IMPROVEMENTS IN METAL PILLARS, POSTS, MASTS, OR POLES FOR TELEGRAPHIC AND OTHER PURPOSES, AND IN THE METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Bristow Lee, of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Iron Fence Manufacturer, and Simon Alfred Rogers,
of the same Place, Dentist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
METAL PILLARS, POSTS, MASTS, OR POLES FOR TELEGRAPHIC AND OTHER
PURPOSES, AND IN THE METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME, "
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Bristow Les
and Simon Alfred Rogers at the Office of the Commissioners of
-Patents, with their Petition, on the 16th June 1871.
We, ROBERT BRISTOW LEE, of Manchester, in the County of Lan-
caster, Iron Fence Manufacturer, and SIMON ALFRED ROGERS, of the
same Place, Dentist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN METAL PILLARS, POSTS, MASTS, OR POLES FOR

page_text: TELEGRAPHIC AND OTHER PURPOSES, AND IN THE METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE
SAME," to be as follows:
Our Invention relates, in the first place, to the poles employed to
sustain telegraphic wires and to gate and fencing posts, and is also
applicable in many other cases wherein it is desirable to combine
strength with lightness and with economy of material, as will be
herein-after indicated.
We form the said poles or posts of two or more bars, rods, or strips
of wrought iron or steel, or of two or more sets of such bars, rods, or
strips, and we bend them into a spiral form, the said bars, rods, or strips,
or sets of bars, rods, or strips being bent in different directions, that is
to say, one bar, rod, or strip, or set is bent into a right-hand spiral, and
the other bar, rod, or strip, or set is bent into a left-hand spiral, so that
when the one spiral is superimposed on or formed on or with the other
spiral the convolutions of the said spirals will intersect each other at a
number of points. The said spirals are connected together at the said
points of intersection by means of rivets or by other suitable means.
The methods of forming the said spirals may be varied, but we prefer
to form them on a mandril, in or on which are formed right and left
hand spiral grooves, one groove or one set of grooves being by preference
deeper than the other groove, or set to the extent of about the thickness
of the aforesaid bar, rod, or strip, or in lieu of the said grooves the said
mandril may be formed with guides, or may be fitted with moveable
pins or guides. The said spirals or sets of spirals are separately formed
on the said mandril, and are punched or drilled at the points which
will intersect and are removed from the said mandril, and one of the
said spirals or one set of spirals is superimposed on the other spiral or
set of spirals, and the said spirals or sets of spirals are rivetted together
at the points of intersection. Two or more lengths which have been
formed on. one mandril, or have been formed on two or more mandrils;
may be connected together, so as to form a continuous, pole; or, post
or other body, as herein-after indicated, or may, be so suitably formed
and prepared as that they may be bolted, rivetted, or connected together
at any time when required to form a pole, post, or other body. A
solid mandril may be passed gradually through the interior of the partly
formed pole or post as 'the rivets are placed in position! In place of
both spirals or sets of spirals being formed on one mandril the right-

