IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR ATTACHING TELEGRAPH WIRES TO INSULATORS, AND FOR PROTECTING SUCH AND „Other InsulatoRS FROM BREAKAGE
Year: 1872

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION loft by William Alexander Lyttle at
"
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 2nd May 1872.
I, WILLIAM ALEXANDER LYTTLE, of The Grove, Hammersmith, in
the County of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR
ATTACHING TELEGRAPH WIRES TO INSULATORS, AND FOR PROTECTING SUCH AND
„Other InsulatoRS FROM BREAKAGE," to be as follows:—
I preparo a U shaped iron rod with both legs screw tapped, and each
provided with one or more nuts. This U clip carries'a cross piece of
metal or cbonite furnished with a hole at each end, such holes being so
mado that the cross pieco shall slip freely on to the legs of the U rod or
clip before the nuts are screwed on. This clip when used is placed-in-
the groove now usually provided round the top of each insulator, the
cross piece is slipped back on the legs of the U-clip against the insulator,
the telegraph wire is lifted on to these legs, and when in this position it
is firmly clipped between the aforesaid cross piece and the two nuts.

page_text: These nuts may have transverse grooves or projecting points on their
faces, so that as they are screwed home they shall bite and retain tho
telegraph wire from slipping either. up or down.
The cross piece should also be provided with a longitudinal groove or
rib on one side, so arranged as to assist in clipping the wire and prevent 5
its slipping from beneath the aforesaid nuts. It may also have a rib
upon the back in such a line that when the cross piece is screwed home
this rib shall enter the circular groove in the top of the insulator. If the
insulator is made specially to suit the U clip it should be provided with
a second
groove around or at one side of the top to receive the wire 1
when the wire is clipped home into the groove or recess. In this case
the cross piece will not be needed. The best form of insulator for this
purpose will have a flat side or top so grooved as to serve the part of
the aforesaid cross piece.
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In order to protect from breakage insulators so mounted I provide if 1
desired shields of metal to cover the insulators, open at the top and
provided with holes or slots at one side near the top, through which the
legs of the U clip shall project, carrying the nuts on the outer side. . In
this case when the telegraph wire is clipped home it rests against the
side of the shield as a cross piece, and so secures the latter in position. 2
The shield must be so shaped and fitted that when clamped home it
shall not touch the sides of the insulator. This open topped shield can
also be employed where the nuts which clip it to the insulator are used
for that purpose only, as in the case of insulators like those known as
'Siemens's," where the telegraph wire is suspended from a stem 2
depending from the bell of the insulator. In the latter case the hood or
shield must of course be formed with an arm, or bracket, or flange round
its top by which to attach it to the pole or cross arm, and it may be
provided with a rim fitting into the annular groove at the top of the
insulator at one side around about one-third the circumference of such 3
groove, and projecting far enough to keep the shield from touching the
insulator, or with ribs projecting from the shield in the same way and
adapted to rest in vertical lines against the side of the insulator at the
top, whilst it can be clamped firmly to the insulator by means of one or
more screws passing through it at the opposite side, with their points a
pressing home into the same groove or against the side of the insulator.
Instead of the rim a succession of points projecting to the same extent
may be provided. This will diminish the conductivity of the contact

page_text: between the hood or shield and the insulator. These shields should
be made of malleable or annealed cast iron.
When it is desired to secure the shield to the insulator and the wire to
the shield by one and the same clamping process this can be effected by
providing the shield with the projecting rim or horse-shoe series of
points already described on the interior at the side opposite to that to
which the wire is to be bound, leaving a transverse slot in the shield
through which the telegraph wire or a cross piece, as herein-before
described, can be clamped home directly against the insulator.
This clamping can then be effected as follows:-On either side of the
transverse slot in the shield two bosses should be cast upon the shield in
the same positions as those which would be occupied by holes if a U clip
were used, and these bosses should be bored and fitted with ordinary
headed screws working into them. These screws clip home the wire by
each pressing against it, a washer grooved, ratcheted, semi-cylindrical, or
otherwise so surfaced, that when the head of the screw presses home the
washer the latter shall both prevent the wire from escaping and from
loosening the screws.
One screw threaded leg and one nut will suffice for the U clip if the
other leg is formed with its end turned up like the heel of a horse-shoe,
so as to hold the telegraph wire if pressed against it. When under this
arrangement the nut on the other end is screwed home the clip will
rotate round the insulator, and so bring the end of the other leg into
position, if of proper length, to press against and aid in clipping or
clamping the telegraph wire.