NEW OR IMPROVED CDES MEANS OF COVERING AND INSULATING THE WIRES OF ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS
Year: 1870

page_text: "
LETTERS PATENT to Robert Dick, of the City of Glasgow, in the
County of Lanark, North Britain, Gutta Percha Root and Shoe.
Manufacturer, for the Invention of "NEW OR IMPROVED CDES
MEANS OF COVERING AND INSULATING THE WIRES OF ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS."
m4
AND
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Dick at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
31st January 1870.
65
I, ROBERT DICK, of the City of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Gutta Percha Boot and Shoe Manufacturer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said luvention for NEW GROVED MODES
AND MEANS OF COVERING AND INSULATING THE WIRES OF ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS,,,
to be as follows, that is to say :-
This said Invention consists substantially in covering or protecting
and insulating the wires for electric submarine or subterranean cables,
or the wires for other electric, magnetic, or galvanic telegraphs or
purposes, with (their first insulating coating or covering to be formed
[Price 8d.i

page_text: "
"
of) a combined or duplex coating, layer, or thickness (or it may be
thicknesses) of vulcanized, "mineralized," or cured' india-rubber
(not caoutchouc or pure unvulcanized india-rubber) and a thin covering
or layer of gutta percha solution closely spread, brushed, or pressed over
the pure or clean surface of the vulcanized. rubber, so as to be cemented
to it and form a cement, to cause this duplex coating to be closely
cemented round the wire and to itself at the edges forming the joints
or joining, and it may be also to similar outer layers or coatings of
vulcanized rubber, or to inner or outer coatings of gutta percha when
these are applied, all by the double (but simple) action of heat and
pressure applied at the moment or time of covering, overlaying, or
"lapping" the said coating round and along the wire, or it may be
wires when two or more are to be covered at once, in the centre or core,
or it may be to the other said layers or coverings to which it is
cemented.
to be
And this said Invention further consists in various simple new or
improved modes and means both of preparing the said duplex coating
or coatings, and in laying and cementing it round and along the said
wire or wires.
"
One mode and means of performing the said Invention as applied to
a single wire consists in preparing long thin narrow strips or lengths of
the said vulcanized india-rubber of about the thickness it is desired to
make the single layer or coating round the wire, and of a width more
than its circumference, sufficient to enable the edges to form a good
overlap" joint (or it may be a very little less than the exact circum-
ference, so as to form an edge abutting joint by the action of pressing
it round the wire); in either of these cases the joint would run
longitudinally or along the one side of the wire. These said vulcanized
india-rubber-lengths may be-cut-out-of-or-from-the- best-ordinary
prepared vulcanized india-rubber sheets, and joined end to end with
_or_by_the_cement solution of gutta percha to form a band covering, or
these strips or bands of india-rubber may be specially prepared in long
lengths of the particular cross section required in the manner that
driving bands and other long roll lengths of vulcanized india-rubber
articles are now manufactured.. The gutta percha coating or cement is
applied by preference in the form of a hot solution (heated to as high a
temperature as it will stand without vapourizing or burning) to the
thoroughly clean surface of the said vulcanized india-rubber band so

page_text: cut, prepared, or formed. The surface of the said vulcanized india-
rubber is first cleaned by any of the well-known mechanical or chemical
means of doing so, as by scraping or brushing, or by the application of
a solvent, which would remove the sulphur or other mineral or foreign
matter from it, either with or without the said application of mechanical
brushing or friction, and it may be heated by being passed through a
heating chamber or flue for the purpose, and the solution of gutta
percha may be applied to the hot cleaned surface by passing the vul-
canized india-rubber band down through a vessel full of the hot solution
of gutta percha in its course through the heating chamber, or just after
leaving it, heat being applied by preference afterwards to the band so
coated by placing it in or passing it through a hot stove, oven, or fluc,
or by having a current of hot air applied to it until the solvent naphtha,
sulphate of carbon, or other spirit used is fully evaporated, when the
band or duplex coating would then be ready for covering the wire by
cementing it round the wire, either covered with a first coating of other
materials or not. The length or roll of wire to be covered (whether it is
plain and bare as manufactured, or is closely covered with fine silk or
cotton thread, or thin sheet fibrous or other material, as is sometimes
done), or as preferred by a first insulating covering forming another
improvement under this Invention, in which the wire is first covered
with a coating of shellac by passing the hot wire through a vessel of hot
shollac or its solution, and then while it is yet hot and sticky covering it
with a coat or powdering of dry hot hard wood or vencer sawdust by
passing the wire through or below a hopper containing the sawdust, or
by spreading or dusting the sawdust or other equivalent roughening and
insulating coating, as the ground dust of vulcanized india-rubber, on to
the hot shellac with brushes or other simple or equivalent means, and
over which a coating of gutta percha solution (or cement) is or may be
subsequently applied and the solvent evaporated, as in the case of
coating the vulcanized india-rubber band, which wire so prepared and
roll of the said coated band of vulcanized india-rubber are then passed
from or run through a heating oven, flue, or chamber or chambers for
heating them, or over a current of hot air, where both are heated to a
temperature a little below that at which gutta percha vapourizes or
boils. The band thus prepared and coated with gutta percha while it
and the wire are yet hot while in or just after leaving the heating
chamber or current is pressed firmly against the coated wire, first at
the one edge and all round towards the other or outer edge, which is at

