IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR IMMERSING SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHIC CABLES
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Auguste Blondot and Jules Bourdin, of Boulevard Saint
Denis, No. 1, at Paris, Engineers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR IMMERSING SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHIC CABLES.”
Sealed the 30th December 1879, and dated the 1st July 1879.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Auguste Blondot and Jules
Bourdin at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st July 1879.
AUGUSTE BLONDOT and JULES BOURDIN, of Boulevard Saint Denis, No. 1, at
Paris, Engineers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR IMMERSING
SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHIC CABLES."
The difficulties of immersing or laying submarine telegraphic cables have always
led to electric qualities being sacrificed to solidity.
The object of the apparatus which forms the subject of the present Invention is
to facilitate the laying of the cables, and so that there may be no kinks and no
great strain between the submerged part and the remainder of the cable.
For this purpose the cable is wound with regularity on a drum, to which the
movement for unwinding is given by gear, which is capable of varying the speed.
At the stern of the vessel is a pair of delivery rollers with a caoutchouc surface,
and driven by the shaft of the drum with the aid of two intermediate devices,
viz.: first, a round strap which passes over the drum, and has an independent
tightening device; and secondly, a brake analogous to those employed to obtain &
regular tension of the thread in a sewing machine.
Thus the cable will be paid out at the stern of the vessel with a speed which
will be under the control of the man who holds the operating bar of the driving
gear. The tangential speed of the delivery rollers is regulated so as to be alightly
greater than that of the cable without the action of the brake. The brake is
regulated so that the part of the cable between the delivery rollers and the drum
only undergoes the tension necessary to prevent the involuntary unwinding of the
drum. This tension is rendered constant by the action of the brake. Two loose
rollers with vertical axes keep the cable between the delivery rollers. A double
counter is placed near the man who holds the operating bar of the driving gear, it
registers the unwinding of the cable on the one hand, and on the other the course

page_text: travelled by the ship; it also carries a dial with two independent concentric hands;
the first hand, on which is marked the word "ship," has a travel proportionate to
that of the vessel; the second, on which is marked the word "cable," has a travel
proportionate to the paying out of the cable multiplied by a fraction, whose
variable value is the working of the profile furnished by the soundings, and
regulated by the engineer of the watch by means of a small movable roller running
on a turning plate.
The man who holds the operating bar has therefore only to see that the two
hands above mentioned remain in conjunction during their action.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Auguste Blondot and Jules Bourdin in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 1st January 1880.
AUGUSTE BLONDOT and JULES BOURDIN, of Boulevard Saint Denis, No. 1, at
Paris, Engineers. .“IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR IMMERSING
SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHIC CABLES."
The difficulties of immersing or laying submarine telegraphic cables have always
led to electric qualities being sacrificed to solidity.
The object of the apparatus which forms the subject of the present Invention,
and which is illustrated by the accompanying Drawing, is to facilitate the laying
of the cables, and so that there may be no kinks and no great strain between the
submerged part and the remainder of the cable.
For this purpose the cable is wound with regularity on a drum B, to which
the movement for unwinding is given by gear M, which is capable of varying the
speed. At the stern of the vessel is a pair of delivery rollers L with a caoutchouc
surface, and driven by the shaft of the drum B, with the aid of two intermediate
devices; first, a round strap which passes over the drum B, and has an independent
tightening device; and secondly, a brake F, analogous to those employed to obtain
a regular tension of the thread in a sewing machine.
Thus the cable will be paid out at the stern of the vessel with a speed which will
be under the control of the man who holds the operating bar of the driving gear M.
The tangential speed of the delivery rollers L is regulated so as to be alightly
greater than that of the cable without the action of the brake F, which is regulated
so that the part of the cable between the delivery rollers L and the drum B only
undergoes the tension necessary to prevent the involuntary unwinding of the
drum B. This tension is rendered constant by the action of the brake F. Two:
loose rollers R, R', with vertical axes, keep the cable between the delivery rollers L
A double counter C is placed near the man who holds the operating bar of the
driving gear M, it registers the unwinding of the cable on the one hand, and on
the other the course travelled by the ship; it also carries a dial with two inde-
pendent concentric hands; the first hand, on which is marked the word “ship," has

page_text: a travel proportionate to that of the vessel; the second, on which is marked the
word "cable," has a travel proportionate to the paying out of the cable, multiplied
by a fraction, whose variable value is the working of the profile furnished by the
soundings, and regulated by the engineer of the watch by means of a small mov-
able roller running on a turning plate.
The man who holds the operating bar has therefore only to see that the two
hands above mentioned remain in conjunction during their action
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of our Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into effect,
we would observe in conclusion that what we claim as our Invention is,―
The improvements in the means and apparatus for immersing submarine tale-
graphic cables, substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated by the
accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, we, the said Auguste Blondot and Jules Bourdin, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this 27th day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy nina.
AHATE RIANIYN
T
Witness,
ALBERT CAHENĖ,
Civil Engineer,
of Boulevard Saint Denis, 1,
at Paris,
RIANI
J. BOURDIN.