IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WIRE FOR ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CONDUCTORS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Balleny Elkington, of Newhall Street,
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WIRE FOR ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH
CONDUCTORS."
Sealed the 14th March 1871, and dated the 20th September 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Balleny Elkington
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 20th September 1870.
I, JAMES BALLENY ELKINGTON, of Newhall Street, Birmingham, in
the County of Warwick, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WIRE FOR ELECTRIC
TELEGRAPH CONDUCTORS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
wire for electric telegraph conductors. It is frequently very important
in the construction of electric telegraphs that the metal of the con-
ductor should have as high a conducting power as possible, as a saving
is thereby effected not only in the weight of the conductor but also in

page_text: that of its insulator and coverings. Copper deposited from a solution
by the aid of electricity is the most suitable material to employ, but it
is found that in melting such copper its conducting power is liable to
be impaired; I produce telegraphic conducting wire from deposited
copper without melting. I deposit the copper in the form of a plate
or ingot, and either at once or after having rolled it to reduce its thick-
ness I cut it into a continuous rod of considerable length, and this rod
I draw through dies so as to obtain a wire of uniform section and of the
size desired. I prefer to cut the plate spirally so that in no place it
may be required to give a sudden bend to the rod.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Balleny Elkington in the Great Seal Patent
Office, on the 20th March 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
BALLENY ELKINGTON, of Newhall Street, Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said James Balleny Elkington,
Her special license that I, the said James Balleny Elkington, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
James Balleny Elkington, 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WIRE FOR
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CONDUCTORS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said James Balleny Elkington, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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,

page_text: 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 James Balleny Elkington, 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 ebject improvements in the manufacture of
wire for electric telegraph conductors. It is frequently very important
in the construction of electric telegraphs that the metal of the con-
ductor should have as high a conducting power as possible, as a saving
is thereby effected not only in the weight of the conductor but also in
that of its insulator and coverings. Copper deposited from a solution
by the aid of electricity is the most suitable material to employ, but it
is found that in melting such copper its conducting power is liable to
be impaired; I produce telegraphic conducting wire from deposited copper
without melting. I deposit from a sulphate or other solution of copper
on to a mould a plate of pure copper of about one-eighth of an inch in
thickness. The plate I cut into strips which are drawn down in the
ordinary way through dies into very thin wire. I then take lengths of
this wire and suspend them in depositing vats of suitable size, (those I
have at present used are about seven feet deep), and I allow them to
remain in until they are from three-quarters to one inch thick, when
they are removed from the vat and drawn down by rollers and dies into
wire by the ordinary methods. It is not necessary that the rods should
be of the thickness above stated, they may be taken out of the depositing
vats at any convenient thickness, but I have found the above a con-
venient size. To obtain the great length of wire required for telegraphic
purposes I unite the rods together in the following manner, and after
the junction is effected they can be drawn out without any loss of con-
ducting power being caused by the joints. I cut the ends of the rods
so as to form a tongue at the end of one rod and a corresponding slit
in the other thus
I also slit the rods
at right angles to the first slit and tongue and fit them together thus
I then place the joined rod in the solution of copper and allow the
copper to be deposited until a perfect adhesion takes place. The rods
may be joined by fusion or soldering, but I prefer the above method as

page_text: no loss of conductivity takes place. Wire manufactured by this process
will give a very high degree of conductivity. I can employ any source
of electricity in depositing the metal, but prefer electro-magnetic
machines for the purpose.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that what
I claim is, the manufacture of wire for electric telegraph conductors from
unmelted deposited copper, substantially as described.
•
In witness whereof, I, the said James Balleny Elkington, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Seventeenth day of March,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
one.
JAMES B. ELKINGTON. (L.S.)