page_text: hand spiral or spirals may be formed on one mandril and the left-hand
spiral or spirals on another mandril. In case removable pins or guides
are employed the one spiral or set of spirals may be formed upon the
other spiral or set of spirals without removing the same from the
mandril. In some cases, or if preferred, the two spirals or sets of spirals
may be interwoven.
We prefer to make the said poles or posts of a circular form in cross
section, but the form of the said cross section may be varied. The said
poles or posts may be cylindrical or of equal diameter throughout, or
may be tapered, the mandril or mandrils being suitably formed to
correspond to the intended form of the said poles or posts. The said
poles or posts may be bolted or otherwise fixed to bases formed of cast
iron or other suitable material, and may be fitted with caps or capitals
of any suitable form and material.
When employed for telegraphic purposes the cross bars which carry.
the insulators may be suitably formed to fit in the diamond-shaped-
spaces between the convolutions of the two spirals or sets of spirals,
one end of each cross bar being passed through the post from one side
to the other. The said cross bars may be so tightly fitted in the said -
spaces as not to require the use of supplementary fastenings, or wedges,*
or other means of fastening may be employed.
2
Posts constructed as aforesaid possess the important advantage of
opposing a comparatively small surface to the action of winds.
In addition to the application of this part of our Invention herein-
before mentioned it may to some extent be employed in the construction
of ships' masts and yards, of pillars or columns: used in horticultural or
other buildings or erections, of scaffolding or other poles, of lamp-posts,
and of other bodies of a similar nature and description.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Bristow Lee and Simon Alfred Rogers in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th December 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ROBERT
BRISTOW LEE, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Iron Fence
Manufacturer, and SIMON ALFRED ROGERS, of the same place, Dentist,
3 send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Robert Bristow Lee and Simon Alfred
Rogers, Her special license, that we, the said Robert Bristow Lee and
Simon Alfred Rogers, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Robert Bristow Lee and Simon Alfred Rogers,
our 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 METAL PILLARS, POSTS, MASTS, OR POLES FOR TELEGRAPHIC AND OTHER PURPOSES,
AND IN THE METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME," upon the. condition,
amongst others, that we, the said Robert Bristow Lee and Šimon Alfred
Rogers, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of our 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 we, the said Robert Bristow Lee and Simon
Alfred Rogers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement and accompanying
Drawings, that is to say :-
Our Invention relates, in the first place, to the poles employed to
sustain telegraphic wires and to gate and fencing posts, and is also
applicable in many other cases wherein it is desirable to combine
strength with lightness and with economy of material, as will be herein-
after indicated.
We form the said poles or posts of two or more bars, rods, or strips of
wrought iron or steel, or of two or more sets of such bars, rods, or strips,
and we bend them into a spiral form, the said bars, rods, or strips or sets
of bars, rods, or strips being bent in different directions, that is to say, one
bar, rod, or strip, or set is bent into a right-hand spiral, and the other
bar, rod, or strip, or set is bent into a left-hand spiral, so that when the

page_text: one spiral is superimposed on or formed on or with the other spiral, the
convolutions of the said spirals will intersect each other at a number of
points. The said spirals are connected together at the said points of
intersection by means of rivets, or by other suitable means.
The methods of forming the said spirals may be varied, but we prefer
to form them on a mandril, in or on which are formed right-hand and
left-hand spiral grooves, one groove or one set of grooves being by
preference deeper than the other groove or set to the extent of about the
thickness of the aforesaid bar, rod, or strip; or in lieu of the said grooves
the said mandril may be formed with guides, or may be fitted with
movable pins or guides. The said spirals or sets of spirals are formed
on the said mandril, and are punched or drilled at the points which will
intersect and are riveted together at the points of intersection. Two or
more lengths which have been formed on one mandril or have been
formed on two or more mandrils may be connected together, so as to
form a continuous pole or post or other body herein after indicated, or
may be so suitably formed and prepared as that they may be bolted,
riveted, or connected together at any time when required to form a pole,
post, or other body. In place of both spirals or sets of spirals being
formed on one mandril the right-hand spiral or spirals may be formed
on one mandril, and the left-hand spiral or spirals on another mandril.
The mandril may be so formed and arranged as that the one spiral or
set of spirals may be formed upon the other spiral or set of spirals
without removing the same from the mandril. In some cases, or if
preferred, the two spirals or sets of spirals may be interwoven, the
riveting being dispensed with if desirable.
We prefer to make the said poles or posts of a circular form in cross
section, but the form of the said cross section may be varied. The said
poles or posts may be cylindrical or of equal diameter throughout, or may
be of a tapering form, the mandril or mandrils being suitably formed to
correspond to the intended form of the said poles or posts. The said
poles or posts may be bolted or otherwise fixed to bases formed of cast
iron or other suitable material, and may be fitted with caps or capitals of
any suitable form and material.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood we will in
this place refer to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings illustrative of
the manner in which we carry the said Invention into practical effect.