page_text: the last pressed down over the first laid edge and held so until cold
enough not to give way or rise off the wire or itself. This laying on,
pressing down, and cementing of the coating is so simple and easily
cffected that it may be partially or wholly quickly done by the fingers
and nails of boys or girls as the wire and covering are drawn or rolled
out of the heating chamber or chambers, or the same may be assisted,
finally finished, or wholly done by drawing them through pressing dies
worked by the hand or foot, or by motive power, or by such curved,
Curling, and pressing dies or plates as are used for bending thin sheet
metal round wire, or for making hollow tubes, or laying cloth round
cords or otherwise, through pressing and drawing rollers of a proper
shape on the edge to suit the section of that part of the wire and cir-
cumference of the covering on which they act. One roller is made to
act a little before the other, the one most in advance or at front being
the one to act last, or lay down the outer overlaying edge, all so that
the air would be expressed backwards out at the part kept open to the
very last to insure the close and solid laying on of the coating. When
machinery is thus used to coat the wire any of the cemented layers or
coats so finished may be covered with a complete coating of gutta percha
over the whole when desired, and further ensure the filling up of any :
inequality and absence of all air or moisture. When two or more such
coatings are desired each would by preference have the joint formed at
the opposite or a different side to the other, and the one layer laid on
close to and soon after the other before the heat was out of the previous
layer, or otherwise it would be advisable to pass the covered wire
through or over another heating chamber or current of heated air (by
preference quickly to heat the surface only) while or before jointing on
the next hot layer. Instead of the duplex band or covering being laid
longitudinally on or along the wires as described it may be laid and
cemented spirally, the one edge being by preference made to overlay :
the other sufficiently to form a spiral or screw lap joint throughout
instead of a longitudinal joint, as in the former case, and the spiral
laying down, pressing, and cementing may be effected by a hollow
connoidal eye or friction ferrule made to revolve round the wire, or the
wire made to turn within it, as it is drawn through the eye in a finished a
state, or antifriction pressing rollers may be used instead of or in con-
junction with the laying down and pressing eye or ring when preferred.
When more than one wire is to be inserted and the section of the
covering strips or bands of vulcanized india-rubber require to be grooved

page_text: '
or otherwise peculiarly shaped in two or more parts to form the complete
layer or section they can be specially formed and vulcanized as other
bands and long articles are now made; and the contiguous edges to
be jointed and coated with the liquid or solution of gutta percha by
brushing it on the surfaces and edges with circular revolving brushes
over the hot trough, and in some cases a thin layer or strip of the best
quality of gutta percha of the required section may be fed in between
the hot bands of vulcanized rubber and wires (coated with the solution
of gutta percha. as before stated), which would by their heat and the
compression applied cement the whole and fill all the surface crevices,
and make a good and perfect joint and covering, which might have a
subsequent layer (or layers of gutta percha or vulcanized india-rubber
coated with gutta percha solution) laid on in any of the said manners
to cover the whole surface, or the joints left exposed when that greater
security was desired. The elastic nature of the vulcanized india-rubber
and the thinness of the layer of gutta percha or gutta percha solution
allow this coating to be drawn, laid, and jointed very tightly round the
wire or its first coatings, so as to be sealed firmly air and water proof,
whatever regular section the covered wires may be of, as round,
polygonal, or of a flat band shape. The surface of the wires or their
thread or other covering, or the new covering of shellac and sawdust,
have a thin layer of the solution of gutta percha passed over them before
laying on the hot duplex coating of rubber and gutta percha, and the
heat or temperature required in coating, cementing, and covering the
wires would be about 230° Fahrenheit, or rather lower than that at
which gutta percha begins to vapourize, boil, or burn.
By another modification or improvement under this Invention when
the wire or wires have been covered by any of the modes and means
herein described for a first insulating coating they may be imbedded or
inserted and cemented within the grooves or recesses formed for them
in the particular section of previously prepared bands or lengths of
vulcanized india-rubber coated with the gutta percha solution, all as
herein-before mentioned, or it might be into grooved or other sectional
bands of gutta percha, or that substance attached to a band of canvas
or vulcanized india-rubber, or a combination of these, such as used for
motive-power transmitting driving straps, in whichever case the outer
surface of the sectional band is prepared with the gutta percha solution
as a cement (as herein-before described) for the body of the gutta percha

