IMPROVEMENTS IN COATING AND PRE- SERVING TELEGRAPH WIRES, ROPES, AND CABLES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Wilkinson, of No. 41, Great Mary-
lebone Street, Portland Place, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COATING AND PRE-
SERVING TELEGRAPH WIRES, ROPES, AND CABLES."
Sealed the 5th December 1873, and dated the 19th September 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Wilkinson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 19th September 1873.
I, ALEXANDER WILKINSON, of No. 41, Great Marylebone Street,
Portland Place, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COATING
AND PRESERVING TELEGRAPH WIRES, ROPES, AND CABLES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates, firstly, to coating and preserving telegraph
wires, and consists in coating the fabric, covered wire, with a solution
of white lead, pitch, boiled or raw, linseed oil, tallow, and naptha, the
ingredients being mixed in suitable proportions, and heated so as to

page_text: make, after the coating is effected and exposed to the atmosphere, a
comparatively hard yet flexible exterior, perfectly waterproof, and
capable of withstanding extreme cold without becoming rigid or liable
to crack.
In lieu of using pitch, rosin or tar can be mixed with the white lead,
oil, tallow, and naptha, the proportions being about the same as for the
first method.
The Invention relates, secondly, to coating a number of threads,
filiaments, strips, or sheets of fabric to cover the above wires, and
consists in passing them, i.e., the threads through a bath containing
white lead, pitch, and boiled or raw linseed oil, first rendered into a
plastic body by. heat, and then allowed to cool down before the
filiamentous bodies are passed through the coated filaments, are then
when dry wrapped round the other wire arranged upon a rope or cable
composed of a series of the first mentioned coated wires, and then :
passed through a bath of the last mentioned ingredients in a heated or
a cold state, whereby the thread covered rope or cable becomes coated,
and all the interstices of the wrapping filled in. The rope or cable is
then run through a bath of white lead in solution to give it a final
exterior coating in order to render it both fireproof and waterproof.
The Invention consists, thirdly, in first coating by dipping or other-
wise threads or filaments in a solutiou of white lead, pitch, or its
equivalent, and boiled linseed oil, and then exposing them until they
become dry. These threads are then wrapped on to the bare wires,
which are afterwards further coated by lead, "compo," tin, or other
metal, which can be "drawn," the coated wires acting as the mandril,
on to which the metal is drawn.
This second part of my Invention is specially applicable for land lines,
both overhead and underground, but it may be used in connection with

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Wilkinson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 19th March 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
WILKINSON, of No. 41, Great Marylebone Street, Portland Place, in the
County of Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-three, in
the thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Wilkinson,
Her special licence that I, the said Alexander Wilkinson, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander
Wilkinson, 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 COATING AND PRESERVING TELEGRAPH WIRES, ROPES,
AND CABLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Alexander Wilkinson, 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 immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Wilkinson, 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, that is to say:―
This Invention relates to the combination of certain ingredients and
in suitable quantities or proportions to form a protecting and a preserving
coating or covering to telegraphic wires, ropes, and cables; also to
fabrics, fibres, and filaments when applied thereto; also to flic method.
of treating such wires, by which the coating is effected..

page_text: The ingredients are white lead, pitch, japan, shellac, tallow, naphtha,
and oil, to which in some cases a small proportion of glycerine, gutta
percha, or litharge is added.
Instead of pitch, rosin or tar can be used, and instead of shellac, a
varnish or other body having similar properties.
To coat or cover naked wires used for telegraphic purposes according
to my Invention I first clean the surfaces of the wires and then pass
them through a bath of Brunswick black or of gutta percha, diluted in
order to prepare them for the after coatings or coverings. I then cover
the wires with fibres or filaments, which have been prepared in a bath
composed of.-

page_text: would the glycerine be needed, as the flexibility of the coated wires
would be governed, more or less, by the thickness of the coating or the
number of coatings applied.
The coating after exposure to the atmosphere becomes comparatively
hard, it is perfectly waterproof, and is capable of withstanding extreme
cold without liability to crack or flake off.
In making up a rope or cable I take one or a number of wires, which
have been coated as above described, and pass them through a bath of
the same ingredients and similarly prepared, so that they become coated
to the desired thickness, or I first wrap the series of coated wires with a
fibrous body prepared or not as described to form a proper cable, and
then pass this rope or cable through the bath.
In some cases I use a bath composed of the before mentioned
ingredients in a cold state for coating wires, ropes, or cables, exposing
them afterwards until they become dry.
The single coated wires, such as are preferable for land or overhead
telegraphy, can be covered or enclosed in a soft metal or a metallic
compound "drawn" into a tube in the manner well-known, and the
rope or cable for submarine telegraphy can have iron or other wire or
sheet lead in strips wound, twisted, or braided upon it, and in most cases
I coat the metal covering with prepared filaments or fibres, and then
finally coat them with the composition before passing them through the
bath containing the ingredients before mentioned.
I have, referred to fibres and filaments as being saturated or coated
with the compound prior or subsequent to their application to the wires,
and such fibres or filaments may be in fleece, in yarn, or in thread, and
either loose or woven as a fabric, in which case the fabric may be in
strips, in sheets, or pieces. If they are in strips they can be used as
wrappings to the wires or to the ropes or cables, and if in sheets or
pieces for other purposes, such as for covering goods, roofings, or the
like.
In the composition I have referred to shellac as one of the ingredients
used, but I do not limit myself thereto as varnish, gutta percha, or
other similar sticky binding body can be substituted for it, neither
do I limit myself to employing pitch, as rosin or tar or india-rubber
mixed with the ingredients before mentioned is equally applicable.

page_text: My Invention further consists in the employment of a mixture
composed of white lead and boiled oil and gutta percha, which when well
boiled together form a coating applicable for the protection of submarine
and land telegraph wires, ropes, and cables, the wire, rope, or cable being
drawn through a bath containing the ingredients, as before mentioned,
they are placed in a bath or tank containing hot water or steam, and
then drawn through dies by pressure in order to compress and thus fill
up the open pores of the ropes, strands, or cables.
What I claim as my Invention is, coating and preserving telegraph
wires, ropes, and cables, also fabrics and filaments as set forth by a :
composition composed of white lead, pitch, or in lieu thereof, rosin or
tar, japan, shellac, or its equivalent, tallow, naphtha, india-rubber, or
gutta percha, and oil in or about the proportions described.
I also claim the use as herein-before described of metal or a metallic
compound drawn into a tube over and above the coating, as herein- 1
before set forth, for the further protection and preservation of telegraph
wires, ropes, and cables.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Wilkinson, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of March One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.