Improvements in Junction and Testing Boxes for Electrical Conductors.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Mar., 1887
Complete Left, 12th Dec., 1887
Complete Accepted, 13th Jan., 1888
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Junction and Testing Boxes for Electrical
Conductors.
I, EDGAR WILLIAM BECKINGSALE 2 Gresham Press Buildings Little Bridge Street
London E.C. Electrical Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be
as follows:-
Whereas the present forms of Junction and Testing boxes are either closed by
covers screwed down by bolts & nuts watertight and the entrance of the conductors
made tight by a mechanical contrivance or by pouring into a containing Recess a hot
mixture of Resin, oil or paraffin wax, or else the method adopted by H.M. Post Office
of using non-watertight boxes & of covering the conductors in the box with insulating
material --The object of my invention is to seal by a liquid the ends of the pipes
carrying the conductor, to do away with the necessity of screwed down covers & the
mechanically closed entrances to the conductors and to enable the conductors in the
boxes to be kept bare for easy manipulation through being insulated by the liquid.
My Invention consists in a box of metal or other material filled or partly filled with a
fluid hydro-carbon oil heavier than water, such as creasote and tar oil and of short
lengths of metal pipes, tubes or hose which dip into the oil & have their other ends
closely connected to the pipes carrying the conductors, also of separating boards
placed in the junction and Testing Boxes containing channels & slots in which the
bare conductors are placed to prevent electrical contact.
Doind this 19th day of March 1887
EDGAR WILLIAM BECKINGSALE.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Junction and Testing Boxes for Electrical
Conductors.
EDGAR WILLIAM BECKINGSALE of No. 2 Gresham Press Buildings Little Bridge
Street in the City of London Electrical Engineer do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The objects of my invention are to prevent water penetrating to the conductors at
the boxes, to keep a portion of the conductors passing through the boxes bare for
inspection and easy manipulation, to do away with the screwed down covers and
mechanically closed entrances to Junction and Testing boxes at present in use and to
minimise and localise the effect of damp penetrating to the conductor through defects
in the insulating covering of the same.
These objects I attain as follows, by providing suitable boxes at proper intervals for
junction and testing purposes filled with a liquid hydrocarbon or heavy oil such as
creosote or tar oil, of a greater specific gravity than water, or a mixture of such
hydrocarbon and other substance or substances, melted resin or paraffin for example,
the said mixture being also of greater specific gravity than water.
The boxes are provided with covers to keep out the dirt and prevent evaporation,
but not jointed watertight.
The conductor dips below the surface of the said hydrocarbon or mixture and that
portion of the said conductor passing through or into such box is bared for such a distance
as to leave the bare portion and one or more inches of the insulating material of the
conductor at each end of the box below the surface of the said hydrocarbon or
mixture.
Suitable racks are fitted to the boxes to prevent the conductors touching each other,
which racks are made of wood, vulcanite, or other good insulating material, in some
cases I may if found desirable, dispense with the racks and simply wrap the conductor
where bare with any suitable material such as paper, tape or yarn.
In applying my invention to underground wires I lay the, conductors in suitable
pipes preferably of iron, the said pipes being divided into sections, each section is of
sufficient length to reach from box to box and to dip below the surface of the hydro-
carbon or mixture, with which the boxes are filled, at each end, the conductor being
continuous.
By this method 1 avoid using the screwed down covers and mechanically closed
entrances to such boxes, as the said hydrocarbon or mixture effectually prevents any
water or damp from penetrating to that part of the conductor passing through the
box, and also minimises the effect of damp, as should a defect in the insulating
material or pipes allow water or damp to penetrate to the conductor the loss of insula-
tion arising therefrom is confined to the particular section in which the said defect
occurs.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and the manner in which the same is to be performed 1 declare that what I
claim is
I. In Junction and Testing Boxes for Electrical Conductors the use of a liquid
hydrocarbon, or heavy oil, or a mixture of such hydrocarbon and other substance or
substances, for the conductor to dip into, the said hydrocarbon or mixture being of
greater specific gravity than water as and for the purposes specified.
II. The improved Junction and Testing boxes for Electrical Conductors fitted with
insulating racks and filled with a liquid hydrocarbon or mixture of liquid hydrocarbon
and other substance or substances substantially as described.
Dated this Twelfth day of December 1887