IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR LAYING SUBAQUEOUS ELECTRICAL CONDUCTORS FOR TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William John Macquorn Rankine, of 59, Saint
Vincent Street, Glasgow, Civil Engineer, and John Thomson, also of
No. 59, Saint Vincent Street, in the said City, Sub-assistant Engineer
to the East Indian Railway Company, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR LAYING SUBAQUEOUS ELECTRICAL CONDUCTORS FOR
TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION."
Sealed the 26th June 1855, and dated the 23rd February 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William John Macquorn
Rankine and John Thomson at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 23rd February 1855.
We, WILLIAM JOHN MACQUORN RANKINE, of Number Fifty-nine, Saint
Vincent Street, in the City of Glasgow, Civil Engineer, and JOHN THOMSON,
also of Number Fifty-nine, Saint Vincent Street, in the said City, Sub-assistant.
Engineer to the East Indian Railway Company, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR LAYING SUB-
AQUEOUS ELECTRICAL CONDUCTORS FOR TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
follows:-
According to the ordinary and well-known mode of laying subaqueous
électrical conductors for telegraphic communication, the telegraphic cord or
cable, wherein one or more such conductors are contained, is placed in a ship
or other vessel, which vessel is made to pass along the intended line of

page_text: telegraphic communication so far as such line traverses navigable waters,
and during the passage of such vessel the telegraphic cord or cable is lowered
by degrees therefrom into the water, in which it sinks by its own weight and
is deposited at the bottom of such navigable waters.
During this operation it is necessary to regulate the speed wherewith the
telegraphic cord or cable escapes from the vessel and descends into the water,
otherwise that speed would become excessive, in consequence of which the
cord or cable would be at first deposited in a coiled, sinuous, and entangled
form instead of in a straight or nearly straight line, and would ultimately
be destroyed by friction, and the vessel would also be damaged.
The ordinary mode hitherto practised of regulating the speed of the cord
or cable is to cause it to pass several times round one or more drums or
revolving cylinders on its way from the hold or-interior of the ship or vessel to
the stern of the ship or vessel over which it descends, the speed of revolution
of such drum or drums being regulated by means of friction brakes of solid
material acting on brake wheels concentric and revolving with the drum or
drums.
After leaving the drum or drums the cord or cable passes over a strong iron
rail which is fixed in the place of the ordinary taffrail of the vessel, and
thence descends into the water. The force with which the cord or cable tends
to descend increases with the depth of the water; for the deeper the water is,
the greater is the weight of the portion of cord or cable which at any one
time hangs suspended between the taffrail of the vessel and the bottom of
the water, and this force has to be more or less counteracted by the friction
of the cord or cable against the iron taffrail and against the surface of the
drum or drums, and principally by the friction of the brakes, whereby the speed
of the drum or drums is controlled and regulated. This friction of the cord
or cable, taffrail, drums, brakes, and machinery generally, tends to make them
acquire a degree of heat which might occasion great damage were they not
kept cool by continually pouring or dashing water upon them.
The ordinary method which has just been described of regulating the speed
of the cord or cable is exceedingly defective for the following reasons:-
1st, the cord or cable rapidly wears and cuts the iron taffrail, and becomes
itself much worn, damaged, and ruffled by rubbing against it.
2nd, the friction of the cord or cable on the taffrail and drum or drums,
and of the brakes on the brake wheels, is sometimes, when the water is deep,
found to be inadequate sufficiently to control the speed of the cord or cable,
which speed consequently sometimes attains a dangerous and injurious amount,
notwithstanding the utmost efforts employed to control it.

page_text: 3rd, great care and attention are required to prevent the successive coils
of the cord or cable on the drum or drums from over-riding each other,
and producing entanglement and damage, if not destruction, to the cord or
cable.
4th, in such cases of great speed as have been just referred to, the heat
produced by the friction is so great that the. exertions of a large number of
men, often exceeding twenty, are required to supply water to keep the cord or
cable and machinery cool, so that on the whole as many as thirty men have
frequently been required for this purpose, and to attend to the brake machinery,
the safety and success of the operation being dependent amongst other circum-
stances on the diligence and activity of this large body of men. Considering
these facts, it may be held that the successful laying of submarine telegraphic
cables at great depths by the ordinary methods has been in a great measure
due to a concurrence of favorable circumstances which cannot be relied on
with certainty in future operations of the same kind, and that for depths much
exceeding those at which submarine telegraphic cables have hitherto been
laid, their safe and successful laying by the ordinary method will be found
impracticable.
The nature of our Invention consists of improvements herein-after described
in the machinery for laying subaqueous electrical conductors for telegraphic
communication, especially in so far as such machinery is applied to control
and regulate the speed of descent of the telegraphic cord or cable, so as to
obviate the evils of the ordinary method already referred to.
In the first place, we propose, in order to prevent the successive coils of the
cord or cable on each drum from over-riding each other, to encircle each drum
with a band of steel or other suitable material wrapped spirally round the
drum a sufficient number of times to provide a separate space for each coil of
the cord or cable between the coils of the spiral band, such spiral band
being fixed so that it may remain at rest while the drum rotates within
its coils.
In the second place, we propose to dispense with one or more of the drums
now employed, and to use instead of each drum so dispensed with a pair of
large strong pullies having round their circumferences circular grooves or
channels separated by flanches, and of a depth and width suited to the size
of the cord or cable to be laid, and having the inner surface of such grooves
either smooth or rigid transversely, according as a less or a greater degree of
adhesion may be required to prevent the cord or cable from slipping. We
propose that the two pullies constituting a pair shall be in the same vertical
plane with each other, so that the cable or cord 'may be carried half round

