IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CABLES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Walker, of City Road, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CABLES."
Sealed the 4th February 1859, and dated the 7th August 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Walker at the
Offico of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th August 1858.
I, JOHN WALKER, of City Road, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CABLES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in manufacturing electric telegraph cables in the
following manner :-I first take one or several copper wires and insulate them
with gutta percha or caoutchouc, and I prefer to apply the gutta percha or
caoutchouc in three successive coatings outside the gutta percha; I lay length-
wise, that is, parallel with the copper conducting wires, strands of hemp or
other vegetable fibre, thread, twine, or cord, and spin or twist round this so as
to form a flexible tubo iron or other metal wire. The cable thus made will
be applicable in some cases; in others I apply outside the metal flexible tube
a pipe or tube of some vegetable fibre, made in a braiding, plaiting, or other
similar machine. But in cases where great strength is required, I apply
outside of the flexible metal tube wires laid lengthwise parallel with the
conducting copper wire, and apply outside of this the braided or plaited
casing.
The essential feature of my Invention is the protecting of the insulating
material by a flexible metal tube, formed by twisting round the insulating

page_text: material metal wire or wires. The outer casing or
produced in various ways.
casings, if any, may be
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Walker in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
7th February 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WALKER, of City Road, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said John Walker, Her special licence that I, the said
John Walker, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said John Walker, my 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 "IMPROVE
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CABLES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Walker, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
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 I, the said John Walker, do hereby declare the
nature of my 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that
is to say:-
My Invention consists in manufacturing telegraph cables by surrounding
the material employed for insulating the conducting wire or wires with a
flexible tube composed of wires, whereby the insulating material and the
conducting wire or wires are effectually protected from compression. Strands
of hemp or other vegetable fibre, or of thread, twine, or cord may, if desired,

page_text: be laid parallel with the conducting wires between the insulating material and
the flexible wire tube. In some cases I enclose the cable thus made in a
sheath or tube of gutta percha or caoutchouc.
Where a heavy and strong cable is required I cover the flexible wire tube
either directly or after first encasing it in a braided fibrous tube with wires or
strands of wires laid spirally.
The manner in which I prefer to manufacture my telegraph cables is as
follows-I take, say, three copper conducting wires and cover each wire
separately with sheet caoutchouc, having finely powdered glass on the surface,
which is rolled against the wire, and then apply one or more coats of caout-
chouc, cither alone or stiffened with pulverized charcoal or fine glass, or I
apply gutta percha over all the wires prepared as described, so as to unite
them, as shown in the transverse section, Figure 1; round these insulated
wires I wind or coil iron or other metal wire, so as to form a complete tube,
as shewn in the transverse section Figure 2, and elevation Figure 3. For
many purposes a cable thus formed will be sufficient, but where great strength
is required to prevent longitudinal extension, then I cover the flexible wire
tube with strands of iron or steel wires laid spirally, as in the external eleva-
tion, Figure 4, or with iron wires, also laid spirally as in the external view,
Figure 5, or with a tube of some fibrous material made in a braiding machine,
and protected by a tube of caoutchouc or gutta percha. In some cases I
provide against longitudinal extension by means of strands of fibrous material,
or of wires laid parallel with the conducting wires, either inside or outside of
flexible wire tube.
my
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,―
First, manufacturing electric telegraph cables by forming a flexible tube
composed of wire laid round the insulated conducting wire or wires, in order
to protect the same from compression, as herein-before described.
And, second, manufacturing electric telegraph cables, by the means and in
manner herein-before described.
In witness whercof, I, the said John Walker, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of February, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-nine.
JOHN WALKER. (L.S.)

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