IMPROVE- MENTS IN LAYING SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH CABLES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN LAYING SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH CABLES."-A communication from
abroad by Adolphe Pelegrin and Auguste Garbeiron, both of Paris,
France.
Sealed the 10th November 1863, and dated the 13th May 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald
Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 13th May 1863.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAYING SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH CABLES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists in connecting to the cables, as they leave the vessel
from which they are paid out, buoys fitted as hereafter explained, and which
after a certain time lose their buoying properties, whereby a nearly constant
tension is maintained on the cable. In addition to the buoys, in some cases
heavy weights are attached to cause the cable to descend to the bottom of the
water on which it is being submerged. The buoys are, by preference, in the
form of balloons, of caoutchouc or waterproof cloth, and when not extended
occupy little space in the vessel. These buoys are provided with a tap, in
which there are two ways, one for the admission of air, and the other closed

page_text: by wire gauze for the escape of air; the wire gauze is covered by gum or
other material, which will dissolve after exposure to water, and according to
the nature and thickness of this covering so will the air escape more or less
quickly after the balloons have been submerged. The balloons are attached
to a cord, the lower end of which carries a weight, and as the cable is leaving
the vessel the balloons are attached by throwing or twisting the weighted end
of the cord round it. Instead of balloons, or together with balloons, buoys in
the form of parachutes may be connected to the cables in a similar manner to
the balloons.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 18th November 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight bundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me.
the said Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence that I, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, admini-
strators, 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 LAYING SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH
CABLES," (communicated to me from abroad by Adolphe Pelegrin and
Auguste Garbeiron, both of Paris, France,) upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that 1, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
This Invention consists in connecting to the cables, as they leave the vessel
from which they are paid out, buoys fitted as hereafter explained, and which
after a certain time lose their buoying properties, whereby a nearly constant
tension is maintained on the cable. In addition to the buoys, in some cases
heavy weights are attached to cause the cable to descend to the bottom of the
water in which it is being submerged. The buoys are, by preference, in the
form of balloons, of caoutchouc or waterproof cloth, and when not extended
Occupy little space in the vessel. These buoys are provided with a tap, in
which there are two ways, one for the admission of air, and the other closed
by wire gauze for the escape of air; the wire gauze is covered by gum or
other material, which will dissolve after exposure to water, and according to
the nature and thickness of this covering so will the air escape more or less
quickly after the balloons have been submerged. The balloons are attached
to a cord, the lower end of which carries a weight, and as the cable is leaving
the vessel the balloons are attached by throwing or twisting the weighted end
of the cord round it. Instead of balloons, or together with balloons, buoys in
the form of parachutes may be connected to the cables in a similar manner to
the balloons.
This Invention will be fully understood on reference to the accompanying
Drawings. A, Figure 1, represents a cable with a balloon B connected
thereto by means of a cord C, the lower end of which carries a weight D, and
is twisted round the cable as shewn. The balloon B is provided with a tap E,
represented detached on a larger scale in Figure 4. This tap bas two ways
a, b; the way a is for the admission of air, and the way is closed by
wire gauze covered by gum or other material, which will dissolve after ex-
posure to water, and allow the air to escape. In some cases, in addition to
the buoys I attach heavy weights to the cable, as seen at F, Figure 2, to
cause the cable to descend to the bottom of the water in which it is being
submerged. The weights may be attached by grapnels and chains as shewn,
or otherwise. The balloons when not extended may be rolled up as seen at
Figure 5, and occupy little space in the vessel. In filling them with air I
prefer to employ a gauze of the form represented in Figure 6, in order that
the volume of each may be as near as possible the same Figure 3 represents
a buoy in the form of a parachute connected to the cable.
These parachute

page_text: buoys may be employed alone, or in combination with either balloons or heavy
weights, or both.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as the "Improve-
ments in Laying Submarine Telegraph Cables," connecting to the cables as
they leave the vessel from which they are paid out buoys fitted as herein-
before explained, and which after a certain timo lose their buoying properties,
whereby a nearly constant tension is maintained on the cable.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of November, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
R. A. BROOMAN. (L.S.)