IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF INSULATED WIRE AND CABLES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Edward Dering, of Lockleys, in the County
of Hertford, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS,
AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF INSULATED WIRE AND CABLES."
Sealed the 4th May 1858, and dated the 5th January 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Edward Dering
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th January 1858.
I, GEORGE EDWARD DERING, of Lockleys, in the County of Hertford, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC
TELEGRAPHS, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF INSULATED WIRE AND CABLES," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists; first, in a new method of communicating intelligence
by electricity; for which purpose I employ, at the transmitting and receiving
stations, synchronous pendulums or balance wheels, which at the transmitting
station are caused by means of finger-keys or otherwise, to complete, or break,
or modify an electric circuit; this effect being produced at pleasure at any
period of the oscillation. The pendulum or balance wheel at the receiving
station bas in connexion with it arrangements which record a letter or other
symbol upon the electric influence reaching it from the distant station, but a
different symbol according to the period of its oscillation at which the effect
occurs; thus a variety of signals may be produced. The manner of carrying
out these principles may be greatly varied; perhaps the most simple plan

page_text: consists in attaching to a pendulum at the transmitting station a conducting
spring, placed in permanent connexion, through the pendulum's support, with
one pole of a battery or other generator of electricity, the other pole of which
is in permanent connexion with the earth, and pressing in the course of its
to-and-fro movement successively upon twenty-six or more separate conductors
in connexion with the same number of finger keys; on pressing down any one
key it touches a conductor in permanent connexion with the line wire. A
pendulum at the receiving station carries upon springs a series of printing
types, corresponding in number with the finger keys, and as the pendulum
oscillates it carries the types in succession between a hammer in connexion
with the armature of an electro-magnet and the surface of a strip of paper;
the ends of the coil of the electro-magnet are in permanent connexion respec-
tively with the line wire and the earth; and thus when a key is pressed down
at the transmitting station, a current will circulate through the line wire and
the earth and the coil of the electro-magnet at the receiving station, making it
magnetic for the moment; thus causing the hammer to strike upon the paper
the type corresponding with the key touched at the distant station. Suitable
inking. arrangements are provided, and the paper is advanced a step by the
return movement of the armature of the electro-magnet, thus presenting a
fresh surface for the next time.
Another modification of the system consists in employing in connexion with
the receiving pendulum a conducting pressing spring and a series of con-
ductors, exactly the same as at the transmitting station, the spring being in
permanent connexion through the pendulum's support with the line wire, and
the conductors through a corresponding number of separate electro-magnets,
with the earth, these electro-magnets being individually excited impress
different types upon paper, and thus letters are printed corresponding to the
key touched at the distant station. Instead of the actual printing and move-
ment of the paper, etc., being performed by the current from the transmitting
station, local batteries may be employed in the usual manner, both in this
arrangement and that first described, and in some cases I cause the pendulum
at the transmitting station to close or open, or otherwise modify the circuit of
a galvanic battery and a primary inductive coil, its secondary coil- being in.
connection with the line wire, and various other modifications of the system
may be adapted.
The next part of my Invention consists in a new telegraphic instrument
for showing or indicating to the eye, or printing, letters or other characters or
symbols; it belongs to the class known as step-by-step instruments, but differs
from others of. its class in some important particulars. The principles admit

