IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
LEWIS RICARDO, of Lowndes Square, in the County of Middlesex, Esquire,
M.P., send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fourth day of
September, One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, in the twelfth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said John Lewis Ricardo, my exors, adiñiors, and assigns, Her
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
John Lewis Ricardo, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said John Lewis Ricardo, my exors, adiñiors, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and
in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, save and except
the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, and the Island
of Prince Edward in North America, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said John Lewis.

page_text: proportions of one part by weight of the flowers or milk of sulphur, one part
by weight of the gum, and eight parts by weight of gutta percha; and I
cause the number of wires to be used to be covered with two fillets of gutta
percha, or that substance combined with other matter in like manner to
what has before been practised in respect to single wires for the Electric
Telegraphic Company.
In carrying out this part of my Invention I employ a pair of grooved
rollers heated by steam, the projecting edges between the grooves, when
the rollers are working, not coming together, so as to separate or cut the
fillets, but they simply act in such manner as to press the two fillets more
closely and intimately together at the parts which come between the wires.
By these means insulation between the several combined wires will be
obtained in respect to each other, and they will also be insulated in respect to
external matters, and in this manner may two or more wires be combined
together in the same compound fillet, and insulated from each other and
from external matters, and it is the combining two or more wires for
electric telegraphs between two surfaces of gutta percha or compounds
of that material which constitutes the novelty of the present Invention.
In order to ensure a perfect closing of the edges or selvages I use two
more grooved openings between the rollers than there are wires to be
enclosed, in order that a solid bead may be produced at each edge of the
fillet so made. I place the wires on reels and conduct them through suitable
guides to and between the grooved rollers, and I receive the ends on to
a roller acted on by a weighted cord or otherwise, so as to wind up the fillet
containing the wires as fast as such fillet is delivered by the grooved rollers;
and in order that the surfaces of the two fillets which are to be joined
together may be adhesive, I cause them to be heated by sliding over and
under boxes or surfaces heated by steam or otherwise, and when necessary
I support the under fillet to prevent it breaking or elongating where heated.
I will now proceed to describe the second part of my Invention, which
has for its object an improvement in apparatus for suspending wires for
electric telegraph purposes. Figure 2 shows a side view, Figure 3 an under
side view, and Figure 4 a section, of an apparatus according to this part of
my Invention made of earthenware or other non-conducting material. a is
the centre portion of the apparatus within which the stem of the suspending
book is fixed, and so long as this part a is kept dry, there will be insulation of
the suspended wire. External of the part a is the part c which surrounds
the part a, and there is a space & between the part a and C, which acts as
a "throat" to prevent water which falls on the outside of the apparatus

page_text: passing up the interior of the part c, so as to come to the part a. And it
is the making of this space c around the part a and within the part. c which
constitutes the novelty of this part of my Invention.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine
myself to the details, so long as the peculiar character of either part of the
Invention be retained. But what I claim is the mode of combining two or
more wires for electric telegraph purposes, by enclosing them between two
fillets of gutta percha or compounds containing that material in such manner
as to insulate one wire from the other or others, and from external matters.
And secondly, I claim the construction of the apparatus described, for
suspending wires for electric telegraphs.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Lewis Ricardo, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Third day of March, in the year of our
J. LEWIS (L.s.) RICARDO.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of March, in the
year of our Lord 1849, the aforesaid John Lewis Ricardo came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and speci-
fied, in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Third day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.