IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CABLES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander John Paterson, of the City of Edinburgh,
Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CABLES."
Sealed the 12th September 1862, and dated the 14th March 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander John Paterson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th March 1862.
I, ALEXANDER JOHN PATERSON, of the City of Edinburgh, Gentleman, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CABLES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is the better to protect the conducting wires in
submarine and subterranean telegraph cables from strain and many other
injuries to which they are liable in the various stages they have to go through
till finally laid; and my Invention consists in forming a flexible or jointed
pipe or tube or series of tubes within which the insulated conducting wires
are placed. The pipes or tubes possess great tensile strength, and may be
made water-tight by gutta percha, india-rubber, tarred hemp, or any suitable
material or combination of materials with or without wire as circumstances
may require. This flexible jointed tubing may be protected when made of
metal from corrosion by being coated or covered with gutta percha, marine
glue, or any other like protecting agents.

page_text: filed by the said Alexander Jonn raterson in
Office on the 13th September 1862..
the Great
Dear
I atent
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
JOHN PATERSON, of the City of Edinburgh, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Alexander John Paterson, Her special licence, that I, the said
Alexander John Paterson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Alexander John Paterson, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH
CABLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alexander
John Paterson, 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 Alexander John Paterson, 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
==
The object of this Invention is the better to protect the conducting wires in
submarine and, subterranean telegraph cables from strain and many other
injuries to which they are liable in the various, stages they have to go through
till finally laid; and.my Invention consists. in the employment of a flexible
or jointed pipe or tube or series of tubes within which. the insulated conducting
wires are placed. The pipes or tubes possess great tensile strength, and, may
be made water-tight by gutta percha, india-rubber, tarred hemp, or any suitable
material or combination of materials with or without wire as circumstances
may required. This flexible jointed tubing may be protected from corrosion

page_text: when made of metal by galvanizing, or by being coated or covered with gutta
percha, marine glue, or any other like protecting agents.
Figure 1 is an elevation of a flexible tube shewing the manner in which my
Invention may be carried into effect. a, a, are ferrules or short lengths of
tubing united by strips b, b, secured by rivets to the ferrules. The whole
may be formed of metal, but the ferrules may be of wood or other strong
material, or they may be partly of metal and partly of wood or other suitable
material, or they may be of metal lined with ebonite wood or other metal.
Although I prefer rivets as the means of attachment, yet I do not confine
myself thereto, as, for instance, the tube may be made as shewn at Figure 2.
The ferrules a, a, may be of wood, ebonite, or metal, and may be connected
by wires b, b, covered with gutta percha or not, carried round the ferrules, and
from ferrule to ferrule as shewn. The distance between the ferrules may be
greater or less as desired.
I do not confine myself to the particular construction of flexible tubes
shewn in the accompanying Drawings, any form of flexible tube of sufficient
tensile strength to relieve the conducting wires of all strain may be adopted.
The flexible tubes may be made on the insulated conducting wires, or the tube
may be formed in lengths, and may have the insulated wires inserted therein.
The flexible tube may be covered by a tube of gutta percha.
And having now described the nature of my said Invenion, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my "Improve-
ments in the Construction of Electric Telegraph Cables" the employment of a
flexible or jointed tube to protect the insulated conducting wires from strain
and injury.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander John Paterson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of September, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-two.
ALEX. J. PATERSON. (L.S.)