US217479A - Improvement in underground-telegraph lines - Google Patents

Description

PatentedJu|y15,1879.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIoE.

JAMES S. PIERSON, OF BROOKLYN, NEET YORK.

lMPROVEMENT IN UNDERGROUND-TELEGRAPH LINES.

Specification forming part ot' Letters Patent No. 217,479, dated July 15, 1879; application lilcd November 22, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, JAMES S. PIERSON, ot' Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Undergrou11d-Telegraph Lilies, of which the following is a specification.

Telegraph wires heretofore laid in the ground have been incased in non-conducting material, and then introduced in tubes. In some instances these tubes have been ot' metal and laid together in sections.

My invention relates to the means for holding the wires in position, insulating them, and rendering the entire structure water-proof.

In the drawings, Figure l is a cross-section of the lines and the inclosing-case, and Fig. 2 is a plan, partially in section, of thecase and lines.

The telegraph wires or conductors a are of copper or other material, and the size of the underground structure will depend upon the number et' conductors.

lhe case l) is ot' either voed, metal, or earthenivare. l prefer to make the same of wood thoroughly coated with asphalt. The sections or lengths ot' case are united by tongues and grooves at c, and india-rubber, asphalt, or other yielding material is to be inserted to keep out water, and with metal cases this yields to expansion or contraction from heat or cold. The cover/'is 'preferably secured by screws.

A layer ot' melted native asphalt or bitumen is laid in the case l), and upon this a pla-nk or board, la, having numerous grooves in its upper surface, and into these grooves the conductors a are laid. It is generally best to supply 'these telegraph-wires trom reels that are drawn along the top edge ot' the pipe or case l), and planks or boards 7L are laid successively upon the bitumen, the grooves matching each other.

Meited bitumen or asphalt is poured upon the boards l1., and in sutlicient quantities to till the grooves and prevent moisture reaching either the board or the conductors.

A second board, l, is laid upon the asphalt While hot, and pressure is applied sut'licientto cause an intimate contact between the board and the bitumen.

The grooved boards should be laid so that the joints ot' one layer come near the middle ot' the boards ot' the next layer.

A secondrange ot' wires is laid in the grooves in the surfaces ot' the second layer oi boards, l, and the filling-in ot melted bitumen is made use of,as before described. ln this manner several layers are introduced in the case, and then the cover is puton and fastened down, it' desired.

The bitumen, being imlestructible, entirely Water-proof', and slightly elastic, is excellently adapted to the insulation and protection oi underground-telegraph lines, and the risk ot' injury is lessened in consequence of the slight elasticity of the bitumen, because the same will yield and not crack by the settling of the earth or the frost displacing the case containing the conductors.

lt is to be understood that it preferable not to employ the interior or brittle quality of bitumen or asphalt.

Lateral branches are taken oli" in the manner represented in Fig. l, the wires being laid in transverse grooves that correspond to the grooves in the plank that pass ott' laterally.

l claim as my invention- In combination with grooved planks or boards and the conductors in such grooves, a filling ot' asphalt introduced into such grooves and around the boards, substantially as set forth.

Signed by me 'this 19th day of November, A. D. 1878.

JAMES S. PERSOJ.

Vifitnesses c GEO. T. PrNcKNEY, 'WILLIAM G. Mo'r'r.

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