page_text: forming the imbedding section to properly adhere to it. In this case
also an outer covering or coverings of gutta percha or vulcanized india-
rubber coated with the gutta percha solution or cement may be used to
cover the whole section, or only the joint parts of the former layers.
The gutta percha or vulcanized india-rubber thus used for these im-
bedding and outer layers or coverings may be made of cheaper qualities
of these materials than can safely be used for the inner insulating
coverings, as described under these improvements. The first insulating
coating or coatings may be put upon the telegraph wire or wires as here-
tofore done, made of the best qualities of gutta percha, and then covered
by the said new or improved modes and means herein described with
their subsequent outer coatings of vulcanized india-rubber or canvas, or a
combination of these, coated with gutta percha solution, as a cement
for their adhesion by heat and pressure, all substantially as herein-
before described. The new first insulating and surface roughening
coating of shellac and sawdust (or other equivalent dust) herein-before
described may also be applied to telegraph wires before and for the
purpose of covering them, all otherwise substantially by the modes and
means heretofore used, by pure gutta percha or its 'mixtures with
masticated or "raw" rubber, as well as by the new or improved sub-
sequent coatings herein described under this said Invention. In all
other respects the electric wire so covered may be protected and
strengthened for submerged or subterranean telegraph cables by outer
coverings of hemp, wire rope, or other equivalent materials, in the
manner and by any of the modes and means heretofore employed for so
strengthening and protecting such wires or cables. These improvements
the petitioner believes, if adopted, will give a much more perfect in-
sulation and economical covering to such wires than have heretofore
heen obtained by other modes and means, and particularly than by
the use of a covering made wholly of gutta percha, as now practised.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters. Patent,
filed by the said Robert Dick in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 28th July 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I. ROBERT
DICK, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Gutta Percha
Boot and Shoe Manufacturer, send greeting.

page_text: WHER AS He most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Robert Dick, Her special licence,
that I, the said Robert Dick. my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I. the said Robert Dick, 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 NEW OR IMPROVED
MODES AND MEANS OF COVERING AND INSULATING THE WIRES OF ELECTRIC TELE
GRAPHS." upon the condition (amongst others) that I. the said Robert i ick,
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.
L
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Dick, 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 in writing, reference being had to the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon, that is to say :--
My said Invention consists substantially in covering or protecting and
insulating the wires for electric submarine or subterranean cables or
the wires for other electric, magnetic, or galvanic telegraphs or purposes
with (their first insulating coatings or coverings to be formed of) a
combined or duplex coating, layer, or thickness (or it may be thicknesses)
of vulcanized, "mineralized," or "cured" india-rubber (not caoutchouc
or pure unvulcanized india-rubber) and a thin covering or layer of gutta
percha solution closely spread, brushed, or pressed over the pure or clean
surface of the vulcanized rubber. so as to be cemented to it and form a
cement to cause this duplex coating (of vulcanized india-rubber and
gutta percha solution) to be closely cemented round the wire and to.

