IMPROVEMENTS IN INSULATORS FOR ELECTRIC WIRES
Year: 1884

page_text: I, ELI LEMON SHELDON of 3 Lombard Court in the City of London in the
county of Middlesex Electrician-Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my
invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN INSULATORS FOR ELECTRIC WIRES to be as
follows:-
My invention relates to improvements in insulators for the suspension of electric
wires. Various devices have been suggested for the easy suspension and attach-
ment of the electric wire to the insulator in substitution for the well known system
of employing "binding wires," but these devices have in my experience proved
either too cumbrous, or to be ineffective, or to be too limited in application or to
be too limited in the character of the material of which the insulator might be
constructed. I have therefore designed an insulator that, whilst dispensing with
binding wires," has, in small compass, capacity for firmly gripping the wire and
thereby preventing its slipping axially, which can be attached to any cross-arin or
ridge-piece or other support usually employed, and which may be of glass, earthen-
ware, stoneware, wood, vulcanised fibre, insulite, or any other rigid or semi-rigid
non-conducting or badly conducting substance, or of conducting substance properly
coated with a non-conductor. And to obtain the end in view I make an insulator
of any convenient shape (with or without included means of attaching same to tho
cross-arm, ridge-piece, or other support), but I specially arrange in the top or side
of such insulator a curved slot of such dimensions and curvature as are most
suitable to the gripping of the wire of the size or stiffness employed, but as an
example I show one such curved slot as a part of a complete insulator, in Figs. 1
and 2. In this case I set the pin with cement solidly into the socket B of the
insulator. In order not to put too much strain on the sides of the slot I can
arrange a shoulder C cast in the pin, and the pin and insulator are allowed to be
free to turn in the arm by the intervention of the washers D D, the nut E being
not too tightly jammed. But I may prefer and it is frequently advantageous to
build up the curved slot in the construction of the insulator in a manner an
example of which is shown in Figs. 3 and 4. In this case the bolt or pin has a
flat head A and is free to move in the body of the insulator. The slot is comprised
between the rim D of the insulator and a central plug E, of paraffined hard wood,
earthenware, or other material driven or cemented into position. Figs 5 and 6
are illustrative of a strengthened form. I give these forms as examples of my
invention in insulators where the wire is bound or gripped and held in position by
its friction in a curved slot.

page_text: I, ELI LEMON SHELDON, Merchant, of 3, Lombard Court, Lombard Street,
London do hereby declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN
INSULATORS FOR ELECTRIC WIRES and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :—
Various devices have been suggested for the easy suspension and attachment of
the electric wire to the insulator in substitution for the well-known system of
employing "binding wires," but these devices have in my experience proved either
too cumbrous, or to be ineffective, or to be too limited in application or to be too
limited in the character of the material of which the insulator might be con-
structed. I have therefore designed an insulator that, whilst dispensing with
binding wires has in small compass capacity for firmly gripping the wiro and
thereby preventing its slipping axially, which can be attached to any cross arm
or ridge piece or other support usually employed, and which may be of glass,
earthenware, stoneware, wood, vulcanised fibre, insulite or any other rigid or semi-
rigid non-conducting or badly conducting substance or of conducting substance
properly coated with a non-conductor. And to obtain the end in view I make an
insulator of any convenient shape (with or without included means of attaching
same to the cross-arm, ridge-piece or other support) but I specially arrango in the
top or side of such insulator a curved slot or recess of such dimensions and
curvature as are most suitable to the gripping of the wire of the size or stiffness
employed, but as an oxample I show such a curved recess as a part of a completo
insulator in Figs 1 and 2, 5 and 6 and 7.
In the case shown in Figs 1 and 2 I set the pin with cement solidly into tho
socket B of the insulator. In order not to put too much strain on the sides of the
recess I can arrange a shoulder C cast in the pin and the pin and insulator aro
allowed to be free to turn in the arm by the intervention of the washers D D,
the nut E being not too tightly jammed.
But I may prefer and it is frequently advantageous to build up the curved
recess a a in the construction of the insulator in a manner an example of which is
shown in plan in Fig 3 and in vertical section in Fig. 4. In this case the bolt or
pin has a flat head A and is free to move in the body of the insulator. The recess
is comprised between the rim D of the insulator and a central plug E of paraffined
hard wood, earthenware, or other material driven or cemented into position.
Figs. 5 and 6 are section and plan of a strengthened and simple form. The
extremities ff of the recess are shown with the walls of the recess curved away
to better distribute the strain of the wire over the more central and stronger parts
of the body of the insulator.
Fig. 7 illustrates a means of preventing the wire rising out of the recess by the
formation of a lip in or on the edge of the recess, as at F, on the vertical section.
Having now particularly 'described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
(1). An electric insulator having a curved recess to receive the wire.
(2). An electric insulator having a curved longitudinal recess in which the wire
is held by friction of the sides of the recess upon the wire as determined by the
curvature.
(3). An electric insulator having a curved longitudinal recess in which the wire
is held by friction of the sides of the recess upon the wire as determined by the
curvature and in which the sides or walls of the recess are lipped to prevent rising
of the wire.

page_text: (4). An electric insulator substantially as described in which lateral strain upon
the longitudinal extremities of the recess-walls is distributed or reduced by the
pivolting or rotation of the insulator substantially as described.
(5). An electric insulator substantially as described in which lateral strain upon
the longitudinal extremities of the recess-walls is distributed or reduced by suitable
curvature of the extremities of the recess-walls.
Doled this 20th day of January 1885