AN IMPROVED COMPOUND FOR COATING OR INSULATING ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH WIRES, AND FOR COATING OTHER SURFACES."
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Willoughby Smith, of 3, Montrose Villas, Pownall
Road, Dalston, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED COMPOUND FOR COATING OR INSULATING ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH WIRES,
AND FOR COATING OTHER SURFACES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Willoughby Smith at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on, the
9th August 1858.
I, WILLOUGHBY SMITH, of 3, Montrose Villas, Pownall Road, Dalston, in
the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"AN IMPROVED COMPOUND FOR COATING OR INSULATING ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH
WIRES, AND FOR COATING OTHER SURFACES," to be as follows:-
The compound consists of about three-fifths, by weight, of gutta percha,
one-fifth of Stockholm tar, and one-fifth of resin, and is prepared by first
mixing in a vessel, by preference heated by steam, the tar and resin, and then
adding the gutta percha.
When the whole is thoroughly incorporated it is applicable for several
useful purposes, such as insulating telegraph wires, lining battery cells, water
cisterns, cases, &c., &c.
I do not confine myself to the exact proportions herein described, but I
combine the gutta percha with tar and resin in such proportions as will give
the mixture a proper consistency for the particular purpose for which it is
intended to be used.

page_text: SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said Willoughby Smith in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 8th March 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLOUGHBY
SMITH, of 3, Montrose Villas, Pownall Road, Dalston, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Willoughby Smith, Her special licence that I, the said
Willoughby Smith, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Willoughby Smith, 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 "AN
IMPROVED COMPOUND FOR COATING OR INSULATING ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH WIRES, AND
FOR COATING OTHER SURFACES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Willoughby Smith, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Willoughby Smith, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
The compound consists of about three-fifths, by weight, of gutta percha,
one-fifth of Stockholm tar, and one-fifth of resin, and is prepared by first
mixing in a vessel, by preference heated by steam, the tar and resin, and
then adding the gutta percha. When the whole is thoroughly incorporated
it is applicable for several useful purposes, such as insulating telegraph wires,
lining battery cells, water cisterns, cases, &c., &c.
I do not confine myself to the exact proportions herein described, but I
combine the gutta percha with tar and resin in such proportions as will give

page_text: the mixture a proper consistency for the particular purpose for which it is
intended to be used.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
The Stockholm or wood tar and about the same weight of resin are put into
a suitable vessel fitted with a jacket or series of pipes, by preference heated
by steam; when hot enough for the resin to be melted the mixture is passed
through a strainer of fine wire gauze into another vessel similarly heated; the
gutta percha having by preference been previously cleansed in the ordinary
way and reduced into thin pieces or shreds is then put into the heated vessel
and mixed with the resin and tar; the second vessel may be furnished with
stirrers driven by hand or other power; when the whole is uniformly mixed it
is ready for use, and may be applied to telegraph wire or other surface
which is to be coated therewith, and the coating so applied may be of greater
or less thickness, according to the object for which it is applied. It should be
stated that the proportions of the materials above mentioned which are
preferred for coating electric telegraph wires, and for the other uses mentioned,
are three parts, by weight, of gutta percha, which is preferred, particularly for
telegraph wires, to be as pure as may be; one part, by weight, of Stockholm
or like tar; one part, by weight, of resin. At the same time I do not confine
myself to the use of these precise proportions, as they may to some extent be
varied. I would remark that although metal or other surfaces coated with the
composition of gutta percha, Stockholm or wood tar and resin, according to
my Invention, may have a further coating of gutta percha or other material
applied thereto, I disclaim any exclusive right to any such further coating;
but what I claim is, the preparation and application of the composition or
combination of gutta percha, Stockholm or wood tar, and resin, herein
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Willoughby Smith, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
WILLY. SMITH. (L.S.)