page_text: itself at the edges forming the joints or joinings, and it may be also
cemented to other outer or inner layers or coatings of vulcanized
india-rubber and gutta percha solution, or to inner or outer coatings of
gutta percha when these are preferred as heretofore used, although
these gutta percha coatings would form no part of my Invention, all
applied by the simple action of heat and pressure at the moment or
time of covering, overlaying, or "lapping" the said coating round and
along the wire, or it may be wires where two or more are to be covered
at once in the centre or core, or it may be to the other side layers, or
coverings to which it is to be cemented.
And my said Invention further consists. in various simple new or
improved modes and means both of preparing the said new duplex
coating or coatings, and laying and cementing them round and along the
wire or wires. All which improvements, if adopted, I believe will give
a much more perfect insulation and economical inner covering to such
telegraphic wires or cables than have been obtained by the modes and
means beretofore practised, and particularly than by the use of an inner
covering made wholly of gutta percha, as now more generally adopted.
Referring to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, Figure 1 to 20
represent detached parts of the said telegraphic wires or cables and their
new or improved insulating or inner protecting coverings or coatings
in side and end views or longitudinal and transverse sections to enlarged
scales or sizes, all so as to illustrate the construction of my said improved
coatings and mode and means of preparing and applying the same as a
covering to the said wires or cables in accordance with this my said
Invention, the same reference letters and numerals indicating the same or
equivalent parts in all the Figures. All the parts of the wires or cables
thus covered in these Figures are shown without the ordinary outer
strengthening or armour” wire and other coverings, as it is to be under-
stood that in all other respects these electric wires so covered may be
protected and strengthened for submerged or subterranean telegraph
cables by outer coverings of hemp, thin sheet metal, wire rope, or other
equivalent materials in the manner and by any of the modes and means
heretofore employed for so strengthening and protecting other insulated
telegraphic wires or cables and their coatings.
is
One mode and means of performing the said Invention, as applied to a
single wire as A, shown in side and end view. Figure 1, or to a number

page_text: of wires, as one core shown at A' in Figure 2, consists in preparing long
thin narrow strips or lengths of the said vulcanized india-rubber as
shown at a in edge and side view at Figure 3 of about the thickness it
is desired to make the single layer or coating a round the wire A and of
a width as 1 1 (more than the circumference of the wire) sufficient to
enable the edges a¹¹, a¹, to form a good "overlap" joint as shown at
a³ - a³, in Figures 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, or it may be of a width 1- 1,
Figures 9 and 10, a very little less than the exact circumference of the
wire A or A', as the case may be, to form an edge abutting joint a³---a³,
Figures 9 and 10, by the action of pressing and drawing or expanding it
round the wire. In either of these cases the joint would run by pre-
ference longitudinally or along the one side of the wire, as seen respec-
tively at a¹--a³ and a³--a³, in Figures 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, 10. These
said vulcanized india-rubber strip lengths a may be cut out of or from
the best ordinary prepared vulcanized india-rubber sheets, and joined
end to end with or by the cement solution of gutta percha, as shown at a',
Figure 3, to form a band covering, or these strips or bands of india-rubber
a may be specially prepared in long lengths of the particular cross
section required, as indicated at b, Figures 15 to 20, in the manner that
driving bands and other long roll lengths of vulcanized india-rubber
articles are now manufactured. The gutta percha coating as a cement
is applied by preference in the form of a hot solution (heated to as high
a temperature as it will stand without vaporizing or burning the gutta
percha or its solvent spirit) to the thoroughly cleaned surface of the
said vulcanized india-rubber band a or b, so cut, prepared, or formed as
described. The surface of the said vulcanized india-rubber band a or b
is first cleaned by any of the well known mechanical or chemical means
of doing so (in the attaching of such rubber to gutta percha for other
purposes), as by scraping, hard brushing, or by the application of a
solvent which would remove the sulphur or other mineral or foreign
matter from it, as by steeping the "rubber" band or passing it through
a hot bath or solution of soda and black ash of sufficient strength as
about two pounds of soda and one pound of “black ash" to two gallons
of water, or it may be washed in other equivalent cleansing mixtures,
after which it is dried and cleaned either with or without the said appli-
cation of mechanical brushing or friction. The vulcanized band a or b
thus prepared and cleaned is then heated by being passed through a
heating oven, chamber, or flue for the purpose or by other equivalent