page_text: one pulley and half round the other alternately, as many times as there are
grooves in their circumference. This arrangement will at once give increased
adhesion to prevent the cord or cable from slipping, and will prevent the
possibility of successive coils of the cord or cable over-riding each other. The
diameter of the pullies will be greater or less, according as the cords or cables
which they are intended to lay are of greater or less diameter. A general
rule on this subject cannot be laid down, but it may be stated that in most
cases from six to ten feet, according to circumstances, will be a suitable diameter
for the pulleys. Each pulley and drum will be fixed on a strong shaft, and
the shafts supported by a strong framework.
In the third place, we propose to dispense with the iron taffrail by making
the sternmost pulley or drum, as the case may be, project over the stern of
the vessel sufficiently far to make the cord or cable hang clear of every part
of the vessel. Thus will be obviated the damage at present done by the cord
or cable and the iron taffrail to each other.
In the fourth place, we propose to control and regulate the speed of the
pulleys and drums, and consequently of the cord or cable in the following
manner: One or more or each of the pulleys and drums will be made to
work, by means of cranks or otherwise, one or more strong pumps, each such
pump being employed to forco water or air or other fluid, either liquid or
gaseous, through an orifice capable of having its size regulated by a valve or
otherwise. Now, by sufficiently contracting the size of such an orifice, the
resistance of the fluid forced through it, and consequently the power consumed
in working the pump may be increased to any required extent, so that by
regulating the size of the orifice through which each pump forces the fluid,
the speed of the pulleys and of the cord or cable may be controlled to any
extent, and completely stopped when required, and that by a single person.
Moreover, the heat produced by the friction will appear chiefly in the fluid
employed; and as successive portions of such fluid, after having been heated.
by the friction arising from being forced through a narrow orifice, may be
discharged, there will be very little accumulation of heat in the machinery.
Various fluids might be employed for this purpose, but we prefer water
raised from the navigable water in which the vessel floats.
In the fifth place, we propose that water should be poured or dashed over
such parts of the cords or cables and machinery as may require it for the
purpose of abstracting heat, either by the pumps already mentioned, or by other
pumps worked by one or more of the pulleys.
The nature of our Invention does not consist in the particular parts of the
machinery herein-before described, such as spiral bands, drums, pulleys, and

page_text: pumps, but in the combination and adaptation of such parts or some of them
so as to improve the method of laying subaqueous electrical conductors for
telegraphic communication in the manner herein-before described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William John Macquorn Rankine and John Thomson in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 22nd August 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
JOHN MACQUORN RANKINE, of 59, Saint Vincent Street, Glasgow, Civil
Engineer, and JOHN THOMSON, Sub-assistant Engineer to the East Indian
Railway Company, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of February, in the year of our
Lord Eighteen hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said William John Macquorn Rankine and John Thomson, Her special
license that we, the said William John Macquorn Rankine and John
Thomson, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we,
the said William John Macquorn Rankine and John Thomson, our
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, in such manner as to us and our
foresaids should in our and their discretion seem meet, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR LAYING SUBAQUEOUS ELECTRICAL CONDUCTORS
FOR TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION," upon the condition (amongst others) that
we, the said William John Macquorn Rankine and John Thomson, by an
instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and
seal of one of us, 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 we, the said William John Macquorn Rankine
and John Thomson, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement, that is to say :—

