IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CABLES, AND IN TRANSMITTING SIGNALS THERE- THROUGH
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Peter Piggott, of 16, Argyll Street, Regent
Street, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CABLES, AND IN TRANSMITTING SIGNALS THERE-
THROUGH."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Peter Piggott
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th August 1865.
I, WILLIAM PETER PIGGOTT, of 16, Argyll Street, Regent Street, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CABLES, AND IN TRANSMITTING SIGNALS
THERETHROUGH," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements upon and modifications of
the Invention for which I obtained Letters Patent, bearing date the 3rd of
December 1860, No. 2957, the object to be attained being the transmission
of two or more messages or signals in the same or opposite directions
simultaneously or otherwise along the same cable by the aid of induced
electricity.

page_text: According to one mode of carrying out this Invention I construct a cable
with not less than two wires of opposite electrical properties, if messages are
required to be sent in one direction only at one time, but if it be desired to
send two or more messages in the same or in opposite directions at one
time then I employ as many copper or other wires of the same electrical
property as may be necessary in combination with one or more wires of an
opposite electrical property. The wires I prefer to employ are copper and
galvanized iron, either of which may form the core or the outer covering of
the cable as preferred; or they may both be laid in the form of a spiral or
strand, but insulated from each other in the usual or other manner, but such
insulation need not be of that perfect character which is required for electric
telegraph cables worked by the usual battery power. One end of the copper
wire or wires is connected with a receiving instrument which is in direct
communication with earth by an earth plate of the same electrical de-
nomination as the wire or wires. The iron wire is also in direct communication
at each end with earth by earth plates of the same electrical denomination as
the wire. In transmitting a signal or message one or other of the copper wires
in connection with the receiving instrument and earth plate at one end is
brought in contact with the iron wire and earth plate at the opposite end,
whereupon the disturbance of the induced electricity thereby produced will
cause the necessary deflection in the receiving instrument or galvanometer.
In lieu of the wires being of opposite electrical properties they may, if desired,
be all of the same electrical denomination, but some of the wires are in direct
communication with earth at each end by earth plates of opposite electrical
properties to the wires, whilst the other wires are connected with the receiving
instrument, and through it with earth by an earth plate of an opposite
electrical denomination to the first-mentioned earth plates. By this arrange-
ment the induced electricity is obtained from the earth plates only, the action
of which may be stimulated by salt water, or by any of the well known
deliquescent salts. In some cases, if desired, these cables may be worked by
the aid of a battery of low tension, such battery being connected with the
receiving instrument at the distant station, one pole of the battery being
connected with one of the wires, and the opposite pole with one side of the
receiving instrument, the other wire being connected to the opposite side of
the same instrument. By bringing the opposite ends of the two wires into
contact by the aid of a commutator a signal will be transmitted.
Existing cables may also be worked on the principle above set forth by
simply connecting the iron of the cable with earth by an earth plate of the
same denomination, the copper wire being connected to the receiving instru-

page_text: ment, which is, as above described, connected to earth by an earth plate of
the same denomination as the wire.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Peter Piggott in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 28th February 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PETER PIGGOTT, of 16, Argyll Street, Regent Street, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the 28th day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the 29th year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Peter Piggott, Her special license that I, the said
William Peter Piggott, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said William Peter Piggott, my executors, admi-
nistrators, or 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, AND IN
TRANSMITTING MESSAGES THERETHROUGH," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Peter Piggott, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 William Peter Piggott, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to certain improvements upon and modifications
of the Invention for which I obtained Letters Patent on or about the 3rd of
December 1860, No. 2957, and has for its object the simplification of the
construction of cables intended to be worked by induced electricity, also the

page_text: facilitating the means whereby two or more messages or signals may by the
aid of induced electricity be transmitted in the same or in opposite directions
simultaneously or otherwise along the same cable.
In constructing one form of cable, according to my present Invention, I use
several wires partially insulated from each other, the number being determined
by the number of messages which are required to be sent and received through
the cable at the same time; one or more of these wires must be of opposite
electrical denomination to the rest, and the several wires are so arranged that
ho wire circuit is at any time established within the cable itself.
The accompanying Sheet of Diagrams illustrates four different modes of
carrying out my Invention, but in order to render the principle upon which
iny cables are constructed and worked more intelligible, and to avoid un-
necessary complication, I have only represented in my diagrams what I may
term single-action cables, that is to say, cables provided only with sufficient
wires to admit of one message being sent at one time. To increase the
capabilities of the cable additional wires must be added according to the
number of messages to be sent at the same time.
Fig. 1 represents a diagram of a cable consisting of two wires c, 2, of
opposite electrical denominations, as, for example, copper and iron. These
wires (one of which must be partially insulated and separated from metallic
contact with the other) are each connected with earth plates (one at each
end) of the same electrical denomination as the wires themselves, the copper
wire c, for example, being connected with copper earth plates C, and the iron
wire z with zinc earth plates Z. These earth plates may be either placed in
the earth itself or in porous cells or tanks in the earth, and stimulated by
acids or salts; one of the wires of the cable (I have shown the copper one in
the diagram) is disconnected from its earth plate at the sending end, so long
as no signal or message is being transmitted, but by bringing this wire into
connection with its earth plate by the ordinary key, as shown at A, or by
other equivalent means, a disturbance of the induced electricity in the cable
instantly takes place, and the galvanometer or relay at B will be put in
motion at the distant end of the cable. By increasing the number of copper
or iron wires in the cable any corresponding number of messages or signals
may be transmitted in the same or opposite directions at one time.
I also propose to manufacture a cable which can be used either under the
sea or on land, and by which the objection of suspending the wires and
insulating them in the ordinary way may be overcome. I make the cable
consisting of any number of copper wires (Fig. 2) separated from each other,
and kept from metallic contact by being covered individually with hemp,

