IMPROVEMENTS IN JOINING TELEGRAPH WIRES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Willoughby Smith, of 18, Wharf Road, City
Road, for the Invention of “IMPROVEMENTS IN JOINING TELEGRAPH
WIRES."
Sealed the 12th April 1876, and dated the 17th December 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Willoughby Smith at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 17th December 1875.
I, WILLOUGHBY SMITH, of 18, Wharf Road, City Road, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN JOINING
TELEGRAPH WIRES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in joining telegraph
wires. Where telegraph wires covered with gutta percha are laid in
streets and such like places the present method of joining the gutta
percha covered wires by first attaching the conductors the one to the
other, and then by means of heat mending the gutta percha covering

page_text: over the connection between the conductors, is found to be troublesome
and difficult.
According to my Invention I form the joint mechanically and
without the application of heat to the gutta percha. I employ a clamp
consisting of two plates of vulcanite or other non-conducting material.
Each plate is grooved from end to end with a groove which is semi-
circular, or nearly so, in section, so that when the two plates are held
face to face there is a passage between somewhat smaller in diameter
than the gutta percha covered wire with which the clamp is to be used.
A fine screw thread is cut in the passage at the two ends, and the
central portion may be somewhat enlarged.
Having first connected the conductors in the usual way by twisting
them together or by soldering them I put. on the clamp (having
previously by preference coated the surfaces with paraffin) and squeeze
the two plates forcibly together by means of a portable vice, and whilst
so held I insert screws through the plates to retain them. Or in place
of screws passing through the plates screw clips embracing the plates
may be employed, or by other equivalent means they may be held the
c to the other.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Willoughly Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th June 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM
.
THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLOUGHBY SMITH, of 18, Wharf Road, City Road, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in
the thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Willoughby Smith, Her
special license, that I, the said Willoughby Smith, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Willoughby
Smith, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times

page_text: 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 JOINING TELEGRAPH WIRES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Willoughby Smith, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in 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 Willoughby Smith, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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, that is to say:—
This Invention has for its object improvements in joining telegraph
wires. Where telegraph wires covered with gutta percha, india-rubber,
or other insulating material are placed underground, the present system
of joining the same is troublesome and difficult.
According to my Invention I employ a clamp consisting of two plates
of vulcanite, wood, or other suitable material. Each plate is grooved
from end to end with a groove which is semicircular, or nearly so, in
section, so that when the two plates are held face to face there is a
passage between somewhat smaller in diameter than the covered wire
with which the clamp is to be used. A fine screw thread is cut in the
passage at the two ends, and the central portion is enlarged to allow
sufficient insulating material to be placed round the joint.
Having first connected the conductor in the usual way the insulating
material is applied over the joint, I put on clamp and squeeze the two
plates forcibly together by means of a portable vice, and while so held
I insert screws through the plates to retain them.
In order that my said Invention may be most fully understood, and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings

page_text: Figure 1 is an elevation, Figure 2 is a plan, and Figure 3 an end
view of a joint made according to my Invention. a, a, are two plates,
which may conveniently be either of wood or vulcanite. These plates
are similar the one to the other, and one of them is shown separately.
;
Figure 4 is a plan; Figure 5, an end view; Figure 6, an under side
view and Figure 7 is a transverse section. a¹ is a groove formed along
the plate from end to end. At the two ends this groove is smaller in
diameter than the covered wire with which the clamp is to be used, and
here a fine screw thread is cut in the material. When the clamp is 1
screwed up the thread indents the covering of the wire, so obtaining a
firm hold of it and rendering it difficult for moisture to pass in.
Between the two ends of the clamp where the screw threads are cut
the passage is enlarged.
Figure 8 is a front view, Figure 9 a side view, Figure 10 a back view,
and Figure 11 a plan of a portable vice to be used in making the
joints.
1
The operation is as follows:-The insulator is removed from the ends
of the wires to be joined either by heating or by a knife, the former
method is the better. The copper wire is cleaned with emery paper, 2
and a short bell hanger's twist is made, as is shown in Figure 12. If
the wires be thoroughly cleaned and the twist tight and well made no
solder will be required. The exposed wire and just the surface of the
insulting material at the joint should now be warmed with a spirit
lamp, and then covered with an insulating material; the material I g
prefer to use is described in the Specification of my Patent No. 1811,
in the year 1858. This compound is well known, and is in common
use. A stick of the compound is warmed by the flame of the lamp,
and the softened material is spread around the joint until a thickness
is attained somewhat exceeding that of the original covered wire and
sufficient to fill the grooves in the pieces a; the two parts of the
clamp are then put on in their places, as seen in Figures 1, 2, and 3;
by means of the portable vice they are pressed firmly together, and the
screws are screwed home before the joint is released from the vice.
Joints thus made are found to be perfect in their insulation.

page_text: manner described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Willoughby Smith, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
WILLY. SMITH. (L.S.)