page_text: According to the ordinary and well-known mode of laying subaqueous
electrical conductors for telegraphic communication, the telegraphic cord or
cable, wherein one or more such conductors are contained, is placed in a ship
or other vessel, which vessel is made to pass along the intended line of
telegraphic communication, so far as such line traverses navigable waters, and
during the passage of such vessel the telegraphic cord or cable is lowered by
degrees therefrom into the water, in which it sinks by its own weight, and is
depósited at the bottom of such navigable waters.
During this operation it is necessary to regulate the speed wherewith the
telegraphic cord or cable escapes from the vessel and descends into the water,
otherwise that speed would become excessive, in consequence of which the
cord or cable would be at first deposited in a coiled, sinuous, and entangled
form, instead of in a straight or nearly straight line, and would ultimately be
destroyed by friction, and the vessel would also be damaged.
The ordinary mode hitherto practised of regulating the speed of the cord
or cable is to cause it to pass several times round one or more drums or
revolving cylinders on its way from the hold or interior of the ship or vessel
'to the stern of the ship or vessel, over which it descends, the speed of revolution
of such drum or drums being regulated by means of friction brakes of solid
material, acting on brake wheels concentric and revolving with the drum ors
drums.
After leaving the drum or drums the cord or cable passes over a strong iron
rail, which is fixed in the place of the ordinary taffrail of the vessel, and thence
descends into the water. The force with which the cord or cable tends to
descend increases, with the depth of the water; for the deeper the water is, the
greater is the weight of the portion of cord or cable which at any one time
hangs suspended between the taffrail of the vessel and the bottom of the water;
and this force has to be more or less counteracted by the friction of the cord.
or cable against the iron taffrail and against the surface of the drum or drums,
and principally by the friction of the brakes, whereby the speed of the drum or a
drums. is controlled and regulated. This friction of the cord or cable, taffrail,
drums, brakes, and machinery generally, tends to make them acquire a degree
of heat which might occasion great damage were they not kept cool by
continually pouring or dashing water upon them.
The ordinary method, which has just been described, of regulating the speed
of the cord or cable is exceedingly defective, for the following reasons:-
1st. The cord or cable rapidly wears and cuts the iron taffrail, and becomes
itself much worn, damaged, and ruffled by rubbing against it.
2nd. The friction of the cord or cable on the taffrail and drum or drums, and

page_text: of the brakes on the brake wheels, is sometimes, when the water is deep, found
to be inadequate sufficiently to control the speed of the cord or cable, which
speed consequently sometimes attains a dangerous and injurious amount,
notwithstanding the utmost efforts employed to control it.
3rd. Great care and attention are required to prevent the successive coils
of the cord or cable on the drum or drums from over-riding each other,
and producing entanglement and damage, if not destruction, to the cord.
or cable.
4th. In such cases of great speed as have been just referred to, the heat
produced by the friction is so great that the exertions of a large number of
men, often exceeding twenty, are required to supply water to keep the cord or
cable and machinery cool; so that on the whole as many as thirty men. have
frequently been required for this purpose and to attend to the brake machinery,
the safety and success of the operation being dependent, amongst other
circumstances, on the diligence and activity of this large body of men.
Our Invention consists of improvements herein-after described in the
machinery for laying subaqueous electrical conductors for telegraphic commu-
nication, especially in so far as such machinery is applied to control and
regulate the speed of descent of the telegraphic cord or cable, so as to obviate
the evils of the ordinary method already referred to.
In the first place, in order to prevent the successive coils of the cord or cable
on each drum from over-riding each other, we encircle each drum with a band
of steel or other suitable material, wrapped spirally round the drum. a sufficient
number of times to provide a separate space for each coil of the cord or cable
between the coils of the spiral band, such spiral band being fixed by being
attached to or connected with the framework of the machinery, or with some
fixed part of the vessel, at its ends, and if necessary at intermediate points, so
that it may remain at rest while the drum rotates within its coils.
In the second place, we dispense with one or more of the drums now
employed, and we use, instead of each drum so dispensed with, a pair of large
strong pullies, having round their circumferences circular grooves or channels,
separated by flanches, and of a depth and width suited to the size of the cord or
cable to be laid, and having the inner surface of such grooves either smooth
or ridged transversely, according as a less or a greater degree of adhesion may
be required to prevent the cord or cable from slipping. We place the two
pullies constituting a pair in the same vertical plane with each other, so that
the cable or cord may be carried half round one pulley and half round the
other alternately as many times as there are grooves in their circumference, in
a manner similar to that now practised in winding engines for railway inclined

