IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WIRE STRANDS FOR ELECTRICAL PURPOSES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Stirling Newall, of Gateshead, in the County
of Durham, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
WIRE STRANDS FOR ELECTRICAL PURPOSES."
Sealed the 17th July 1857, and dated the 13th May 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Stirling Newall
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th May 1857.
I, ROBERT STIRLING NEWALL, of Gateshead, in the County of Durham, do
hereby declare declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF WIRE STRANDS FOR ELECTRICAL PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to wire strands employed for submarine and other
electrical conductors. Hitherto it has usually been the practice to make such
conductors of single wires, coated with gutta percha or other insulating sub-
stance, or of several wires laid together into a strand or otherwise, and coated
with gutta percha, or otherwise insulated. If the strand, as is frequently the
case, be composed of seven small wires, a large surface in the aggregate is
exposed to the insulating substance. This large surface acts prejudicially
when the wires are insulated and immersed in water, as it increases the
difficulty of getting rid of what is known as "the charge," in proportion to
the surface of the wire exposed to the insulating substance. Now, my Inven-

page_text: tion consists in effacing the irregularities of the external surface of the
strand by reducing it to a cylindrical or other regular form, by drawing the
strand through dies, or by passing it through rollers, or similar apparatus,
or by filling up the interstices with tin or other suitable metal, and reducing
monized dimensions with an uniform surface
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Stirling Newall in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 6th November 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
STIRLING NEWALL, of Gateshead, in the County of Durham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
'did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Robert Stirling Newall, Her special licence that I, the said Robert Stirling
Newall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Robert Stirling Newall, 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF WIRES AND STRANDS FOR ELECTRICAL PURPOSES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Stirling Newall,
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 per-
formed, 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 Robert Stirling Newall, 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
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention relates to wire strands employed for submarine and other
electrical conductors. Hitherto it has been usually the practice to make such
conductors of single wires, coated with gutta percha or other insulating sub

page_text: stance, or of several wires laid together into a strand or otherwise, and coated
with gutta percha, or otherwise insulated. If the strand, as is frequently the
case, be composed of seven small wires, a large surface in the aggregate is
exposed to the insulating substance. This large surface acts prejudicially when
the wires are insulated and immersed in water, as it increases the difficulty of
getting rid of what is known as "the charge," in proportion to the surface of
the wire exposed to the insulating substance. Now, my Invention consists in
effacing the irregularities of the external surface of the strand by reducing
it to a cylindrical or other regular form, by drawing the strand through dies,
or by passing it through rollers, or similar apparatus, or by filling up the
interstices with tin or other suitable metal, and reducing the same to the
required dimensions with an uniform surface. "
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood, and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the way in which I prefer
to conduct the process.
When I employ dies in order to efface the irregularities of the external
surface of a conducting strand, formed by laying together several comparatively
fine wires, I mount the dies at the point of the machine for making the
strands, where the wires unite together in the process of laying them. The
dies employed are made of steel, and are similar to those ordinarily employed
by wire drawers. The operation may be completed by one die, or two dies
may be used, one placed over the other, the first die acting so as partially, and
the second so as more completely to efface the irregularities.
When rollers are employed I mount them as the dies are mounted, namely,
at the point of the strand machine, and the strand to be rendered uniform is
passed through grooves cut in the surfaces of these rollers, such grooves being
of such a size as to reduce the strand to the extent required.
When I employ tin or other suitable metal to fill up the interstices of the
strand, I cause it as it passes from the strand machine to descend into a bath
of the melted metal, there being for this purpose a pulley or bar at the bottom
of the bath, under which the strand passes, and a layer of salammoniac or
other flux is placed on the surface of the metal to facilitate the union of the
strand with the metal in the bath. As the strand passes out of the bath it is
drawn through a ring or die, which scrapes off the superfluous metal, and
afterwards I pass it through another die, so as to reduce slightly the diameter
of the coated strand or wire.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself to
the exact details described; but what I claim is, the effacing the irregularities

page_text: of. wire strands, as herein described, so as to produce wires and strands more
suitable for electrical purposes than those hitherto employed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Stirling Newall, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
JNO. COOK.
R. S. NEWALL. (L.S.)