IMPROVEMENTS ON APPLIANCES OR INSTRUMENTS FOR FINDING AND FOR PICKING UP SUBMARINE CABLES AND APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Willcox, of Kingstown,. in the County of
Dublin, Ireland, Commander in. Her Majesty's Navy, and Justice
of the Peace of the Counties of Dublin and Mayo, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS ON APPLIANCES OR INSTRUMENTS FOR FINDING AND
FOR PICKING UP SUBMARINE CABLES AND APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH."
Sealed the 11th January 1870, and dated the 14th July 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Willcox at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th July 1869.
I, ROBERT WILLCOX, of Kingstown, in the County of Dublin, Ireland,
Commander in Her Majesty's Navy, and Justice of the Peace of the
Counties of Dublin and Mayo, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS ON APPLIANCES OR. INSTRUMENTS FOR FINDING
AND FOR PICKING UP SUBMARINE CABLES AND APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH,"
to be as follows:-
The first part of my Invention consists in the employment of improved
appliances or instruments for finding and picking up submarine cables,

page_text: the said appliances or instruments being constructed in the following
manner-The cable finder in its simplest form consists of a metal bar
preferably made of an elongated conical shape and carrying a shackle to
which the hauling line is secured. This shackle is linked to the conical
bar near to the fore or pointed end thereof, and so that the weight of
the fore part of the bar is very much less than that of the back part
when the finder is travelling or being hauled along the bottom of the
sea and the point thereof comes in contact with an obstacle, a rock or
ridge for example. The hauling being continued the rear or heavy portion
of the finder is raised and drawn forward over the obstruction, which
being passed the finder regains its original position. On coming across
the cable the latter passes over the point of the finder and is stopped
between it and the shackle. By raising the hauling rope the cable is lifted
with it and supported thereby between the shackle and the finder until
it is raised to the surface, the great weight at the rear end of the finder
always having a tendency to keep it in a vertical position, and so that
the cable once caught cannot escape therefrom until removed at the
surface.
For some purposes it may be advisable to secure the eable between
the shackle and the finder after being found or caught, for the appliances
before described are in their simplest form of construction. I will now
describe how the shackle may be locked.
According to one arrangement the arms of the towing shackle are
united together just above the finder or at a sufficient distance therefrom
to allow it to hang vertically or nearly so when suspended by the
hauling line. On this cross bar a rod hinged to the fore part of the finder
rests. As the cable is picked up it travels over the hinged rod, and the
finder getting into a vertical position while being lifted the cable is
pressed and held between the shackle and the lever, and the greater the
weight of the cable the more firmly does it press the lever on the cross
bar, rendering the capsizing of the "finder "or the slipping of the cable
as nearly as may be an impossibility.
Another arrangement for locking is by forming teeth on the shackle,
which take into teeth on the finder when brought together by the lifting
rope, but other arrangements for locking the shackle may be used
without departing from my Invention.
According to another arrangement I form the shackle itself of a
U-shape to receive and support the cable as it is raised to the surface.

page_text: In the event of its being considered possible that the finder itself should
turn over during its ascent with a cable, in order to prevent the cable
being lost under such circumstances I provide certain apparatus whereby
the cable once caught cannot be released until. removed by hand when
raised. To accomplish this according to one arrangement I cut a groove
in the finder close to the shackle and into which the cable passes. The
groove is protected by a guard or spur, and when the cable is there a
spring presses against the point of the spur and thereby prevents the
cable getting out, even should the finder become upset or capsized while
ascending. Sometimes the spring is dispensed with; it is only used to
afford very great security.
For a soft or muddy bottom I use a finder and shackle of the form
before described with the addition of a pair of feelers or grapnels attached
to the shackle, so that as the finder proper travels along the surface of
the mud, sand, or other bottom the feelers enter therein and grip or
catch the cable in the event of its being imbedded.
My Invention further consists in the employment of a knife fitted to
the finder and placed, by preference, between the arms of the shackle
and intended to be used for the purpose of cutting a submerged cable,
an enemies' cable for example, as the finder when fitted with a knife as
before described seizes the cable and has motion communicated to it by
the hauling line, so the cable is cut.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Willcox in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 13th January 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
WILLCOX, of Kingstown, in the County of Dublin, Ireland, Commander
in Her Majesty's Navy, and Justice of the Peace of the Counties of
Dublin and Mayo, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Robert Willcox, Her special licence

