CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS. IN INSULATORS FOR ELECTRICAL PURPOSES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Prest, of Bedford Leigh, in the County of Lan-
caster, Secretary to the Firm of Picksley, Sims, and Company, Limited,
Henry Harrison, of the same Place, Commercial Traveller, and Bernhard
Roeber, of the same Place, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "CERTAIN
Sealed the 25th May 1866, and dated the 5th December 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Prest, Henry Harri-
son, and Bernhard Roeber at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 5th December 1865.
We, JOHN PREST, of Bedford Leigh, in the County of Lancaster, Secretary
to the Firm of Picksley, Sims, and Company, Limited, HENRY HARRISON, of
the same Place, Commercial Traveller, and BERNHARD ROEBER, of the same
Place, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS. IN INSULATORS FOR ELECTRICAL PURPOSES," to be as
follows:-
Our Invention relates particularly to "insulators" or non-conducting supports
employed to insulate wires, rods, or cords which are used for telegraphic

page_text: purposes, or as media for electrical currents or circuits; such insulators have
hitherto been generally constructed of one material, such as glass, procelain,
or other non-conducting material, and formed cylindrically or "bell shape,"
presenting a considerable amount of vertical surface vertical or approaching
thereto, and where any horizontal surfaces joined the vertical the angles have
been rounded, so that any moisture may gather on the surfaces and pass off
with ease vertically, which causes imperfect insulation, as when moisture or
water passes in small vertical streams it forms a connection between the
electrical wire and the earth.
Our Invention is designed to prevent the moisture which accumulates on
the insulators from forming vertical streams, and the improvements consist,_
first, in the novel application and use of horizontal surfaces for the purposes of
insulating, in contradistinction to the use of those approaching the vertical
only, upon which horizontal surfaces the moisture will collect in separate drops,
and, as in that position they cannot combine and form a stream, they will fall
singly to the earth, and not form conductors between the wire and the
earth.
The second part of the improvements consist in combining any two insu-
lating materials which have different temperatures, as, for instance, glass and
shellac, so as to form one surface, and which placed alternately constitutes a
series of local terminal currents, caloric circuits, or boundaries, and which at
the line of contact form comparatively dry spaces between the drops of mois-
ture, and prevent the electrical current passing from drop to drop. We would
remark that in some instances the horizontal and vertical surfaces may bo
combined for insulating purposes, and that the formation of electrical or
caloric boundaries may be applied either to the horizontal surfaces separately
or in combination with the vertical.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Prest, Henry Harrison, and Bernhard Roeber in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th June 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN PREST,
of Bedford Leigh, in the County of Lancaster, Secretary to the Firm of Picksley,
Sims, and Company, Limited, HENRY HARRISON, of the same Place, Commercial
Traveller, and BERNHARD ROEBER, of the same Place, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said John Preston, Henry Harrison, and Bernhard Roeber, Her special license
that we, the said John Prest, Henry Harrison, and Bernhard Roeber, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said John Prest,
Ile.ry Harrison, and Bernhard Roeber, our 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
CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN INSULATORS FOR ELECTRICAL PURPOSES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said John Prest, Henry Harrison,
and Bernhard Roeber, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our, or one of our, or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 John Prest, 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 and
accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :-
Our Invention relates particularly to "insulators" or non-conducting supports
employed to insulate wires, rods, or cords which are used for telegraphic
purposes, or as media for electrical currents or circuits; such insulators have
hitherto been generally constructed of one material, such as glass, porcelain,
or other non-conducting material, and formed cylindrically or "bell shape,"
and presenting a considerable amount of vertical surface vertical or approaching
thereto, and where any horizontal surface joined the vertical the angles have
been rounded, so that any moisture may gather on the surfaces and pass off
with ease vertically, which causes imperfect insulation, as when moisture or
water passes in small vertical streams it forms a connection between the.
electrical wire and the earth.
Our Invention is designed to prevent the moisture which accumulates on
the insulators from forming vertical streams, and the improvements consist,
first, in the novel application and use of horizontal surfaces for the purposes

page_text: of "insulating," in contradistinction to the use of those approaching the
vertical only, upon which horizontal surfaces the moisture will collect in
separate drops, as in that position they cannot combine and form a stream,
they will fall singly to the earth, and not form conductors between the wire
and the earth.
The second part of the improvements consist in combining any two
insulating materials which have different specific heat or temperatures, as, for
instance, glass and shellac, so as to form one surface, and which placed alter-
nately constitute a series of local terminal currents, caloric circuits, or
boundaries, and which form at the line of contact comparatively dry spaces
between the drops of moisture, and prevent the electrical current passing from
drop to drop. We would remark that in some instances the horizontal
and the vertical surfaces may be combined for insulating purposes, and that
the formation of electrical or caloric boundaries may be applied either to the
horizontal surfaces separately or in combination with the vertical.
In order that the Invention may be better understood and explained in
detail, we have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings made about the full
size, in which Figs. 1, 2, and 3 represent vertical sectional views of the
improved insulators, which are shewn as examples and in explanation of the
two chief features of the Invention, viz., the use of horizontal surfaces (or
nearly so) to interrupt vertical surfaces and prevent the formation of streams,
and the use of insulating materials baving different specific heat or temperatures.
In Figs. 1, 2, and 3, a, a, represents the insulator, which is generally formed
of porcelain, earthenware, or similar material, and 6 are the horizontal surfaces,
which are combined with the vertical to prevent the formation of streams and
moisture, the surfaces 6' being filled in or formed of a material of a different
specific heat to the surfaces b, say shellac for example.
Fig. 2 is shewn as an example of an insulator having only a series of rings
of material of different temperatures, forming "caloric boundaries," without
any exposed internal internal vertical surfaces.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, together with the
method of carrying the same into practical effect, we wish it to be distinctly
understood that we claim the application and use of horizontal surfaces in
combination with and as interruptions to vertical surfaces, and either com-
bined or not with surfaces of different temperatures for insulating conductors
of electricity.
Secondly, we claim the combination and use of two or more materials
having different specific temperatures for the purpose of insulating wires or

page_text: electrical conductors by forming " caloric boundaries," and preventing the
spreading and passage of moisture along the surfaces so treated, as herein-
before described, set forth, and fully illustrated in the Drawings attached.
In witness whereof, I, 'the said John Prest, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Second day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
Witnessed by
JOHN L. DAVIES, C.E.,
Office for Patents,
Manchester.
JOHN PREST. (L.S.)