IMPROVEMENTS IN SHEET IRON UPRIGHTS FOR TELEGRAPHIC POSTS, CHIMNEYS, MASTS, AND ALL METALLIC SUPPORTS
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jules Auguste Desgoffe, of No. 4, Rue de Bagneux, in the
City of Paris, in France, a Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SHEET IRON UPRIGHTS FOR TELEGRAPHIC POSTS, CHIMNEYS, MASTS, AND
ALL METALLIC SUPPORTS."
Sealed the 26th January 1877, and dated the 12th August 1876.
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jules Auguste Desgoffe at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 12th August 1876.
JULES AUGUSTE DESGOFFE, of No. 4, Rue de Bagneux, in the City of Paris, in
France, a Civil Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHEET IRON UPRIGHTS FOR TELE-
GRAPHIC POSTS, CHIMNEYS, MASTS, AND ALL METALLIC SUPPORTS."
The improvements adopted in the construction in sheet-iron or steel posts are
applicable to telegraphs, whether permanently fixed as for public service, or for
movable and temporary purposes, such as military telegraphs, or for signal posts
and their working levers, for rail posts, posts showing the distance along a line of
railway, posts or pillars for supporting floors or roofs of workshops, and for chimnies
of workrooms or private buildings.
One of the principal applications (of my system of constructing such posts) is its
use in military telegraphy. These posts terminate in a spear or foot of cast iron in
section of the form of a cross, or it may be made of two or more pieces riveted or
bolted together; this foot is fixed to the upright, which is composed of sheet steel
in two or more parts, forming its complete height. The said sheets are united one
with the other by rivets in conjunction with a fillet of steel interposed like a wedge
between the edges of the sheets, and the foot is fixed to the post by locking a ring
round the two; or when the foot consists of several pieces, or two, for example,
then these two pieces receive the post, and hold it firm. The post is buried up to
the foot in the ground. The upper part of the post is of wood, and is cylindrical in
form, except where it joins the iron part, where the section corresponds with that of
the post, which it penetrates. This wooden portion bears the insulators supporting
the wires. Finally, the foot bears on a level with the earth ears or lugs, which limit
its penetration in the ground, and serve to withdraw it therefrom by means of a
special tool, which also serves to fix it. The post therefore is in three parts, the
foot in cast iron, the post in sheet steel, and the wooden insulator support at the
head of the post.

page_text: "The forms of the posts may be varied, such as hexagonal or otherwise, for chimnies
round or otherwise shaped, either of a single sheet of metal or of several sheets, as
may be most convenient for the purposes required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Jules Auguste Desgoffe in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th
February 1877.
JULES AUGUSTE DESCOFFE, of No. 4, Rue de Bagneux, in the City of Paris, in
France, a Civil Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHEET-IRON UPRIGHTS FOR TELE-
GRAPHIC POSTS, CHIMNEYS, MASTS, AND ALL METALLIC SUPPORTS."
My Invention consists in the employment of sheets of iron, steel, or other suitable
metal cut, folded, or bent by any convenient process for forming metal uprights
destined for use in place of posts or supports of various kinds usually made of cast
iron or wood.
The uses to which my improved posts may be applied are for signal posts of rail-
ways, carriage gauges, for use in constructing factory chimneys, for telegraph posts,
or for use in the army in campaign or in manoeuvring.
I will now describe the several applications above mentioned with reference to
the accompanying Drawings.
1st. For Signal Posts.-Fig. 1 represents a front view of this kind of post formed
of sheets of metal joined together so as to form the section, Fig. 2; this section is
peculiar in that the post itself serves as slide to the carriage of the lantern. As will
be seen this carriage rises and descends by aid of the chain b; the springs c denden
the shock of the carriage in its descent; the chain communicates motion to the post
when the lever, Figs. 3 and 4, is acted on; p is the counterpoise which returns the
post to the closed position in drawing the chain c.
2nd. Application to Posts of all Kinds. As examples, Figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6. Figs.
3 and 4 show a post support of the lever working the signals; Fig. 5, posts showing
the gradients and slopes; Fig. 6, posts showing the mileage. A section of these
three posts is shown by Fig. 7, the dimensions varying to suit the several cases.
The actuating lever d draws the chain c of the signal post, Fig. 1; the arc e fixed
to the post serves as check to the lever, and as usual bears the indications "open"
and "closed." The gradient post, Fig. 5, is furnished with metal plates f, f¹, for
showing the rises and falls of the line, their lengths, as well as those of the levels.
Similar posts serve to show the points for slackening speed and for stop blocks.
Fig. 6 is a post for marking the miles or parts of miles.
"
3d. Application of the Posts as Supports for Uprights of Gauges for Carriages or
Waggons Loads.-Fig. 7 represents in elevation the framework supporting the
gauge A, and is formed of two uprights having the section, Fig. 8, united by a
transverse traverse a, also in bent and rivited sheet iron. The traverse a is in some
cases replaced by a round or flat rod, single or double.
4th. Application of the Invention to the Construction of Factory or other
Chimneys Fig. 9 shows a chimney of this description in elevation, whose section
is hexagonal, see Fig. 10, but any other section may be employed, the feature of the
Invention in this case, as heretofore, being the folding and bending of sheets of
metal, bolted and riveted together at the lips or edges formed by these folds, with
or without the aid of packing, separating, or intervening between the edges of the
iron sheets.
I will now more particularly describe the use of sheet iron or steel for the con-
struction of uprights and posts for various applications.
5th. Application of the System to the Manufacture of Telegraph Posts.-Fig. 11
represents in elevation a post specially intended for military use for a more or less
temporary use; Fig. 12 is a section of the foot shown at Fig. 13; Fig. 14 is a section:

page_text: of the post at the base; Fig. 15 is a section at the top; Fig. 16 is a section of the
foot of the post; Figs. 17 and 18 shows the tool that is required for burying and
removing the post. The upright consists of 3 parts, quite distinct, the foot a, the
upright properly so called b, and the support c of the insulators of the wires. The
foot a is of cast iron, and from the top to the point the section forms a cross, vide
Fig. 16, and terminates at the upper part in a section boxing in the section of the
upright, Figs. 12 and 14. In order to fix this foot to the upright solidly and in the
most simple manner a projection a¹ is made where the sheets of metal lodge, and
which are there secured by the locking of the bolts of the ring d, which renders it
so solid that the shocks of the most violent wind are resisted. Immediately below
this collar the foot bears two lugs f, f, whose object is to facilitate the removal from
the earth of the post, as well as for sinking it, which it cannot penetrate further
than the cars or lugs. Raising the foot from the ground is most simple by use of
the tool, Figs. 17 and 18, the head of which presents two notches, one on each of its
branches, to the two lugs f; this tool is fashioned so as to offer a fulcrum by its
heel, and is used as a lever. The upright b is of sheet steel, of two or more pieces
ns required; the sheets are united by rivets, with a band g, also of steel, interposed
like packing at cach side and between the edges of the sheets. The support c,
Fig. 11, is for raising the post; it is of wood, and is cylindrical except at its junction
with the upright, where it presents a section, Fig. 15, similar to the top of the foot,
so as to admit of uniting the sheets precisely as described by Figs. 12, 13, and 14.
The support c is for fixing the insulators. The number and construction may vary
ad infinitum.
The upright for the military telegraph is distinguished by the three characteristic
parts which form its ensemble.
Independent of the special applications of my Invention herein enumerated I
reserve its employment on the same principle for the use of ordinary telegraph posts,
and for analogous or widely different purposes.
Fig. 19 shows a front view of a foot of a post, which like the preceeding is of cast
iron, but in two parts bolted together, and embracing in this bolting the end of the
sheets of the upright, as shown in section, Fig. 20. This substitution of cast iron
to sheets of iron in the foot of the post would be according to requirements, and
would occur in the different applications already enumerated.
Finally, according to the nature of the applications, I still further reserve to unite
the sheets of iron, steel, or other metal to shape them in any suitable manner,
whether as already described by the Figures 2, 7, 8, 10, 14, and 15, or as the corre-
sponding sections to each of the Figs. 21 to 35; in a word, according to the profiles,
curves, or other shapes which, according to calculation, necessity, or practice, proves
to be the most useful.
Figs. 21 to 28 are sections where the sheets are united with a packing.
Figs. 29 and 35 correspond with the sections formed of a single sheet of metal
bent in various forms, presenting or not edges or lips for uniting, as it may be
requisite, to construct uprights with an unclosed section, as shown by the Figures
32 and 34.
I claim as my Invention,—
1st. The sheet iron uprights for signal masts, also as guide to the lantern
carriage. See Figs. 1 & 2.
2d. The sheet-iron posts for showing the gradients and inclines, the mile posts,
level posts, the lever supports for working the signals, the telegraph posts, the
uprights of the carriage gauges, precisely as shown as examples of the mode of con-
struction by the Figures.
3d. The folded and rivited sheet iron for factory and other chimneys.
4th. The sheet steel uprights or posts for telegraphy or other purposes.
5. The system of construction of post for military telegraphs, the characteristic
features being the cast iron or steel foot, sheet steel upright, and wooden insulator
supports, and its mode of fixture and removal.

page_text: 6. The construction of the foot in cast iron in one or more pieces, applicable to all
lescriptions of posts.
7. The sheet steel or other metal forms, represented in the Drawing, and having
steel or other metal packing, Figs. 21 to 35.
8. The tool serving both to fix or remove the posts, Figs. 17 and 18.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jules Auguste Desgoffe, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Third day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
J. A. DESGOFFE. (L.S.)