IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF TELEGRAPHIC AND OTHER CONDUCTORS COVERED WITH CAOUTCHOUC OR OTHER INSULATING SUBSTANCE
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF TELEGRAPHIC
AND OTHER CONDUCTORS COVERED WITH CAOUTCHOUC OR OTHER INSULATING
SUBSTANCE." A communication from abroad by Henri Menier, of Paris, in
the Republic of France.
Sealed the 18th May 1877, and dated the 5th December 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Edward Newton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 5th December 1876.
HENRY EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO THE MANU-
FACTURE OF TELEGRAPHIC AND OTHER CONDUCTORS COVERED WITH CAOUTCHOUC OR
OTHER INSULATING SUBSTANCE."
The object of the present Invention is to cause the caoutchouc or other insulating
substance employed for covering wires to quickly harden, so that the covered wire
may be coiled or wound up without delay, and without the risk of the covering
becoming displaced or any one part of the covered wire adhering to any other
'contiguous part. To this end when the wire is covered with the caoutchouc or
insulating composition it is conducted through a vessel or chamber containing any
suitable freezing or refrigerating mixture which will quickly harden the coating.
On issuing from the other end of the freezing chamber the covered wire can be
immediately coiled up in a suitable vessel or tank, to facilitate which operation the
receiving tank is kept rotating on its vertical axis by means of suitable gearing.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Henry Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th
June 1877.
HENRY EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO THE MANU-
FACTURE OF TELEGRAPHIC AND OTHER CONDUCTORS COVERED WITH CAOUTCHOUC OR
OTHER INSULATING SUBSTANCE." A communication from abroad by Henri Menier,
of Paris, in the Republic of France.
The object of the present Invention is to cause the caoutchouc or other insulating
substance employed for covering wires to quickly harden, so that the covered wire
may be coiled or wound up without delay, and without the risk of the covering
becoming displaced or damaged by any one part of the covered wire adhering to
any other part with which it may be brought temporarily into contact. To this
end when the wire is covered with the caoutchouc or insulating composition it is
conducted through a vessel or chamber containing a freezing or refrigerating
mixture which will quickly harden the coating. On issuing from the other end of
the freezing or cooling chamber the covered wire can be immediately coiled up in a
suitable vessel or tank, to facilitate which operation the receiving tank is kept
rotating on its vertical axis by means of suitable gearing.
In the accompanying Drawing, Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of an
arrangement of apparatus for carrying out the Invention, which it will be seen
consists in causing the wires A (which are wound on the bobbin or roller B) to pass
from thence through the centres of two half round grooves c, of which there are
several made at convenient distances apart in the peripheries of two cylinders C, C¹,
which rotate at uniform speed. Behind these cylinders there is a hopper or
vessel D, in which is placed the covering composition. By their rotary motion the
cylinders C, C, draw the caoutchouc into the half round grooves c, c, and from the
other side of the cylinders there issues a round roll or rope of caoutchouc, the centre
of which is formed by the metallic wire A which advances with the same speed by
means of the drawing rollers E. The wire is accurately centred in the axis of the
grooves of the cylinders C, C¹, by means of a moveable guide placed in front of the
cylinders. Immediately that the wire is covered with the caoutchouc it passes into
a chamber supplied with cold air, or into a tank or tube F which contains a
refrigerating or cooling liquid, such as glycerine mixed with chloride of calcium and
water, or any other suitable cooling mixture; here it becomes hardened before
passing to the drawing rollers, from whence it is delivered and is coiled in a rotating
cylindrical vessel G which is supplied with pulverized tale or other suitable or
analogous substance which supports it on an extended surface; or the covered wire
is deposited in a liquid, in which it remains in suspension, so that the weight of the
upper coils shall not deform or damage the lower ones.
Fig. 2 is an elevation of one of the cylinders C shewing several semicircular
grooves c, c, arranged at suitable distances apart so as to admit of operating upon
several wires at the same time. Wires that have been once covered may be pro-
vided with more coatings or covered a second and third time in the same manner
by passing them through a liquid bath of caoutchouc dissolved in some suitable
volatile body.
Several covering machines may if desired be arranged in succession one after the
other, and the drawing rollers adapted to the end of the last covering machines;
the covered wire is then vulcanized in the ordinary manner, or by preference by the
ordinary processes while suspended in a liquid.
Having now described the Invention that has been communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, and having explained the manner of carrying the same into
effect, I would observe that I do not mean or intend to limit myself to the precise
arrangement of parts herein shewn and described, as they may be varied without
departing from the nature and object of the Invention, but that which I consider to

page_text: be new and therefore wish to claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters
Patent as aforesaid is, the hardening (by means of cold) the caoutchouc covering of
telegraphic wires or conductors, as herein set forth, before subjecting them to the
process of vulcanization.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Edward Newton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
H. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)