IMPROVEMENTS IN TELEGRAPH INSULATORS
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Herbert John Allison, of the firm of Allison Brothers,
Patent Agents, of Southampton Buildings, London, for an Invention ▸
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TELEGRAPH INSULATORS " communicated to him from
abroad by Charles Chancy Hinsdale, of Cleveland, Ohio, United States of
Amaxine
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Herbert John Allison at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th October 1883.
HERBERT JOHN ALLISON, of the firm of Allison Brothers, Patent Agents, of
Southampton Buildings, London, "IMPROVEMENTS IN TELEGRAPH INSULATORS
a communication to me from abroad by Charles Chancy Hinsdale, of Cleveland,
Ohio, United States of America,
"
The nature of said invention relates to that class of telegraph insulators usually
made of glass, for supporting lines ordinarily above ground and connected with
poles and buildings.
The said insulator for this purpose is made of paper pulp, or. pulp composed of
vegetable fibre and formed into the desired shape by moulding and compressing the
said pulp by mechanical means or otherwise, whereby the said article is shaped for
use, and which may be employed in place of, and in the same relation with
telegraph lines as the ordinary glass or porcelain insulators. In order to give
solidity, strength and density to the paper insulator and to render the same
impervious to the dissolving action of moisture and the disintegrating influence
of climate and weather, I combine with the pulp of which to make the insulator,
liquid silica or silicon, and with or without mineral cement. These ingredients
or their equivalents, however, are secondary agents and do not constitute the
essential feature of my invention, which consists in making the insulator of pulp
composed of any suitable material and preferably combined therewith, the above
specified ingredients or their equivalents, making a new article of manufacture.
I do not confine myself to any one particular shape of insulator.

page_text: A screw thread may be formed in the insulator by means of a mandrel with a
thread, which can be screwed into the pulp in the mould, whereby a female thread
is formed in the insulator for securing it in position on a holder. Or the insulator
and holder may be made in one piece by compressing the pulp in a suitable mould.
Or the insulator may be connected to an ordinary holder in the usual way.
The insulator may have applied to its external surface, a coating of any suitable
material to protect it from the disintegrating influence of climate and weather,
without departing from the nature of my invention, the essential feature of which
consists in making the insulators of paper pulp or pulp composed of vegetable
fibre.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Herbert John Allison in the Patent Office on the 2nd January
1884.
HERBERT JOHN ALLISON, of the firm of Allison Brothers, Patent Agents, of
Southampton Buildings, London, "IMPROVEMENTS IN TELEGRAPH INSULATORS,"
a communication to me from abroad by Charles Chancy Hinsdale, of Cleveland,
Ohio, United States of America,
The nature of said invention relates to that class of telegrap insulators usually
made of glass, for supporting lines ordinarily above ground and connected with
poles and buildings.
The said insulator for this purpose is made of paper pulp, or pulp composed of
vegetable fibre and formed into the desired shape by moulding and compressing
the said pulp by mechanical means or otherwise, whereby the said article is shaped
for use, and which may be employed in place of, and in the same relation with
telegraph lines as the ordinary glass or porcelain insulators. In order to give
solidity, strength and density to the paper insulator and to render the same
impervious to the dissolving action of moisture and the disintegrating influence
of climate and weather, I combine with the pulp of which to make the insulator,
liquid silica or silicon, and with or without mineral cement. These ingredients or
their equivalents, however, are secondary agents and do not constitute the essential
feature of my invention, which consists in making the insulator of pulp composed
of any suitable material and preferably combined therewith, the above specified
ingredients or their equivalents, making a new article of manufacture.
I do not confine myself to any one particular shape of the insulator, but such as
is shown in the drawings is of an approved form, in which :-
Fig. 1. represents an external side view of a telegraph insulator composed of
paper pulp, as above specified, and shown as attached to a stem or holder for fixing
the insulator in place.
Fig. 2. is a transverse vertical section of the insulator having attached thereto
the stem or holder, alluded to. Fig. 3. is a transverse vertical section of an
insulator and stem, showing the insulator and stem as being in one piece. Like
letters of reference refer to corresponding parts in the figures.
The preparation of the pulp of which to make the insulator, and casting or
moulding it into shape are as follows:-The pulp material is reduced to about the
consistency of ordinary flour paste, having mixed therewith the ingredients above
specified. Into a foraminous mould of the desired shape for an insulator, the said
prepared pulp is forced preferably by hydrostatic pressure. For that purpose is
employed an bydrostatic force pump, by which the pulp is forced into the mould,
and by the power of the pump the water is forced out of the pulp and passes off
through the perforations in the mould, leaving the pulp therein in a firmly compact
or solid condition, and comparatively a dry paper insulator of the shape of the
mould. It will be observed in Fig. 2. that the insulator is provided with a female
screw A. The said screw is formed by means of a mandrel having thereon a
thread, thus-The mould having been filled with pulp and the latter compressed
therein to a solid condition as above described, the said mandrel is then screwed
into the paper insulator while in the mould, thereby forming the screw A, in the
insulator. Screwing the mandrel into the insulator in the mould, causes an
increment of pressure, producing a further condensation of the pulp equal to the
size of the mandrel, whereby the said screw part of the insulator will be all the
more firm, solid, and durable, for holding the supporting stem or holder B, when
inserted therein.

page_text: A modification of the above described method of moulding the insulator consists
in first manipulating the pulp into a crude shape of an insulator, and then placing
the same in a mould and compressing it therein into the desired form. The screw
mandrel is then passed into the mould and into the plastic pulp, which is now
subjected to a high pressure by any suitable means for expelling the water there-
from, which passes off through the foraminous mould, while the pulp is firmly
compressed therein and around the screw of the mandrel in nearly a dry condition.
The mandrel is then screwed out leaving a female thread in the insulator, which
is then taken from the mould. In the drawings is represented a stem B.screwed
into the insulator C, whereby it is secured in its respective place when in-
practical use.
holder of the ordinary
and described as being
The stem and insulator
The insulator however may be connected to the stem or
kind used. Said stem or holder B is shown in Fig. 2.
separate and distinct, to which the insulator is attached.
may be of one piece as shown in Fig. 3. the two being formed together in a mould
and both of the same material, namely, paper pulp, but it is preferred to have the
two parts separate and unite them substantially as herein described and 'shown
in the drawing Fig. 2.
As herein before stated, the essential feature of my invention is a telegraph
insulator C, separate and distinct from the stem or holder B, or with a'stem, and
composed of paper pulp.which may have combined therewith liquid silica or other
material to indurate and strengthen the same, and to render it a better non-
conductor, irrespective of the means that may be employed for its manufacture.
The insulator may have applied to its external surface a coating of any suitable
material to protect it from the disintegrating influence of climate and weather,
without departing from the nature of my invention, the essential feature of which
consists in making the insulator of paper pulp as herein before said.
.
What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is :—
1st A telegraph insulator constructed of paper pulp, or a pulp of other fibrous
material substantially as and for the purpose specified.
"
2nd. A telegraph insulator constructed of a composition of paper pulp, or a pulp
of other suitable material and liquid silica, or silicon or other equivalent cementing
agents, substantially as and for the purpose specified..
3rd A telegraph insulator consisting of an insulating head C, supporting stem or
holder B, formed in one piece, and constructed of the same material, namely, paper
pulp, substantially as and for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Herbert John Allison, have hereunto set my hand
and seal this 2nd day of January in the year of Our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and eighty-four.
.
.
HERDERI. J. ALLISON. (10.)