IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC PROAL
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Gaetano Bonelli, of Milan, in the Kingdom of
Sardinia, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Gaetano Bonelli at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th October 1860.
I, GAETANO BONELLI, of Milan, in the Kingdom of Sardinia, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN ELECTRIC CONDUCTORS AND APPARATUS FOR TRANSMITTING TELEGRAPHIC
DESPATCHES," to be as follows:-
My Invention of improvements in electric conductors and apparatus for
transmitting telegraphic despatches relates, first, to a novel or improved mode
of constructing conductors for electric telegraphs, and which improvement is
particularly applicable to be used in combination with my other improvements
hereafter mentioned, but may also be employed in connection with other
telegraphic apparatus.
The electric conductor or conductors which I propose to use for the general
purposes of my Invention consists of a number of thin copper or other metallic
wires properly insulated, and assembled together in the form of a cable, which

page_text: may either be buried underground, sunk in the water in crossing rivers, lakes,
or arms of the sea, or may be extended above ground from pole to pole along
any given line, as is now the case.
In manufacturing my improved conductor in the form of a cable, I take the
required number of copper wires, either naked or covered with any suitable
insulating material, and I arrange them side by side, like the threads of a
warp, of which a woven fabric is made. I combine with these metallic wires
any convenient number of warp threads made of suitable fibrous material, and
the compound warp so made is to be woven up into a cloth or fabric in the
ordinary manner. The fabric thus produced is then covered on one or both
sides with a coating of gutta percha, india-rubber, or some suitable insulating
substance, and the whole is then rolled up into the form of a round or square
cable, in such a manner that the wires extend from end to end of the roll,
which is secured in this form by winding round it once or twice a binding
cord of twine. A coating of pitch, tar, or some other waterproof composition
will secure the binding twine, and will tend to preserve it from injury.
It will be understood that the essential feature of this part of my Invention
is the combination of fine conducting wires with parallel threads made of any
suitable fibrous substance. I find that the most convenient way of carrying
out this part of my Invention is to weave the wires and threads into a fabric in
a loom, and then subsequently convert this into a round or square, but it is
evident that the same object may be effected by combining the electric con-
ductors with threads of fibrous material in a knitting machine; or the electric
wires may be enclosed and secured between two sheets of fibrous material
prepared with some insulating material. By keeping the electric wires
separate by means of a comb or reed, and then enclosing them between the
two prepared fabrics, they will be effectually insulated, and the compound
fabric may then be made up into a cable, as before mentioned.
The object of the second part of my Invention is to produce by electricity,
magnetism, or electro-chemical agency, the telegrams on paper ready for
transmission to the person addressed without the necessity of taking down
the despatch from signs or signals as is now generally the case. To this end
the despatch to be transmitted is to be set up in ordinary type, or it may be
written, printed, or marked with insulating ink on a metallic sheet, so that
when passing an electric conductor over the surface of the type or written
despatch, the electric current may be interrupted every time metallic contact
is broken by the conductor passing over an insulated or non-metallic part of
the surface.

page_text: This transmission of the despatch is effected by the use of a conductor
composed of a number of fine wires insulated and arranged or combined
together in the form of a broad brush or comb, so that by passing this brush
or comb over the writing or surface of type, the whole depth of the line. will
be reproduced at once instead of it being necessary to pass the electric current
to and fro several times:
It will be understood that by setting up the despatches in ordinary typo-
graphical characters, and by passing my improved conductor over the lines of
the type, the counterpart impression of the printing characters will be re-
produced at the distant station on the prepared paper in one operation, that is,
by once passing the brush or comb over the surface of the type.
Another part of the Invention consists in preparing the paper with a
chemical solution upon which the current of indication will have no action, so
that induction will not interfere with the proper action of the electric current
on the chemically prepared paper. The solution which I prefer to use for
this purpose is the ferrocyanide and the ferricyanide of potash dissolved
together with acetic acid in distilled water.
Instead of receiving the telegram or despatch on chemically prepared paper
on which the color is altered or discharged by the action of the electric current,
I sometimes dispense with the use of chemically prepared paper and cause the
electric conductors to act on electro-magnets which will attract armatures.
By adapting to these armatures pointed instruments the latter may be caused
to act on transferring paper, and thereby made to produce on a sheet of
common paper placed underneath for the purpose, marks, figures, letters, or
devices similar to those over which the conducting brush or comb at the
distant station has been passed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Gaetano Bonelli in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st April 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GAETANO
BONELLI, of Milan, in the Kingdom of Sardinia, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the