page_text: that I, the said Robert Willcox, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Willcox, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
ON APPLIANCES OR INSTRUMENTS FOR FINDING AND FOR PICKING UP SUBMARINE
CABLES AND APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Robert Willcox, 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 Scal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately aftor the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, the I, the said Robert Willcox, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings,
and to the letters of reference marked thereon, that is to say:-
The first part of my Invention consists in the employment of improved
appliances or instruments for finding and picking up submarine cables,
the said appliances or instruments being constructed in the following
manner: The cable finder in its simplest form consists of a metal bar
preferably made of an elongated conical shape and carrying a shackle to
which the hauling line is secured. This shackle is linked to the conical
bar near to the fore or pointed end thereof, and so that the weight
of the fore part of the bar is very much less than that of the back part
when the finder is travelling or being hauled along the bottom of the
sea and the point thereof comes in contact with an obstacle, a rock or
ridge for example. The hauling being continued the rear or heavy portion
of the finder is raised and drawn forward over the obstruction, which
being passed the finder regains its original position. On coming across
the cable the latter passes over the point of the finder, and is stopped
between it and the shackle. By raising the hauling rope the cable is
lifted with it and supported thereby between the shackle and the finder
untill it is raised to the surface, the great weight at the rear end of the

page_text: finder always having a tendency to keep it in a vertical position, and so
that the cable once caught cannot escape untill removed therefrom at the
surface.
For some purposes it may be advisable to secure the cable between
the shackle and the finder after being found or caught, for the appliances
before described are in their simplest form of construction. I will now.
describe how the shackle may be locked..
According to one arrangement the arms of the towing shackle arc
united together just above the finder or at a sufficient distance therefrom
to allow it to hang vertically or nearly so when suspended by the hauling
line. On this cross bar a rod hinged to the fore part of the finder rests.
As the cable is picked up it travels over the hinged rod, and the finder
getting into a vertical position while being lifted the cable is pressed
and held between the shackle and the lever, and the greater the weight
of the cable the more firmly does it press the lever on the cross bar,
rendering the capsizing of the "finder" or the slipping of the cable as
nearly as may be an impossibility.
Another arrangement for locking is by forming teeth on the shackle,
which take into teeth on the finder when brought together by the lifting
rope, but other arrangements for locking the shackle may be used
without departing from my Invention.
According to another arrangement I form the shackle itself of a
U-shape to receive and support the cable as it is raised to the surface.
In the event of its being considered possible that the finder itself should
turn over during its ascent with a cable, in order to prevent the cable
being lost under such circumstances I provide certain apparatus whereby
the cable once caught cannot be released untill removed by the hand
when raised. To accomplish this according to one arrangement I cut a
groove in the finder close to the shackle and into which the cable passes.
The groove is protected by a guard or spur, and when the cable is there.
a spring presses against the point of the spur and thereby prevents the
cable getting out, even should the finder become upset or capsized while
ascending. Sometimes the spring is dispensed with; it is only used to
afford very great security.
For a soft muddy bottom I use a finder and shackle of the form before
described with the addition of a pair of feelers or grapnels attached to.
the shackle, so that as the finder proper travels along the surface of the.
soft mud the feelers enter therein and grip or catch the cable in the.