page_text: jute, or other fibrous substance, such as canvass tape, for example, all such
covered wires being laid in combination with one or more galvanized tin or
other iron wire or wires which will be electro-positive to the copper wires
when laid together to form a cable; or any number of covered iron wires
galvanized or otherwise may be employed in combination with one or more
copper wires electro-negative to them to form the cable. Each wire thus
forms a plate of a pair of elements in the cable itself, and which may be
brought into combination with other pairs or elements at either end, as shown
at D, D', in Fig. 2, and herein-after explained, so that each wire of the cable
makes one of a pair which may be united in the same manner as the ordinary
cells of a battery in a series. When the covered wires of the cable are all
laid together, the cable is then passed through a liquid paste consisting of
deliquescent salts, in order to saturate all the fibrous substance and impart
thereto the affinity of absorption. The whole cable is then to be covered with
a tape coated with a preservative of partially insulating material, such as
marine glue, indian-rubber, or any suitable combination of gums, and then
served with tarred hemp or jute; or it may be covered with a tape passed
through a composition that will also answer very well for an outer covering
for the hemp or other outside material of cables, and which is composed of the
following materials, namely, red lead, asphalte, resin, and a small portion of
sulphur, all boiled in linseed oil, and laid on hot, the cable being run through
rollers and afterwards passed through silica, pounded glass, or sand, or some
such substance to prevent its sticking when coiled.
When I require to increase the motive force of the cable, especially when
it is difficult to get good earth for the plates, I propose sometimes to use
earth plates or cells forming batteries of low tension, as herein-before
mentioned; for this purpose I provide zinc tanks D, D¹, (see Figs. 2, 3,
and 4), coated on the outside with either of the compositions before described,
and I place in the inside of these tanks a piece or pieces of graphite c to
form the negative substance. This graphite is kept from contact with the
zinc tank by surrounding it with made earth, or a composition, which I prefer,
to consist of gypsum or other calcareous earth mixed with chloride of calcium
or in combination with other salts; these may be used either above ground or
sunk in the earth, and can be employed as batteries when large quantity and
low tension is required for other purposes.
In Fig. 2, as in Fig. 1, I have only shown two wires of opposite
electrical denominations, say copper and iron; in connection with these wires
are the two pairs of plates D and D¹, the iron wire being connected with the
graphite-c of one pair, and the copper wire with the zines of the other pair.

page_text: The two earth plates Z and C are each connected with the other elements of
like denomination, and also with the key A and galvanometer B respectively
as shewn.
In Fig. 3 the copper wire is disposed as in Fig. 1, but at the receiving
end or station it communicates through a low tension battery D¹ with its
earth plate C. The iron wire z, as in Fig. 2, communicates directly at
one end only with the copper or graphite element c of the low tension
battery D, whilst the zinc z of such battery is connected with the contact
piece of the key A. The diagram supposes the iron wire to be in free contact
with the water, and thereby answering the purpose of one of the earth plates.
If it be insulated, however, then it should be in connection with a zinc earth
plate at the receiving end of the cable.
Fig. 4 shows the application of these low tension batteries D, D', to a
single iron or copper wire cable c, and illustrates also the mode in which a
cable containing wires of different denomination might be worked after one of
the elements was destroyed. In some cases I propose to use two wires of the
same electrical denomination, one of such wires being made negative to the
other.
In order to work an ordinary existing cable by induced electricity only it
is simply necessary to connect the iron covering of the cable with earth by
earth plates of the same electrical denomination, and to connect the core or
copper wire to the receiving instrument, which must be again connected to
earth by an earth plate of the same denomination as the copper wire, as
illustrated by Fig. 3. By simply bringing the iron and copper wires in
connection with each other by a key A or equivalent means at the sending
end, a disturbance of the induced electricity in the cable will take place,
which will show itself in the galvanometer or receiving instrument.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First, the application and use to and in the transmission of electric signals
of statically charged cables constructed and operated substantially as herein-
before described and illustrated by my Drawings.
Second, the mode or method of increasing the inductive action of cables
intended to be worked by induced electricity by the employment of low tension
batteries, substantially as herein-before described.
Third, the system or mode of rendering cables of the ordinary construction

page_text: substantiany as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I,'the said William Peter Piggott, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-seventh day of February, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
WILLIAM PETER PIGGOTT. (L.S.)