IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CONDUCTORS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Reid, of 25, University Street, in the County
of Middlesex, Telegraph Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CONDUCTORS."
Scaled the 6th November 1860, and dated the 9th May 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Reid at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th May 1860.
I, JAMES REID, of 25, University Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Telegraph Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CONDUCTORS," to be as follows:-
Electric telegraph conductors or cables are now generally composed of
what is called a strand wire conductor, consisting of several copper wires
twisted together or laid in strands, forming a small cord, and then covered
with non-conducting material, such as india-rubber, gutta percha, or other
suitable material or compound. In thus preparing conductors great difficulty
has arisen on account of the said coating of non-conducting material only
laying close to the outer surface of the wire, but leaving all the interstices in
the different strands of wire vacant, so that when a pressure of water is

page_text: exerted on the outer covering, if it should happen that there is a small air-hole
or other defect in the insulating material, the water penetrates to the wire
conductor, and will travel along these interstices for iniles. According to my
Invention I proceed as follows:-During the time the action of spinning the
conducting core is going on, I allow the several copper or other wires of
which it is composed to pass separately through a trough containing a mixture
of the ordinary gums, or any other suitable material kept in a heated state,
with which each and all of the wires that compose the strand are coated while
the mixture is still warm and in a plastic state, the wires are twisted together,
so that the whole becomes one solid mass through which no water can
penetrate; if more convenient the heated mixture may be allowed to drop on
the wires while in the act of being twisted. Again to attain the same object
I pass the wires through a vessel containing a mixture of tin and lead, or it
may be other suitable metals; and while the said metals are in a state of
fusion, I twist the wires together, which become one solid mass, in all cases
retaining all the additional strength that is due to a strand core.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Reid in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
:9th November 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
REID, of 25, University Street, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Reid, Her special licence, that I, the said James Reid,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
James Reid, 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 Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CONDUCTORS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said James Reid, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in

page_text: 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, 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 Reid, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement (that is to say):-
Electric telegraph conductors or cables are now generally composed of
what is called a strand wire conductor, consisting of several copper wires
twisted together or laid in strands, forming a small cord, and then covered
with non-conducting material, such as india-rubber, gutta percha, or other
suitable material or compounds. In thus preparing conductors great difficulty
has arisen on account of the said coating of non-conducting material only
laying close to the outer surface of the wire, but leaving all the interstices in
the different strands of wire vacant, so that when a pressure of water is
exerted on the outer coating of it should happen that there is a small air-bole
or other defect in the insulating material, the water penetrates to the wire
conductor, and will travel along those interstices for miles. According to my
Invention I proceed as follows:-During the time of action of spinning or
laying the separate wires forming the conducting core is going on, I allow the
several copper or other wires of which it is composed to pass separately
through a trough containing a mixture of the ordinary guns used in coating
telegraph wires, or it may be any other suitable materials or compounds, kept
in a heated state, with which each and all of the wires are coated while the
mixture is still warm and in a plastic state; the wires are twisted together, so
that the whole becomes one solid mass through which no water can penetrate;
if more convenient the heated mixture may be allowed to drop on the wires
while they are in the act of being twisted together, or I allow the central wire
only to pass through the bath or mixture of gum or compounds, and while
such central wire is hot the other wires forming the strand are to be heated
and twisted around it. Again, to attain the same object, I pass the wires
through a vessel containing a mixture of tin and lead, or it may be other
suitable metals, and while the said metals are in a state of fusion I twist the
wires together, which become one solid mass, in all cases retaining all the
strength that is due to a strand core. The wires should be cleaned by friction,
or in any other suitable manner, and a little resin, borax, sal amoniac, or

page_text: other suitable flux applied in order to cause the melted metal to adhere to
the wires.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Reid, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred & sixty.
JAMES REID. (L.S.)