page_text: section e having been removed the remaining sections may be readily
withdrawn. The spirals are now to be riveted together at the points of
intersection so as to present the appearance as indicated by Fig. 3. A
solid mandril may be passed gradually through the interior of the partly
formed pole or post as the rivets are placed in position. In case
additional stiffness is required a bar or two or more bars of “ angle-
iron," or "tee iron," or of iron of any other suitable section may be
riveted or secured to the inside or the outside of the pole, post, or
column. We have found the addition of two straight bars of angle iron
riveted to the pole, post, or column at the points of intersection to
be advantageous in most cases, as it enables us to use iron of a lighter
section for the spirals.
Figs. 4 and 5 represent another form of mandril. In this example
the aforesaid grooves are formed in four sections d, d, which are fitted
into recesses formed in the blocks, one of which is shewn at f¹, it being
understood that a number of the said blocks are employed suitable to the
length of the mandril, the Figure representing only a small portion of a
complete mandril. The said sections are capable of being moved towards
or from the central bar g by turning the screws m, m, which work in the
blocks f¹. The grooves in or on the said sections are arranged so that
the spirals intersect each other opposite to the open spaces between
the said sections, so that after the bars have been wound or bent around
or on the mandril, as aforesaid, and the holes for the rivets have been
formed, rivets and riveting tools may be introduced through the said
spaces. The spirals can thus be readily riveted together at a number
of points before being removed from the mandril, or be entirely riveted
together, as preferred. The screws m, m, are then to be turned in the
direction which will depress the sections into the recesses in the blocks f¹
until the mandril can be withdrawn from out of the completed or
partly completed pole, post, or column. In the Figs. illustrative of the
mandrils the spiral grooves for the sake of distinctness are represented
as being all of one depth, but we should prefer that one set, say, for
example, the left-hand grooves should be deeper than the other set as
herein-before mentioned, as we believe that this arrangement tends to
form the finished post to a truer circular shape in cross section.
We have hitherto described more particularly the method we have
adopted when carrying our Invention into practical effect, but the said

page_text: method may be greatly varied, as, for example, the mandril may be formed
with less or more than four right-hand and four left-hand grooves, or
the said mandril may be fitted with removable plates, pins, or guides,
so formed and arranged as to guide the bars into the required spiral
form on the mandril, the said plates, pins, or guides being removed when
the mandril is to be withdrawn. In such a case the body of the mandril
may be formed in one piece instead of in sections. Also, if preferred,
or found to be advantageous the right and left-hand spirals, after being
formed either on the same mandril or on separate and distinct mandrils,
may be entirely riveted together after removal from the said mandrils.
The remaining Figures illustrate the principal applications of our Inven-
tion, Fig. 6 representing a telegraph post complete. The said post is
fixed to a cast-iron base plate i and is stayed thereto by the angle or tee
iron bars k, k, but this arrangement may be varied as desired. The
insulators 1, 1, are carried by a metal frame which is formed to "slip"
on the upper part of the post. The form and method of construction
of the said frame may be varied to suit varying requirements, or in
lieu of the metal frame bars of wood may be passed or driven into the
diamond shaped spaces between the spiral bars as mentioned in our
Provisional Specification, but we have considered the metal frame to
be more suitable. Fig. 7 represents a large post which is adapted to
act also as a lamp-post, and is suitable to be used on highways. An
angle iron bar or one of two angle-iron bars n is in this example
represented as being employed to add to the stiffness of the post. An
important advantage possessed by the telegraph posts constructed as
herein-before set forth is that they oppose very little resistance to
strong winds, besides which they are handsome in appearance.
Figure 8 represents a gate post, and Figs. 9 and 10 represent columns
for supporting verandahs or horticultural buildings, the shafts of the
said columns being formed as herein-before set forth. For greater
clearness the said columns are represented as being formed without the
means herein-before indicated for imparting additional stiffness, but it
will be understood that such means will be employed wherever necessary
or desirable.
In addition to the examples illustrated our Invention is applicable or a
may be found to be applicable to various other uses, as, for example,

page_text: Having now my
and means for carrying the same into practical effect we would state,
in conclusion, that we desire it to be understood that we claim the
method of forming and constructing poles, posts, masts, or columns
substantially as and for the purposes herein described, set forth, and
indicated.
In witness whereof, we, the said Robert Bristow Lee and Simon
Alfred Rogers, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this
Fourteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Signed and sealed by the said
Robert Bristow Lee and
Simon Alfred Rogers, in
the presence of
EDWARD K. DUTTON,
Agent for the Patentees,
3, Smithy Door,
ROBT. BRISTOW LEE. (L.S.)
8. ALFRED ROGERS.
Manchester.
(L.S.)