page_text: of considerable variations in the mode of carrying out. They may be adapted
for the employment of one line wire or of two or more simultaneously with
proportionate advantage at the speed of communication. The following
arrangement, which requires only a single line wire, is, I believe, one of the
best for general use:-An axis, carrying a pointer or letter disc and a type
wheel has imparted to it by clockwork a tendency to rotate. This rotation is.
regulated by pallets acting upon escapement wheels, carried by and moving
with the axis; and in this escapement arrangement chiefly consist the novelty
and superiority of the instrument. The pallets are worked by separate
electro-magnets, one or other of which, according to the direction of the
current, is brought into action by "relays" constructed to operate differently
for the two directions of the current, as is well understood. The construction
and action of the escapement will be better understood if it be borne in mind
that its purpose is to enable as many as thirty different positions to be given
to the type wheel or letter indicator without requiring more than four trans-
missions of the current for any single position, to produce in fact a different.
mechanical effect for each of such signals as are given by "single needle":
telegraph instruments. To effect this object" the axis is made to carry five
separate escapement wheels, and the thirty teeth or stops for the thirty
different positions required of the axis, besides the zero are distributed over
the five escapement wheels in a peculiar order, which may be considerably
varied, one condition, however, being that no two teeth shall coincide upon.
any two of the wheels. The current, when sent in one direction from the
transmitting station, always acts upon the same escapement wheel, which may
be called a; but an arrangement is provided by which the current in the
opposite direction is caused to act upon a particular one of the other escape-
ment wheels b, c, d, or e, according to whether the wheel a has previously
during the same signal been acted on not at all, or once, or twice, or thrice...
The special arrangement for transferring the escapement action successively
from one to another of the escapement wheels may be greatly varied. Four'
separate pallets and electro-magnets may be employed, a different one of these
electro-magnets being brought into circuit, and ready to act by successive
mechanical movements produced by that current, which always operates upon.
the same escapement wheel, or a single pallet may be thus brought to
different positions, in each of which it will act upon a different one of the
escapement wheels. There is fixed upon the same axis a sixth escapement.
wheel with thirty-one. teeth, and a separate pallet acts upon it after each
action of the other pallets to retain the whole in its then position, when the
current is withdrawn from the electro-magnets, and their pallets consequently

page_text: <<
cease to hold it. The restoration of the whole to zero, and of the shifting
escapement movement to its first position after each complete signal, and
(when the instrument is used as a recording one) the previous printing of the
letter and movement of the paper, so as to present a fresh surface for the
succeeding one, may be accomplished by any of the ordinary and well under-
stood means for such purposes, regulated by any of the tardily acting
'governors" common in printing telegraphs. The following form of governor,
which I believe to be new, is well adapted for the purpose of delaying the
action of the mechanism which prints the letters, moves the paper, and
permits the movement to zero in this instrument until upon the desired letter.
being brought opposite to the paper there is a pause made in the transmission
of successive currents, admits of two different constructions. The first consists
of a heavy wheel or balanced weight fixed upon an axis moving freely in
bearings, which axis or one in connexion therewith carries a finely divided
ratchet wheel, acted on by a driving pallet, which has a slight degree of force.
imparted to it by a spring or weight,; or otherwise, and thus tends to move
the wheel round upon its axis, and it is. only when it has thus acted
through the whole extent or nearly so of its limited motion that it
comes to a position in which it completes the circuit of a local battery,
or releases a piece of clockwork, or liberates some other force by which
the printing, etc., is performed. Now, an electro-magnet, or its equivalent,
so arranged as to be excited by every, current in either direction that
comes from the distant station or by local currents, thereby brought into
circuit, every time that this occurs, counteracts the slight. force operating
upon the driving pallet and returns it to. its farthest position from that
at which it releases the printing mechanism, etc. When drawn in this
direction it can freely pass the teeth of the ratchet wheel, but it can perform
no extent of motion, or almost none, in the other direction without imparting
motion to the heavy retarding wheel, and being impeded by the inertia of the
wheel it cannot move sufficiently fast to reach the position at which it releases
the printing mechanism, etc., before the arrival of the succeeding current,
which returns it again to its starting point, and this occurs again and again,
until at the end of the signal there is a pause in the transmission of successive!
currents, when the driving pallet will be permitted to complete its tardy.
movement, and the printing, etc., will be accordingly accomplished. The
other construction of this governor consists in imparting, by clockwork or
otherwise, a slow rotation to a wheel or screw which tends to carry an arm
bearing upon it to a position at which it releases the printing mechanism, ect.,
but which arm is, whenever the electro-magnet acts, taken for the moment

