Improvements connected with Tubular Electric Conductors and their Insulation.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd June, 1892
Complete Specification Left, 21st Mar., 1593-Accepted, 13th May, 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements connected with Tubular Electric Conductors and
their Insulation.
ERNEST PAYNE Albany Buildings 39 Victoria Street Westminster, London,
S.W. Electrical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
:-
My invention relates to improvements connected with a system of tubular
electric conductors of which I was part inventor and for which a Patent was granted
No. 17402, 1890 entitled "Improvements in and connected with Electrical
Conductors and Fittings combined therewith." These conductors are arranged on
the concentric principle and insulated by the air space between them and kept
apart by rings or by studs of insulating material placed at suitable intervals. My
improvements relate to the methods of forming the inner rings or ring separators
that are placed along the inner conductor which may be tubular or solid, and to
the methods of fixing the ring separators. I sometimes make the rings in parts so
that they can be placed round the conductor and I employ a small spring which
is put round the parts so as to hold them firmly together and also press the parts
against the conductor and thus prevent the ring from slipping from its position.
I also make the ring with a hole through it more or less in the centre but not
parallel with the axis of the ring so that the conductor is bent at an angle where
it enters the hole and again at an angle where it leaves the hole. The hole itself
is not necessarily straight but may be curved or have a bend or bends in it. The
ring is thus kept in position by the angular bends in the conductor.
The inner conductor may be sometimes composed of two or more wires or of one
solid rod and a wire or wires passed through suitable holes in the ring-separator.
When I use wires I place the rings at suitable intervals along them and then
twist the wires together so as to keep the separators in position before placing the
conductor inside the outer tube. When I use a solid rod and a wire or wires, the
wire is twisted round the rod so as to keep the separator in its place. I also make
these separators with deep slots in the sides to receive the wires in the place of holes.
When metal strip or ribbon is used for the conductors I make the holes in the
ring-separators of rectangular or other suitable section and then twist the strip or
ribbon to prevent the separators from moving along when the inner conductor is
placed inside the outer conductor.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements connected with Tubular Electric Conductors and
their Insulation.
ERNEST PAYNE 39 Victoria Street Westminster London S.W. 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 :-
My improvements connected with tubular electric conductors relate to methods
of insulating metal rods, strips, wires etc. when placed inside tubes or tubular
casings, by employing insulators fixed to the metal rods, strips, wires etc. at
intervals. I usually employ bare conductors of copper or other suitable metal and
pass them through holes in the insulating separators, or insulators, which are more
or less ring-shaped and sometimes serrated round the edges. The separators are

page_text: made of non-conducting and preferably non-inflammable material. The outside
tube or tubular casing, in which the conductors thus insulated are placed, may be
employed as a return for the current and may be earthed at convenient points or it
may be insulated by being attached to suitable insulating supports fixed to the
walls ceilings etc. of a building. I employ the following methods of fixing the
insulating separators or rings at intervals along the rods, strips, wires, or other
conductors employed.
I sometimes use a separator shown in Fig. 1. A and Fig. 2 with a hole through it
that is not straight or parallel with the axis of the separator but curved or bending
at an angle inside so that the conductor, C, is also curved or bent at an angle where
it passes through the separators, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.
The outer tube enclosing the conductors is shown in section at B.
The curves or angles prevent the separators from slipping along and by straining
the conductors out at the ends the separators are held still more firmly in position.
I employ this method with wires strips or other conductors sufficiently flexible for
the purpose, so that they may be conveniently drawn through the curved or bent holes
in the separators.
When the conductor to which the separators are fixed is composed of two or
more wires in parallel as in Figs. 3 and 4. C, or of a rod, strip, or tube together
with a wire or wires in parallel, I employ separators with two or more holes
through them illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6, and pass conductors through two at least
of the holes afterwards twisting these two conductors together so that the
separators cannot slip along but remain fixed in position as shown in Figs. 3 and 6.
The other conductors passing through the holes in parallel with the twisted
conductors may be twisted or not as convenient. When I employ a large conductor
Fig. 8. For conductors that cannot be conveniently twisted I use at least one wire
in parallel with the larger conductors and twist it round the larger conductors to
hold the separators in position; in Figs. 8 and 9, the small conductor G is twisted
round the large conductor F.
I also employ separators with two or more deep slots or grooves in their opposite
sides as shown in Figs. 4 and 7 along which the conductors C are laid, afterwards
twisting the conductors together as before. This method avoids the necessity of
threading conductors through the holes in the separators and allows separators to
be inserted or removed without cutting the wires.
When I employ metal strips or ribbons or other similar conductors of non-
circular section I use a separator with a hole through it that fits the conductor or
conductors, passed through the hole, as closely as convenient as illustrated in
Figs. 10 and 11. In this case it is not necessary to employ more than one
conductor although others may be drawn through the separator in parallel if of
convenient size. I then pass a conductor I through these separators arranged at
intervals and twist the conductor. The conductor remains straight where it
passes
through the separators, K K and as the separator cannot rotate on the conductor
it cannot slip along over the spiral or twisted portions of the latter. Figure 11
shows an end view of the separator K and the conductor I.
When two or more conductors are used in parallel and passed through one hole
in a separator, the conductors may be of any convenient size and of any section.
I then make the hole to fit the conductors as closely as convenient and of non-
circular section, such that the separator cannot rotate on the conductors as shown
in Figs. 12 and 13. and also Fig. 9; the conductors M are then twisted together as
before so that the insulators L L do not slip along over the twisted or spiral
portions of the conductors M.
Other additional conductors of suitable sizes may in all cases be drawn through
other holes in the separators as shown at D in Figs. 5 and 13. after the latter
have been fixed in position. And when not convenient the twisted conductors need
not be employed to form part of a circuit, other conductors passed through other
holes being used as leads and returns, the twisted wires or strips being employed to
keep the insulating separators in fixed positions.

page_text: When the outside tubes or tubular casings shown at B in the figures are not used
to carry current they may be made of non-conducting material.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In electric conductors the combination of a tube or tubular casing enclosing
conductors passing through holes in insulating separators at intervals the holes
through the insulating separators being curved or bent so as to keep the separators
in position substantially as described.
2. In electric conductors the combination of a tube or tubular casing enclosing two
or more conductors passing through two or more holes in insulating separators at
intervals, two or more of these conductors not passing through the same hole being
twisted together so as to keep the separators in position substantially as described.
3. In electric conductors the combination of a tube or tubular casing enclosing
two or more conductors passing along two or more grooves. or slots made in
opposite sides of insulating separators at intervals, two or more of the conductors
not passing through the same slot or groove being twisted together so as to keep
the separators in position substantially as described.
4. In electric conductors the combination of a tube or tubular casing enclosing
insulating separators at intervals and a conductor or conductors of non-circular
sectional area passing through a non-circular hole in each separator, the hole
through each separator being of such a size that the separators cannot move along
when the conductor or conductors are twisted substantially as described.
5. In electric conductors the combination of a tube or tubular casing enclosing
insulating separators at intervals, and two or more conductors of any sectional area
passing through a non-circular hole in each separator, the hole through each
separator being of such a size that the separator cannot move along when the
conductors are twisted, substantially as described.
Dated this 20th day of March 1893.