Improvements in Apparatus for Electrically Effecting the Reproduction, at a Distance, of Graphic Matter or Designs, Written, Printed, Stencilled, Photographed, or otherwise produced.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Aug., 1894
Complete Specification Left. 1st May, 1895-Accepted, 31st Aug., 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Electrically Effecting the
Reproduction, at a Distance, of Graphic Matter or Designs,
Written, Printed, Stencilled, Photographed, or otherwise
produced.
I, RUPERT GREVILLE WILLIAMS, of Greenfield House, Heywood, Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturing Chemist, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to improvements in apparatus for the reproduction at a
receiving station, by means of regulated electrical currents, of a design or other
graphic matter previously in existence at the transmitting station.
The design in question may be written, printed, photographed, or stencilled. My
invention imposes no limit upon the nature of the material on which, or the process
by which, it is produced, provided that it presents itself to the transmitting
mechanism in the form of a practically non-conducting film on a conducting
base.
The transmitter consists of an electric circuit which includes a conducting
surface, a contact finger, the line wire and an electro magnet. The line wire is or
may be a single one. The design to be reprodured is imposed upon the conducting
surface. The latter and the contact finger stand in such position and mechanical
relationship to each other that practically the whole of the former shall be passed
regularly past the latter, or the latter be passed regularly over practically the
whole of the former. It is evident that this may be accomplished in more ways
than one.
I propose among other methods either of the three following.
The surface may be that of a metal drum rotated at a regular speed about its
axis, the contact finger being traversed over the drum in a line parallel with its
axis. Any suitable motor is used to rotate the drum. The finger is traversed by
means of a leading screw engaging in the arm which carries it. The screw is
rotated about its axis but without linear motion. The width of the finger and the
relative speeds of the drum and screw are apportioned to the said width and the
perimeter of the drum so that the trace of the finger upon the drum is a closed
spiral.
Or the finger may be stationary and the drum can be made to have linear
notion.
Or the surface in question may be that of a flat table capable of a reciprocating
linear motion at right angles to that of the traverse of the finger.
With reference to the construction of the finger, it must be pointed out that it is
generally necessary to make special provision to prevent the point of it riving up
the material of the design. For if it were to take up a fragment of the material of
the design from the latter, such fragment might maintain non-contact between the
Singer and the surface for the remainder of the time the transmitter was at work
until such time as the finger cleared itself. To prevent such an accident, the finger
s not pointed but carries a small wheel which will therefore roll, instead of rub or
cratch, over the design.

page_text: One pole of the battery of the transmitter circuit is connected to the contact
finger, and the other pole with the line wire. The conducting surface is connected
with the ground. One terminal of an electro magnet is connected with the distance
end of the line wire, and the other terminal with the ground. As the carrying arm
of the contact finger is insulated from the surface, it follows that current will flow
through the circuit above mentioned only when the contact finger is on the actual
conducting surface, that is when the circuit is not opened by the presence of the
design material between the conducting surface and contact finger.
It is of
The electro magnet is fixed, preferably, at the receiving station.
importance that its cores demagnetise quickly. A current of ordinary strength
through the line wire will meet the requirements of the present invention.
The receiver consists of a receiving surface, an electro magnet, a striker or
marker connected to or carried by the armature thereof, a circuit containing the
said magnet, a battery strong enough to excite the latter effectively and a circuit
closer.
When the line magnet is excited, the attracted motion of its armature opens the
circuit of the receiver so that so long as the contact finger of the transmitter is on
the conducting surface of the latter, the striker or marker of the electro-magnet is
inoperative.
The last mentioned electro-magnet and the relative receiving surface are moved
in unison with each other or relatively to each other on the same principle and for
the same reasons, that the conducting surface and contact finger of the transmitter
move relatively to each other. Mechanisms similar to those already described or
others equivalent thereto may be made use of to impart the said motions in unison
provided that the two rates, i.e., the rate at the transmitter surface and the rate at
the receiver surface be identical or according to any pre-determined ratio and,
subject to this ratio, synchronous. If the said rates are identical and the cylinders
or plates of the same size, the reproduction will be facsimile. If they differ, the
reproduction will be either larger or smaller, as the difference may be, while if the
motions of the receiving surface and its finger are made to differ a correspondingly
distorted reproduction, a.g., a caricature of the design or the like, will be
produced.
