IMPROVEMENTS IN COATING AND INSULATING WIRE
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Bedson, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Manager, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COATING
AND INSULATING WIRE."
Sealed the 10th July 1857, and dated the 15th January 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Bedson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th January 1857.
I, GEORGE BEDSON, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manager,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
COATING AND INSULATING WIRE," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to coat or cover wire with a mixture or sub-
stance for the purpose of preventing the same from oxidizing by the action of
the atmosphere or water, and also for insulating wire when it is employed for
conducting electro-magnetic currents, or other such purposes. To effect this
object, I melt a suitable quantity of "pitch" derived from "mineral tar," and
a proper proportion of heavy "tar oil" or other such substance, together; to
this preparation a certain quantity of caoutchouc, tempered with "tar oil" and
shellac, or other such substance, to a suitable consistency, is added. The wire
is coated or covered in a suitable manner with the above preparation to the
required thickness.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Bedson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th July 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
BEDSON, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manager, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of January, 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 George Bedson, Her especial license that I, the said George Bedson, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Bedson, 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 COATING AND
INSULATING WIRE," upon the condition, amongst others, that I, the said
George Bedson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 George Bedson, 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 and by the following statement
(that is to say)-
The object of my Invention is to coat or cover wire with a mixture or sub-
stance for the purpose of preventing the oxidation of the same by the action
of the atmosphere or water, and also for insulating the wire when it is em-
ployed for conducting electro-magnetic currents, or other such purposes. To
effect this object, I melt in a suitable apparatus, heated in any ordinary manner,
pitch, derived from vegetable or mineral tar, or any other bitumen, and a
proper proportion of tar oil derived from either the vegetable or mineral tar,
or other substances possessing the same properties. To this preparation I add
caoutchouc, raw or manufactured, india-rubber clippings, vulcanized or other-
wise prepared, or gutta percha dissolved or softened in rectified tar oil, crude
naptha, or other solvent, the whole being melted together with shellac or other
resinous substance, so as to form a solid and elastic mass when cold; the

page_text: whole being then stirred up is ready for use, and the wire may be coated by
passing it through a vessel containing the heated and then fluid mixture, or
by other ordinary means, and it may subsequently be covered with cotton,
hemp, or other fibrous substance previously soaked in the mixture, if
desired.
I do not limit myself to any proportions of the above-mentioned substances,
but, as an example, may state that I have found the following to answer :-
Caoutchouc, one pound, dissolved in two gallons of rectified tar oil; to every
pint of liquor so formed add twice its weight of shellac and the same quantity
of pitch or tar.
I would observe that I am aware of dissolved caoutchouc and tar having
been used for similar purposes to the above, but in such cases the com-
pound has been so formed as to be in a fluid state when cold, requiring
therefore an artificial evaporation to cause adherence to the wire; whereas
according to my Invention the caoutchouc and tar are so combined, and are
also mixed with shellac or other such substances as to be solid and elastic when
cold.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my Invention, and
the manner of carrying the same into effect, I desire it to be understood that
I claim, as secured to me, the use for the aforesaid purposes of a compound
formed substantially as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Bedson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
GEORGE REDSON (15)
GEORGE REDSON
(rs)