page_text: out of connection with the moving part, and restored by a spring or otherwise
to its starting point. It is obvious that both these forms of governor admit
of considerable modifications, and are applicable to various other purposes in
electro-telegraphy besides the above. Sometimes, both in the above and in
other printing telegraphs, I dispense with governors, and so modify the
mechanism for performing the printing operation, ect. that it may be actuated
by a handle, or key, or pedál worked by the clerk receiving the message, a
local battery or other reserve power being employed if desirable, and means
may be adopted for indicating to the transmitting station when the printing
has been accomplished and the instrument is ready to receive the succeeding
signal, all which arrangements I believe to be new, and applicable with
advantage in certain cases to various other kinds of printing telegraphs.
The next part of my Invention consists of employing, in combination with
the above or other recording telegraphs, imeans for obtaining simultaneously at
the same receiving station two or more copies of the message, by the use of a
corresponding number of recording instruments acting in concert with each
other, and worked by the same local battery power, or by multiplying in
the same instrument such portions. thereof as will afford the additional
copies.
My improvements consist next in certain methods of lessening the difficulties
experienced in telegraphing through long lengths of submarine or subterranean
wires. First, one, or two, or more galvanic batteries or other generators of
electric currents, of any different degrees of force, in any directions, and at
any parts of the line being placed in circuit of the line wire, or between: the
line wire and the earth, signals are given by breaking the continuity of the
main circuit, or by excluding or forming a short circuit of or varying the force
of one or more of the batteries, or by reversing the direction of one or more
of them, but not unless there be one or more batteries in circuit at a distant
place in the same as their ordinary direction, and in some cases by introducing
into the circuit, in either direction, batteries or currents from other sources,
either in lieu of or in addition to one or more of them, but in the latter case
always in the same direction as the nearest battery to where the 'alteration is
made;
if any battery be included in the circuit at a distant place, in the
reverse direction to the near one, and in the former case always in the same
direction as the battery nearest to where the alteration is made, unless one or
more batteries (in either direction) be included in the circuit at some distant
point; all which arrangements may be greatly varied, and the commutators
and receiving instruments are to be adapted to the particular plan in. use.
Secondly, conversely to the above, a telegraphic line being arranged in any of

page_text: the above ways, with the exception that the continuity of the line wire or its
connexion with the earth is at some part incomplete, this being at a different
place from where the battery is situated, if only one be employed in circuit,
signals are given by merely completing the broken connexion, or by intro-
ducing an electric current in either direction and of any suitable force into
circuit at this place. Thirdly, the receiving instrument, when actuated by the
current from the distant station or by a local battery circuit thereby established,
completes a connexion by which a current is sent into the line wire in
opposition to the residual current antagonistic to succeeding signals. Fourthly,
signals are conveyed by employing to complete the circuit of local batteries or
other sources of electricity at a distant station, or to actuate any suitable
recording instrument, mechanical motion produced in any suitable manner by
statical electricity, such as frictional or hydro-electric machines develope, or
by shocks or currents from Leyden batteries or electrical condensers, such as
are sometimes used with induction-coil machines or equivalent arrangements,
the same being by preference kept constantly charged by galvanic batteries
or induction coils acted on by galvanic batteries.
My improvements in insulating wire consist in certain means of preventing
the separation which usually exists between the wire and the covering of
gutta percha or other insulating material, and which separation is highly
detrimental to the insulation, by allowing moisture to spread by capillary
attraction into contact with a considerable amount of surface of the conductor
wherever any defect exists in the insulating covering. For this purpose I
apply to the wire one coating or more of shellac or other suitable varnish or
paint previous to the application of the main body of insulating matter, in
some cases allowing drying time, and in others not; or, before applying the
insulating covering, I heat the wire in some cases previously varnished or
otherwise coated, employing by preference a gas flame, so as to cause the
insulating matters to adhere.
My improvements consist, lastly, in the following new constructions of
telegraph cable for submarine use:-First, two..or more wires or strands,
which may be iron, or steel, or other metal, intended to form the resisting
strength of the cable, are insulated from each other by gutta percha or other-
wise, and formed into a bundle or rope, which may be farther insulated and
protected from friction or other injury by any suitable external covering, if
desirable; secondly, both iron and steel wires are employed in the structure of
the same cable, either or both being used as insulated conductors, or in forming
the external covering, or in any other capacity.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed.
by the said George Edward Dering in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 5th July 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
EDWARD DERING, of Lockleys, in the County of Hertford, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of January, in the year of our Lord, One'
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
George Edward Dering, Her special licence, that I, the said George Edward
Dering, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said George Edward Dering, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF INSULATED WIRE
AND CABLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George
Edward Dering, my executors or administrasors, 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 perforined, 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 George Edward Dering, 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 fol-
lowing statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists, in the first place, in a new method of communicating.
intelligence by electricity; for which purpose I employ, at the transmitting and.
receiving stations, synchronous pendulums or balance wheels, which at the
transmitting station are caused by means of finger keys or otherwise to
complete, or break, or modify an electric circuit; this effect being producd at
pleasure at any period of the oscillation. The pendulum or balance wheel at.
the receiving station has in connexion with it arrangements which record a
letter or other symbol upon the electric influence reaching it from the distant
station, but a different symbol, according to the period of its oscillation at
which the effect occurs, and thus a variety of signals may be produced. The:

page_text: manner of carrying out these principles may be greatly varied; perhaps the
most simple plan consists in attaching to a pendulum at the transmitting
station a conducting spring, placed in permanent connexion, through the
pendulum's support, with one pole of a battery or other generator of electricity,
the other pole of which is in permanent connexion with the earth, and pressing
in the course of its to-and-fro movement successively upon twenty-six or more
separate conductors in connexion with the same number of finger keys; on
pressing down any one key it touches a conductor in permanent connexion
with the line wire. A pendulum at the receiving station carries upon springs
a series of printing types, corresponding in number with the finger keys, and
as the pendulum oscillates it carries the types in succession between a
hammer in connexion with the armature of an electro-magnet, and the
surface of a strip of paper; the two ends of the coil of the electro-magnet
are in permanent connexion respectively with the line wire and the earth;
and thus when a key is pressed down at the transmitting station, a current
will circulate through the line wire and the earth and the coil of the electro-
magnet at the receiving station, making it magnetic for the moment; thus
causing the hammer to strike upon the paper the type corresponding with the
key touched at the distant station. Suitable inking arrangements are pro-
vided, and the paper is advanced a step by the return movement of the
armature of the electro-magnet, thus presenting a fresh surface for the next
letter.
Another modification of the system consists in employing in connexion with
the receiving pendulum a conducting pressing spring and a series of con-
ductors, exactly the same as at the transmitting station; the spring being in
permanent connexion through the pendulum's support with the line wire, and
the conductors through the coils of a corresponding number of separate electro-
magnets with the earth. These electro-magnets upon being individually excited
impress different types upon paper, and thus letters are printed corresponding
to the key touched at the distant station. Instead of the printing and move-
ment of the paper, etc., being performed by the actual current from the
transmitting station, local batteries may be employed in the usual manner,
both in this arrangement and that. first described; and in some cases I cause
the pendulum at the transmitting station to close or open, or otherwise modify.
the circuit of a galvanic battery and a primary induction coil, its secondary
coil being in connexion with the line wire; and various other modifications of
the system may be adopted..
The next part of my Invention consists in a new telegraphic instrument for
showing or indicating to the eye, or printing, letters or other characters or

page_text: symbols; it belongs to the class known as step-by-step instruments, but
differs from others of its class in some important particulars. The principles
admit of considerable variations in the mode of carrying out: They may be
adapted for the employment of one-line wire, or of two or more simultaneously
with proportionate advantage in the speed of communication. The following
arrangement, which requires only a single line wire, is, I believe, one of the
best for general use:-An axis, carrying a pointer or letter disc and a type
wheel, has imparted to it by clockwork or otherwise a tendency to rotate.
This rotation is regulated by pallets acting upon escapement wheels carried by
and moving with the axis; and in this escapement arrangement chiefly consists
the novelty and superiority of the instrument. The pallets are worked by
separate electro-magnets, one or other of which, according to the direction of
the current, is brought into action by "relays," constructed to operate
differently for the two directions of the current, as is well understood.
The construction and action of the escapement will be better understood
if it be borne in mind that its purpose is to enable as many as thirty.
different positions to be given to the type-wheel or letter indicator, without
requiring more than four transmissions of the current for any single position;
to produce, in fact, a different mechanical effect for each of such signals as
are given by "single needle" telegraph instruments. To effect this object,
the axis is made to carry five separate escapement wheels, and the thirty
teeth or stops for the thirty different positions required of the axis besides the
zero are distributed over the five escapement wheels in a peculiar order, which
may be considerably varied; one condition, however; being, that no two teeth
shall coincide upon any two of the wheels. The current when sent in one
direction from the transmitting station, always acts upon the same escape-
ment wheel which may be called a; but an arrangement is provided by which
the current in the opposite direction is caused to act upon a particular one
of the other escapement wheels b, c, d, or e, according to whether the wheel
a has previously, during the same signal, been acted on not at all, or once, or
twice, or thrice. The special arrangement for transferring the escapment
action successively from one to another of the escapement 'wheels, may be
greatly varied; four separate pallets and electro-magnets may be employed
a different one of these electro-magnets being brought into circuit and ready
to act, by successive mechanical movements produced by that current which
always operates upon the same escapement wheel; or, a single pallet may be
thus brought to different positions, in each of which it will act upon a different
one of the escapement wheels. There is fixed upon the same axis a sixth
escapement wheel with thirty-one teeth; and a separate pallet acts upon. it