page_text: event of its being embedded. The cable finder in its simplest form, as
described, will however generally answer the purpose, the feelers being
merely added in extreme cases.
My Invention further consists in the employment of a knife fitted to
the finder, and placed, by preference, between the arms of the shackle,
and intended to be used for the purpose of cutting a submerged cable, an
enemies' cable for example, or a cable requiring repair when it is brought
high out of water will not bear the strain, the bight can therefore be cut
and both ends picked up by the cable finder. As the finder when fitted
with a knife, as before described, seizes the cable and has motion
communicated to it by the hauling line, so the cable is cut.
The very great advantage this has over all other contrivances for this
purpose being that it can be towed 12 or 14 knots an hour and is sure
to find, and thus can cover such a vast extent of ground when a cable
is lost in at all an uncertain position, whereas by all other known
instruments the process is slow, and if not slow they jump and hop
along the ground and thus frequently jump over so small an object as a
cable.
Another advantage of this cable finder is that it cannot catch in rocks
or other obstructions, whilst all other instruments can and are also very
liable to break when cleared.
The accompanying Drawings shew various arrangements of cable
finders according to this Invention. Figs. 1 and 2 shew in side view and
plan the simplest form of finder, consisting of the bar a, by preference
conical, as shewn, and the shackle b, one forked end of which is jointed
to the finder bar, while the other has the hauling line attached to it.
When this bar is hauled along the bottom of the sea and its fore point
comes in contact with a serious obstacle, such as a rock or ridge, the
rear or heavy part will be raised up and pass over the obstruction, but
the finder regains its first position on coming across the cable, which
passes over the point p of the finder bar a, along the top of said bar, and
is stopped or caught between the same and the shackle, when it may be
raised to the surface, the heavy rear end of the finder compelling it
during that operation to keep in a vertical position.
Figs. 3 and 4 shew in side view and plan an apparatus of similar
construction to the one just described, the only difference being that the
shackle has an U shaped bight or bend for resting the cable in while
it is being raised. This apparatus is for raising old weak cables when it

page_text: is apprehended that the simple finder might grip too hard and thus cut
the cable before coming to the surface.
Figs. 5 and 6 shew an arrangement in which the shackle is formed
with a stopper against the rear of the finder bar, so as not to open more
(that is, form a larger angle with the fore end of the finder) than thought
requisite.
Fig. 7 shews a cable finder similar to Fig. 1 with the exception of
the finder bar being fitted with a knife or cutter for cutting the cable
when required, the cable sliding up the inclined sharp edge till it reaches
the shackle.
For the purpose of gripping the cable more firmly both the shackle
and the part of the finder bar immediately opposite it may be formed
with teeth, as shewn in Fig. 8.
One way of preventing the cable when once caught from being lost
is illustrated by Fig. 9. The finder bar is here formed with a notch or
groove and a projecting spur m; the cable will naturally find its way
down into this notch, and in doing so may force a spring aside, which
however prevents it from slipping out again. The spring is not shewn
in the Drawing.
Fig. 10 shews a finder with a shackle 6 having a cross bar c between
the two sides of its fork end; the rod d rests on it and is hinged to the
fore part of the finder bar. The outer end of the rod d may be formed
with a hook, as shewn, and it may also be weighted so as to be more
sure in its action. This instrument affords still greater security for
gripping, and it cannot capsize either, as the greater the strain the
stronger the grip.
Fig. 11 shews a finder used for very soft muddy bottom. The
shackle has here on each side a spur or grapnel 6', which should the
cable be embedded would be sure to catch against it and disembed it.
Fig. 12 represents another plan of locking. A is the towing shackle;
B, a solid block of iron moving on the bolt E, and resting on the fixed
bolt D, and kept in position by the spring C; then as the shackle A
presses forward and grips a cable it lifts the block B, slips over it, and
becomes permanently locked, as shewn. The dotted lines shew the
apparatus in unlocked position.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
in which the same may be carried out, I wish it to be understood that

page_text: I do not restrict myself to the exact forms shewn and described; but
what I claim as my Invention is,-
Firstly. The combination of a bar and a shackle, the latter so jointed
or moveably connected to the former that the pointed or conical forward
end of the bar is considerably lighter than the part of it behind the 5
shackle, for the purposes and acting in the manner as described, the
bar being, by preference, a straight cone, as described and shewn.
Secondly. The various combinations and arrangements of said bar
and shackle, or any mere modifications of the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Willcox, have hereunto set 1
my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
THOMAS MAHADY,
Clerk.
ROBERT WILLCOX. (L.S.)