Chatterton’s compound is an adhesive waterproof
insulating compound that was used in early
submarine telegraph cable
A submarine communications cable is a cable laid on the sea bed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean and sea. The first submarine communications cables laid beginning in the 1850s carried tel ...
s. It was patented in 1859 by John Chatterton and Willoughby Smith.
"The Repertory of Patent Inventions: And Other Discoveries and Improvements"
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Its constitution is as follows:
*3 parts gutta-percha
Gutta-percha is a tree of the genus ''Palaquium'' in the family Sapotaceae. The name also refers to the rigid, naturally biologically inert, resilient, electrically nonconductive, thermoplastic latex derived from the tree, particularly from ...
*1 part rosin
Rosin (), also called colophony or Greek pitch ( la, links=no, pix graeca), is a solid form of resin obtained from pines and some other plants, mostly conifers, produced by heating fresh liquid resin to vaporize the volatile liquid terpene comp ...
*1 part Stockholm tar
Chatterton's Compound was also used to stick insulating paper to armatures, for example those on Synchronome clocks, which were the most accurate clocks made in the early part of the 20th century. If the paper appeared to be in bad condition it could be removed by warming up the armature near a flame and replacing it.
Chatterton's Compound was used in the manufacture of pneumatic pipe organs to seal lead tubing into wooden blocks for the pneumatic action, or, particularly in the UK, to affix reed weights to the reed tongues. It is still used in historical restoration jobs for this purpose but has been replaced with modern materials on more recent builds.
Chatterton's Compound was much used by submarine cable technicians for various purposes around oversea telegraph offices prior to the 1960s; it could be used as an adhesive or in jointing gutta-percha-insulated submarine telegraph cables. It was available in round black sticks of about 3/4 inch diameter which responded to heat from a spirit lamp. It was known to telegraph technicians as 'chats'.
In France, the normal black PVC electrical insulating tape is often referred to as ''chatterton''.
References
Materials
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