page_text: after each action of the other pallets, to retain the whole in its then position
when the current is withdrawn from the electro-magnets, and their pallets
consequently cease to hold it. The restoration of the whole to zero, and
of the shifting escapement movement to its primary position after each
complete signal, and also (when the instrument is used as a recording one)
the previous printing of the letter and movement of the paper, so as to
present a fresh surface for the succeeding one, may all be accomplished by
any of the ordinary and well understood means for such purposes, regulated
by any of the tardily acting "governors "' common in printing telegraphs.
The following form of governor, which I believe to be new, is well adapted
for use in this instrument, for the purpose of delaying the action of the
mechanism which prints the letters, moves the paper, and permits the move-
ment to zero, until, upon the desired letter being brought opposite to the
paper, there is a pause made in the transmission of successive currents. It
admits of two different constructions: the first consists of a heavy wheel
or balanced weight mounted upon an axis moving freely in bearings; which
axis, or one in connexion therewith, carries a finely divided ratchet-wheel,
acted on by a driving pallet which has a slight degree of force imparted to it
by a spring, or weight, or otherwise, and thus tends to move the wheel round
upon its axis; and it is only when it has thus acted through the whole extent
or nearly so of its limited motion, that it comes to a position in which it
completes the circuit of a local battery, or releases a piece of clockwork, or
liberates some other force, by which the printing, etc. is performed.
Now an electro-magnet or its equivalent, so arranged as to be excited by
every current in either direction that comes from the distant station, or by
local currents thereby brought into circuit, every time that this occurs,
counteracts the slight force operating upon the driving pallet, and returns it
to its furthest position from that at which it releases the printing mechanism,
etc. When drawn in this direction it can freely pass the teeth of the ratchet
wheel; but it can perform no extent of motion, or almost none, in the other
direction, without imparting motion to the heavy retarding wheel; and being
impeded by the inertia of the wheel, it cannot move sufficiently fast to reach
the position at which it releases the printing mechanism, etc., before the
arrival of the succeeding current, which returns it again to its starting point;
and this occurs again and again, until, at the end of the signal, there is a
pause in the transmission of successive currents, when the driving pallet will
be permitted to complete its tardy movement, and the printing, etc., will be
accordingly accomplished. The other construction of this governor consists in
imparting, by clockwork or otherwise, a slow rotation to a wheel or screw,

page_text: which tends to carry an arm bearing upon it to a position at which it releases
the printing mechanism, etc.; but which arm, whenever the electro-magnet
acts, is taken, for the moment, out of connexion with the moving part, and
restored by a spring, or otherwise, to its starting point. It is obvious that
both these forms of governor admit of considerable modifications, and are
applicable to various other purposes in electro-telegraphy besides the above;
and I claim their exclusive use however employed. Sometimes, both in the
above and in other printing telegraphs, I dispense with governors, and so
modify the mechanism for performing the printing operation, etc., that it
may be actuated by a handle, or key, or pedal, worked by the clerk receiving
the message, a local battery or other reserve power being employed if desirable,
and means may be adopted for indicating to the transmitting station when
the printing, etc., has been accomplished, and the instrument is ready to
receive the succeeding signal; all which arrangements I believe to be new,
and applicable with advantage in certain cases to various other kinds of
printing.telegraphs, and I claim their exclusive use.
The next part of my Invention consists in employing in combination with
the above or other recording telegraphs, means for obtaining simultaneously,
at the same receiving station, two or more copies of the message by the use of
a corresponding number of recording instruments acting in concert with each
other, and worked by the same local battery power; or, by multiplying in the
same instrument such portions thereof as will afford the additional copies.
My improvements consist next in certain methods of lessening the difficulties
experienced in telegraphing through long lengths of submarine or subterranean
wires. These arrangements may be employed to assist the working and
increase the speed of telegraphic instruments of almost every description, and
I have thought it unnecessary to describe minutely the manner of their
application to the various forms of instruments, inasmuch as it will be at
once apparent to the practical electrician and telegraphist, and he will have no.
difficulty whatever in selecting from the several methods those best adapted
for the particular system under his charge.
First, one, two, or more galvanic batteries or other generators of electric
currents, of equal or of any different degrees of force, in any directions and
at any parts of the line, being placed in circuit of the line wire, or between
the line wire and the earth, signals are given (1stly) by breaking the continuity
of the main circuit; or (2ndly), by excluding or forming a short circuit of, or
varying the force of one or more of the batteries; or (3rdly), by reversing.
the direction of one or more of them, but not unless there be one or more
batteries in circuit at a distant place in the saine as their ordinary direction;

