IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN EXAMINING THE COATING OF ELECTRICAL TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATORS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Matthew Gray, of Binswood House, Highbury Hill,
Islington, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, and Lemuel Gibson, of
the India-rubber, Gutta Percha, and Telegraph Works, Silvertown, in
the Counts of Freas for the
Sealed the 13th December 1867, and dated the 17th June 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Matthew Gray and Lemuel
Gibson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 17th June 1867.
We, MATTHEW GRAY, of Binswood House, Highbury Hill, Islington, in the
County of Middlesex, Engineer, and LEMUEL GIBSON, of the India-rubber,
Gutta Percha, and Telegraph Works, Silvertown, in the County of Essex, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS
OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN EXAMINING THE COATING OF ELECTRICAL TELEGRAPHIC
COMMUNICATORS," to be as follows:-
Electrical telegraphic wire coated with gutta percha or compounds thereof
or with other insulating substance has to be carefully examined after the
application of each coating to ascertain and repair any imperfections. This
operation is usually performed between the passage of the coated wire from
one to another creel, which is turned or held stationary by an attendant, and.
the object of the Invention is to render the use of such attendant unnecessary

page_text: and to give the control of the movement of the creel to the examiner whilst
the motion to the reel or bobbin is effected by mechanical means. For this
purpose a band from a steam engine or other suitable power passes over a
pulley on the axis of the creel to give the desired motion thereto, but this
band is loose and does not give the desired motion, except when it is acted
upon by a pulley from a lever acted upon by the foot, or otherwise under the
control of the examiner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Matthew Gray and Lemuel Gibson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 17th December 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, MATTHEW
GRAY, of Binswood House, Highbury Hill, Islington, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, and LEMUEL GIBSON, of the India-rubber, Gutta
Percha, and Telegraph Works, Silvertown, in the County of Essex, send'
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Matthew Gray and Lemuel Gibson, Her special licence that we,
the said Matthew Gray and Lemuel Gibson, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Matthew Gray and Lemuel
Gibson, 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, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR
APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN EXAMINING THE COATING OF ELECTRICAL TELEGRAPHIC
COMMUNICATORS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
Matthew Gray and Lemuel Gibson, our executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand
and seal of one of us or them, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Matthew Gray, on behalf of myself and
the said Lemuel Gibson, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is
to say:
Electrical telegraphic wire coated with gutta percha or compounds thereof,
or with other insulating substance, has to be carefully examined after the
application of each coating to ascertain and repair any imperfections which
there may be in it. This operation is usually performed between the passage
of the coated wire from one to another creel, which is turned for winding on
or is held stationary during a repair by an attendant, and the object of the
Invention is to render the employment of such attendant unnecessary to such
operations, and to give the control of the movement of the winding on creel
to the examiner, whilst the motion to such creel or bobbin is effected by
mechanical means. For this purpose a band from a steam engine or other
suitable power passes over a pulley on the axis of the creel to give the desired
motion thereto, but this band is loose and does not give the desired motion,
except when it is acted upon by a pulley from a lever acted upon by the foot
or otherwise under the control of the examiner.
But that the Invention may be fully understood we will, by the aid of the
accompanying Drawings, proceed to describe means which we find to answer
well in carrying the Invention into effect.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a side view, Figure 2 a plan view, and Figure 3 an end
view of apparatus with parts arranged according to our Invention. In each
of these views the same letters indicate corresponding parts.
order that it
a and b are two creels or bobbins, 6 being the creel or bobbin on to which
the coated wire is being wound from the creel or bobbin a in
may undergo examination in its passage, from one to the other. The axis b¹
to which the creel or bobbin 6 is affixed is also provided with a pulley b²,
partly around which passes a band c, which also passes over another pulley,
not shown, but which is driven by a steam engine or other suitable power.
This band c in place of being in a state of tension between the pulley b² and
the other pulley, over which it passes and which gives motion to it, is, except
when otherwise acted upon, loose, or so as to slip round the pulley 6* without
giving motion to it, and the desired tension for motion to the pulley 6,
and consequently to the creel or bobbin 6 when required is effected by the
pressure of the pulley d against the band c.
The pulley d is capable of

page_text: revolving freely on a stud d¹ which is affixed with capability of adjustment in
the upper end of the lever e, and the lever e is supported so as to turn on the
stude of the supporting frame f, and at its lower end it is acted upon by the
treadle g in position to be readily borne upon for the desired pressure by one
foot of the person employed in making the examination. Thus it will be seen
that motion being given to the band c, the examiner having placed himself in
position to clasp the coated wire so that it may when in motion freely slip
through his fingers, he will bear with one foot on the treadle g so as to put
strain on the band c sufficient to cause it to give motion to the pulley 6 until
either by the eye or the touch he detects some imperfection in the coating of
the wire, when he will at once remove pressure from the treadle g, and then
the further motion of the creel or bobbin may be suspended until the desired
repair has been effected, when by pressure being again applied to the treddle g
the creel or bobbin will be again set in motion, and so on. In some cases we
apply a ratchet wheel h to the axis 6¹, acted upon by a paul i or other
stop, or it may be other suitable means to hold the creel 6 steadily when
required.
Having thus described the Invention, and means which we adopt in carrying,
the same into effect, we would have it understood that we do not confine
ourselves to the precise arrangement shown and described for carrying out the
improvements, as the same may be varied without departing from the peculiar
character of the Invention; but what we do claim is, the adaptation or com-
bination of means whereby the motion of the creel or bobbin employed in
winding coated electrical telegraphic conductors during the examination of
such coating is dependent upon the will of the examiner, in manner
substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Matthew Gray, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
MATTHEW GRAY. (L.S.)