SUPPORTS FOR TELEPHONE WIRES
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Clayton Mewburn at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 4th August 1883. Communicated to
him from abroad by Oscar Nicolas André of Neuilly France.
JOHN CLAYTON MEWBURN of 169 Fleet Street in the City of London Patent
Agent and Consulting Engineer
SUPPORTS FOR TELEPHONE WIRES
Nicolas André of Neuilly France]
"
"IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH
[communicated to him from abroad by Oscar
This invention has reference to supports for telephone wires. The improved
supports are composed of a straight or bent rod formed with a double cone and
screw threaded at the one end to receive the porcelain or other insulator and at
the other end to receive a nut. One half of the double cone takes into a p'ate of
wrought iron, malleable cast iron or very soft cast iron and a projection or frather
prevents the rod rotating in this plate. This support is fixed to an upright or to &
horizontal cross bar by means of the nut above mentioned; the opening or spaco
between the two parts of the upright is always larger than the rod in order to
prevent lateral contact. This arrangement allows of deadening the vibrations by
interposing soft bodies between the plate and the outer face of the upright and
between the inner face of the upright and the washer of the nut. Suitable
materials for this purpose are cork, lead, india rubber, felt and the like. The nut
being tight the sonorous vibrations are absorbed in the interposed non-vibrating
bodies and the usual humming noise is considerably diminished. The mode of
attachment above described is of great advantage when applied to uprights or
cross bars composed of twin irons with a clear opening between then which allows
of insulators being added or varied at will.
the
I construct the "horses" or "herses," that is to say arrangements of uprights
and cross bars of a set of twin cross bars each capable of receiving several supports
for the wires and connected in the same vertical plaue by uprights which support
them. The twin or compound cross bars are composed of two parallel ☐ irons
about / of an inch apart; they are riveted, bolted or screwed. Notches formed
both in the irons of the posts or uprights and in the 1 irons of the cross
bars form a double connection to keep then square. Notches or holes may be
made in the uprights below the cross bars to allow of fresh bars being added when
more insulators are required. To make this addition, the two pieces of the cross
bar are inserted successively between the uprights, the notches are made to coincide

page_text: and fit together, the ties or stays are introduced and then the bolts are put
in place.
holes for screws or both.
The uprights and the "herses" should be bedded in masonry or screwed to
wood. End pieces support the uprights and the horses have either a dovetail or
The end pieces will be of flat iron or of square iron
according to the space between the two ☐ irons, but there will always be
formed in them main rectangular planes passing through the axis of the upright.
In special cases where it is necessary to be able to vary the direction at will, the
end piece would be formed of flat iron placed between the two L Jirons and
terminated by a bolt passing through a hola formed for the purpose. The upright
should be secured at as high a point as possib'e by a staple or strap.
When a "herse" or an upright is of great height it is necessary to secure it by
guys or shrouds so that it may be able to resist the different actions to which it is
subject. I employ rigid guys or shrouds capable of resisting compression and
strain or traction. The rigid guy may be made of an iron tube having at each end
an internally threaded collar, the one collar having a right hand and the other a
left hand thread. Through these collars passes a rod with corresponding right and
left hand threads and having a ring at each end. The ring at the lower end
engages in an eye carried by a plate f..rmed with holes and firmly cemented or
screwed to a proper support; the ring at the upper end engages in an eye on a bolt
which is connected to the upright. The guy having been put in place is adjusted
by means of a key or similar device. In a modified form, only one end is threaded
the other end being free 10 rotate in a jointed piece.
The uprights formed of iron as before described are also specially
applicable to the-construction of compound turret-like supports at telephone
stations. At these places a large number of wires converge and it is necessary.to
be able to place or remove them separately without difficulty. One way in which
1. construct these station supports is as follows:-I make the uprights of twin
irons capable of containing a number of wires equal to the number of insulators
fixed to the uprights, say for 12 wires, and a height of 10 feet irons of
about 1 inches, each capable of containing 6 wires in two layers of 3 each. These
wires should be held so that one can be very easily removed or replaced. For this
purpose I slightly modify the back washer of the insulator supports; this plate is
provided with two lugs having holes in which turns a rod a little shorter than the
sum of the thicknesses of the two ☐ irons plus the distance between them; to
each end of this rod is keyed an arm one of the arms forming an angle with the
other of about 90° so that by alternating the arrangement of the arms at oach
support the wires are retained by one arm while the other arm bears against the
upright and arts as a stop.
lu the installation of a system the turret support would have wires on only one
side and it is therefore important to give it absolute rigidity. With this view I
make the uprights as already described for the "herses" and connect them at
intervals by two (_) irons curved in the form of felloes. The edges of these
irons are notched and the connecting bolt is passed into the opening of the
upright.