page_text: said Gaetano Bonelli, Her special license that I, the said Gaetano Bonelli,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Gaetano Bonelli, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ELECTRIC CONDUCTORS, AND APPARATUS FOR TRANSMITTING TELEGRAPHIC
DESPATCHES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Gaetano
Bonelli, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be
filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Gaetano Bonelli, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :—
My Invention of "Improvements in Electric Conductors and Apparatus for
Transmitting Telegraphic Despatches" relates, first, to a novel or improved
mode of constructing conductors for electric telegraphs, and which improve-
ment is particularly applicable to be used in combination with my other
improvements hereafter mentioned, but may also be employed in connection
with other telegraphic apparatus.
The object of the second part of my Invention is to produce by electricity,
magnetism, or electro-chemical agency, telegrams on paper ready for transmis-
sion to the person addressed without the necessity of taking down the despatch
from signs or signals as is now generally the case. To this end the despatch
to be transmitted is to be set up in ordinary type, or it may be written, printed,
or marked with insulating ink on a metallic sheet, so that when passing an
electric conductor over the surface of the type or written despatch the electric
current may be interrupted every time metallic contact is broken by the
conductor passing over an insulated or non-metallic part of the surface.
This transmission of the despatch is effected by the use of a conductor com-
posed of a number of fine wires insulated and arranged or combined togetlier
in the form of a broad brush or comb, so that by passing this brush or comb
over the writing or surface of type, the whole depth of the line will be repro-

page_text: duced at once, instead of it being necessary to pass the electric current. to and.
fro several times.
It will be understood that by setting up the despatches in ordinary typo-
graphical characters, and by passing my improved conductor over the lines of
the type, the counterpart impression of the printing characters will be repro-
duced at the distant station on the prepared paper in one operation, that is,
by once passing the brush or comb over the surface of the type.
The chemically prepared paper which I propose to use for the purposes of
my Invention is prepared with some mechanical solution, upon which the cur-
rent of induction will have no action, so that induction will not interfere with
the proper action of the electric current on the chemically prepared paper.
The solution which I prefer to use for this purpose is the ferrocyanide and
the ferricyanide of potasium dissolved together with acetic acid in distilled
water; but paper prepared with other chemical substances may be employed
in connection with my other improvements, if desired.
Instead of receiving the telegram or despatch on chemically prepared paper
from which the colour is discharged by the action of the electric current, I
sometimes dispense with the use of chemically prepared paper and cause the
electric conductors to act on electro-magnets, which will attract armatures.
By adapting to these armatures pointed instruments, the latter may be caused
to act on transferring paper, and thereby made to produce on a sheet of
common paper placed underneath the transferring paper marks, figures, letters,
or devices similar to those over which the conducting brush or comb at the
distant station has been passed.
The multiplicity of conductors along the lines forms the basis of my system;
and one of the principal features of my Invention, and by means of a suffi-
cient number of these conductors, which I cause to be connected at each of
the two extremities of the line with the apparatus or contrivance which I have
above denominated the "comb," I am enabled by a single operation to pro-
duce, by the agency of electricity, a copy of the despatch of the breadth of the
characters in which they are written or set up at the sending station. To effect
this object the "comb" is provided with a sufficient number of teeth set closely
together, and properly insulated from each other to cover the whole breadth
of the characters I desire to reproduce.
The characters or types are placed upon a moveable platform, table, or
carriage in communication with a battery, the circuit of which is arranged in
a particular manner, according to the effect desired to be obtained. This plat-
form or carriage is caused to pass under the comb, and during its passage the

