IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRICITY BY MEANS OF UNDERGROUND CONDUCTORS AND IN CONDUITS AND APPARATUS THEREFOR
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Denton Abel of No 28 Southampton Buildings
Chancery Lane in the County of Middlesex for an Invention of IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRICITY BY MEANS OF UNDERGROUND
CONDUCTORS AND IN CONDUITS AND APPARATUS THEREFOR communicated
to him from abroad by Leon Alexandre Brasseur of Brussels in the Kingdom
of Belgium.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Denton Abel at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th November 1882.
"
CHARLES DENTON ABEL of No 28 Southampton Buildings Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex IMPROVEMENTS IN THE DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRICITY
BY MEANS OF UNDERGROUND CONDUCTORS AND IN CONDUITS AND APPARATUS
THEREFOR [communicated to him from abroad by Leon Alexandre Brasseur of
Brussels in the Kingdom of Belgium.]
"
The principal inconveniences which are met with in the distribution of electricity
to consumers by means of underground conductors are as follows:
1, The drawing of the conductors or cables through the conduits deteriorates
their coverings.
2. The connecting wire passing from the conduit to a house can only be
connected to the cable by opening its covering, resulting in frequent leakages of the
current, while the part of the attached wire not employed becomes useless.
3, The difficulty experienced in finding out the precise locality of a fault in a
long circuit causes considerable expense and loss of time.
According to the present invention these inconveniences are obviated by a special
construction of pillar boxes, serving as intersecting stations, arranged at certain
distances apart, and connected with each other by a conduit or closed channel level
with the ground. In place of the pillar boxes may also be used boxes or cupboards
let into the walls of the houses.
The said pillar boxes, by preference made of cast iron, are hermetically closed
and contain one or more sections of conducting cables according to their length, the
subscribers wires being connected to the nearest section. The conduit, which may

page_text: be of cast iron or other material, is by preference provided with a hinged cover, and
is of a size corresponding to the number of conductors it has to contain.
The communication with a subscriber is effected by means of a small special cable
connected directly with the nearest pillar box; at the point where this cable leaves
the conduit it is passed through a tube of iron or other material leading to the
house to be connected. A perforated horizontal partition divides the conduit into
an upper and a lower compartment, of which the former serves to receive the cables
while the latter serves as a drain for leading off any water, which may be
conveniently drained off from the bases of the pillar boxes. This arrangement,
firstly, allows of the placing of the cables in position without dragging and
consequent wear, secondly, it obviates the making of joints underground, and allows
wires to be used of the entire and exact length required, without excess being
necessary, as at present; and thirdly it allows of the rapid uncovering of the
section where a fault has occurred which fault can then be remedied in a very short
space of time and comparatively without cost.
The pillar boxes, which may be of any convenient form, have in their upper
parts insulated plates carrying rows of pinching screws arranged in pairs one above
the other, each pair being connected together by a conducting wire and serving to
receive the two ends of one of the wire conductors, the cables of which are led up
on each side of the plate from the ends of the two conduits which open into opposite
sides of the pillar box.
The conducting wires of subscribers situated along a particular section of the
conduit, are led separately-through-such conduit to the next pillar box in the
direction towards the central station, and are there each connected to one of the
pairs of pinching screws, while the several wires of the said subscribers passing from
the pinching screws to the next section of the conduit are formed into a single
cable.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Charles Denton Abel in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th May
1883.
"
CHARLES DENTON ABEL of No 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane in
the county of Middlesex. IMPROVEMENTS IN THE DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRICITY
BY MEANS OF UNDERGROUND CONDUCTORS AND IN CONDUITS AND APPARATUS
"
THEREFOR A communication to me from abroad by Leon Alexandre Brasseur of
Brussels in the Kingdom of Belgium
The principal inconveniences which are met with in the distribution of electricity
to consumers by means of underground conductors are as follows:-
1, The drawing of the conductors or cables through the conduits deteriorates
their coverings.
2, The connecting wire passing from the conduit to a house can only be
connected to the cable by opening its covering, resulting in frequent leakages of the
current, while the part of the attached wire not employed becomes useless.
