Patent GB-190216939-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to Apparatus for Electric Transmission more particularly adapted for Operating and Controlling Automatic Typesetting and Composing Machines.
Inventor: LAGARDE JULES
Filed: 1902-07-30
Granted: 1903-07-02
Abstract: 16,939. Lagarde, J. July 30. Type-writers and like machines type, setting.- Relates to a system of telegraphic transmission designed more particularly for the control of automatic type-setting and composing machines situated at a distance from the operator. The operator makes successive contacts by means of a stylus on an electric keyboard of the kind described in Specification No. 14,457, A.D. 1901. Each such contact effects the transmission along the single line-wire which connects the transmitting and receiving stations of a series of seven current emissions, of which a certain number are relatively strong and the remainder are weak. The receiving- mechanism distinguishes between the strong and weak currents in such a manner that, if, say, the first, third, and seventh of the currents are strong, the first, third, and seventh of a series of seven contacts at the receiving-station will be closed. This combination of closed contacts produces a corresponding combination among the commutators of a "multiplying apparatus" of the kind described in Specification No. 15,356, A.D. 1902, and so effects the registering of the proper character in a machine of the kind described in Specification No. 14,388, A.D. 1902, in which a paper strip is perforated and at the same time the corresponaing character is printed on it to facilitate corrections &c. The perforated strip serves to control the typographic machine which converts the telegraphed message into type form. Fig. 16 is a diagram of the transmitting and receiving stations connected by the line-wire 41. W hen the stylus O makes contact with one of the sections of the contact-board 33, it closes the circuit of the battery 35 through the local printing and perforating machine 36, which serves as a control or. check, and also closes the circuit of the same battery through the coil 63, Fig. 2, of one of the electromagnets 60, Figs. 2 and 16. of which there is one for each character. The coi s 63 all communicate with a common return lead 34, which conveys the current to the electromagnet 92, Figs. 4 and 16, and thence to the battery 35. Opposite each electromagnet 63 is a re-setting electromagnet 65, which acts in an opposite direction on the armature 66. The armatures 66 are all connected by a common wire 50 to one terminal of a battery 39, and when an electromagnet 63 is energized the armature makes contact with one or more contactblades 69 and also with a contact-spring 73. The springs 73 are connected with the cuils of the resetting electromagnets 65, the other terminals of the coils being joined by a wire 51 leading to the electromagnet 97, Figs. 4 and 16. The contactblades 69, of which there is a different number or combination for each electromagnet 63, are connected with corresponding omnibus bars 76, of which there are seven. The omnibus bars 76 are connected with seven parallel contact-plates 86, Fig. 4, with which co-operate seven levers 80, opposite the further ends of which are seven levers 81. The further ends of the levels 81 rest on a common contact plate 87, connected with one terminal of a battery 40 which is substantially weaker than the battery 39. Above the adjacent ends of the levers 80, 81 is a seven-stepped contactblock 79, carried by a lever 78 and adapted to make contact in turn with the seven pairs of levers 80, 81. The lever 78 is connected to the line-wire 41. When an electromagnet 63 is energized, the current passes, as stated above, through the electromagnet 92, and actuates the armature-latch 91 so as to allow the lever 78 to descend. At the same time the armature 66 has connected the strong battery 39 with a certain combination of omnibus bars 76 and levers 80. As the contact-block 79 descends, it makes contact in turn with each pair of levers 80, 81, lifting the further ends of each pair from the contact-plates 86, 87 before making contact with the next pair, and thus sending a series of seven currents down the line-wire 41. All the seven contacts with the levers 81 tend to produce weak currents in the line-wire, for they are all connected with the weak battery 40, but such of the seven omnibus bars as have been connected with the strong battery 39 send, through the levers 80, strong currents down the line, which thus receives a definite combination of strong and weak currents numbering seven in all. When the contact-block 79 has completed its downward movement, the contact-spring 100 is forced against the screw 99 so as to complete the circuit of the re-setting magnets 65, 97, which restore the various parts to their normal or inactive condition. The receiving-mechanism 42 comprises seven similar devices, of which one is shown in Fig. 8. The line-wire 41 is connected to the lever 105 of the first receiving-device, and the first of the seven current impulses passes through the contact-spring 123 and screw 129 to the electromagnet 112, and thence to earth. The core of this electromaget consists of two parts of different diameters. If the first current impulse is a weak one, the armature 111 alone is attracted, the latch 109 shifted, and the lever 105 allowed to move so as to transfer the spring 123 to the screw 132, which is connected to the lever 105 of the next receiving-device, which therefore alone receives the second current impulse. If the first current impulse is a strong one, the same movements take place, but in addition the armature 114 is attracted, the latch 117 shifted, and the armature 120 allowed to fall so as to close the circuit of a "storage" electromagnet 43. There are seven " storage electromagnets corresponding with the seven receiving-devices. The successive current impulses affect the receiving- devices in turn and, whenever the impulse is a strong one, the circuit of the corresponding electromagnet 43 is closed, so that the combination of strong currents is transformed into an identical combination of energized magnets 43. The seventh receiving-device differs from that shown in Fig. 8 by the provision of an additional pair of contacts which close a local circuit through all the re-setting magnets 119, 126 as soon as the seventh current impulse has been received. Fig. 11 shows one of the " storage electromagnets 43, which record or store up the particular combination of strong current impulses which represents the character telegraphed. It comprises the circuit - closing bobbin 136 and a re-setting bobbin 137. When the armature 141 is attracted, it closes the circuit of the electromagnet 187 of the corresponding commutator of the "multiplying apparatus" 44 previously referred to. A certain combination of these electromagnets is thus energized, and they remain energized until current passes through the re-setting magnets 137. As soon as the seventh impulse has been received, the electromagnet 47 is energized by the current passing through the resetting coils 119, 126, and this closes the circuit of the "multiplying" apparatus through the stripprinting and perforating instrument 49. The proper character is thus recorded, and it is only when this has been done that the printing instrument closes the circuit of the re-setting coils 137 and wipes out the stored-up record of the strong current impulses sent through the line. Interruption sparks at the conctacts of the multiplying- apparatus are prevented by so designing the electromagnet 47 that the break takes place there slightly before it occurs in the storage devices 43, or by the use of flexible contact-springs in the multiplying-apparatus which cause the break to be delayed there. Receiving and transmitting apparatus is provided at each station, and a switch 53 is set to either " alarm," reception," or " trans- " mission." The apparatus may be employed in multiplex, several operators working independently on a single line-wire. For this purpose a multiple rotary distributing apparatus, working in synchronism with a similar apparatus at the receiving- station, is employed. Each operator in turn is momentarily put on the line-wire, and the moving brushes of the distributer do not pass on to the contact-plates of the next operator until the re-setting circuit is closed and the signal is complete.