IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR EXPLODING SUBMARINE MINES OR TORPEDOES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Andrew Noble, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, in the
County of Northumberland, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR EXPLODING SUBMARINE MINES
OR TORPEDOES.""
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Andrew Noble at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the.
29th August 1870.
I, ANDREW NOBLE, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, in the County of Northum-
berland, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR EXPLODING SUBMARINE MINES
OR TORPEDOES," to be as follows:-

page_text: or other electrical exploding agency by means of a distinct insulated
wire or cable.
Now the present Invention consists in applying one single insulated
wire or cable to the explosion of any number of torpedoes, and the
manner in which I propose to carry this out is as follows:-The insulated
wire or cable is connected with a number of branch insulated wires
corresponding to the number of mines or torpedoes which are to be laid
down. These torpedoes are so constructed that any one of them is
exploded when it is struck by a passing ship or other vessel by the
completion of an electric circuit through the insulated wire or cable
in a manner well understood and forming no part of my present
Invention.
Now upon the explosion of any one of the mines or torpedoes it is at
the same instant. disconnected from the electric arrangement, so that
its explosion in no way interferes with the liability of any of the other
torpedoes to be subsequently exploded by collision with a vessel. The
manner in which I prefer to carry this out is as follows:-The electrical
communication between each torpedo or mine and the insulated wire
or cable is made through an electrical fuze (by preference of the kind
known as ८८
Abel's fuze,") and this fuze, together with the joints which
connect it with the torpedo and the insulated wire or cable, is enclosed
in a water-tight insulating tube or box. When the torpedo is exploded
by completing the electric circuit the fuze enclosed in the insulating
box is simultaneously exploded thereby, and the electric communication
of that particular torpedo with the insulated wire or cable is instan-
taneously severed.
In specifying the above particular arrangement I do not limit myself
thereto, as the same result can be obtained by substituting a platinum
wire or a fine iron wire, or any known form of electrical fuze for the
"Abel's fuze" in the insulating box above referred to, the essential
feature of this Invention being the severence of electrical connection of
any one of the several mines or torpedoes connected with one insulated
wire, at the moment of explosion of that particular torpedo.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Andrew Noble in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 25th February 1871..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDREW
NOBLE, of Newcastle-on-Tyne,. in. the County of Northumberland, send
greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred. and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did,. for Herself,. Her heirs and successors,.
give and grant unto me, the said Andrew Noble,. Her special licence that
I, the said Andrew Noble, my executors, administrators, and assigns,. or
such others as I, the said Andrew Noble, 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 THE. MEANS AND APPARATUS
EMPLOYED FOR EXPLODING SUBMARINE MINES OR TORPEDOES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Andrew Noble,. my executors or admi-
nistrators, 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 Andrew Noble, 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 :-
Heretofore it has been the practice in the arrangement of submarine
mines or "torpedoes" to connect every mine with the firing battery
or other electrical exploding agency by incans of a distinct insulated wire
or cable.
Now the present Invention consists in applying one single insulated
wire or cable to the explosion of any number of torpedoes, and the

page_text: manner in which I propose to carry this out is as follows:-The insulated
wire or cable is connected with a number of branch insulated wires
corresponding to the number of mines or torpedoes which are to be
laid down. These torpedoes are so constructed that any one of them
is exploded when it is struck by a passing ship or other vessel by the
completion of an electric circuit through the insulated wire or cable
in a manner well understood, and forming no part of my present
Invention.
.
Now upon the explosion of any one of the mines or torpedoes it is at
the same instant disconnected from the electric arrangement, so that
its explosion in no way interferes-with-the-liability of any one-of-the
other torpedoes to be subsequently exploded by collision with a vessel.
The manner in which I prefer to carry this out is as follows:-The
electrical communication between each torpedo or mine and the insu-
lated wire or cable is made through an electrical fuze (by preference
of the kind known as "Abel's fuze"), and this fuze, together with the
joints which connect it with the torpedo and the insulated wire or cable,
is enclosed in a water-tight insulating tube or box. When the torpedo
is exploded by completing the electric circuit the fuze enclosed in the
insulating box is simultaneously exploded thereby, and the electric
communication of that particular torpedo with the insulated wire or
cable is instantaneously severed.
In specifying the above particular arrangement I do not limit myself
thereto, as the same result can be obtained by substituting a platinum
wire or a fine iron wire, or any known form of electrical fuze for the
"Abel's fuze" in the insulating box above referred to, the essential
feature of this Invention being the severance of electrical connection of
any one of the several mines or torpedoes connected with one insulated
wire at the moment of explosion of that particular torpedo.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, what I claim as the Invention
secured to me under the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent
is,―
First. The connecting of two or more torpedoes or mines to one and
the same insulating conducting wire or cable in such manner that by
the explosion of any one torpedo the electrical connection of such
torpedo with the wire or cable shall be severed without interference
with the electrical communication between the other unexploded tor-

page_text: pedoes and the conducting wire or cable, substantially as herein-before
set forth.
Second. Connecting the torpedo to the conducting wire or cable by
means of an electrical fuze or other contrivance for severing electric
communication enclosed inside a water-tight insulating tube or casing,
substantially as set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Noble, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of February, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-.
one.