page_text: planes. This arrangement at once gives adhesion to prevent the cord or cable
from slipping, and prevents the possibility of successive coils of the cord or
cable over-riding each other. The diameter of the pullies should be greater
or less, according as the cords or cables which they are intended to lay are of
greater or less diameter: a general rule on this subject cannot be laid down;
but it may be stated that in most cases from six to ten feet, according to
circumstances, is a suitable diameter for the pullies. Each pulley and drum is
fixed on a strong shaft, and the shafts supported by a strong framework.
In the third place, we dispense with the iron taffrail, by making the stern-
most pulley or drum, as the case may be, project over the stern of the vessel
sufficiently far to make the cord or cable hang clear of every part of the
vessel. Thus is obviated the damage done by the cord or cable and the iron
taffrail to each other.
In the fourth place, we control and regulate the speed of the pulleys and
drums, and consequently of the cord or cable, in the following manner :-One or
more or each of the pulleys and drums is made to work, by means of cranks
or otherwise, one or more strong pumps, cach such pump being employed to
force water or air, or other fluid, either liquid or gaseous, through an orifice
capable of having its size regulated by an adjustable slide valve or otherwise.
Now, by sufficiently contracting the size of such an orifice, the resistance of
the fluid forced through it, and consequently the power consumed in working
the pump, may be increased to any required extent, so that by regulating the
size of the orifice or orifices through which ench pump forces the fluid, the
speed of the pulleys and of the cord or cable may be controlled to any extent,
and completely stopped when required, and that by a single person. Moreover,
the heat produced by the friction appears chiefly in the fluid employed; and
as successive portions of such fluid, after having been heated by the friction
arising from being forced through a narrow orifice, may be discharged, there is
very little accumulation of heat in the machinery. Various fluids might be
employed for this purpose; but we prefer water raised from the navigable
water in which the vessel floats. It will in general be advisable to employ at
least two forcing pumps to regulate the speed of the machinery, and we prefer
that they should be double-acting. It is also advisable so to arrange the
positions of the cranks or other machinery whereby the pumps are worked,
that when the piston of one pump is at or near one end of its stroke, that of
another shall be at or near the middle of its stroke, an arrangement well
known and practised with respect to the pistons of steam engines.
No general rule can be laid down for fixing the dimensions of the pumps.
Before designing the machinery to be employed in laying any particular

page_text: telegraphic cord or cable under water, the greatest depth of the water should
be ascertained as nearly as possible; and then, by taking into consideration
the weight of the cord or cable to be laid, the greatest load to be sustained
by the machinery can be computed, and the requisite size and strength of
the pumps determined according to the known principles of mechanics and
hydrodynamics.
In the fifth place, according to our Invention, the water is poured or
dashed over such parts of the cords or cables and machinery as may require
it, for the purpose of abstracting heat, either by the pumps already mentioned,
or by other pumps worked by one or more of the pullies.
The nature of our Invention does not consist in the particular parts of the
machinery herein-before described, such as spiral bands, drums, pulleys, pumps,
and adjustable valves, all of which are known parts of machinery; but in the
combination and adaptation of such parts or some of them so as to improve
the method of laying subaqueous electrical conductors for telegraphic com-
munication in the manner herein-before described; nor is any particular
arrangement of the details of the machinery essential to the efficient carrying
out of our Invention, it being sufficient that the machinery should be con-
structed in conformity with this Specification, and with those principles of
strength and good workmanship which are known to every competent engineer
and mechanic, while the arrangement of the details of the machinery may be
varied to suit the circumstances of each particular case.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim,—
First, the preventing the successive coils of the cord or cable containing the
subaqueous telegraphic conductor or conductors from over-riding each other
upon the drum or drums round which they pass, by interposing between such
coils on the circumference of each such drum a band of steel or other
suitable material wrapped spirally round the drum, and so fixed as to remain
at rest while the drum rotates.
Secondly, the adaptation to the purpose of guiding and regulating the
motion of the said cord or cable of one or more pairs of pulleys, having
grooves or channels round their circumferences separated by projections or
flanches, as hercin-before described.
Thirdly, the lowering the cord or cable into the water directly from a drum
or pulley projecting over the stern of the vessel in the manner herein-before
described.
Fourthly, the controlling the speed of the cord or cable by the adaptation
to that purpose of the resistance of fluids forced through narrow orifices

page_text: by pumps worked by the drums or pulleys round which the cord or cable
passes.
Fifthly, the abstracting the heat developed by the friction of the said cord
or cable, and of the machinery or apparatus whereby the same is lowered, by
the application to that purpose of water, delivered from the pumps adapted as
aforesaid to the controlling of the speed of the cord or cable, or from other
pumps worked by the said machinery or apparatus whereby the cord or cable
is lowered.
Sixthly, the combination and adaptation of the herein-before described parts
or some of them, so as to improve the method of laying subaqueous electrical
'conductors in the manner herein-before described.
Dated this Twentieth day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand