AN IMPROVED METHOD OF LAYING SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH CABLES IN CONNECTION WITH SHIPPING IN DIFFERENT RIVERS, HARBOURS, AND SEAS, AND OTHER PLACES
Year: 1872

page_text: ··LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Cockshott, of Blackwall, in the County
'of Middlesex, Chain Lighterman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF LAYING SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH CABLES IN CONNECTION WITH
SHIPPING IN DIFFERENT RIVERS, HARBOURS, AND SEAS, AND OTHER PLACES."
Sealed the 19th April 1872, and dated the 8th February 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Cockshott at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 8th February 1872.
.
I, THOMAS COCKSHOTT, of Blackwall, in the County of Middlesex,
5 Chain Lighterman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF LAYING SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH CABLES IN CON-
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NECTION WITH SHIPPING IN DIFFERENT RIVERS, HARBOURS, AND SEAS, AND OTHER
PLACES," to be as follows:-
. This Invention consists in laying submarine telegraph cables. and
connecting ships and other floating bodies (when riding at anchor or
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page_text: other moorings in rivers or seas) with lighthouses, harbours, and places
on land, for conveying or transmitting messages or signals between one
ship and another, or between several ships or between ships at sea, and
harbours or places on land by the following means:-Alongside of a
ship's chain cable and a short distance below the deck and outside
the bow of the ship I adapt a telegraph cable, one end whereof is on
deck and the other end passes through eyes or shackles connected to
the mooring chains or chain cable.
Now, whereas according to the methods at present employed of laying
submarine telegraph cables in connection with shipping, as the ship
swings round her chain cable gets foul of the telegraph cable and
causes injury thereto; and the object of this Invention is to remedy
this objection by connecting the telegraph cable to the chain cable or
mooring chain in the following manner:-Around a swivel on the
chain cable placed at a short distance below the bow of the ship,
I adapt a conical or other shaped piece of metal capable of moving
freely around the swivel, and to one part of the said piece of metal,
I connect by an upright pin or bolt another piece of metal in which
is formed an upright hole through which is passed the upper part
of the telegraph cable, which if necessary can be disconnected from
the chain cable by lifting up the bolt that connects the said cable with
the chain cable, as above described.
t
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To enable the ship to pass free of the telegraph cable when she is
moving in a circle, I employ the following arrangement:-I employ
two short pieces of chain cable connected each by one end to the before-
mentioned swivel, and the other end of the said short chains I fix to the
ship's cable on deck so that in the event of the telegraph cable fouling
the chain cable by disconnecting one of the aforesaid short chains from
the chain cables on deck, and leaving the other short chain secured, and
allowing the chain that is disconnected to pass through the hawse pipe,
and also to pass clear of the telegraph cable after the chain is clear it
may be again brought through the hawse pipe and secured to the chain
cable on deck, as before. This done I then disconnect the other short
chain and let it pass through the hawse pipe as before stated, and when
it is clear of the telegraph cable I again connect this short chain with
the chain cable on deck, as before stated, and in this manner and by
these means I clear the telegraph cable of all obstructions...

page_text: Another feature of novelty in this Invention consists in extending
the insulated wires of submarine cables beyond the core of the main
cable. For example, suppose the core of the cable to contain two or
more insulated copper wires, instead of employing a cable such as this
for the entire distance between one ship and another, or a lighthouse,
or other place, I propose to use a main cable of a few fathoms long
and then carry each seperate single wire (properly insulated) to several
other ships or places with which it is desired to have telegraphic com-
munication. In other words, each ship or place is to be fitted with a
short main telegraph cable, and the intermediate spaces are made up
by single wires proceeding therefrom and connected to other short
main cables as above stated, so that according as the telegraph in-
strument on ship's board is put into connection with one or other of
the wires which form the core of the main cable, in like manner the
communications will be directed and conveyed to that ship or place
connected to or with that particular wire, thus enabling telegraphic
communications to be made to or from several places at one time,
either from a single ship or between a fleet of ships, or between any
ship and harbour or place on land with which it is connected.
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