IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ELECTRIC WIRE CONDUCTORS AND INSULATORS "
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Greenwood of Bacup in the County of Lancaster
Electrician for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
ELECTRIC WIRE CONDUCTORS AND INSULATORS
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Greenwood at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 15th June 1883.
JAMES GREENWOOD of Bacup in the County of Lancaster Electrician,
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ELECTRIC WIRE CONDUCTORS AND
INSULATORS
"
This invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of a material or
composition which I call "Silicite" for the insulating and conducting of electric
wires for telegraphic telephonic electric lighting and other purposes connected
with electricity and my improvements consist in a peculiar method of forming and
manufacturing the same.
To accomplish this I pulverize a quantity of furnace slag or steam furnace and
domestic ashes combined with it and add about one fourth of hydraulic lime and
subject them to intense heat.
I then melt in a suitable vessel a quantity of tar or pitch with a small pro-
portion of mineral or other oil and sulphur and when sufficiently heated I add the
ground slag or ashes and hydraulic lime and cause the whole to be thoroughly
mixed by means of heated rollers or any other suitable means.
When the whole is thoroughly worked into a paste it is placed in suitable
moulds and submitted to a pressure varying according to the strength of material
required
In making electric wire conductors I form the paste into slabs of the required
dimensions on the upper side of which I form a number of grooves of V or any

page_text: other suitable shaped cross section as will permit of both thick and thin wires
being laid securely therein. The sides of the slab are slightly raised and the ends
so arranged as to prevent any possibility of their slipping out of position.
When the slabs are laid in position end to end the wires are laid in the grooves
and a quantity of the composition previously described is poured over them which
fills up the grooves and effectually insulates the wires placed therein.
When the grooves are all filled up a second tier of conductors can be placed
upon the top and filled with wires in the same manner.
In manufacturing battery cells and other kinds of insulators I pour the
composition into moulds or through rollers and submit it to pressure.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said James Greenwood in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th December 1883.
JAMES GREENWOOD of Bacup in the County of Lancaster Electrician
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ELECTRIC WIRE CONDUCTORS AND
INSULATORS
"
This invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of a material or
composition which I call "Silicito" for the insulating and conducting of electric
wires for telegraphic telephonic electric lighting and other purposes connected
with electricity and my improvements consist in a peculiar method of manufacturing
the same.
To accomplish this according to one part of my improvements I pulverize a
quantity of furnace slag or steam furnace and domestic ashes combined with it
and add about one fourth of hydraulic or carbonate of lime and subject them to
intense heat.
I then melt in a suitable vessel a quantity of tar or Trinadad pitch or bitumen
and resin with a small proportion of mineral or other oil and with or without
sulphur and when sufficiently heated I add the ground slag or ashes and hydraulic
or carbonate of lime and causo the whole to be thoroughly mixed by means of
heated rollers or any other suitable means in order to complete the process in the
manufacture of my improved insulating compound.
When the whole is thoroughly worked into a paste it is placed in suitable
moulds and submitted to a pressure varying according to the strength of material
required.
In making electric wire conductors in accordance with my invention I form the
compound or pasto above described into slabs of the required dimensions on the
upper side of which I form a number of grooves of V or any other suitable shaped
cross section as will permit of both thick and thin wires being laid securely therein.
The sides of the slab or olectric wire conductor are slightly raised and the ends so
arranged as to prevent any possibility of their slipping out of position.
When the slabs or electric wire conductors are laid in position end to end the
wires are laid in the grooves and a quantity of the composition previously described
is poured or placed over them which fills up the grooves and effectually insulates
the wires placed therein.
When the grooves are all filled up a second tier of conductors can be placed
upon the top and filled with wires in the same manner and so on in like manner
any required number of such tiers may be arranged and constructed one upon
another.
In manufacturing battery cells and other kinds of insulators in accordance with
my invention I pour or place the improved composition into moulds or pass it
through rollers and submit it to pressure.
In using the above described improved insulating compound for laying down
underground electric wires I lay down a creosoted wooden troughing of the
required dimensions and place the wire or wires (in any number required) in this
trough in their positions by means of tension and a guide or guides to keep them
in their exact positions. This improved insulating compound is then poured or
placed in the trough and when cooled down the wires are thus embedded in it and
effectually insulated.
I
Having thus described the nature of my invention and the manner of performing
or carrying the same into practice I would remark that I make no claim to any of

page_text: the particular parts or processes separately which are well known and in common
use, But what I claim is :-
The improved manufacture of electric wire conductors moulded or formed from
the improved insulating composition made substantially in the manner and for_tho
purposes hereinbefore fully described.
In witness whereof I the said James Greenwood have horeunto set my hand
and seal this Fourteenth day of December in the year of our Lord Oue thousand
eight hundred and eighty three.