page_text: como touches the metame faces of OS OF WAT
the electric circuits.
The electric current passes only through those teeth of the comb which
touch the metallic surfaces of the characters, whereby the circuit is completed,
and passes through the corresponding conductors at the opposite station, where
a similar comb is in contact with a chemically prepared paper, which becomes
discolored by the passage of the electric fluid through it. This paper is also
placed upon a platform, table, or carriage, which has nearly the same move-
ment as that of the platform or carriage at the station from which the message
is sent, and will therefore reproduce any printed letters, writing, signs, marks,
An electric
or drawings which pass under the comb at the sending station.
current puts both platforms or carriages into motion at once. A perfectly
synchronous movement of these platforms or carriages is not, however, requi-
site to obtain the desired reproduction. Each of the platforms or carriages is
so arranged as to be enabled to send off and receive messages, signals, or tele-
grams during their course; by this means a degree of rapidity and precision
hitherto unknown in the transmission of messages by electricity may be
obtained.
The electric conductor or conductors which I propose to use for the general
purposes of my Invention, and which form the first part of my improvement,
consists of a number of thin copper or other metallic wires properly insulated
In manufacturing my
and assembled together in the form of a cable.
improved electric conductor in the form of a cable, I take the required number
of copper wires, either naked or covered with any suitable insulating material,
and I arrange them side by side like the threads of a warp of which a woven
fabric is made; I combine with these metallic wires any convenient number
of threads made of suitable fibrous material, and the compound warp so
warp
The
made is to be woven up into a cloth or fabric in the ordinary manner.
fabric thus produced is then covered on one or both sides with a coating of
gutta percha, india-rubber, or some suitable insulating substance, and the
whole is then rolled up into the form of a round or square cable in such a
manner that the wires extend from end to end of the roll, which is secured in
this form by winding round it once or twice a binding cord of twine. A coating
of pitch, tar, or some other waterproof composition will secure the binding twine,
and will tend to preserve it from injury. It will be understood that the
essential feature of this part of my Invention is the combination of fine con-
ducting wires with parallel threads, made of any suitable fibrous substance. I
find that the most convenient way of carrying out this part of my Invention is

page_text: to weave the wires and threads into a fabric in a loom, and then subsequently
convert this into a round or square cable, as above set forth; but it is evident
that the same object may be effected by combining the electric conductors
with threads of fibrous material in a knitting machine; or the electric wires
may be enclosed and secured between two sheets of fibrous material prepared
with some insulating material. By keeping the electric wires separate by
means of a comb or reed and then enclosing them between the two prepared
fabrics which are afterwards firmly pressed together, the electric conductors
will be effectually insulated, and the compound fabric may then be made up
into a cable, as before mentioned.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 is a sectional view of a piece of
fabric drawn upon an enlarged scale, and shewing the mode of weaving the
electric conducting wires in the interior of a fabric. or band, as above described;
Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the same when rolled up into the form of
a round cable; Fig. 8 is a longitudinal view of the same containing the
conducting wires and covered with strands both longitudinally and helically.
a, a, are the conducting wires of copper; b, b, is the fabric or band made
of hemp or flax; c, c, are strands placed longitudinally round the cable;
d, d, are strands wound helically round the cable and secured as above-
mentioned, by pitch, tar, or other waterproof preparation. The cable thus
produced may either be buried underground, sunk in the water in crossing
rivers, lakes, or arms of the sea, or may be extended above ground from pole
to pole along a railway, or road, as is now the case, or along any given or
determined line.
In the accompanying Drawings I have represented various views of my
improved telegraphic apparatus whereby fac-simile messages or despatches
may be transmitted or reproduced at a distant station. Fig. 1 is a longitudinal
vertical section of the apparatus taken in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 3; and Fig. 2,
a transverse section in the line 3, 4, of Fig. 3, which is a plan of the same.
The table or bed plate is shewn as being in part broken away in order to
shew the parts beneath. Fig. 4 represents the circuit or direction of the
current while in action, in order to put the carriages in motion, the circuit is
shewn in blue lines, the arrows denoting the direction of the current. Fig. 5
shews the circuit or passage of the currents during the reception and sending
off of messages. The blue lines indicate the direction of the current, which
starts from the first station. The same letters and figures of reference indicate
the same parts in all these Figures.
a is the table supporting the telegraphic apparatus; b, b, are cast or wrought

