US2010152A - Insulated conductor and method of coating the same - Google Patents

Description

A. P. HINSKY Aug. ,6, 1935.

INSULATED CONDUCTOR AND METHOD OF COATING THE SAME Filed Feb. '24, 1933 XTMRNE? Patented Aug. 6, 1935 PATENT OFFICE INSULATED CONDUCTOR AND LMETHOD F COATING THE SAME Anthony P. Hinsky, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor, by

mesne assignments, to Pyro- Products Corporation, Brooklyn, N. Y., a corporation of New York ' Application February 24, 1933, Serial No. 658,369 3 Claims. (Cl. 91-70) This invention relates to electric insulated conductors, and particularly, to improvedcoatingmaterial or materials applied to the conductor especi ally to give predetermined or desired color value thereto, and to the novel method of applying the coatings; and the object of the invention is to incorporate in the saturant employed for waterproof ing the conductor and/ or rendering thesame flame resistant, a desired coloring material which will modify or vary the color of the saturant and operate to maintain in an outer colored coating the desired color value; a further object being to so apply the saturant and coloring material to the conductor so as to distribute the coloring material throughout the conductor and to form in some instances a deposit of the coloring material upon the conductor and substantially covering the saturant; a further object being to employ a method of applying a combined saturant and coloring material to an insulated conductor by maintaining the coloring material in suspension or distribution in the saturant or wherein the coloring material is precipitated to the bottom of a saturating tank and the conductor passed therethrough in the application of the coloring material to the conductor; and with these and other objects in view, the invention consists in a conductor of the class and for the purpose spec ified which is treated and coated in accordance with the method hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

The invention is fully disclosed in the following specification, of which the accompanying drawing forms a part, the separate parts of my improvement being designated by suitable reference characters in each of the views, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the method of treating and coating electric insulated conductors as illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawing; and, Fig. 2 is a view of a part of a conductor dia grammatically illustrating the application of the saturants and coatings thereto.

For the purpose of illustrating one method of carrying my invention into eifect, I have shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing an electric insulated conductor treated with a plurality of materials or coatings according to the method which is diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. l of the drawing. It will be understood that this method and the conductor produced thereby is illustrative of only one method of carrying my invention into effect.

In Fig. 2 of the drawing, 5 represents a wire; 6 a rubber or other jacket of insulating material;

l a casing of braided or other form of fibrous material; 8 and 8a represent a combined saturant and color material; 9 a powdered substance, such for example, as sodium bicarbonate, sodium tungstate, sodium carbonate and the like; l0 an opaque colored compound forming the color finisher which may be of any desired consistency and including a wax base; and at l I, I have shown a final coating which may consist of paraflin or wax of the clear or transparent type, or may include a color consistent with the color of the coating ID, or said outer coating may be of any non-sticky characteristics depending upon the particular type of conductor produced and the use for which it is intended.

While I have shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing, the production of a conductor with several coatings of materials applied thereto,jit will be understood that the invention is not necessarily limited to the use of the powdered substance 9, nor to the final coating II and either or both of these coatings may be eliminated. I

i In order to illustrate one method of treating or coating a conductor to produce the result shown in Fig. 2, I have diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 1 a series of tanks or containers through which the conductor is passed in the treatment thereof. In order that this illustration may be clear, the substances in the tanks or containers are represented by the same reference characters as applied to the coatings shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing. For example, the tank or vat l2 contains the saturant 8 and color material 8a; the hopper l3 contains the powdered substance 9; the tank [4, the compound l0; the tank IS, the final coating material II. The wire 5 with the jackets and casings 6 and 1 thereon coming from a spool or drum l6 enters the tank l2 and passes downwardly around a sheave or guide roller across the tank, and upwardly and downwardly around an-.

other roller l8, then backwardly and upwardly around a roller Ila at one side of the roller l1,

and then downwardly into the tank, and around a guide roller l9 and out through one end of the tank and a wiper 20 attached thereto. I have also indicated at 2|, heating tubes disposed in the-tank I 2 to maintain the materials 8, 8:: at the proper temperature.

If the powdered substance 9 is not employed, it will be understood that the wire coated with the materials 8, 8a will pass directly into the tank I, and as shown in the accompanying drawing, the coated wire enters the hopper l3 and passes around a roller 22 therein out through the hopper and over a guide roller 23, and then into the tank M and around two rollers 24 and 25 in said tank. In passing from the tank M, the wire is passed through a suitable device 28 for ironing out and/or distributing the compound I ii on the conductor, and this may be done in accordance with the teachings disclosed in my 'prior Patent No. 1,890,292, granted to me December 6, 1932, or as disclosed in my prior applications bearing Serial Numbers 608,933, filed May 3, 1932 and 640,617, filed November 1, 1932.

From the device or unit 26, the conductor may be wound onto a receiving reel or drum 271 or if the coating ii is employed in the structure shown, may be passed downwardly around a roller 28 in the tank l and thus onto said receiving drum Z'l. It will be noted that suitable heaters 29 and 30 are employed for the respective tanks I4 and i5 to maintain the compounds or coatings at the desired temperature. It will be understood at this time, that the colored compound l0 and the final coating ll when employed may be of the types and characters defined in and forming the subject matter of my prior Patent No. 1,887,851, granted to me November 15, 1932.

'The present invention resides primarily in the application of the combined saturant and coloring material .8, 8a to conductors of the general class described, and especially to conductors made according to the disclosure herein set forth.

In the disclosure as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing, as the wire covered with the jacket ii and casing I passes through the upper portion of the tank I2 containing the saturant 8, the saturant is applied thereto to thoroughly impregnate the fibres of the casing I, and is then passed through the bottom of the tank containing the coloring material 8a which forms a coating over the saturant, and substantially commingles with the saturant by virtue of the fact that the two elements are combined under substantially the same temperature, and in some instances, depending largely upon the nature of the coloring material 8a, the latter will form a coating of relatively clear color value upon the conductor. It will also be apparent that the wiper 20 will serve to press or force the pigment into the saturant and the interstices of the braid.

