IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRO-MAGNETIC TELEGRAPHS AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH."
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Wilde, of the City of Manchester, Engineer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRO-MAGNETIC TELEGRAPHS
AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Wilde at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd December 1862.
I, HENRY WILDE, of the City of Manchester, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRO-
MAGNETIC TELEGRAPHS, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," to be as
follows:
My Invention consists, firstly, in improvements in the magneto-electric
transmitting instruments described in the Specifications of Letters Patent
granted to me on the Eighth day of April and on the Tenth day of August
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and numbered respectively 858
and 1994.
In the present 'improvement a worm wheel is keyed upon the axis which
carries the radial arm and index finger, and the worm which gears or takes
into it is fixed to the armature axis and revolves with it. The pitch of the

page_text: worm and the number of teeth in the worm wheel are so arranged that for
one revolution of the latter as many currents are produced as there are letters
and signs on the dial of the indicating instrument.
My Invention consists, secondly, in improvements in the method of sus-
pending telegraph wires over houses and streets. The conductor which I
prefer to use is formed by twisting several fine copper wires round a core of
steel wire. These wires are supported by small iron rods attached to
chimneys by means of suitable brackets, and are insulated from one another
by means of glass or earthenware insulators, which are threaded upon the iron
rods one above the other. The disagreeable sounds produced by the vibration
of the wires when attached to houses are prevented by attaching to each
insulator a thong of leather, hemp, or other suitable material, and the wires
are secured to each end of the thong, at a short distance from the insulator,
in such a manner that the thong is maintained at the same tension as the line
wire. The ends of the wire at each end of the thong are connected elec-
trically by a short branch of wire not maintained in the same state of tension
as the line wire.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Wilde in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 28th
May 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
WILDE, of the City of Manchester, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Henry Wilde, Her special license, that I, the said Henry Wilde,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Henry Wilde, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ELECTRO-MAGNETIC TELEGRAPHS, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry Wilde, my executors

page_text: or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, should particularly 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 Henry Wilde, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the fol-
lowing statement (that is to say):-
My Invention consists, first, of improvements in communicating motion to
the armature axis of the magneto-electric transmitting instruments described
in the Specifications of Letters Patent granted to me on the Eighth day of
April and on the Tenth day of August One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
one, and numbered respectively 858 and 1994.
My Invention consists, secondly, of improvements in the method of sus-
pending telegraph wires over houses and streets.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into operation, I will proceed to describe the accompanying Sheet
of Drawings, reference being bad to the figures and letters marked thereon.
Figure 1 is an elevation, partly in section, of a magneto-electric transmitting
instrument constructed in the manner described in the Specifications of the
Letters Patent above referred to, to which my present improvements are
applied; Figure 2 is a transverse section, and Figure 3 is a plan of the same;
Figure 4 is a detached view of part of my improvements.
a is the axis which carries the radial arm b, revolving beneath the finger
keys, which are constructed in the usual manner. To this axis is fixed the
worm wheel c, which is driven by the worm d on the armature shaft e; to this
shaft is fixed the pinion f driven by the wheel 9 on the driving shaft h, to
which is fixed the pinion i. This pinion geers into the two pinions; revolving
on studs fixed in the face of the fly wheel k, which is loose on the driving
shaft h; to the bosses of the pinions ; are fixed the cams 7, which act, when
required, on the ring m covered with india-rubber, or other elastic material.
To the boss of the fly wheel k is fixed the driving handle n.
worm d, and the number of teeth in the worm wheel c are so
for one revolution of the latter as many currents are produced as there are
letters and signs on the dial of the insulating instrument. The mode of
operation is as follows:-Motion is given to the fly wheel k by the handle n,
and this motion is transmitted to the armnatures and radial arm 6 by the
The pitch of the
arranged that

page_text: eccentric portions of the cams acting on and compressing the elastic ring m;
by this means 'the rotary motion of the pinions ; on their own axes is arrested,
thus giving rotary motion to the pinion i and shaft h, and from it to the radial
arm 6 by the wheels 9, f, and c, as above described.. So long as a finger key
is not depressed, the magneto-electric currents are generated and transmitted
into the telegraphic circuit; but when a key is depressed the motion of the
radial arm b, the armature shaft-e, and the driving shaft h is arrested, and the
momentum of the fly wheel k carries the cams l'over the elastic ring m. By
this arrangement the finger keys are enabled to resume their original posi-
tions after the pressure of the finger is removed, which would not be the
case were the driving power to be applied continuously to the driving shaft h.
This improved arrangement for driving the radial arm may be applied
when the currents from a voltaic battery or other generator of electricity are
employed, instead of those from a magneto-electric machine; in which case
a commutator is placed on the axis e, the currents from the battery or other
generator being inverted as many times as there are signs on the dial of the
transmitting instrument for one revolution of the radial arm.
My Invention consists, secondly, in improvements in the method of sus-
pending telegraph wires over houses and streets. The conductor which I
prefer to use is formed by twisting several fine copper wires round a core of
steel wire. These wires are supported by small iron rods attached to
chimnies by means of suitable brackets, and are insulated from one another
by means of glass or earthenware insulators, which are threaded upon the
iron rods one above the other. The disagreeable sound produced by the
vibration of the wires when attached to houses is prevented by attaching to each
insulator a thong of leather, hemp, or other suitable material, and the wires
are secured to each end of the thong at a short distance from the insulator, in
such a manuer that the thong is maintained at the same tension as the line
wire. The ends of the wire at each end of the thong are connected elec-
trically by a short branch of wire not maintained in the same state of tension
as the line wire.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described the manner
of performing the same, I declare that I claim,-
First, the communicating motion to the shaft e and radial arm b by means
of a worm and worm wheel, as described.
Secondly, the application of the cams
acting intermittently on the elastic
ring m, for communicating motion to the radial arm of transmitting instru-
ments, as described.

page_text: And, thirdly, the improved method of suspending telegraph wires, as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Wilde, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
HENRY WILDE. (L.S.).