UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE
STEPHEN CHESTER, OF ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY.
Letters Patent No. 114,924, dated May 16, 1871.
IMPROVEMENT IN TELEGRAPH-INSULATORS.
The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.
To all whom it may concern: Be
it known that I, STEPHEN CHESTER,
of the city of Elizabeth and State of New Jersey, have invented a new
and useful "Improvement in Telegraphic Insulation," of which
the following is a true and exact description. My
invention consists in the method of attaching the telegraph-who to the
ordinary glass, porcelain, ebonite, or other insulator, by means of a
solid metal ring with projections to sustain the wire, which ring
touches the said insulator only at three sharp points. The
ordinary method of attaching the telegraph wire to ordinary glass or
porcelain insulators is by means of what is technically known as a
"tie-wire," or a wire which, being firmly wound once or twice
round the insulator in a groove purposely prepared, the two ends are
tightly twisted around the telegraph who on each side of the insulator. The
objections are the following: First,
glass or porcelain is an imperfect insulator only so far as moisture
condenses on the surface and runs down in myriads of small streams of
water, thus, by these numerous lines of connection, affording routes of
escape from the telegraph-wire to the post, and thus to the ground.
The tie-wire touches every portion of the circumference of the
insulator in the plane of its circuit, thus connecting every line of
moisture existing with the main wire. Secondly, when the telegraph wire known as "American
compound wire” is used, the tie-wire destroys this wire by causing the
outer covering of copper to crack and the inner core of steel to be
exposed. Referring to the accompanying drawing-- Figure 1 is an enlarged view of my improvement, in
which-- A represents a ring of metal, (preferably of malleable
iron;) B B, two solid points projecting from the interior of the
ring toward the center; and C, a pointed screw passing through a portion of the ring,
enlarged for that purpose. The points formed by B B and C need not be equidistant, but may stand in such relative positions that when the point C is withdrawn by turning the screw the apparatus may be easily slipped over the insulator until the points B B are in the groove of the insulators, and be then seemed |
by screwing the point
C forward until the points B B and C touch the insulator lightly; but no
other part of the apparatus touches the insulator. The
three hooks or supports, D1 D2 D3 D4 and D5 turning in one direction and
D2 turning in the opposite direction, are intended to receive and
support the wire. It
is not intended that the screw C should be turned forward so far as to
clamp the ring firmly upon the insulator; nor that the telegraph-wire
should he rigidly held by the supports D1 D2 D3 when these latter stand
in line with the direction of the wire. These
conditions being observed, it is evident, first, that the insulator is
not likely to be broken by the contraction of the ring; and, secondly,
that if the telegraph-wire should suddenly break on either side of said
insulator the ring would instantly be revolved in the direction of the
unbroken side, thus bringing the three hooks or supports into such
relative position as to cramp the telegraph-wire and thus prevent its
escape. I
do not claim surrounding an insulator with a metal ring when wood or
metal is interposed between the insulator and said ring; nor do I claim
the addition of hooks or supporters of any shape to an iron or metal
ring under those conditions; but I
do claim-- 1.
The application of a metal ring, with three or more interior pointed
projections, to attaching wire to telegraph-insulators, substantially in
the manner and for the purpose as above set forth. 2.
The application of hooks, turned in opposite directions, to the exterior
edge of a metal ring surrounding directly a glass, porcelain, or ebonite
insulator, for the purpose of holding telegraph-wire, and thus attaching
it to said insulator, substantially in the manner and for the purpose as
above set forth. 3.
The combination of points B B and C and hooks D1 D2 D3 with a movable
ring surrounding a telegraph-insulator, substantially for the purpose,
and in the manner as above set forth.
STEPHEN CHESTER. Witnesses: VAN
ZANDT DAWES, GEORGE M. HEDGES. |