page_text: simple means, as by the action of heated currents of air or superheated
steam made to play upon its surface from a narrow orifice, and the
solution of gutta percha is applied to the hot cleaned surface of the band
by passing it down through a vessel kept full of the hot solution of gutta
percha while on its course through the heating chamber or just after
leaving it, heat being applied by preference afterwards also to the band
so coated by placing it in or passing it through a hot stove, oven, or flue,
or by having a current of hot air or superheated steam applied to it until
the solvent naphtha, sulphate of carbon, or other solvent spirit used is
fully evaporated, when the band or duplex coating a or 6 thus prepared
is ready for covering and cementing round or for receiving the wire,
which may be either covered with a first thin coating of other insulating
or surface roughening material or not as desired. The length or roll
of wire A to be covered having its surface plain and bare as drawn or
manufactured, or closely covered with fine silk or cotton thread or other
thin sheet fibrous material, or having a thin coating of gutta percha
drawn or formed over it (all of which are sometimes done), or as I prefer
by another improvement under my said Invention, has the cleaned
surface of the wire covered by a first insulating covering or coating of
shellac, by passing the wire A in a heated state through hard shellac,
or a vessel of hot shellac or its solution, and then while the coating of
shellac c, Figures 1 and 2, is yet hot and sticky the whole surface is
covered with a coat or powdering of dry hot hardwood or veneer sawdust
by passing the wire through or below a hopper containing the sawdust,
or by spreading or dusting the sawdust or other equivalent roughening
and insulating coating c², as the ground dust of vulcanized india-rubber,
on to the hot shellac c with brushes or other simple and equivalent
means over which shellac and roughening powder surface a coating c¹¹
of gutta percha solution as a cement may be subsequently applied, having
the solvent naphtha or spirit evaporated, as described in the case of
coating the vulcanized india-rubber baud a or b. The wire A or A' so
prepared and a roll of the said coated band a of vulcanized india-rubber
(seen at Figures 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8) are then passed from or run through
a heating oven, flue, or chamber or chambers for heating them, or over
a current or currents of hot air or superheated steam, so as to heat both
to a temperature a little below that at which gutta percha vaporizes or
boils. The band a so prepared and coated with gutta percha, while it
and the wire are yet hot, either within or just after leaving the heating

page_text: chamber or current, as indicated at B, is pressed firmly against the
coated wire A, first at and along one edge, as at a", Figures 4, 5, 6, 7,
and 8, and all round and along the circumference of the wire at a™
towards the other or outer edge, as at a", which is at the last pressed
down over and along the first laid and cemented edge a¹¹, and held or
kept so by preference for a time until sufficiently scooled not to give way
or rise off the wire or its own inner cemented edge a". This laying on
or pressing down and cementing of the coating a on the wire A or A'
is so simply and easily effected that it may be partially or wholly and
quickly done as described along these several parts a", a", and a¹¹¹¹,
by the fingers and nails of boys or girls as fast as the wire and covering
are capable of being drawn or rolled out of or over the heating chambers
or currents, as described, to allow the material to adhere and cool; and
this may be assisted, finally finished, or wholly done by drawing the wire
and band through opening and closing pressing dies e, as shown at e",
e¹¹¹, and e¹¹, in Figure 7, worked by levers e' and the hands or feet
of the attendant operator, or by motive power at the said proper parts
a, a, a, or otherwise this pressing and cementing of the band
may be done by such curved, curling, and pressing dies, ferrules, or
plates such as are used for bending thin sheet metal round wire, or for
making hollow tubes, or bending or laying cloth round cords, modifica-
tions of which are shown at f, Figures 8 and 9, or otherwise by passing
the wire and band A, a, through pressing and drawing rollers d of a proper
shape on their edges to suit the section of the wire. and circumference of
the part of its covering on which they act, as indicated at d", d¹¹, and
din enlarged side and end views, Figures 6,,each roller, by pre-
ference, acting a little before the other,, the one most in advance or at
front at d¹¹¹¹ being the one to act last, so as to lay down the outer over-
laying edge, as a", all so that the air would be expressed backwards
out at the part B kept open to the very last to insure the close and solid
laying on of the coating a, the arrows on the Figures indicating the
forward motion of the wire and revolution of the pressing rollers by
their friction and contact. When machinery is thus used to coat the
wire any of these cemented layers or coats a so finished may be covered
with a complete coating of gutta percha in the manner heretofore done
(or the wire have previously applied coatings of gutta percha) over the
whole when desired, and thus further insure the filling up of any
inequality and the absence of all air or moisture (as indicated at C,