With reference to the exact kind or type of the receiving surface and its striker
or marker, the present invention does not impose any limit. The two are co-related
to each other so as to produce the desired result-a reproduction in some form or
other by the apparatus described. They may, therefore, be of any type varying
in strength from the dot and dash mechanism of the earlier printing telegraph to
the metal cutting tool of an engraving mechanism. My invention does not limit me
in respect of the type of the contact between the striker or marker and the surface-
it may be intermittent like that of a chaser or constant like that of a style.
The approved apparatus constructed according to the principles above laid down
may have as many receivers as may be desired, or several strikers or markers can
be used to record a similar number of reproductions simultaneously on the same
surface.
The design may be produced in relief on a conducting surface and the interstices
filled in with suitable non-conducting material, or the design can be in such high
relief that the contact finger is regulated in such manner as to prevent the closing
of the circuit while the interstices are passing the finger.
Dated this 1st day of August. 1894
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: Improvements in Apparatus for Electrically Effecting the
Reproduction, at a Distance, of Graphic Matter or Designs,
Written, Printed, Stencilled, Photographed, or otherwise
produced.
1, RUPERT GREVILLE-WILLIAMS of Greenfield House, Heywood, Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturing Chemist, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to improvements in automatic apparatus for the reproduction,
at a receiving station, by means of regulated electric currents, of a design or other
graphic matter previously in existence at the transmitting station.
It consists in an improved construction of transmitter, especially in respect of the
contact finger thereof; in improvements in means for regulating the local current
at the receiving station by means of the line current, as well as in improvements in
the various combinations of electrical and mechanical agencies by which the above
mentioned transmission and reproduction are effected.
Referring to the accompanying figures which are to be taken as part of this
Specification and read therewith:
Figure 1 is an end elevation of the transmitter and includes a diagram of a
portion of its circuit.
Figure 2 is a front elevation of the transmitter.
Figure 3 is a plan corresponding with the two preceding figures.
Figure 4 is an end elevation of the receiver including a diagram of the remaining
portion of the transmitter circuit, the relay and the receiver circuit.
Figure 5 is a front elevation of the same.
The transmitter consists of an electric circuit which includes a conducting surface,
a contact finger, the line wire and the electro magnet of a relay. These members
of the apparatus excepting the last mentioned magnet are illustrated in Figures 1,
2 and 3.
The conducting surface and the contact finger stand in such position and
mechanical relation to each other that, practically, the whole of the former shall be
moved regularly past the latter, or the latter be passed regularly over, practically,
the whole of the former. It is evident that this relationship may be established and
maintained in more ways than one. 1 propose, among others, either of the three
following
11
(a.) The conducting surface may be that of a metal drum rotated at a regular speed
about its axis, the contact finger being traversed over the drum in a line parallel
with its axis. The finger is traversed by means of a leading screw engaging in the
arin which carries it, the said screw being rotated about its axis but without linear
motion. The width of the finger tip and the relative speeds of the drum and screw
are so apportioned that the trace of the finger upon the drum shall be a closed or
nearly closed spiral, or in other words that every point of the conducting surface
shall successively pass the finger tip aforesaid, once during the traverse of the latter
from one end of the axis of the said surface to the other.
(b.) The finger may be stationary and the drum receive a linear motion
equivalent to its length, in addition to the motion of rotation described under (a).

