. Three of these guides pulleys may be
fitted, one at the middle and one near each end of the cage or trough. c is
a rod fixed to the apparatus, and by which the position of the stirrup B, B, B,
is altered; d is a clasp or lock for holding the stirrup.
Figure 4 shews a view of the apparatus arranged to insulate the wires
suspended from telegraph posts. B, B, are the posts supporting the tele-
graph wire D, D; c, c, are the insulators; A, A, is the trough, formed of
sheet iron, or other suitable material, which is supported by the telegraph
wire D, D; C, C, are reservoirs at each extremity of the cage to receive the
insulating material that runs off; E is a weight to keep the apparatus at a
proper equilibrium; and G is a cord or rope to draw the cage from one post
to the other.
To insulate a telegraph wire, I place the wire in the apparatus before
described between the two rollers on the pins b, b, and attach the apparatus to
the suspended wire by means of three, or any other suitable number of small
pullies, which are secured by iron fixtures fixed to a hook on one of the sides
of the apparatus.
The apparatus is now filled with the material to be
employed (either of the insulating compositions before named being used,
which must be warm), when the whole is drawn by means of the rope G from
one post to the other, thus causing the telegraph wire to pass through the
insulating material and become coated. To move the apparatus from post to
post, a workman unhooks the wire, and the apparatus is conveyed along the
wire to the next post. I prefer to give the wire two separate coatings. When
the first coating has been applied, I surround that part of the wire which
rests on the hooks with a cotton, or other suitable ribbon, for without this the
coating would rub off; it will be found useful also to extend this ribbon for a
short distance on each side of the part where the wire rests, so that the wire
when it contracts or stretches shall never rest on a part thereof only coated
with the insulating material. This refers to the two compositions, and ought
to be done each time the wire passes a post. It is also necessary to cover the
hooks with a band or a cotton ribbon dipped in the insulating material
when very hot, and care must be taken at the second application on the wire
of the insulating material to give a second coating also to the ribbon on
the hook.

page_text: The insulating materials that I have before described for coating suspended
telegraph wires are equally applicable to underground telegraphs. I take five,
six, or other suitable number of well-cleaned copper wires and cover them
with a coating of graphite for the first coating; when this coating is perfectly
dry, the wires are stretched and kept at equal distances apart, they are then
placed in a metal tube, opening by a hinge for the whole of its length, and
into this tube the hot insulating materials herein-before described for forming
the second coating are run. When the whole is cold, the metal tube is
opened to remove the wires which have become united into one mass, the wires
are then surrounded with a cotton ribbon dipped in the insulating materials
forming the second coating, and this receives another coat of the same
substance. The cable thus prepared can be placed underground, the stones
or pebbles being removed from the soil on which it rests.
The wires thus prepared are placed in hollowed glass bowls, which fit one
into the other. The size of the holes in the bowls must be regulated accord-
ing to, the size of cable or rope it is to receive. The bowls are connected
together by some melted sulphur, or other suitable substance. To simplify
the work, several bowls may be connected together, and at the point of
junction 1 employ a band of cotton dipped in the insulating materials herein-
described. In places where glass is not easily obtained the bowls can be
made of porcelain or earthenware:
Figure 5 is a view of a series of the glass, porcelain, or earthenware guards
or protectors that I employ for underground telegraphs; Figure 6 is a section
thereof; and Figures 7 and 8 are a section and view respectively of one of
the bowls detached.
A, A, are the glass bowls which receive the telegraph wire. These bowls
are formed with a projection on one side and a recess on the other. B is
the projection, and C is the recess. Into these recesses the projections B
take, so that when these bowls are put together they form a passage through
which the telegraph cable or wire is passed, as seen in the section, Figure 6.
Figure 9 is a side view of my apparatus for stretching telegraph wires, and
Figure 10 is a plan of the same. B, B, is the stretcher pulley, formed of
porcelain or other non-conducting material, round which the wire A passes as
far as the point marked C, where it is passed over a hooked projection C¹,
and returned back over the pulley on the opposite side of the projection,
where it passes in the directed seen at A¹, so that by partially rotating the
stretcher pulley in the direction of the arrow, marked h, by means of a crank,
which may fixed on to its axle, the movement winds the wire round the
pulley, and thus stretches the wire without injuring it.

page_text: And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, the insulating of telegraph wires by first covering them with a coating,
which will prevent any expansion or contraction of the wires acting upon
another coating subsequently applied.
Second, I claim the particular compositions herein-before described to be
applied as first and second coatings for insulating telegraph wires.
Third, the construction of an apparatus for insulating suspended telegraph
wires and the method of working the same, as herein-before described.
Fourth, the forming of a guard or protector of glass, porcelain, or earthen-
ware for underground telegraph wires or ropes, as herein-before described; and
represented in the Drawings annexed.
And, fifth, the construction of an apparatus for stretching telegraph wires,.
as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hippolyte Benigne Girard, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of September, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
H. B. GIRARD.
(L.S.)