IMPROVEMENTS. IN THE MODE OF INSULATING AND COVERING WIRE
Year: 1861

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Charles West at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th July 1861.
I, CHARLES WEST, of No. 2, Derby Street, Parliament Street, Westminster,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS. IN THE
MODE OF INSULATING AND COVERING WIRE," to be as follows:-
The Commission appointed by Her Majesty's Government to inquire into
the subject of submarine telegraphy have reported in favor of india-rubber as
being the best medium of insulation, to which conclusion they had arrived from
the tests applied to the wires so insulated and manufactured by Mess. Silver,
under my Patent of the 18th of October 1858, in competition with various
wires supplied by other persons. In the same report, however, attention has
been called to the fact that in some instances the rubber in contact with the
wire became soft treacly, this I believe to arise from the use of improper
material, and as it is a matter of consequence to me to prevent the possibility
of such a thing occurring again I shall use only the very best material, per-
fectly pure and free from adulteration, so that the superior qualities of the
india-rubber may not be damaged by any deleterious mixture or by the process.
of mastication, or from any other cause whatever.
To attain this end I use only the very best South Américan rubber,.not
masticated, but in its native state. The difficulty I have hitherto had. to.
contend with in using the native rubber has been from not being able to con
solidate it after it has been placed on the wire. This arises from the rubber-
in its native state containing a large per-centage of moisture, which prevents
its cohesion even with the use of solvents. I have, however, overcome this

page_text: difficulty by a very simple and efficacious method. I drive off the moisture in
the india-rubber previous to its being placed upon the wire. This I readily
accomplish by subjecting the strips of ribbands of pure india-rubber, after they
are cut from the bottle, to a process of dessication or evaporation. The result
is that the india-rubber so treated will, when on the wire, with the aid of sol-
vents, unite with the second coating of rubber, & this again with the third,
& so on. I do not confine myself to the use of any one particular solvent of
india-rubber, but use any or all of them, either simply or mixed with another
solvent, or in combination with india-rubber or any other material.
I apply the solvents to the rubber after it leaves the delivery drum and as it
enters the mandrel. This I do by two small troughs containing the solution,
in each of which there is a sponge or some fibrous material with capillary
attraction. These are placed on the ends of two rods rivetted together in the
centre, which will open and shut like a pair of scissors, so that by closing them
when the machine is in motion the wire passes through the saturated sponges,
and when it stops, by opening them, the contact with the wire ceases.
In cases where I may deem it expedient to consolidate the rubber on the
wire, by my process of boiling under my Patent bearing date the 18th of
October 1858, the dessication or driving off the moisture under the present
process will prepare the rubber for consolidation by boiling.