IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHIC CABLES, AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Charles Webb, of Northumberland
Terrace, Regent's Park Road, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHIC CABLES, AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN
SUCH MANUFACTURE."
Sealed the 31st May 1870, and dated the 2nd December 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Charles Webb
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 2nd December 1869.
I, FREDERICK CHARLES WEBB, of Northumberland Terrace, Regent's
Park Road, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU.
FACTURE OF SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH CABLES, AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN
SUCH MANUFACTURE," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel mode of constructing submarine
cables, and is more particularly applicable to cables intended for deep
The chief object of my improvements is to avoid the difficulty
at present encountered in laying cables that have been clothed with
seas.

page_text: external steel strengthening wires separately covered with hemp; at
the same time I am enabled to protect the gutta percha or other
insulating medium against the attacks of the teredo which is met with in
the Mediterranean and other seas.
It has been found that cables of the Atlantic pattern have in the act
of paying out become pierced with pieces of metal which are supposed
to have formed portions of the external strengthening wires. To avoid
the accidental piercing of the insulating coating I now propose to
manufacture the cable in the following manner:-The copper conducting
wire or wires I cover in the usual way with an insulating coating of
gutta percha or india-rubber, and over this coating I serve wet yarn as
a protection to the same. Around the insulated wire thus prepared I
form a metal sheath, by preference in the form of lapped tube composed
of soft steel, and this sheath or tube I close by a serving of tarred yarn.
Around the core thus formed I lay protecting wires according to any of
the approved processes, and the cable is then complete. The metal
sheath or tube is composed of thin metal rolled to considerable lengths,
and the lengths are connected together by rivetting, welding, or otherwise
so as to form a continuous strip or ribbon.
To facilitate the manufacture of my improved core I use a novel
arrangement of machinery which I will now describe. The insulated
wire protected by a wet serving as above described is coiled upon a
drum and brought to my improved machine. A ribbon of sheet steel
composed of the coupled lengths as described is also wound upon a
drum and brought to the machine. The insulated wire and the ribbon
are then led through a die so constructed that the ribbon will be lapped
around the insulated wire in the form of an open tube. The now enclosed
insulated wire is led off to a driving drum to which rotary motion is
given by suitable gearing, and two, three, or more turns of the wire are
laid around the drum to get a good bite of its periphery. From this
drum the wire is led off to another drum on which it is allowed to
accumulate. In order to close the tube or metal sheathing as it leaves
the die, the tube is led through a rotary disc, on which are mounted
bobbins provided with tarred yarn. The yarn being attached to the
travelling tube and a rapid rotary motion being given to the disc the 3
yarn will be laid tightly around the tube and cause it to bind upon the
wet serving surrounding the insulated material. It will be understood
that friction will be put upon the drums which respectively carry and

page_text: supply the insulated wire and the ribbon to keep the wire and ribbon at
a proper tension. The spec ls imparted to the driven drum and to the
bobbin holder or disc must be proportioned to the requirements of the
work in hand.
When providing a cable for shallow waters I may use a sheathing of
copper or of iron formed as above described. This I cover with a serving
of tarred yarn, as before described, and the core thus completed may be
protected by galvanized iron wire and serving after any approved
pattern.
In order to make a cheap cable suitable for deep water, I omit the
use of the external strengthening wires above referred to, and lay strands
of Manilla hemp soaked in tar around the steel tube or sheath, and
finish the cable by covering the same with the material known as Clark's
compound.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Frederick Charles Webb in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 2nd June 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
CHARLES WEBB, of Northumberland Terrace, Regent's Park Road, in
the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Frederick Charles Webb, Her special licence
that I, the said Frederick Charles Webb, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Frederick Charles Webb, 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 MANUFACTURE OF SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHIC CABLES, AND IN THE MACHINERY
EMPLOYED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Frederick Charles Webb, my executors or administrators,

page_text: 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 Frederick Charles Webb, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in ard
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say)-
This Invention relates to a novel mode of constructing submarine
cables and is more particularly applicable to cables intended for deep
seas.
The chief object of my improvements is to avoid the difficulty at
present encountered in laying cables that have been clothed with
external steel strengthening wires separately covered with hemp, and
at the same time to protect the gutta percha or other insulating
medium against the attacks of the teredo which is met with within the 2
Mediterranean and other seas.
It has been found that cables of the Atlantic pattern have in the act
of paying out become pierced with pieces of metal which are supposed
to have formed portions of the external strengthening wires. To
avoid the accidental piercing of the insulating coating I now propose 2
to manufacture the cable in the following manner-The copper con-
ducting wire or wires I cover in the usual way with an insulating
coating of gutta percha or india-rubber, and over this coating I serve
wet yarn as a protection to the same. Around the insulated wire thus
prepared I form a continuous metal sheath, by preference in the form of a
a lapped tube composed of soft steel, and this sheath or tube 1 close by
a serving of tarred yarn. Around the core thus formed I lay protecting
wires according to any of the approved processes, and the cable is then
complete. The metal sheath or tube is composed of thin metal rolled
to considerable lengths, and these lengths are connected together by 3
rivetting, welding, or otherwise, so as to form a continuous strip or
ribbon corresponding, say, in length to the wire or wires to be enclosed

