IMPROVEMENTS IN LAYING OR DEPOSITING SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH CABLES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Ronald, of Liverpool, in the County of Lan-
caster, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAYING OR
DEPOSITING SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH CABLES."
Sealed the 29th October 1857, and dated the 25th August 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Ronald at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th
August 1857.
I, JAMES RONALD, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Merchant, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAYING
OR DEPOSITING SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH CABLES," to be as follows (that is to
say) :-
This Invention consists in surrounding the telegraphic metallic wire or
wires by a cable, or a strand or strands, formed of a material or materials of
sufficient buoyancy to support or float the wire or wires to which they are con-
nected for a limited time and extent. The material or materials proposed to
use for surrounding and supporting the telegraphic wire or wires are cocoa
fibre, or coir manilla, or other like material or materials, whose specific gravity

page_text: are sufficiently light to support themselves and the telegraphic wire or wires to
which they are attached, until such times as they absorb sufficient moisture to
increase their specific gravity to cause them to lose their buoyant properties,
and thereby allowing the cable or strand or strands in combination with which
they are to sink. If preferred, the wire or wires may be connected with the
cable externally, in place of being surrounded thereby.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Ronald in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
25th February 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
RONALD, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Ronald, Her special license that I,. the said James Ronald,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Ronald, 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 LAYING OR
DEPOSITING SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH CABLES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said James Ronald, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Jamės Ronald; do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention; and in what manner the same is to be-per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):-
This Invention consists in surrounding the telegraph wire or wires forming
the telegraph cable with a cable or a strand or strands formed of a material or

page_text: materials of sufficient buoyancy to support or float the wire or wires to which
they are connected for a limited time and extent. The material or materials
proposed to be used for surrounding and supporting the telegraph wire or wires,
or, in other words, to reduce the specific gravity of the cable, are cocoa fibre,
or coir manilla, or other like material or materials, whose specific gravity are
sufficiently light to support themselves and the telegraph wire or wires to
which they are attached, until such times as they absorb sufficient moisture to
increase their specific gravity to cause them to lose their buoyant properties,
and thereby allowing the cable or strand or strands in combination with which
they are to sink to the bottom. If preferred, the wire or wires may be con-
nected with the cable externally, in place of forming the heart or core thereof.
A single wire or a number of wires may be laid into each strand of the cable;
which upon the shore might form branches by being connected to wires
communicating with various places at either end of the cable.
In paying out a cable constructed according to this Invention there would
be literally no strain upon the wires, for when the cable came in contact with
the water the coir or hempen portion of the cable would shrink or contract,
whereas the wires would have no perceptible tendency either to contract or
expand, thereby all strain upon the wires would be avoided. And another
great advantage in surrounding wires with hempen or other like strands is,
that it has the effect of causing the wire to lose a great portion of its springy
nature, and renders it much more kindly to handle, making it more of a leady
or ductile nature, which will greatly assist its being paid out straight and
free from "kinks," thereby a great saving will be effected in the length of the
cable required.
It will be seen that a telegraph cable constructed according to this Inven-
tion may be regulated to any specific gravity that may be required by merely
varying the number or thickness of the yarns used in the construction of the
cable.
The telegraph wires may be combined with the vegetable fibrous strands in
any of the ordinary ways now used, as is well understood by all persons prac-
tised in the art of rope making, and may be deposited or paid out from the
vessel with great ease, as it will have no tendency to overrun itself, as sub-
marine telegraph cables constructed on the usual plan now have.
Having now fully described my said Invention, and how the same may be put
into practice, what I claim as my Invention is, combining the telegraphic wires
with a strand or strands formed of vegetable fibres, so as to reduce the specific
gravity of submarine telegraph cables when first immersed in the water, to

page_text: obviate the great difficulty now experienced in laying submarine telegraph
cables, as herein-before described.
In witness thereof, I, the said James Ronald, have hereunto set my hand
and affixed my seal, this Twenty-fourth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
WILLIAM WALKER,
of 44, Castle Street,
Liverpool.
JAMES (L.S.) RONALD.