At this time, it is well to state that the color of the coating 8a. can either be consistent with that of the outer coloring l0l i, or.of a light ground color which would aid in maintaining the light, clear color value of light coatings Ill, such for example as white, yellow, pink, cream, light blues, greens, etc. For example, a white pigment may be employed in the coloring material 8a, and while the resulting coating formed thereby may not necessarily be pure white, would nevertheless, be of a light color and might assume alight grayish tinge, and the same would be true in applying any other light pigments such as yellow, wherein the resulting coating might represent a lighttan color upon either of which a similar or other light color may be" reproduced in a clear color value in the outer colored casing it.

In the use of my invention, the saturant, it it possesses the waterproof and fire repellent characteristics usually desirable in products of the class under consideration, will be of a dark or substantially black color, and for this reason, the advisability and practicability of the color coating 8a is desirable. The saturant may be of the usual and commonly employed types of materials including asphalt, pitch and the like, and the colored material will include any combination with the desired colored pigment of natural or synthetic waxes and natural or synthetic resins, and I find that numerous combinations of various ingredients are possible inthe production of a compound of coloring material which will be applicable to the insulated conductor treated with the saturant.

While, in the accompanying drawing, I have shown one specific arrangement, it is nevertheless within the scope of my invention to have the coloring material or compound arranged in the saturant in suspension so as to be applicable to the insulated conductor in its passage through the combined saturant and compound bath. In this method of procedure, however, a greater commingling of the saturant and compound 8, 8a will be established, as will be apparent, thus materially darkening the color value of the pigment in the compound 8, whereas with the method as illustrated in Fig. 1, the color value of the pigment 812 as applied to the conductor will be relatively clear and darkened only slightly. Therefore, the latter process would be deemed more desirable for use in the production of light colors in the coating it, whereas the former method of production would be suitable in the production of the darker color values.

It will also be understood that in treating the fibrous jacket of conductors of the class under consideration according to my invention, the heated. pigmented saturant will penetrate the 11- brous jacket the major portion of the saturant penetrating through the jacket, whereas part of the pigment may penetrate the jacket, and the re- 'maining portion thereof acts as a filler disposed on the outside of the jacket and filling the interstices of the braid, as will be apparent. This is especially true with the method of treating the conductor as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing, wherein the pigment has precipitated to the bottom of the tank, and the conductor is passed therethrough after being subjected to the saturant in the tank.

It will also be understood that the use of the powdered material 9 on the conductor. treated with the pigmented saturant 8, 811 will aid in producing the clear, light color values in the finisher or compound ill, especially in employing light, powdered substances, but here again, this powdered substance is not absolutely necessary and need not be employed in producing the darker color values in the finisher.

It will be apparent that the pigmented saturant is applied to the fibrous jacket at a predetermined temperature, and the finisher coating as well as the outer, final transparent or nonsticky coating may also be applied at substantially the same temperatures so as to establish .between all of the coatings when applied to the conductor a commingling which will prevent cracking or flaking of the separate coatings and which will establish a secure binding with the fibrous jacket when the conductor is subjected to the bending in the use thereof. It will be understood, however, that in the use of some colored finishers, the question of relative temperatures is not a factor, and these finishers or outer coatings may be applied in any desired manner or in accordance with the various methods known in the art. This also applies to the powdered substance when employed, and in this connection, it will also appear that the powdered substance when applied may be heated.

It will be understood that my invention is not necessarily limited to the production of conductors of the specific type herein disclosed, nor am I limited to the use of any particular type of compounds or saturants in the treatment of the conductor to provide the colored coating thereon, and various other changes in and modifications of the structure here-in disclosed and method defined may be made within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of my invention or sacrificing its advantages.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. The process of treating the fibrous covering of an insulated electric conductor which consists in passing the insulated conductor into and through a tank containing a dark saturant and a pigment of light color precipitated to the bottom of the tank, passing the conductor first through the top of the tank to apply the saturant thereto, and then through the precipitated pigment at the bottom of the tank and out through the bottom of the tank to provide on the resulting conductor a saturated fibrous covering with a light colored pigment deposit thereon, and then applying other light colored coating material to the insulated conductor thus treated.

2. The process of treating the fibrous covering of an insulated electric conductor which consists in passing the insulated conductor into and through a tank containing a dark saturant and a pigment of light color precipitated to the bottom of the tank, passing the conductor first through the top of the tank to apply the saturant thereto, and then through the precipitated pigment at the bottom of the tank and out through the bottom of the tank to provide on the resulting conductor a saturated fibrous covering with a light colored pigment deposit thereon, heating the pigmented saturant in its application to said covering, then applying a light colored opaque compound to the conductor treated with the pigmented saturant to provide a desired color to the conductor, and then applying an outer final coating of parafiine to said colored compound.

3. The process of treating the fibrous covering of an insulated electric conductor which consists in passing the insulated conductor into and through a tank containing a dark saturant and a pigment of light color precipitated to the bottom of the tank, passing the conductor first through the top of the tank to apply the saturant thereto, and then through the precipitated pigment at the bottom of the tank and out through the bottom of the tank to provide on the resulting conductor a saturated fibrous covering with a light colored pigment deposit thereon, then applying a powdered substance to the conductor thus treated, then applying a light colored opaque compound to the conductor treated with said powdered substance to envelop and mask the conductor thus treated, and then applying an outer final coating of colored wax-like material to the conductor, the. color of the final coating being consistent with that of said colored compound.

ANTHONY P. HINSKY.

Images