NEW OR IMPROVED COMPOSITIONS FOR INSU- LATING TELEGRAPH WIRES, CABLES, OR OTHER CONDUCTORS OF ELECTRICITY
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Clayton Mewburn at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st December 1879. A communi-
cation from abroad by John Heins, of Philadelphia, in the United States of
America.
JOHN CLAYTON MEWBURN, of 169, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent and Consulting Engineer. "NEW OR IMPROVED COMPOSITIONS FOR INSU-
LATING TELEGRAPH WIRES, CABLES, OR OTHER CONDUCTORS OF ELECTRICITY.”
[A communication from abroad by John Heins, of Philadelphia, in the United
States of America.]
The Invention relates to new or improved compositions for the insulation of
telegraph wires, cables, or other conductors of electricity for use, cither suspended
in the air, buried in the earth, or submerged in salt or fresh water.
The objects attained are the following, viz.:
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First. The perfect insulation of the said wires, cables, or conductors.
Second. Their protection from damage by atmospheric or climatic influences,
rust, or oxidation, the action of the surrounding water and the ravages of submarine
insects, and from injury from the growth of submarine vegetation.
Third. The protection of the said wires, cables, and conductors from damage by
the heat developed by the transmission of the electric current or fluid.
Fourth. The preservation of their conductive power.
Fifth. The durability of wires, cables, and conductors insulated by this process.
The ingredients of the compositions are practically indestructible, and in no wise
affected by atmospheric, subterranean, subaqueous, or submarine influences, and are
waterproof as well as repellant of moisture, and being non-conductors will transmit
the electric current without loss.
The first composition constituting an apyrotic-asphaltic-insulating coating is
prepared from the following named substances in the proportions substantially as
stated, vis. :-
About 50 pounds of natural aanbaltum

page_text: For protection from the carbonizing and destructive influence of the heat
developed by the transmission of the electric current or fluid,-
About 40 pounds of powdered asbestos.
"
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The materials are combined by heat.
alum.
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The method of applying this coating-composition and of treating the wires or
conductors is as follows:-
5
Each wire is covered with a fibrous material, preferably with marline made from
hemp with cotton or wool, and then submerged and boiled in a bath of the said
composition. Under some circumstances the wire is first covered or wrapped with 1
manilla or other paper which has been saturated with the composition.
When it is desired to form a cable a suitable number of wires treated as described
above, with or without the covering of saturated paper, are combined and scized,
plaited, or wrapped with marline or other fibrous covering, and the group treated
with a heated bath of the composition, forming a cable.
If the cable is intended for submarine use in addition to the above process it is
desirable to wrap or seize it with annealed wire, and the whole is then immersed in
a heated bath of the composition.
As to the second composition it is introduced into pipes containing the telegraph
wires, cables, or other conductors of electricity, and will always retain its elasticity 2
in addition to attaining the objects herein before stated.
It is known that oil, hot air, and gas have been used or recommended for this
purpose, but their use, separately or in combination, is objectionable and inefficient,
for the reason among others that injury to the enclosing pipe would permit their
escape and the introduction of water. In either event the conducting power of
the wire or cable would be impaired if not destroyed.
The pipes for receiving this composition may be composed of lead, iron, concrete,
paper, terra cotta, or any other material, substance, or composition suitable.
The component parts of this second composition are proportionately as