IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF AND IN THE METHOD OF LAYING SUBMARINE ELECTRIC CABLES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John de la Haye, of No. 3, Bedford Street, Chorlton-
upon-Medlock, Manchester, Submarine Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF AND IN THE METHOD OF LAYING
SUBMARINE ELECTRIC CABLES."
Sealed the 23rd February 1866, and dated the 16th November 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John de la Haye at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
November 1865.
I, JOHN DE LA HAYE, of No. 3, Bedford Street, Chorlton-upon-Medlock,
Manchester, Submarine Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF AND IN THE METHOD OF
LAYING SUBMARINE ELECTRIC CABLES," to be as follows:-
In the first place I cover the electric copper wire which forms the core of
the cable with a thin coating of pure gold, with a view of giving to the said
wire increased strength.
Secondly, I pass the wire between corrugated metal rollers so as to give it
an undulating form, thus causing it to be from five to ten per cent. longer
than the cable in which it is enclosed, in order to avoid any strain on the said
electric wire when it is payed out of the ship into the sea.
Thirdly, I surround the wire with india-rubber of a suitable thickness; this
india-rubber I coat with waterproof elastic varnish.
Fourthly, I proceed to enclose the india-rubber in a flexible steel covering

page_text: constituting a coat of mail. This I effect by plaiting or braiding thin steel
wires around it, so as to leave no vacant spaces between those wires. This
braiding I effect by means of machinery nearly similar to those machines in
use for plaiting or braiding flexible or fibrous textures; I then cover this steel
coat of mail with varnish, and over this I braid a second plaiting of steel wires.
This I repeat as many times as may be required to give to the cable sufficient
strength, but in each case I give a coating of varnish between each plaiting or
braiding of steel wires.
Fifthly, I enclose the cable constructed as described in a thick covering
of gutta percha in such a manner as to give to the cable an external
triangular form.
Sixthly, I plait or braid by means of suitable machinery common iron wires
around the cable so as to leave three rough ridges of wire at equal distances
from each other the whole length of the cable; this triangular form being
intended to prevent the cable from rolling on the bed of the sea by the action
of under currents, and also to cause it eventually to bury itself in the soil
composing the bed of the sea.
In order to lay the cable in the depths of the ocean without using
complicated machinery I use a light rope consisting of some cheap perishable
substance, and I pay it out with the cable, connecting the two by means of
thin spun yarn, which in the course of time would be destroyed by the action
of the sea, causing the light rope to separate itself from the cable in the depths
of the ocean. In order also to guide the cable from the hold of the ship
into the sea I use a long grooved inclined plane of wood or metal placed on
the deck, which groove would act as a break to prevent the cable from rushing
too rapidly into the sea.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John de la Haye in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th May 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
DE LA HAYE, of No. 3, Bedford Street, Chorlton-upon-Medlock, Manchester,
Submarine Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the

page_text: said John de la Haye, Her special license that I, the said John de la Haye,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
de la Haye, 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 THE CONSTRUCTION
OF AND IN THE METHOD OF LAYING SUBMARINE ELECTRIC CABLES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said John de la Haye, 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 de la Haye, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):-
The first part of my Invention, which relates to the construction of
electric cables for submarine telegraphs, embraces the following improvements,
consisting,―
Firstly, in covering copper wire conductors with a thin coating of gold in
order to protect or preserve them, and at the same time to give them increased
strength. The gold after being made into thin leaves can be laid on
mechanically by light pressure by gilding in the usual way, or it can be united
by the process well known as electro-plaiting, or by other convenient means.
Secondly, in giving copper conductors made of one wire, or of several, or a
strand of several wires, either coated with gold as above mentioned or
uncoated, a slightly undulating form in their length, the object being to make
the said conductor longer, say by about ten per cent., than the insulating and
other coatings which are subsequently added to form a cable. I carry this
part of my Invention into effect by passing the conductors between rolls
fluted or corrugated in lines parallel to their axes.
Thirdly, in protecting and strengthening any insulated conductor, or what is
usually known as a core of an electric telegraph cable, by a metallic shield or
plaited tube, constructed in the following manner, reference being had, that the
same may be more readily understood, to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
Wires, preferably steel wires, are plaited over the core and close thereto, so
as to pass over and under each other alternately in diagonal lines, see elevations,

