IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CABLES, OR CORES FOR THE SAME
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Statham, of Cloudesley Street, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, and Willoughby Smith, of Hoxton, in the same
County, Mechanic, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC
TELEGRAPH CABLES, OR CORES FOR THE SAME."
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Statham and
Willoughby Smith at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 15th August 1855.
We, SAMUEL STATHAM, of Cloudesley Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, and WILLOUGHBY SMITH, of Hoxton, in the same County,
Mechanic, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CABLES, OR CORES FOR THE SAME," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists, firstly, in laying one or more wires, flat, circular, or
of any other desired shape, spirally round, or in laying one or more flat wires
longitudinally along, a core of fibrous material, coated or not with an insu-
lating medium, or round or upon a core of gutta percha, or other suitable
insulating material, with or without a conducting wire in the centre, and
in insulating such wires so laid upon a core by as many successive coatings of
gutta percha, or other suitable insulating material, as may be necessary. We
either lay the wires in their simple state round or upon the core, or we heat
the wires in order to cause them to become imbedded in the core, when a
plastic core or a core of fibrous material coated with a plastic substance is used.
Or we insert spirally between the conducting wires so laid a non-conducting
substance, so as to prevent contact of the conducting wires with each other

page_text: during the process of applying other coating or coatings of gutta percha, or
other suitable insulating material; or we weave or otherwise manufacture one
or more wires into a cloth or braid, which we cont or not with plastic material,
and lay on a core, and then apply outside thereof any suitable insulating
medium.
Our Invention consists, secondly, in an improved means of joining electric
telegraph conductors, by making the present form of joints more secure than
they now are. Joints are now. ordinarily made by coiling a piece of wire
round the ends of the two wires to be united, and by brazing or soldering the
whole together throughout the entire length of the joining piece. Now, in
addition to this joining piece we add a second lapping of wire, which we coil
round the joint, united as above, and only braże or solder the second lapping
at the two ends thereof, always extending the second lapping beyond the first.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Statham and Willoughby Smith in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 15th February 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, SAMUEL
STATHAM, of Cloudesley Street, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, and
WILLOUGHBY SMITH, of Hoxton, in the same County, Mechanic, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Samuel Statham and Willoughby Smith, Her special licence that we,
the said Samuel Statham and Willoughby Smith, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Samuel Statham and Willoughby
Smith, 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 ELECTRIC
TELEGRAPH CABLES, OR CORES FOR THE SAME," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Samuel Statham and Willoughby Smith, or one of
us, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the
hand and seal of one of us, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner, the same was to be per-

page_text: 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Samuel Statham and Willoughby
Smith, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and..in..what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by 'the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
.
Our Invention consists, firstly, in laying one or more wires, flat, circular,
or of any other desired shape, spirally round, a core of fibrous material coated
with an insulating material, or round or upon a core of gutta percha, or other
suitable insulating material, with or without a conducting wire in the centre, and
in insulating such wires so laid upon a core by as many successive coatings of
gutta percha, or other suitable insulating material, as may be necessary. We
either lay the wires upon or round the core while wires and core are in a cold
state, or we apply heat in order to cause the wires to become embedded in the
core; or we weave or otherwise manufacture one or more wires into a cloth
or braid, which we coat or not with insulating material, and lay on a core, and
then apply outside thereof any suitable insulating material.
We now proceed by the aid of Drawings to illustrate the manner in which
we carry this first part of our Invention into effect. Figure 1 is an external
clevation of a telegraph cable, with parts, removed in order more clearly to
shew its construction; Figure 2 is a cross section, through the line a, b;
Figure 3, through the line c, d; Figure 4, through the line e, f; and Figure 5,
a cross section of the complete core or cable. The inner core A consists--of
gutta percha, or other insulating material, round which three wires are laid
spirally. This core and wires are coated and insulated by one or more, coatings
of insulating material, which is or are again surrounded by six wires, laid
spirally, as shewn at B; these wires are again covered with insulating material,.
on which wires formed into a tape or braid, or sets of wires placed side by side,
are again laid, as shewn at C; or they may be laid separately in any required
number, as at B. These latter wires may be of iron, when they will afford
additional strength to the cable. We lastly apply one or more coatings of
insulating material, and bring the cable or core into the form shewn at D.
Either of the parts A, B, or C, with an outer coating or coatings of insulating
material, may be used separately as a cable or core for a cable.
Figure 6 is
a longitudinal section, and Figure 7 a cross section, of a cable, or core for a
cable, containing in a small diameter thirteen wires, completely insulated from
each other. We take six wires, each covered with a coating of insulating

page_text: material, and lay them spirally round a similarly coated wire, which serves as
a core for these six coated wires, and in the interstices left between the six
covered wires we lay six other wires, and insulate the whole by applying out-
side thereof one or more coatings of gutta percha, or other insulating material.
Where we have mentioned the employment of a wire or wires, we intend to
include either single wires, or ribbons, or a cord composed of a bundle of wires,
or of several wires plaited, woven, braided, or otherwise held together. We
do not confine ourselves to any particular metal for the formation of our wires.
Secondly, our Invention consists in an improved means of joining electric
telegraph conductors, by making the present form of joints more secure than
they now are. Joints are ordinarily made by coiling a piece of wire round the
ends of the two wires to be united, and by brazing or soldering the whole
together throughout the entire length of the joining piece. Now, in addition
to this joining piece we add a second lapping of wire, which we coil round the
joint, united as above, and only braze or solder the second lapping at the two
ends thereof, always extending the second lapping beyond the first. Figure 8
is a representation of two wires united by a joint, as now generally made,
formed by a wire lapped and brazed or soldered over the ends of two wires to
be united; Figure 9 shews our improved joint; Figure 10 shews one of our
joints insuring continuity after an ordinary joint has given way.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim,-
First, the construction of electric telegraph cables, or cores for cables, by
laying one or more wires spirally round a core of insulating material with or
without a wire therein, or of fibrous material covered with insulating material
prior to such wires receiving their final insulation.
Second, the construction of electric telegraph cables or cores, by adding to
a cable or core, formed as first claimed, successive alternate layers of wires
ând insulating material, in the manner herein-before described.
And, third, the improved joint, herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Statham, for myself and on
behalf of the said Willoughby Smith, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Fourteenth day of February, One thousand eight hundred
1 ԸՐ.
SAMUEL STATHAM. (L.S.)