page_text: therein, in order that the progress of the manufacture may not be
unuecessarily arrested by the exhaustion of the supply.
To facilitate the manufacture of my improved core I use a novel
arrangement of machinery which I will now describe.
In Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 is a side elevation
of my improved sheathing machine, and Fig. 2 is a plan view of the
same. Fig. 3, Sheet II., is a longitudinal vertical section of the die
which I use for laying the metal sheathing around the conducting wire
or wires, and Fig. 4 is a horizontal section taken through the middle of
the die; Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8, are steel die plates which acting con-
secutively on the steel strip lap it round the coated conducting wires
while the section of the die shewn in two views at Figures 9 serves to
complete the lap; Fig. 10 shews the finished cable stripped down to the
conducting wires to illustrate the several stages of its manufacture, and
Fig. 11 is a cross section of the cable.
A, Fig. 1, is a drum mounted in fixed bearings and fitted with a
friction brake and filled with insulated wire a protected by a wet serving
as above described. The wire is coiled upon this drum before it is
brought to the sheathing machine. In like manner a ribbon of sheet
steel b composed of the coupled lengths as above described is wound
upon a drum B and brought to the machine. This drum is also fitted:
with a friction band to put tension on the ribbon when it is being drawn.
off by the action of the machine. The insulated wire and the ribbon are
severally led through a fixed die C, the wire being passed into the die at
the central hole c and the ribbon at the curved opening c. This die is
mounted in the front end of the sheathing machine. It is composed of
the several steel plates shewn detached in Sheet II. held apart at
suitable distances by hollow connecting guide pieces d, d, through
which as well as through the plates screw bolts are passed for the
purpose of binding all the parts together. The opening c¹ in the first
plate is slightly curved for the purpose of hollowing the ribbon trans-
versely. In the next plate the opening c² is crescent shaped, and this
shape it imparts to the ribbon as it is drawn through the plate, the
succeeding plates gradually increase the transverse curvature of the
ribbon in the proportions shewn at c³ and c4. When the ribbon leaves
the opening c it passes to the section e of the die, the central opening of
which is fitted with a segment-shaped steel guide. The ribbon in being.
drawn through this section will be caused to, lap upon itself or form a lap-

page_text: edged tube, one edge passing in front and the other at the back of the
segment-shaped guide. The central opening in the die contracting slightly
in diameter beyond the section e a set will be given to the lapped tube;
thus the ribbon will be lapped around the insulated wire, and passing out
of the die it will receive a serving of tarred yarn to close the tube. To
facilitate the cleaning of the die and also to permit of the joints of the
sheathing passing through it I divide the die longitudinally in the line
shewn at Fig. 4, and hold the halves together by screw clamps, which may
be readily slackened to allow the die to expand and pass the joints of the
ribbon. The insulated wire with its metallic sheathing next passes
through a skeleton drum D to receive the yarn covering. The drum D
is mounted in line with the die C and it is fitted with a belt pulley
which receives a strap d' from a driving pulley keyed on the shaft d³
for the purpose of driving the skeleton drum. This shaft 2 is itself
driven through bevil gearing from a cross shaft d³, which is the main
driving shaft of the machine. The drum D is fitted at the end nearest
the die with a large disc or plate on which are mounted eight or any
other approved number of bobbins which are free to turn on stud axles
projecting from the disc. These bobbins carry the tarred yarn which is
intended to be laid around the tube. The relative speeds of traverse
of the insulated wires through the skeleton drum D, and of revolution
of the bobbins around the sheathed wires are such that the strands will
be properly served around the tube. This serving is effected at such
tension as will ensure the proper closing of the tube. The now enclosed
insulated wire or core is. led off to a drum E, to which rotary motion
is transmitted from the driving shaft d³ by the spur gearing d. Around
this drum E two, three, or more turns of the core are laid to get a good
bite of its periphery, and from this drum the wire is led off to another
drum F, on which it is allowed to accumulate. The two drums E and
F are connected together by a driving band which passes over band
pulleys connected to their respective shafts. Thus a uniform speed of
delivery and take up will be established at starting between them. But
when the periphery of the drum F is covered by the core, and a second
layer commences it will be necessary to provide for the increasing
diameter of the drum F. This is effected by connecting the pulley of
that drum with its axle by means of a friction clutch, which will allow
the pulley to slip and accommodate the speed of the take up to the
delivery of the core. In order to prevent the laps or coils from over-
riding each other, on the drum E I provide a fixed guide or knife

page_text: e which will keep them clear of the last coil. To convert the core
made as above described into a finished cable, I cover it with protecting
wires as indicated at Figures 10 and 11. When providing a cable for
shallow waters I may use a sheathing of copper, or of iron formed as
above described. This sheathing I cover with a serving of tarred yarn,
as before described, and the core thus completed may be protected by
galvanized iron wire and serving after any approved pattern.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of improvements
in the manufacture of submarine telegraphic cables, and in the
machinery employed in such manufacture, and having explained the
manner of carrying same into effect I wish it to be understood that
under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, the means
above described for sheathing long lengths of insulated wires by a con-
tinuous operation.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Charles Webb, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Second day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
F. C. WEBB. (L.S.)
LONDON:
Printed by GEORGE EDWARD EYRE and WILLIAM SPOTTISWOODE,
Printers to the Queen's most Excellent Majesty. 1870.