A NEW METHOD OF SUPPORTING AND CARRYING TELEGRAPH WIRES, ROPES, AND CABLES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James John Field, of Paddington, in the County of
Middlesex, Chemist, for the Invention of "A NEW METHOD OF SUPPORTING
AND CARRYING TELEGRAPH WIRES, ROPES, AND CABLES."
Sealed the 11th January 1859, and dated the 13th July 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James John Field at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th July 1858. .
I, JAMES JOHN FIELD, of Paddington, in the County of Middlesex, Chemist,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW METHOD OF
SUPPORTING AND CARRYING TELEGRAPH WIRES, ROPES, AND CABLES," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists in supporting telegraph wires, ropes, and cables in
the air by means of balloons or vessels containing light gaseous fluids. These
vessels may also be employed for carrying the wires, ropes, and cables.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James John Field in the Great Seal Patent Office, on
the 18th January 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES JOHN
FIELD, of Paddington, in the County of Middlesex, Chemist, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James John Field, Her special licence that I, the said James John
Field, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
James John Field, 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 "A NEW
METHOD OF SUPPORTING AND CARRYING TELEGRAPH WIRES, ROPES, AND CABLES,'
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James John Field, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, 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 James John Field, 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 :-
My Invention consists in supporting telegraph wires, ropes, and cables in
the air by means of balloons or vessels containing light gaseous fluids. These
vessels may also be employed for carrying the wires, ropes, and cables.
In consequence of the greater lightness of certain gases over atmospheric
air, I am enabled to render such gases available for supporting telegraphic
wires, ropes, cables, or any other such media as are or may be used for
electro-telegraphic communication.
In establishing this aerial telegraph, I take a conductor of considerably
greater length than the distance between the terminal stations, and, if this
distance be short, attach the ends of the conductor to the stations, and then
buoy up and permanently float the intermediate portion at a convenient distance
from the surface of the earth by attaching to it one or more balloon bags or
other suitable apparatuses, and subsequently inflating such balloon bags with
a suitable gas, and allowing them to ascend, bearing the conductor with them;
where the distance is greater, I fasten the conductor to one station only, &
attach and inflate the balloons, &c. as I recede towards the other station.. By

page_text: this method of support electric communication may be established over oceans,
seas, lakes, &c. without employing a heavy and costly cable, one wire being
in some cases sufficient, or a number of wires may be raised at the same time
and supported by one series of balloon bags, each wire being a distinct con-
ductor, & the whole several telegraphs established at one operation.
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 the employment
of gases of greater lightness than atmospheric air enclosed in proper receptacles
for supporting electric telegraph wires, ropes, and cables.
In witness whereof, I, the said James John Field, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of January, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-nine.
JAMES JOHN FIELD. (L.S.)