page_text: iron rails screwed to the table a, upon which runs a carriage c mounted upon
wheels d, d; e is a frame or composing stick fixed upon the carriage c,
in which are arranged the types f so as to project therefrom. These types
may, if desired, be engraved in intaglio instead of relief; h is a metal plate
or receiver screwed to the carriage c, from which it is insulated by two
small ivory blocks. Upon this plate is fixed the paper prepared with nitrate
of ammonia and yellow cyanide of iron and potassium, which is to be
influenced by the contact of the teeth of the receiving comb on this latter
passing over it; i is an iron bar working in guides with as little friction as
possible; j is a clamp screwed to the carriage c (see Fig. 3,) and holding the bar
i sufficiently tight to carry it with it and cause it to follow the movements of
the carriage c; k, k, are screws at each side of the bracket 2 (see Fig. 3,)
serving to limit the course of the bar i; l is a hook or loop below the carriage
c; m is a weight for working the carriage c; n is a cord or chain attached
at one extremity to the carriage by means of the appendage or hook ↳,
and at the other to a second hook o, fixed beneath the table a. This cord or
chain passes round a grooved pulley p; q is a regulating apparatus serving
to regulate the working of the carriage, and rendering its motion uniform ;
In this frame work
it is composed of a frame screwed to the table a.
shafts and s, the latter of which carries the grooved pulley p, over which
passes the cord n, which communicates motion to the apparatus. Upon
the shafts is also mounted the ratchet wheel x. u is a toothed wheel
mounted upon the shaft r, taking into the pinion t; it is provided with
a click a¹, which takes on to the wheel x, and communicates motion to
it. Upon the same shaft as the pinion t is keyed a flyer or regulator v.
From this combination the result is that the movement of the gearing being
only controlled by the click a¹, (when the carriage c is brought back to
weight will be wound up without communicating
motion to the regulator. This click work also allows the wheel u to
continue its rotary motion, when the carriage on arriving at the end of its
course, is suddenly stopped as well as the weight m and pinion t; y is
an electro-magnet placed below the table a; its offices is to unfasten or
detach the carriage when the electric current is in action. When this takes
place by the electro-magnet attracting the bell-crank lever z, the carriage will
be acted by the weight m, which will impart to it a motion rendered uniform
by the regulator v.
its starting point) the
1 is a vertical standard mounted on a plate or bracket 2 screwed to the
table a; 4 is an ivory insulator on the vertical standard 1, and upon which

page_text: are the connecting screws 5, against each of which abuts a wire from each
of the two combs; 6 is a rotating shaft on which the combs are mounted, and
which have a slight rotary movement in order to raise the combs out of
contact with the metallic surfaces of the types or writing; 7, 7, are rotary
levers mounted on the shaft 6 upon which are screwed two ivory plates 8, 8,
between which are placed the extremities of the conducting wires to form the
teeth 9 of the working comb and receiving comb. These two latter following
one another in a different vertical plane, it follows that the teeth of the
receiving comb and the teeth of the working comb will not act simultaneously;
10 is an ivory tappet screwed to the receiving comb, and serving to again raise
the working comb when the receiving comb is raised; 11 is a tappet screwed
to the bar i serving, through the agency of the standard 12, to raise the combs
when the carriage after having finished its course, for the reception and despatch
of messages, returns to its primitive position. This tappet will allow the combs
again to descend in order to act upon the types and upon the paper coated
with the chemical preparation when the carriage moves in order to receive or
despatch a message; 13 are screws fixed to each of the combs, the offices of
which are to raise or lower the teeth of the said combs above the types, and
the receiver, and thus to compensate for the wear of the teeth of the combs;
14, 14, are ivory plates serving to insulate the receiver from the rest of the
apparatus; 19 is an excentric commutator (see Fig. 2) formed of the metal
plates 15 corresponding to the conducting wires; 16 are insulating blocks of
ivory or other non-conducting material; 17 is an excentric worked by the
passage of the carriage; 20 is a helical spring, which tends to bring back the
excentric into its former position; 21, is an electric battery, which may be of
any construction; 22 is a connecting screw, which holds the conducting wire
from the positive pole of the battery; 23 is a second connecting screw, which
holds or secures the conducting wire from the negative pole of the same
battery. In Fig. 3, 24 is a lever commutator serving to direct the current; it
is formed of a guide lever 25, which comes in contact with the extremities of
different conducting wires; 26 is a second commutator provided with a lever
27 worked by hand, and may at pleasure be caused to touch the extremity of
the positive or negative wire; 28, (Fig. 3) is a connecting screw which holds
the conducting wire leading to the earth; 29 is an electric cable formed.
of all the conducting wires insulated and consolidated together, and extending
from one station to another.
The operation of the above described apparatus is as follows:-The carriages
of the two stations having been attached, as represented in the Drawing,

