IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CONDUCTORS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Statham, of Islington, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC
TELEGRAPH CONDUCTORS."
Scaled the 1st July 1856, and dated the 26th January 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Statham at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th January 1856.
I, SAMUEL STATHAM, of Islington, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CONDUCTORS" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in forming a metal conductor, which will extend or
stretch not only in the manner and to the extent. of an ordinary wire or
strand, but whose greater extension is due to the manner in which it.is
constructed.
I form my conductor of a hollow strand or cord of metal wires laid spirally
by any suitable machine, or of wires formed into a hollow tube by a braiding
or other machine, and in either case with or without a core of gutta percha,
caoutchouc, or other elastic material; or with a core of wire weaker than the
wires employed to make the tube, so that in the event of any strain the core
wire may be the first to yield. I employ copper, iron, or any other suitable
wires, and form my hollow conductor of a diameter proportionate to the extent

page_text: to which it may be desired to be stretched, and I lay the wires more or less
loosely, according to circumstances. Or I form my tubes of threads of india-
rubber, or gutta percha, or their compounds, combined with metal wires,
whereby I obtain great extensibility with less weight than if metal wires alone
are used. Or, instead of a tubular conductor, I employ a plaited or braided
band, made up loosely to allow of its stretching, formed entirely of metal
wires, or of metal wires and threads of india-rubber, gutta percha, or their.
compounds.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Statham in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd July 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
STATHAM, of Islington, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Samuel Statham, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel Statham,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Samuel Statham, 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 terin 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
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CONDUCTORS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Samuel Statham, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 Samuel Statham, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say-

page_text: My Invention consists in forming a metal conductor, which will extend or
stretch not only in the manner and to the extent of an ordinary wire or strand,
but whose greater extension is due to the manner in which it is constructed.
I form my improved conductor of a hollow strand or cord of metal wires
laid spirally by any suitable machine, or of wires formed into a hollow tube
by a braiding or other machine, and in either case with or without a core of
gutta perchá, caoutchouc, or other elastic material. I employ copper, iron, or
any other suitable wires, and form my hollow conductor of a diameter propor-
tionate to the extent to which it may be required to be stretched, and I lay
the wires more or less loosely according to circumstances.
One mode in which I make my hollow conductors is by laying. a number
of wires spirally round a mandril, which may be slightly tapered if required,
and from which the hollow cord is drawn off by any suitable means. The
size of the mandril, the size and number of the wires, and the length of lay,
regulate the amount of extension which the conductor when made will admit
of. Or, instead of a tubular conductor, I employ a plaited or braided band,
made up loosely of metal wires and threads of india-rubber, gutta percha, or
their compounds.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, the constructing of electric telegraph conductors of hollow tubes
formed of wires, in the manner and for the purpose herein-before stated.
And, second, the constructing of electric telegraph conductors of bands
plaited or braided in combination with gutta percha or india-rubber, or their
compounds, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Statham, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of July, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-six.
SAMUEL STATHAM. (L.s.)