page_text: Figs. 1, 1, and 2, 2º, the former being circular and the latter triangular accord-
ing to the fourth bead of my Specification. For convenience and economy in
laying or plaiting on the said wires z, and it is desirable that they should be
plaited close together so as to leave as few interstices as possible, I employ
machines such as are now in use in the manufacture of tubular braid from
wool, cotton, and other fibrous threads. These machines are well known and
do not require further description. In the braiding machine there is an opening
through which the core is passed, and from which it is conveyed away as soon
as it is protected by the plaited shield. More than one metallic shield could
be added to the same cable, the one outside the other, some insulating or elastic
substance or substances, such as varnish, being placed between them.
Fourthly, in giving to electric cables of whatever materials they may be
constructed a triangular form in transverse section. The object of this
improvement is to prevent cables from rolling and "chafing" in localities
where they are exposed to under currents of water, and to cause them to bury
themselves in the bed of the sea. A protector for a cable constructed with this
sectional outline is shewn by Figs. 2, 2", above referred to; and Fig. 3 on the
same Sheet of Drawings shews a cable of this form, where india-rubber y or
other suitable material is laid on over a circular core a protected by a
shield wy may be protected if desired, as shewn, by wires v.
As I have carefully worked out the details of two cables, one embodying the
first three of the above improvements, and the other all the above four improve-
ments, I will now proceed to describe the same as I claim them as of my
Invention; and that a knowledge of the position and relation of parts may be
readily obtained I will again refer to the Sheet of Drawings herewith, whereon
Fig. 4 represents a side elevation, about full size, of a circular cable and
illustrates the appearance when each successive coating is removed; Figs. 5
and 6, transverse sections of the same, the latter being enlarged; Figs. 7, 8,
and 9 are views similar to Figs. 4, 5, and 6 of a triangular cable. In all these
six views the same letters denote corresponding parts. a is the gold coated
copper conductor; b, coating of india-rubber; c, coating of gutta percha; d,
metallic plaited shield; e, waterproof varnish, say Chatterton's compound; f
another coating of gutta percha; g, another metallic shield; h, another coating
of varnish; i, another coating of gutta percha giving the desired outline. Metal
wires might be laid on over the triangular forms, Figs. 7, 8, and 9, as shewn
in Fig. 3.
The second part of my Invention, which relates to the laying of submarine
electric telegraph cables, consists in paying out from a ship along with a cable
constructed according to my Invention, or otherwise constructed, a rope or

page_text: length made of a cheap, light, and rapidly perishable material, so that the cable
shall not run out too rapidly from the ship nor be subjected to undue strain
during the operation; this I effect by employing the mechanism herein-after
described for that purpose, a rope or length made of rushes, straw, hay, dried
sea-weed, or other suitable substance or substances, and tying the two together
before or as they leave the ship by twine or light rope yarn. The size of
the light rope or length should be proportioned to the weight of the cable, so
that the weight of the two shall be about one-sixth heavier than the water in
which the cable is to be laid.
Fig. 10 on the Drawing represents in longitudinal elevation and section pay-
ing-out apparatus supposed to be on the deck of a ship, and Fig. 11 a plan or
bird's-eye view of the same. m denotes the cable; n, the light rope, both rising
through apertures marked respectively o, p, in the deck over pullies o¹, p¹; q,
an inclined plane supporting the pulleys r, over which and between these
and the cable passes. In r and r¹, or in either of them, there are grooves
in which the cable runs; by the screws or levers s the pullies r and can be
brought together and the speed of the passing out of the cable checked or
regulated, and that without flattening or twisting it; t are the pullies, free to
revolve on their axes, over which the light ropes passes; u is a toothed wheel
carrying the box v for twine or rope yarn w; u can be rotated by any available
motive power and the twine or rope yarn made to connect the cable and light
rope together.
Under the second part of my Invention 1 claim,―
Firstly, the employment of a light rope or length connected to and payed
out with the cable for the purpose set forth.
And, secondly, the mechanism or any modification thereof as described and
shewn on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John de la Haye, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
In the presence of
JOHN T. KING,
Solicitor of Patents,
Liverpool.
JOHN DE LA HAYE. (L.s.)