IMPROVEMENTS IN INSULATING TELEGRAPH WIRES, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Joseph Rogers at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 19th
December 1870.
I, JOSEPH ROGERS, of Islington, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN INSULATING
TELEGRAPH WIRES, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED
THEREIN," to be as follows:-
:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in insulating telegraph
wires for submarine, subterranean, or overland purposes, and in the
machinery or apparatus whereby such improvements are effected.
In order to insulate a single wire conductor, or a strand of wires, I
coil such wire or strand around a drum or reel set in standards, and
controlled by a friction break, and I arrange in suitable bearings a series
of bobbins containing yarns or threads of fibrous material, in such
manner as to surround the wire or strand as it is drawn from the reel
or drum, each bobbin being checked by a friction break. The wire
or strand is then drawn together the fibrous materials through a
trough constructed in sections or divisions, the first of which contains
heated air, the second forming a cauldron of insulating material or

page_text: compound, and the others being constructed to repeat the process as
may be required. Now, the passage of the wire and fibres through the
hot air chamber serves effectually to remove all moisture from the
surface of the wire and to heat the metal; it also desiccates the fibre,
thus rendering both more capable of taking up the insulating compound,
and entirely avoiding the generation of air cells between the conductor
and the insulator. In the division between the air chamber and
cauldron, which division consists of a sliding plate set in channels or
grooves, I form a central aperture for the passage of the wire, and a
series of concentric apertures for the fibres to pass into the cauldron,
within which I set one or more perforated discs which revolve within a
frame, and through which the fibres pass. Consequently the wires and
fibres first become separately charged or coated with insulating material,
and then the fibres so coated are twisted or coiled around the wire, after
which the whole is passed through a trumpet mouthed tube in order to
compress the mass, still allowing free and sufficient space between the
wire and fibre to ensure the wire being completely insulated.
To further insulate the conductor I employ a second series of bobbins
and fibres, and draw the insulated wire from the cauldron within their
range and through a disc and second trumpet tube of increased
dimensions, all being subjected to the influence of insulating material
in the trough, and this process may be repeated as often as desired,
according to the purpose of the conductor whether for deep sea or land
purposes. The trough may therefore be of any length required, and
subdivided accordingly into chambers by means of adjustable slides.
The trough is encased by a jacket, into and through which steam is
admitted in order to heat the air chamber, and to maintain the solvent
condition of the insulating materials, which may consist of gutta percha,
india-rubber, or any of their compounds, or of any other insulating
medium, to which I lay no claim, but I prefer to use the compound
patented by me under date April 23rd, 1868, No. 1336. The conductor
is ultimately drawn out through a die, and dusted over with chalk,
silicate, or other earthy dust, for the purpose of avoiding stickiness or
tack, and it may be passed through a water chamber for the same
object, and finally wound on a drum for use.
I also propose to lay together a number of such insulated conductors
in the form of a rope, and to pass them through a cauldron of the heated
compound, previous to the application of a special binding of yarns or

page_text: strips of fibrous materials, and to again saturate the entire mass by
finally passing it through a cauldron, and to dust it over as described.
It will thus be observed that the process is continuous, whatever may
be the ultimate dimension of the cable. For land purposes, a single
insulation may be sufficient and the conductor may be at once withdrawn,
but for deep sea cables the process may be repeated by successive opera-
tions in one and the same trough.
The apparatus is very simple in construction, the trough should be
made of galvanized iron supported on standards, and secured by rivets,
bolts, or screws, and nuts.
In order to insulate a number or series of wires by one process, I pro-
pose to lay them between two cloths or fabrics by the following means :-
I mount between two discs a cloth of the desired width, one above the
other, with friction breaks attached. I then coil as many conducting
wires as may be necessary on separate reels or on one large drum, with
friction pullies attached; the wire and fabrics are then passed through
a frame containing upper and lower slots for the passage of the cloth,
and also containing apertures for the wires, so that the two are passed
through the heated chamber, and thence by corresponding inlets to the
cauldron, where the cloth and wires become coated; in the centre of
the cauldron I fix a frame for the purpose of expanding the cloth from
the wires, and at the end of the cauldron I place a die of the exact
width and breadth that may be required for the final passage of the
cloth and wires (after insulation), whence they are drawn off by rollers
and dusted over as described. In this process also the cloth may receive
extra layers on the same principle adopted in insulating single strands
and fibres, and several series of wires so insulated by bands or strips
may be placed together to form a number of independent conductors.