page_text: The design that is the original which it is required to be reproduced at the
receiving station-may be written, printed, photographed or stencilled. My inven-
tion imposes no limit upon the nature of the material in which, or the process by
which, it is produced. The design may be of conducting material surrounded by
Don-conducting material in relief, eg, a negative photograph upon the drum A: or
it may be in conducting material flush with non-conducting surface, produced, e.g. by
imposing the design in resist upon the drum A, etching down the bare surface of
the latter, cleaning off the design and filling the etching with resist or it may be
in intaglio, produced e.g., by taking a negative photograph upon the drum A,
etching the design, cleaning off the resist and filling in the etched portions with
resist flush with the surface of the drum A. When the design is in relief upon
the said surface, proper provision must be made to allow of the contact finger
rising and falling in the socket above mentioned easily and quickly enough to
always keep in touch with the surface-conducting or design, as the case may be-
inmediately under it. A suitable enlargement of the finger socket is provided to
receive a spiral depressing spring the resilience of which is exerted between the
top of the socket and an aunular shoulder upon the stem. The spring is

page_text: D is the battery of the transmitter circuit. This latter is also the line circuit.
It consists throughout its length of a single conductor. The conducting surface A
is connected to earth d. One pole of the battery is connected to the contact
finger B, eg, through a connecting screw d on the jib b. It is of course a matter
of indifference how the current is led to the tip of the contact finger B, so long
as an efficient iusulation, as d, is inserted between it and the conducting surface A.
From the other pole of the battery, the line wire d is led away to the receiving
station. As the contact finger tip is insulated from the conducting surface A, it
follows that current can flow through the line circuit only when it is closed by
contact of the tip with the surface A. During the time that the tip is rolling
over any portion of the design, the line circuit is, of course, opened and kept open
by the non-conducting property of the material of such design.
RECEIVER.
The receiver consists of a receiving surface; a local electric circuit containing
one or more electro magucts (the latter having a common armature) as well as a
circuit closer or switch adapted to open the receiver circuit when the line circuit is
closed; and a striker or marker connected to, or carried by, or under the control
of, the armature of the said one or more electro magnets. In addition to the above
there must be an electro magnet (part of the circuit closer above mentioned) in the
line circuit adapted when it is excited, to operate the circuit closer or switch in
the local or receiver circuit; the last mentioned electro magnet and switch consti-
tuting a relay. The above enumerated members of the apparatus are illustrated
in Figures 4, 5 and 6. It is preferable that the relay be fixed at or near to, the
receiving station. A current of ordinary strength in the transmitter circuit or line
wire will meet the requirements of the present invention.
The striker or marker and the receiving surface are moved in unison with each
other, or relatively to each other, on the same principle and for the same reasons

page_text: that decide the respective motions of the conducting surface and the contact roller
of the transmitter. Mechanisms analogous to those specified in connection with the
transmitter may be used for producing the said respective motions in the receiver.
The one illustrated is substantially the same as the one illustrated in Figures 1,
2 and 3 and has been selected because for some purposes regard it as the most
convenient one.
F is a parallel drum. Its perimeter, or a sheet held thereto, is the receiving
surface upon which the graphic matter on the conducting surface A of the trans-
mitter is reproduced. This drum is fast upou a shaft the journals of which are
supported in hearings, carried by a pair of standards set opposite to
each other and at a suitable distance apart, upon a firm base f³.