page_text: Figures 10, 11, and 15). When two or more such new or improved coat-
ings a of vulcanized india-rubber and gutta percha solution are desired
over each other each would, by preference, have the overlapping or
abutting joint a³ or a³ formed at the opposite or a different side to the
other, and have the one layer laid on close to and soon after the other
before the heat was out of the previous layer, as shown in Figures 6°, 10,
10%, and 14, by the several sets of pressing rollers d and ď³, or otherwise
it would be required to pass the covered wire again through or over
another, heating chamber or current of superheated steam, by preference
quickly, so as to heat the surface to be cemented immediately before or
while jointing the next hot layer to the inner layer in any of the manners
described for laying on the first layer. Instead of these duplex bands
or coverings so prepared and heated being laid on longitudinally or along
the wires A or A², as described in reference to Figures 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,
and 10, they may be laid and cemented spirally, as shown in Figures
11, 12, and 13, the one edge a¹ by preference being made to overlay
the other a sufficiently to form a spiral or screw lap joint, as a', a', a³,
throughout, instead of the longitudinal lap joint a, a, as in the former
case (of Figures 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8), and the spirally laying down, pressing,
and cementing may be effected by a hollow conoidal eye or friction
ferrule D made to revolve round the wire A or A', as indicated at D³
in Figure 12, or the wire may be made to revolve within the eye and laying
down arm D of ferrule, D, D¹, so that the covered wire A is drawn
through it in a finished state; or otherwise rolling and antifriction press-
ing pulleys E, as shown in Figures 13, may be carried on a hollow spindle
D, and used instead of or in conjunction with the laying down and press-
ing eye D' for pressing and cementing the band a or rollers d when
preferred. When more than one wire is to be inserted, and the sections
of the covering strips or bands of vulcanized india-rubber bare formed
with grooves b', and otherwise peculiarly shaped-in-two-or-more-parts
to form the complete layer or section, as shown at Figures 15 to 20, they
-may be specially or individually formed as indicated in the cross sections.
¿ït¯¯¯¯¯¯b³‚¯`b³; ¯`b‘‚ of the respective shapes required, and vulcanized as
other bands at present are done in the manufacture of long vulcanized
india-rubber articles, and the contiguous edges and surfaces 6", Figures
16, 17, and 18,-to be jointed are coated with the liquid or solution of gutta
percha by spreading or brushing it thereon after the surfaces and
edges have been thoroughly cleaned with circular revolving brushes

page_text: over the hot trough of gutta percha solution; or in some cases a thin
layer or strip C' of the best quality of gutta percha, or thin vulcanized
india-rubber so coated with solvent gutta percha of the required section,
may be fed in a hot state between the bot bands (6 and 6³, Figures 17),
when preferred, of vulcanized india-rubber, and the wires A (either
coated with the shellac and sawdust and solution of gutta percha, as
before stated, or not as desired) would then by the heat and compression
applied cement the whole and fill all the surface crevices, and make a
good and perfect joint and covering, which might have a subsequent
layer or layers of gutta percha or vulcanized india-rubber coated with
gutta percha solution laid on in any of the said manners to cover the
whole surface, or the joints left exposed when that greater security was
desired, as shown at C, a³, in the several sections of Figures 15 to 20.
The elastic nature of the vulcanized india-rubber bands a and the thin-
ness of the layer or coating of gutta percha or gutta percha solution
thereon allows this new or improved coating a to be drawn, laid, and
jointed very tightly round the wires A, A', or over their first coatings
c, c¹,, c", so as to be sealed or cemented firmly air and water tight and
proof whatever the regular section of the covered wires thus made may
be, as round, shown in Figures 4 to 15, or of a polygonal or flat band
shape, as shown in Figures 16 to 20. The surface of the wires A, A'
(or their thread or other first covering) or the new covering of shellac c
and sawdust c', as shown in Figures 1 and 2, have a thin layer c¹¹ of
the solution of gutta percha passed over them, as shown at A³, before
laying on the hot duplex coating a of vulcanized india-rubber and gutta
percha solution (Figures 4 to 14), and the heat or temperature preferred
to be given to the wires A or A' and the bands a, b, in coating, cement-
ing, and covering them is from 212° to 230° Fahrenheit, or considerably
lower than that at which gutta percha begins to vaporize, boil, or burn.
By another modification or improvement under this my said Invention
(when the wire or wires, as A, A', have been covered by any of the
modes and means herein described for a first insulating coating) they
may be imbedded or inserted and cemented within the grooves or
recesses b¹, b', b¹, b', 6', formed for them in the particular section of
previously prepared bands or lengths 6 of vulcanized india-rubber
coated with the gutta percha solution, all as herein-before mentioned
(and shown in the cross sections of Figures 15 to 20), or that substance

