IMPROVEMENTS IN INSULATING AND PROTECTING ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CONDUCTORS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Seymour, of 116, Fenchurch Street, in the
City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN INSULATING AND
PROTECTING ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CONDUCTORS."
Sealed the 10th February 1860, and dated the 10th November 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Seymour at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th November 1859.
I, GEORGE SEYMOUR, of 116, Fenchurch Street, in the City of London, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN INSULATING
AND PROTECTING ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CONDUCTORS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in insulating and protecting
electric telegraph conductors, and consists in the application of animal bair
or other animal fibres when insulating electric telegraph wires or conductors..
For these purposes the wires or conductors may be first coated. with. gutta
percha or india-rubber, or mixtures of these substances, or with other in-
sulating matter; and it is preferred that the hair or other animal fibre should
not be used in the first coating, though it may be applied therein; or the hair
or other animal fibre may be applied directly to the surfaces of the wires or
conductors, and such application may be by mixing the hair or animal fibres
with the gutta percha or india-rubber a varnish or adhesive matter; or such

page_text: hair or animal fibres may be made up into felt, or yarns, or cords, and applied
to the surfaces of the metal conductors, or after such surfaces have been coated
with other insulating matter. And when applying hair or other animal fibres
to the insulating and protecting electric telegraph wires or conductors, wires
or strands of wires may be used to give greater strength, as has heretofore
been done.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Seymour in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th May 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
SEYMOUR, of 116, Fenchurch Street, in the City of London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said George Seymour, Her special licence that I, the said George Seymour, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others, as I, the said George
Seymour, 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
INSULATING AND PROTECTING ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH CONDUCTORS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said George, Seymour, 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 George Seymour, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in insulating and protecting
electric telegraph conductors, and consists in the application of animal hair or

page_text: other animal fibres when insulating electric telegraph wires or conductors.
For these purposes the wires or conductors may be first coated with gutta
percha or india-rubber, or mixtures of these substances, or with other
insulating matter; and it is preferred that the hair or other animal fibre should
not be used in the first coating, though it may be applied therein; or the hair
or other animal fibre may be applied directly to the surfaces of the wires or
conductors, and such application may be by mixing the hair or animal fibres
with the gutta percha or india-rubber, or varnish or adhesive matter; or such
hair or animal fibres may be made up into felt, or yarns, or cords, and applied
to the surfaces of the metal conductors, or after such surfaces have been coated
with other insulating matter. And when applying hair or other animal fibres
to the insulating and protecting electric telegraph wires or conductors, wires
or strands of wires may be used to give greater strength, as has heretofore
been done.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
I prefer to use the animal fibre felted into sheets or narrow strips, which
I wind in a spiral direction around the previously insulated wire or conductor,
so that the edges of the strips of felt overlap each other, and thus I obtain a
complete coating of animal fibre on the coating or coatings of the insulating
matter or matters first applied to the wires or conductors. Over this coating
of felted hair or animal fibre, I apply any of the ordinary strengthening means,
such as wire or others. In place of first applying gutta percha, india-rubber,
or other ordinary insulating material direct on to the wire, the animal fibre, in
the form of felt or otherwise, may be first applied, and then over that a coating
or coatings of gutta percha or other ordinary insulating matters, and when
requisite, means of strengthening may be applied, such as wires or others
external of such coatings. I would state that the manner of applying the
hair or other animal fibre may be greatly varied, my Invention consisting
in the application of hair or other animal fibre when insulating electric
telegraph wires or conductors.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Seymour, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
GEORGE SEYMOUR. (L.S.)