page_text: or
(4thly), by introducing into the circuit, in either direction, batteries or
currents from other sources, either in lieu of or in addition to, one or more
of them, but, in the latter case always in the same direction as the nearest
battery to where the alteration is made, if any battery be included in the
circuit at a distant place in the reverse direction to the near one'; and in the
former case always in the same direction as the battery nearest to where
the alteration is made, unless one or more batteries (in either direction) be
included in the circuit at some distant point; all which arrangements may
be greatly varied, and the commutators and receiving instruments are to be
adapted to the particular plan in use.
Secondly, conversely to the above; a telegraphic line being arranged in any
of the above ways, with the exception that the continuity of the line wire or
its connexion with the earth is at some part incomplete, this being at a
different place from where the battery is situated, if only one be employed, in
circuit. Signals are given (1stly) by merely completing the broken connexion;
or (2ndly), by introducing. an electric current in either direction and of any
suitable force into circuit at this place.
Thirdly, the receiving instrument, when actuated by the current from the
distant station or by a local battery circuit thereby established, completes a
connexion by which a current is sent into the line wire in opposition to the
residual current antagonistic to succeeding signals.
Fourthly, signals are conveyed by employing, to complete the circuit of
local batteries or other sources of electricity at a distant station, or to actuate
any suitable recording instrument, mechanical motion produced in any suitable
manner (1stly) by statical electricity, such as frictional or hydro-electric
machines develope; or (2ndly), by shocks or currents from Leyden jars or
batteries, or electrical "condensers," such as are sometimes used with induc-
tion-coil machines, or equivalent arrangements, the same being charged from
any source of statical electricity, but by preference by induction coils acted
on by galvanic batteries.
My improvements in insulating wire, consist in certain means of preventing
the separation which usually exists between the wire and the covering of gutta
percha or other insulating material, and which separation is highly detrimental
to the insulation, by allowing moisture to spread by capillary attraction into
contact with a considerable amount of surface of the conductor, wherever any
defect exists in the insulating covering. For this purpose, previously to the
application of the main body of insulating matter, (Istly,) I apply to the wire
one coating or more of shellac or other suitable varnish or paint, in some cases
allowing drying time, and in others not; or (2ndly), I apply to the wire a

page_text: suitable solvent of the insulating matter to be used; or (3rdly), I heat the
wire, in some cases previously varnished, employing any suitable heating
apparatus, so as to cause the insulating matter to adhere.
My improvements consist, lastly, in the following new constructions of
telegraph cable for submarine use:-First, two or more wires or strands of
wire, which may be iron, or steel, or other metal, intended to form the
resisting strength of the cable, are insulated from each other by gutta percha
or otherwise, and formed into a bundle or rope, which may be further insu-
lated and protected from friction or other injury by any suitable external
covering, if desirable; the peculiarity of which arrangement consists in the
combination in one and the same cable of two or more separate conductors
for messages, such conductors affording at the same time the cable's chief
resisting strength; secondly, both iron and steel wires are employed in the
structure of the same cable, in combination with any other suitable materials,
either or both being used as insulated conductors, or in forming the external
covering, or in any other capacity, by which means an important increase
of strength is obtained, without the inconveniences experienced in the handling
and laying down of cables, in the construction of which steel wire alone is
employed.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine
myself to the details which I have given of my Invention, as the mode of
carrying out the same may be greatly varied; but what I claim is, each and
all of the improvements in the construction and working of electric telegraph
instruments, wires, cables, etc. herein described, and all modifications thereof,
whether such improvements be employed singly, or any two or more of them
combined in any manner whatsoever, or any one or more of them combine
in any manner whatsoever with any other systems of electric telegraph, or in
lieu of portions thereof.
In witness whereof, I; the said George Edward Dering, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight-hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
GEORGE E. DERING. (L.S.)