IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE LAYING OR SINKING OF SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH CABLES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Tilston Bright, of Harrow, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, and Charles de Bergue, of Dowgate Hill, in the
City of London, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE LAYING OR SINKING OF SUBMARINE
TELEGRAPH CABLES."
*Sealed the 3rd November 1857, and dated the 7th May 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Tilston Bright
and Charles de Bergue, at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 7th May 1857.
We, CHARLES TILSTON BRIGHT, of Harrow, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, and CHARLES DE BERGUE, of Dowgate Hill, in the City of London,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE LAYING OR SINKING OF SUBMARINE
TELEGRAPH CABLES," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in so arranging drums or reels outside of the frame-
work supporting the bearings of the axes thereof,over the periphery or surface
of which drums or reels the cable passes during its transit from the hold of
the vessel to the water, that the cable cannot slip aud run out without causing
the drums or reels to revolve on their axes at a speed equal to that at which the
[Price 8d.]

page_text: cable is passing; and in the application to drums or reels of a friction break,
capable of being adjusted and regulated so as to cause more or less tension or
strain on the cable, as may be required, according to circumstances; in the
employment of an indicator, in combination with the drag or break, to shew the
amount of tension or strain on the cable; in the émployment of any suitable
power to the apparatus before named to run it in the reverse direction, where
it may be required to raise up the cable; and in the employment of floats or
buoys to be attached in a particular manner to the cable at intervals, and
allowed to run into the water with it, and sink with it when required, in order
to take off or reduce the strain or tension of the-cable.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Tilston Bright and Charles de Bergue, in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 7th November 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, CHARLES
TILSTON BRIGHT, of Harrow, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, and
CHARLES DE BERGUE, of Dowgate Hill, in the City of London, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her réign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Charles Tilston Bright and Charles de Bergue, Her special licence
that we, the said Charles Tilston Bright and Charles de Bergue, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Charles Tilston
Bright and Charles de Bergue, our 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 APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE LAYING OR SINKING OF
SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH CABLES;" upon the condition (amongst others) that we,
the said Charles Tilston Bright and Charles de Bergue, or one of us, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or one of
our, 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

page_text: Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Charles Tilston Bright and Charles
de Bergue, do hereby declare the nature of our 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, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:
44
Our Invention consists in so arranging drums, pulleys, or reels (outside a
supporting frame), over the periphery or surface of which the cable passes
during its transit from the hold of the vessel to the water, that the cable
cannot slip and run out without causing the drums or reels to revolve of their
axes at a speed equal to that at which the cable is passing; and in the appli-
cation to drums or rééls, directly or otherwise; of a friction brake' capable of
being adjusted and regulated so as to cause more or less tension or strain on
the cable, as may be required, according to circumstances; in the employ-
ment of an indicator, in combination with a drag or brake, to show the amount
of tension or strain on the cable; in the employment of a steam engine, or of
any other suitable powertorun the paying-outapparatus in a reverse direction,
where it may be required to raise up the cable; and in the employment of
floats or buoys to be attached to the cable at intervals, and allowed to run into
the water with it, and sink with it when required, in order to take off or
reduce the strain or tension of the cable.
Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed, is' a view, in' plan, of an
apparatus constructed according to our Invention for laying submarine tele-
graph cables; and Figure 2 is a side élévation thereof.
a, a, is the frame of the apparatus; bb, are plummer blocks, secured on
the framea, a; é, c, are shafts working in the plummer blocks b; b. To the
ends' of these shafts are keyed, or otherwise fixed; the grooved pulleys e,' e,
over and around which the cable is passed, as indicated by the arrows in
Figure 2. d,d, d, d³, áre cog' wheels on the shafts c, c, gearing respectively
into one another; f is a brake shaft, also working in plummer blocks. On
this shaft an intermediate cog wheel g is fixed, which gears into the cog
wheels'd, d²; h,h', are brakes and brake boxes on the shaft f. The brakes
are formed of collars, which clasp and bear upon the shaft, and are acted on
by means of screws passing through the brake boxes. One end' of the screws'
is connected by spur wheels and pinions i, i, with the haud wheels k, k¹, by
which they are worked; ;, are levers joined to the brakes h, h', and to these
levers counter levers' m, m, are attached, which are carried or supported on
standards n, n. The levers m, náre jointed or linked to a balance lever o

page_text: which by means of any suitable mechanism (such, for example, as Salter's
balance) indicates on a dial the strain or tension exerted on the cable as it is
payed out from the ship.
The cable; in its transit from the hold to the water, is wound over and
around the pulleys e, e, as before described. The paying out of the cable
causes the pulleys e, e, to revolve, and these pulleys being on the shafts c, c,
carry round the cog wheels d, d¹, d², d³; the rate at which they revolve is
regulated and controlled by the intermediate wheel g, and the speed at which
it runs is regulated or stopped at will by means of the brakes h, h', worked by
the hand wheels k, k¹. The speed of the pulleys e, e, and therefore of the
cable which passes round, them, may, consequently, be maintained at any
required rate, or varied, as desired, by suitably adjusting the pressure on the
brakes. If the cable is running out too fast, the hand wheels k, k³, are turned
in such manner as to increase the pressure of the brakes upon the shaft ƒ to
reduce the speed thereof, and, consequently, of the intermediate wheel g. The
wheel g gearing with the wheels d¹, d2, and these again with the wheels d and
d³, reduces their speed, and through them the speed of the pulleys e, e, and.
thereby that at which the cable leaves the ship. If the cable is not paying
out fast enough, the reverse operation takes place. The apparatus can be
reversed to draw the cable on board by connecting a crank or a wheel to the
brake shaft f, and driving it by means of a steam engine, or any other motive
power.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim,―
First, the employment of apparatus for laying or sinking submarine
telegraph cables, consisting of drums, pulleys, or reels, combined with cog
wheels in gear with each other, and with another cog wheel mounted upon a
shaft, the motion of which is controlled by a suitable friction brake or brakes,
in such manner that the cable, during its transit from the hold of the ship to
the water, shall pass around the said drums, pulleys, or reels, and have the
speed at which it so passes controlled and regulated by the friction brake or
brakes.
Second, the employment, in apparatuses for laying or sinking submarine
telegraph cables, of a friction brake or friction brakes, in the manner and for
the purposes herein-before described.
Third, the employment, in connection with apparatuses for laying or sinking
submarine telegraph cables, of an indicator in combination with a friction
brake or brakes to indicate the amount of tension or strain exerted on the.
cable, in the manner herein-before described.

page_text: Fourth, the employment of floats or buoys attached to the cable as it leaves
the ship, in order to take off or reduce the strain or tension of the cable, as
herein before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles de Bergue, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of November, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-seven.
C. DE BERGUE.
L.S.)