A NOVEL APPARATUS FOR PAYING OUT OR LAYING DOWN SUB- MARINE TELEGRAPH CABLES OR WIRES, AND FOR RAISING THE SAME AFTER THEY HAVE BEEN LAID DOWN
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jasper Henry Selwyn, of Woodland Crag, Grasmere,
in the County of Westmoreland, Captain in the Royal Navy, for the
Invention of "A NOVEL APPARATUS FOR PAYING OUT OR LAYING DOWN SUB-
MARINE TELEGRAPH CABLES OR WIRES, AND FOR RAISING THE SAME AFTER THEY
HAVE BEEN LAID DOWN."
Sealed the 14th June 1859, and dated the 16th December 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jasper Henry Selwyn at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th December 1858.
I, JASPER HENRY SELWYN, of Woodland Crag, Grasmere, in the County of
Westmoreland, Captain in the Royal Navy, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "A NOVEL APPARATUS FOR PAYING OUT OR LAYING DOWN
SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH CABLES OR WIRES, AND FOR RAISING THE SAME AFTER THEY
HAVE BEEN LAID DOWN," to be as follows:-
It is proposed to construct two or more large cylinders of sheet iron, to be
water-tight and capable of floating on the water, and carrying the cable reeled
upon them at about half immersion.
These cylinders are to have on their ends paddle boards or floats, which, when
the cylinders are towed by cables astern of the. vessel (the cylinders being in
frames which allow of their revolution on their axes), will cause them to revolve

page_text: at a rate proportioned to the speed of the vessel, and which rate will be governed
by the circumference of the paddle floats. The wire or cable being reeled on
the two cylinders, a steamer takes each in tow, but the wire end being fast on
the cylinder, none is laid until desired. Having arrived at mid-ocean, or at
the shore whence starting is desired, the end is (if in mid-ocean) secured to
that from the other cylinder, and each vessel proceeds as usual, but at full
speed, laying the wire behind her without any strain. The other case is easily
understood from this. Provision is made for communicating through the wire
between the ships during the process of laying. The inner end of the wire,
(i.e.) that first coiled on the cylinder, is taken out through one of the axes and
retained on board the ship towing, where it revolves freely at the same speed
as the cylinder in a cup of mercury, which enables the current to be completed.
For raising a telegraph cable or wire after it has been laid down, it is only
necessary to tow the cylinder or cylinders in use in the reverse direction to
what is done in laying down, and to pass the cable or wire above instead of
below.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent; filed
by the said Jasper Henry Selwyn in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 15th June 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JASPER
HENRY SELWYN, of Woodland Crag, Grasmere, in the County of Westmoreland,
Captain in the Royal Navy, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the
year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Jasper Henry Selwyn, Her special licence that I, the said Jasper Henry
Selwyn, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as 'I, the
said Jasper Henry Selwyn, 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 "A NOVEL
APPARATUS FOR PAYING OUT OR LAYING DOWN SUBMARINE. TELEGRAPH CABLES OR
WIRES, AND FOR RAISING THE SAME AFTER THEY HAVE BEEN' LAID DOWN," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Jasper Henry Selwyn, my executors

page_text: 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
5 calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Jasper Henry Selwyn, 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:-
This Invention or apparatus consists in the employment of two or more
seperate water-tight cylinders or drums made of sheet iron, or of any other
suitable material, and of such size and shape as will allow of their floating in
the water at about half immersion when loaded with the intended quantity of
cable or telegraph wire for laying with paddle wheels, paddle boards, or floats
firmly fitted to the heads or ends of each cylinder, and seperately set in appro-
priate towing frames, so that when towed by a vessel, or otherwise moved
through the water, the cylinder or drum will be made to revolve on its axes by
means of the action of the water on the floats of the paddle wheels attached
to it. The rate of revolving being proportioned to the speed of the towing
vessel or other progressive power, and to the circumference at which the
paddle floats are set, that is to say, according as they are more or less distant
from the centre of motion, which latter is an arrangement of great importance,
inasmuch as it regulates the revolutionary speed of the cylinder or drum in
tow, and hence governs the rate of the delivery of the cable or telegraph wire
from off the revolving cylinder or drum. For example, when the floats are
contracted or reefed, the effect on the revolving cylinder or drum is similar
to that produced by a brake, whereby the revolutionary rate of the cylinder or
drum is proportionately reduced, and consequently the rate of delivery of the
cable or telegraph wire from off the cylinder in laying down is lessened in the
same proportion. The following are the means by which these operations are
accomplished, and which can be done from on board the towing vessel while
the cylinder revolves. A screw arm or radius passes through a corresponding
screw collar secured in the centre of each paddle float. At the outer extremity
of each of these serew arms or radii is a "capstan head," with projecting arms.
or spokes, which when required come within reach of one or the other
extremity of a "clutch" placed upon the fore part of the towing frame of the
oylinder or drum, and which "clutch" can be acted upon by means of ropes or
chains from on board the towing vessel. The "clutch" works upon a centre,