G is the striker graver or marker. Its body is a round rod adapted to move
freely to and fro in a direction radial to the drum F, in guides y, fast upon a
saddle. This saddle is carried, lathe-wise upon a double V bed upon which it
can slide to and fro. This bed is aligned parallel with the axis and surface of the
drum F and supported upon standards ³, set opposite to each other and at
suitable distances apart upon the base 3. The traverse of the saddle to and fro
upon the bed 2 is effected by a leading screw g³ the journals of which are adapted
to revolve, without imparting any linear motion to the screw, in bearings of carried
by the standards 9, 9. The leading screw g³ is parallel with the axis of the
drum and passes through a screwed uut y fast to and depending from the under-
side of the saddle with which the said screw engages for the purpose of
traversing the striker from one end of the drum F to the other during the time
that the transmission of matter upon the conducting surface of the transmitter is
proceeding. The necessary motions of rotation are imparted to the leading
screw and the shaft through a pair of gears, 9. These are of the proper
respective diameters to, in conjunction with the pitch of the screw g³, give to the
drum F and the said screw, their respectively necessary rates of rotation. It is a
atter of indifference on to which-screw or shaft-the driving impulse is delivered
from the prime mover provided that the speed of such impulse is correctly
adjusted. The shaft is shewn as continued beyond its left hand bearing and there
broken off, thereby indicating a connection (omitted from the figure) to some other
mechanism. The type of motor by which, and the mechanism through which, the
gears are driven is outside the scope of the present invention. It is of
importance however that the rates of the transmitter and of the receiver shall be
identical, or according to any predetermined ratio; and also, subject to this ratio,
synchronous. If the said rates are identical and the surfaces of transmitter and
receiver of the same size, the reproduction will be facsimile. If these surfaces
differ in diameter, the reproduction will be either larger or smaller while if the
number of the rotations of the transmitting and receiving cylinders differ a
correspondingly distorted reproduction, will be produced.
With reference to the exact kind or type of the receiving surface and of its
striker, graver, or marker, the present invention does not impose any limit. The
two are corelated so as to produce the desired result-a reproduction in some super-
ficial form by means of the actuating mechanism described. Any suitable pen
or pencil or style and transfer paper may be made use of. But I unreservedly
disclaim the use of chemically prepared paper with a fixed receiving style and
any combination in which the local or any current passes through the receiving
style or marker.
RECEIVER OR LOCAL CIRCUIT.
His the electro magnet of the relay above mentioned. As already explained it
is included within the line circuit which is connected with one of the terminals, the
other terminal being connected to earth. I is its armature. The latter is pivotted
at in order that it can swing freely between two contacts J, Jaccording as to
whether it is under the attraction of its magnet 11 or under the pull of the spiral
spring . K, K¹ are a pair of electro magnets. Both are in the local circuit as

page_text: far as wiring is concerned but only one can be excited at a time by the current in
that circuit. The magnet K and the contact J are connected together and the
magnet K connected with the contact J', as in licated by the course of the cm-
ductors j, j L is the local battery. One pole of it is wired to the armature I,
and the other to the remaining terminals of the magnets K, K. The said
magnets K. K are held in a frame M, with the axis of their coils respectively
aligned with each other and their pole pieces opposite each other at a sufficient
distance to allow of an armature N to oscillate between them according to which of
them is excited. The frame M is carried upon the top of the guides y, g to which
it is made fast. The armature N hangs from pivots n, n supported above the
magnets by a gallows which is erected upon the top of the saddle g. The
bottom of the armature is connected to the body of the striker G in such a way
that its motion of oscillation may put the striker into work or withdraw it. It is
shewn as bifurcated and embracing the body of the striker or marker G between
two collars n', n' fast on the striker and close enough to be always in touch with
the armature bifurcations, yet far enough apart to prevent their interfering with the
free oscillation of the armature between the magnets K, K.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what [
claim is:-
1. In combination with a suitable conducting transmitter surface, a device in
non-conducting material and a wheel contact roller in connection with a moving
insulated contact finger; as set forth.
2. The combination of wheel contact roller; insulated contact finger; conducting
transmitter surface: a device on the latter in non-conducting material; and a
battery one pole of which is connected with the said contact roller and the other
with the line wire; as set forth.
3. The combination of wheel contact roller; movable insulated contact finger;
conducting transmitter surface having, or being adapted to receive, a non-conducting
device upon it; a line circuit and an electro magnet adapted to be excited by the
current in the said circuit and to control the local circuit containing the electro
magnets the armature of which carries the striker, marker, or graver, of the
receiver; as set forth.
4. The combination of contact roller; insulated contact-finger; conducting
transmitter surface having a device in non-conducting material imposed thereon;
line circuit; relay; magnet or magnets, armature and striker marker or graver
and receiving surface capable of relatively transverse motion; as set forth.
Dated this 1st day of May 1895.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
No. 22 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.