page_text: attached to a band of canvas 65, such as used for motive power trans-
mitting driving straps, in whichever case the outer surface of these
sectional band's b and their coverings 6ª, 63, 64, are prepared with the
gutta percha solution as a cement (as herein-before described) for the
body b and their coverings 6º, 6º, 6*, forming the imbedding sections
to properly adhere to the wires A. In this case also an outer covering
or coverings of gutta percha C or vulcanized india-rubber a coated with
the gutta percha solution as a cement may be used to cover the whole
section or only the joint parts of the former layers, as shown in the
sections of Figures 15 to 20 respectively. The vulcanized india-rubber
thus used for these imbedding and outer layers or coverings 6 may be
made of cheaper qualities of that material than can safely be used for
the inner insulating coverings a, a, as described under these my said
improvements. A first insulating coating C may be put upon the
telegraph wire or wires A, A³, as heretofore done, made of the best
qualities of gutta percha, and then be subsequently covered with one or
more layers of my said new or improved coating a of vulcanized india-
rubber and gutta percha solution as a cement for their adhesion by heat
and pressure, all substantially by the modes and means herein-before
described for doing so, as shown at Figures 14 and 14*.
This new first insulating and surface roughening coating of shellac
and sawdust c, c¹, (or other equivalent dust,) herein-before described
may also be applied to telegraph wires before and for the purpose of
covering them, all otherwise substantially by the modes and means here-
tofore used by pure gutta percha or its mixtures with masticated or raw
rubbers," as well as by the new or improved subsequent coatings herein
described under this my said Invention.
65
In the arrangements in which the bands of vulcanized india-rubber
are made of spiral sections, Figures 15 to 20, with grooves b', b', b', to
receive the wires, as shown at Figures 15, 16, and 17, the wires A (by
preference previously covered with a first insulating thin coating of the
shellac and dust or spiral "lapping" of thin fibrous material covered
with gutta percha solution as herein-before described) are led in a hot
state into the recesses b¹, 61, 61, of the bands b, also in a hot state at F,
as shown in Figures 15, 16, and 17, and then coated or covered with the
before-mentioned outer coverings of gutta percha C in the ordinary
manner as at G, or of my new covering of vulcanized india-rubber and
".

page_text: gutta percha solution a, as before described, instead of the said gutta
percha coating C, or over the top of it as at a, Figures 14° and 14'. In
the various Figures, and particularly the end sections on the Sheet of
Drawings, the electric telegraph wires A or A', whether made of copper
or other metal, are coloured crimson. The shellac coating and saw-
dust B is shown yellow. The coatings a and bands 6 of vulcanized
india-rubber and gutta percha solution are indicated by a lilac or neutral
tint, and gutta percha coatings applied much as heretofore are tinted
with brown or burnt umber, while the canvas parts 65 of the india-rubber
and canvas bands or layers are indicated by close parallel lines in the
cross sections at H.
Having thus particularly described the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is or may be performed, I have to
state that I do not restrict myself to the precise details herein described
or delineated; but what I believe to be novel and original, and there-
fore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent is,-
First. The covering, insulating, and protecting the conducting wires
of electric telegraphs with inner coatings formed of vulcanized india-
rubber and gutta percha solution (the latter as a cement to the former)
by themselves or in conjunction with coatings of gutta percha, as here-
tofore used, all substantially in the new or improved manner herein
described.
Second. The application and use of thin strips of vulcanized india-
rubber coated with gutta percha solution (as a cementing medium) for
insulating and covering the conducting wires of electric telegraphs,
substantially as herein described.
Third. The application, construction, and use of sectional strips of
vulcanized india-rubber coated with gutta percha solution (as a cement-
ing medium) with grooves for receiving the electric telegraph wires, all
for forming the inner insulating and protecting coverings of said wires
substantially as herein described.
Fourth. The application of a first insulating and roughening coating
of shellac and sawdust, finely ground vulcanized india-rubber, or other
equivalent powder material to the conducting wires of electric telegraphs
for insuring the adhesion of the subsequent cementing coating of gutta
percha solution and vulcanized india-rubber, or of the ordinary coatings

page_text: (as gutta percha or others) heretofore applied to such wires, substantially
as and for the purposes herein described.
"
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Dick, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
W. R. M. THOMSON,
Patent Agent,
20, Buchanan Street,
Glasgow
ROBERT DICK.
(L.S.)