page_text: and consequently its extremities are acted upon by the opposite rope or chain.
The operation of this arrangement will be readily understood by referring to
the Drawings. It will there be seen that by depressing either of the
extremities of the "clutch," an impediment will be presented to the arms or
spokes of the "capstan heads," and so a turn of the screw arms or radii will be
effected in rotation as they pass it, and consequently a corresponding approach
to or recession from the paddle wheel's centre of motion will be produced
successively on the whole of the paddle floats. Of course it is understood that
the paddle floats are to be so fitted on the paddle wheel frame as to admit of
their travelling in the manner required.
In order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now pro-
ceed more particularly to describe the same by aid of the Drawings hereunto.
annexed, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts through-
out the Figures. Figure 1 of my Drawings represents a 'perspective view of
a cylinder or drum fitted as before described and ready for use; Figure 2 is a
longitudinal section of a broadside view in a line through the centre of the
axles, in which is shown the interior of a cylinder or drum, the hollow axles
or trunnions, and the arrangement for "reefing "the paddle floats. A is the
cylinder or drum, carrying the cable or telegraph wire a, a; B, B, as seen in
Figure 2, are the paddle wheels firmly secured to the heads or ends of the
cylinder or drum; C, C, show the floats; and d, d, their reefing capstan headed
screw arms or radii, to be worked by the " clutches e, e, from on board the
towing vessel. D, D, are the axles or trunnions of the cylinder, which are hollow
throughout their whole length, one serving for a man-hole, and the other for
the passage of the first end of the cable or telegraph wire, by which a com-
munication is kept up between the towing vessels; E, E, indicate the towing
frame, which receives the axles or trunnions of the cylinder or drum; f, in
Figure 2, shows the tube for conveying the first end of the telegraph wire;
and g, g, the same wire passing out of the hollow axle on its way to the towing.
vessel; h, h, in the same Figure indicate partitions.
Mode for laying the cable or telegraph wire. The wire or cable being
reeled on the two cylinders or drums to be used, a steamer takes each in tow,
and having arrived at mid-ocean or at the shores from whence starting is
appointed, the end is (if in mid-ocean) secured to that from the other cylinder,
and each vessel proceeds as usual, but at full speed, and laying the wire bebind
her without any strain, for the reasons before mentioned. The wire end being
secured on the cylinder, none is laid in towing until desired. The case of
starting from opposite shores towards mid-ocean will be easily understood from
this description.

page_text: When the said cylinders or apparatus is employed for raising or under-
running the cables or telegraph wires after they have been laid, it is only
necessary to change ends, and to tow the cylinder or drum in use in the reverse
direction to what is done in laying down, and to pass the end of the wire or
cable above instead of below, whereby the action of the cylinder is reversed,
and the cable or wire is wound on the drum or cylinder, instead of its being
paid off, as in the other case of laying. As regards underrunning the cable
or wire, this is done by taking two or more turns around the cylinder or drum
leaving the end on the shore, and paying out that part as fast as the other is
raised by the motion of the cylinder itself; the cable being secured from loss
by means of nippers hung low down on the cable by ropes from the cylinder,
but which are not shown in either of the Drawings.
The mode is which telegraphic communication between the ships during the
process of laying is kept up, is by the inner end of the wire (i.e.), the end of the
part first coiled on the cylinder being conveyed to on board the towing vessel,
and there inserted in a cup of mercury, where it revolves freely, and at the same
speed as the cylinder from which it is brought, which enables the current to
be completed. In Figure 2 is shown the passage of this end of the wire, first
through the tube f, and then through the hollow axle D, and then along the
towing frame and ropes to the ship.
Having thus described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner of carrying the same into practical effect, I would
have it understood in conclusion that I do not confine myself to the precise
details herein set forth and represented in the accompanying Drawings, as
many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from the principles
or main features of the said Invention; but what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim with reference thereto, is,―
First, the application of paddle wheels, paddle boards, or floats to cylinders
or drums in the manner and for the purposes herein-before described.
Second, the arrangement for "reefing," contracting, or expanding the
paddle floats, in the manner and for the purposes herein-before described.
In wituess whereof, I, the said Jasper Henry Selwyn, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
JASPER HENRY SELWYN. (L.S.)