3, The difficulty experienced in finding out the precise locality of a fault in a
long circuit causes considerable expense and loss of time.
According to the present invention, these inconveniences are obviated by a special
construction of pillar boxes, serving as intersecting stations arranged at certain
distances apart, and connected with each other by a conduit or closed channel level
with the ground. In place of the pillar boxes, may also be used boxes or cupboards
let into the walls of the houses.
The said pillar boxes, by preference made of cast iron, are hermetically closed,
and contain one or more sections of conducting cables, according to their length, the
subscribers wires being connected to the nearest station. The conduit, which may
be of cast iron or other material, is by preference provided with a hinged cover,
and is of a size corresponding to the number of conductors it has to contain. The
communication with a subscriber is effected by means of a small special cable
connected directly with the nearest pillar box; at the point where this cable leaves
the conduit it is passed through a tube of iron or other material leading to the
house to be connected. A perforated horizontal partition divides the conduit into
an upper and a lower compartment, of which the former serves to receive the
cables, while the latter serves as a drain for leading off any water, which may be
conveniently drained off from the bases of the pillar boxes. This arrangement
firstly allows allows of the placing of the cables in position without dragging and
consequent wear; secondly, it obviates the making of joints underground, and
allows wires to be used of the entire and exact length required, without excess
being necessary, as at present; and thirdly, it allows of the rapid uncovering of the
section where a fault has occurred, which fault can then be remedied in a very short
space of time and comparatively without cost.
The pillar boxes, which may be of any convenient form, have in their upper
parts insultated plates carrying rows of pinching screws arranged in pairs one above
the other, each pair being connected together by a conducting wire, and serving to
receive the two ends of one of the wire conductors, the cables of which are led up
on each side of the plate from the ends of the two conduits which open into opposite
sides of the pillar box.
The conducting wires of subscribers situated along a particular section of the
conduit, are led separately through such conduit to the next pillar box in the
direction towards the central station, and are there each connected to one of the
pairs of pinching screws, while the several wires of the said subscribers, passing from

page_text: the pinching screws to the next section of the conduit, are formed into a single
cable.
Each pillar box is by preference provided with a lightning conductor in order to
prevent the conducting wires from being affected by atmospheric electricity.
The above described method of distribution of electric currents and system of
conduits and apparatus therefor are shewn on the accompanying sheet of drawings
in which Fig. 1 shews a longitudinal section on line A. B Fig. 3; Fig. 2 shews a
sectional plan; Fig. 3 a plan at ground line; fig. 4 a cross section on line E F
fig. 2; Fig. 5 a cross section on line G H, fig. 3. a a are the pillar boxes in which
are the connections of the cable sections; b is a metallic or other perforated
partition in the conduits %, closed by the covers j, which are hinged at e and are
locked at f; c are pinching screws for the connexions in the boxes a; d are the
connecting wires of the sections; gis the masonry foundation for the box a, having
a drain pipe o for escape of moisture; h are the electric cables; i the plate
carrying the connexions thereof; 1 are wood or other bearers for the conduits;
m, screws securing the latter; n, road paving. Fig. 6 shews, first, the subscribers'
connexions 1, 2 and 3, communicating with the box A by special conductors a;
second, the subscribers' connections 4, 5 and 6, communicating with the box B by
means of special conductors b; third, the separate special conductors c, connected to
the box C, in which they are collected to form one cable; the arrow e shews the
direction of the central office and that.f the direction of the subscribers; g are
lightning conductors to the boxes A B
Having thus described the nature of this invention and in what manner the same
is to be performed as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent I clain-
The herein described method of and apparatus or appliances for distributing
electric currents consisting mainly in-the-division-of-the-conductors_into_separate
sections, connected at their ends in pillar or wall boxes, the conductors being
contained in conduits situated at the road level and having a perforated double
-bottom for protecting the conductors from moisture.
In Witness whereof I the said Charles Denton Abel have hereunto set my-
hand and seal this eighteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord, one
thousand eight hundred and eighty-three.