IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH POSTS.
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Hamilton, junior, Liverpool, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH POSTS.'
Sealed the 16th August 1864, and dated the 17th May 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Hamilton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th May 1864.
I, JOHN HAMILTON, junior, of Liverpool, do hereby declare the nature of
the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH POSTS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in electric telegraph posts.
For this purpose the upper part of the post is made of wrought iron, whilst
the lower part or socket, by which the post is securely fixed in the ground, is
made of cast-iron, and by preference of a cylindrical form. Around these
sockets, at one or more places, projecting lugs are formed of such shape as to
fit corresponding dovetail or other suitable parts of flanges or plates, which
are to be fitted thereto, and to project therefrom. It is preferred that these
flanges or plates should be of a circular form, and that they should each be
made in two parts or halves, which at the edges where they come together
are made to fit and dovetail or hold together, so that when the two or other
number of parts of which a projecting flange or plate is composed are connected
they shall fit the projecting lugs on the outer surface of the socket, and
of-the

page_text: also go together and form a horizontal projecting flange of the desired size or
diameter. In these plates or flanges holes are made of a size to admit of
the earth being rammed around the socket after the socket has been placed
in a suitable hole and the flange has been fixed thereon. One or more of
such projecting flanges or plates is or are fixed on a socket according to
the nature of the soil in which the sockets are to be fixed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Hamilton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th November 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HAMILTON, junior, of Liverpool, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Hamilton, Her special licence that I, the said John
Hamilton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said John Hamilton, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH POSTS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Hamilton, 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 John Hamilton, 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 :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in electric telegraph posts.
For this purpose the upper part of the post is made of wrought iron, whilst
the lower part or socket, by which the post is securely fixed in the ground, is

page_text: made of cast iron, and by preference of a cylindrical form; this is not in itself
new, but my improvement consists in the arrangement of a flange or plate
which is combined with the socket to prevent it sinking or shifting when set
up in light or swampy soil, the said flange or plate being made in two or a
greater number of parts, and of peculiar construction, as herein-after de-
scribed. Also in forming holes in the flange or plate to allow of the earth
being rammed solidly around the socket. Around the sockets at one or
more places projecting lugs are formed of such shape as to fit corresponding
dovetail or other suitable parts of the flanges or plates, which are to be fitted
thereto, and to project therefrom. It is preferred that these flanges or plates
should be of a circular form, and that they should each be made in two parts
or halves, which at the edges where they come together are made to fit and
dovetail or hold together, so that when the two or other number of parts of
which a projecting flange or plate is composed or connected, they shall fit the
projecting lugs on the outer surface of the socket, and also go together, and
form a horizontal projecting flange of the desired size or diameter. In these
plates or flanges holes are made of a size to admit of the earth being rammed'
around the socket after the socket has been placed in a suitable hole and the
flange has been fixed thereon. One or more of such projecting flanges or
plates is or are fixed on a socket according to the nature of the soil in which
the sockets are to be fixed.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a side view of the socket with its flange or plate upon it. The
socket is a tube of cast iron with lugs on it at a', a¹, and the wrought-iron
taper tube, which forms the upper part of the post, is driven on to its upper
end as far down as these lugs; b is the flange or plate to prevent the socket
sinking or shifting. A plan of this flange or plate is shown at Figure 2, an
under side view at Figure 3, and a transverse section at Figure 4. It is made
in two parts, one of which is shown separately in edge view at Figure 5, the
two parts lock together with male and female dovetails b', and are secured by
bolts 6. At 6, 63, are notches into which the lugs a¹ fit, and these stop the
socket sliding through the plate or flange, or turning within it; * are flanges
on the under side of the flange or plate b to strengthen it; b³, 13, are the holes
in the flange or plate to allow of the ramming of the earth firmly around the
socket.

page_text: In some cases I cast two or more sets of lugs a¹ on the socket at different
levels, so that in bad situations where it may be necessary two or a greater
number of flanges or plates may be applied to the same socket.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Hamilton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
JOHN HAMILTON, JN. (L.S.)