CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PROTECTING INSULATED ELECTRO-TELEGRAPHIC WIRES, AND IN THE METHODS AND MACHINERY USED FOR THE PURPOSE
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CHATTERTON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Agent, send
greeting.
•
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twelfth day of June
(One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one), in the fourteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Chatterton, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial license,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said John Chatterton,
my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I; the said John Chatterton,
my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,.
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Jersey,
Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all Her said Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN PROTECTING INSULATED ELECTRO-TELEGRAPHIC WIRES, AND IN THE METHODS
AND MACHINERY USED FOR THE PURPOSE;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that I, the said John Chatterton, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the.
same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and

page_text: seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in
part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Chatterton, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascer-
tained in and by the present Specification thereof, reference being had to the
Drawing hereunto annexed; that is to say:--
Of the various substances or combinations of substances hitherto employed
for the insulation of electro-telegraphic wires, the most perfect, and at the
same time most easy of application, is gutta percha. But the gutta percha
requires to be protected from external injury and from atmospheric influences,
and no means entirely satisfactory have been yet devised for the purpose.
Iron-wire rope
has been wound round the gutta percha, but it is liable to the
objection of the probability of air and water finding their way between the
strands of the rope, especially under circumstances of great strain and pressure.
It has been also proposed to enclose the gutta percha in leaden tubing; but it
is essential that the metal should be in close and uniform contact with the
gutta percha, and this can only be well accomplished by drawing the tubing,
while in the course of formation, or as fast as formed, over the gutta-percha-
covered wire; but as such tubing is now ordinarily manufactured, the metal,
when forced out from the machine by which it is formed, is at so high a
temperature that it would injure the gutta percha. The use of leaden tubing
for protecting gutta-percha-covered wires has, therefore, been hitherto found
impracticable, though icad is; on account of its ductility and (comparative)
impermeability, probably superior to any other metal for the purpose.
Now my Invention consists in an improved arrangement of machinery whereby
leaden tubing is as fast as produced so lowered in temperature as to be brought
over the gutta-percha-covered wire without injuring the gutta percha. A
top plan of this arrangement is exhibited in the Drawing hereunto annexed.
A represents the delivery end of a hydraulic lead-pipe-making machine of the
ordinary description (as to which by itself I make no claim); A³, a long rect-
angular framework, which carries the additional parts which are new and of
my Invention; B, B, are a series of friction rollers, which are mounted in the
framework (A) at about fifteen inches apart; C represents the gutta-percha-
covered wire which is required to be protected, and which is borne by the
friction rollers B', B2, B3, B4, &c.; D, the end of the core on which the
leaden tubing is formed; and E, a thin wire by which C and D are connected,

page_text: which passes over the rollers B1, B2, B³, B', B; F is a trough through
which a stream of cold water is kept constantly flowing, into which the portion
of the connecting wire between B and B is immersed; G is a wooden drum
which is mounted on a square spindle a little in advance of the water trough,
and rests in slotted bearings so as to admit of its being lifted up and removed
as required; H is a spur wheel which is attached to one end of the drum
spindle and gears into a pinion on the end of a second spindle H, to the
opposite end of which last a winch handle K is attached. The mode of
operating with the apparatus is as follows:-As the tubing is forced from off
the core D (by hydraulic pressure as usual) it passes along the connecting
wire E and through the water trough F, and thence onwards to the gutta-
percha-insulated wire C, by which time it is so cooled down as to be brought
into contact with the gutta percha without danger of injury to the latter. At
this point the tubing has a chain or cord attached to the end of it, by which
it is easily conducted over the insulated wire; when any given length of the
insulated wire has been thus covered with tubing, it is cut off and passed
through a die or set of grooved rolls placed at M, by which complete contact
between the metal; and gutta percha is effected; from the die or rolls the
protected wire is carried forward to the drum G and wound upon it by turning
the winch handle K, and when the drum is full it is lifted out of its place and
an empty one substituted for it and so on. To join any two lengths of wire
which have been thus insulated and protected, I cut away the lead and
gutta percha at the ends to be joined for about a couple of inches, so as to
leave about that length of copper wire bare; I then tin, twist, and solder
together the two exposed ends of wire, and make good the gutta percha to
the same size as the leaden tubing; I next slip a socket or coupling joint of
about five inches long over the ends of the two lengths, and solder it to the
leaden tube by means of a blow pipe or copper bit (preferring to use for the
purpose a quickly fusible alloy). The instant the joining is completed cold
water is thrown over it, so that the gutta percha is not at all injured by
the heat. In the same way any number of lengths of wire may be
joined, and thus a continuous wire of indefinite length produced.
of passing the leaden tubing through water, as before described, it may
be exposed during its passage along the connecting wire (E) to a
current of cold air; but this method I regard as less certain than the
other, and do not therefore recommend. Instead also of the lead tubing
being drawn over the insulated wire in the manner before described, the
insulated wire may be drawn through the tubing by the following modification
of the process. The tubing may be first drawn to the required length
Instead

page_text: as it is formed over plain wire, and the end of that plain wire attached to the
end of the insulated wire, then on withdrawing the plain wire from the tubing
the insulated wire would follow and occupy its place. The tubing with the
insulated wire thus introduced into it may then be passed through a die or
between grooved rolls, as in the method first described; but this plan would
be much more operose and tedious than the other. When two or more wires
are required to be enclosed in one tube I insulate each wire with gutta percha
or other analogous material independently, and then twist them together so as
to form a rope, which rope is then subjected to the same process as before
directed to be employed in the case of a single wire.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is the
protecting of electro-telegraphic wires, when insulated by a coating of gutta
percha or any analogous material, by lead or other metal tubing passed or
drawn over the same, according to the methods and by means of the
machinery before described, that is to say, in so far as regards the passing of
the tubing as it is formed over plain wire attached to the end of the core, the
lowering of the temperature of the tubing before bringing it into contact
with the gutta-percha-insulated wire, and the final compressing of the whole
together by dies or grooved rolls.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Chatterton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.
JOHN (L.S.) CHATTERTON.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-seventh day of
November, in the year of our Lord 1851, the aforesaid John Chatterton came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and
specified, in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was
stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.