page_text: suppose it be necessary to send off a message, the circuit is completed, an
the current passing through the electro-magnets y, of the stations, will detach
the carriages c, which will then be caused to move in a uniform manner upon
their railways. During this movement each carriage will despatch and receive
a message. In order that the working of the currents may be better under-
stood, I will first describe the despatch of a message, and afterwards, its
reception.
In order to send off a message the positive pole of the battery leads directly
to the railway b, upon which the carriage c runs; from there the current passes
into the carriage c and into the types f, while the negative wire leads directly
to the earth. The contact of the types and the teeth of the comb taking
place at intermittent points resulting from the form of the letters, the current
will pass into the comb through a variable number of teeth, and during a
varying period of time, and thence through the cable to the receiving comb of
the other station. The teeth of this comb being formed by wires which are
in communication with the teeth of the working comb, from which it receives
the message, the currents will arrive at this comb as they have been sent by
the working comb of the sending station. Paper prepared with the chemical
solution (nitrate of ammonia and yellow cyanide of iron and potassium) is
placed upon the receiving plate h, the teeth of the receiving comb are then
brought into contact with this paper and will decompose the chemical pre-
paration in the same order as the teeth of the working comb have touched the
types, and this decomposition will reproduce the images of the types. The
current after having passed through the receiver will descend to the earth by
means of conducting wires and the lever commutator 24.
Having thus explained the manner in which a message is sent off, I will
now proceed to explain how each apparatus receives and despatches a message
during the same course of the carriage. Each carriage c carries, as has been
shewn, a transmitting and a receiving comb placed in an inverse direction with
regard to their motion, that is to say, that when the receiving comb of one
apparatus touches the receiving plate, the corresponding working comb of the
other apparatus will touch the types, and vice versâ. In this way a message
will be transmitted and received at the same time, as the currents of the two
stations will act alternately during the course of the carriage. When the
carriages have arrived at the end of their course, that is to say, when the
messages have been sent off and received, the operator brings back the carriage c
by hand, and when it arrives at the end of its course it catches on to the stop
lever or catch z. The current for liberating the click or catch can only be

page_text: established, and the carriage thereby released, by the corresponding station
bringing its carriage into gear.
Instead of projecting types, letters, or characters in intaglio may be employed,
in which case the decomposition of the chemically prepared paper will also
be produced, but this decomposition will only take place in the interval or
space which separates each letter, and this will be effected by the same arrange-
ment of the circuit employed for obtaining the reproduction of blue colored
writing upon a white ground.
Having now described my Invention of improvements in electric con-
ductors and apparatus for transmitting telegraphic despatches, and having
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I claim as the Invention
secured to me by Letters Patent.
First, the mode herein set forth of constructing conductors or cables for
telegraphic purposes.
Second, I claim the mode herein set forth of transmitting signals to a
distance by the agency of electricity. I claim particularly the employment
of a number of properly insulated conducting wires, the points of which are
arranged together in any convenient manner such as side by side like the teeth
of a comb, or otherwise, so that by drawing the terminal points or ends of
such conducting wire over a metallic surface on which the despatch signals
or cyphers is or are either written or printed in insulating ink or composi-
tion, or over the metallic surface of typographical characters or devices in
which the despatch either in words or cyphers is set up, a fac-simile of
such despatch, signals, or cyphers will be reproduced at the other end of the
line as above set forth.
Third, I claim the apparatus herein set forth or any mere modification
thereof whereby the despatches may be transmitted to the other end of the
line and marked or printed on chemically prepared or other paper as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Gaetano Bonelli, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of March in the year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
ING". GAETAN. BONELLI. (L.S.)