IMPROVEMENTS IN INSTRUMENTS FOR TRANSMITTING TELEGRAMS BETWEEN REMOTE PLACES ESPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR SUBMARINE AND SUBTERRANEAN LINES OF COMMUNI- CATION
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Little, a Native of the Kingdom of Great
Britain, but at present residing in the City and State of New York, in
the United States of America, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
INSTRUMENTS FOR TRANSMITTING TELEGRAMS BETWEEN REMOTE PLACES
ESPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR SUBMARINE AND SUBTERRANEAN LINES OF COMMUNI-
CATION."
Sealed the 7th May 1867, and dated the 10th November 1866..
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said George Little at the Office of
the Commissioners of, Patents, with his Petition and Declaration, on the
10th November 1866, pursuant to the 9th Section of the Patent Law.
Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
LITTLE, a Native of the Kingdom of Great Britain, but at present residing in
the City and State of New York; in the United States of America, send
greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
INSTRUMENTS FOR TRANSMITTING TELEGRAMS BETWEEN REMOTE PLACES ESPECIALLY
ADAPTED FOR SUBMARINE AND SUBTERRANEAN LINES OF COMMUNICATION," and have
petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, my exécutors, administrators, and
assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn'
Declaration that I am the true and first Inventor thereof.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Little, do hereby declare that
the following Complete Specification under my hand and seal fully describes
and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, in and by the following statement :-
The object of the said Invention is to provide an apparatus for telegraphic
purposes which shall be of such a degree of sensitiveness that it shall be capable
when desired of being worked by electrical waves of low power through great
distances. By reason of this feature my improved apparatus will be found
to be especially adapted for use upon long submarine or subterranean lines.
At the same time it is exceedingly simple in its principles and in its construction
and operation.
The apparatus consists of a magnetized steel band or of a magnetized steel
needle, or of the equivalent of either thereof, in combination with an air
chamber or float of any suitable form (though I prefer that its form should
be spherical) composed of glass, metal, or of any other proper material, and
provided with two stems or projecting points, and caused to float in alcoholic
spirits or other suitable medium contained within a tube or receptacle of glass
or other transparent substance, and so arranged that the north and south poles
of the steel band or equivalent when the latter is floating in the tube shall be
kept in a position for telegraphic púrposes by the polarity of the earth, and
the whole apparatus .being also arranged in the inside of horizontal coils of
insulated copper wire in such a manner that when alternate or reverse currents
of voltaic electricity are passed through the coils in the way well known to
practical electricians the poles of the steel band or equivalent will be
made to dip alternately to the north and south poles of the earth, and will
thereby cause the stems of the air chamber or float to deflect to the right or
to the left according as may be desired for the purpose of indicating dots
and dashes, or any other conventional telegraphic signs or characters which
may be preferred.
My said Invention may be put in practice in various ways, but the form in
which, after many years of experiment and study I prefer to employ it, is
illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, and will be now described.
"Of 'this Drawing Figure 1 is a central vertical section of the instrument as
ready for use; Figure 2 is a bottom view thereof; Figure 3 is a transverse
section of the same taken through the line a, a, in Figure 1; Figure 4 is a
detail view showing in perspective a portion of the instrument which I term
the "dot and dash definer; Figure 5 is another detail view representing the
dot and dash definer in the position which it occupies in the instrument;
Figure 6 is a top view of the double key or pole changer which I prefer to

page_text: employ, and Figure 7 is a transverse section thereof taken through the line y, y,
in Figure 6; Figure 8 illustrates a modification of my. Invention which may
be used when preferred. Like parts in the different Figures are denoted by
like letters.
'
A, A, is the body of the instrument, which I prefer should be of well
seasoned wood, ivory, or other suitable material, and which may have secured
to its base a brass ring, into which may be fitted four levelling screws, two of
which are shown at a, a; B, B, is a reel of wood having through its centre a
hollow space about one and one-sixteenth inch diameter for the reception of
the glass tube E, which will be presently described; this reel is to be wound
with about three pounds, weight of silk covered copper wire of the size
commonly known as Number. 32 coiled in very regular layers, and I prefer
before commencing to wind this wire to secure one end of it to a short piece of
Number Twenty copper wire represented at b, Figure 1, and which should be
inserted just inside of the reel, and should be properly fastened to the latter.
After the whole of the wire is wound upon the reel the inner end of the coil
leading from 6 is to be carried down and secured to the coupling screws C, C,
which I term the "earth screws," and its outer end is to be secured: to the
coupling screws D, D; F, F, is a cap made of brass or other suitable
material having a hole.c in its top to permit the before-mentioned glass tube E
to pass through; and fastened by small screws'd; d; to the wooden base A of
the instrument, two of these small, screws being seen at Figure 1, the object
of this cap is to hold the reel B, B; in its proper position and to protect the
coils;. E is a tube of. glass or other sufficiently transparent material, made by
preference about six inches in length. by one inch in diameter, outside
measurement, and about one-tenth of an inch in. thickness; this tube should
be sealed up at its lower end e, preferably by 'means, of a circular piece of
vulcanized rubber about one-quarter of an inch in thickess, and having above
and beneath it a disc f.f, of brass or other proper metal, the rubber ring and
the two discs being held together by a milled headed thumb-screw 9, or other
suitable means. The interior of this tube E is. to be filled up to about the
point 1 with alcohol of ninety-five per cent. proof, and arranged to float in this
alcohol in the tube is an air chamber or float G, preferably.of a spherical form,
which is provided with stems or projecting points h, h. The upper one of these
stems I prefer to make about two inches in length, and the lower stem h
about two and one-fourth inches in length, the spherical part of the float
being preferably about five-eighths of an inch in diameter and weighing about
five grains. It will be found best in order to render the upper stem h of
the float more readily visible to introduce two or three lengths of black or

page_text: otherwise colored sewing silk through both of the stems before the same
are finally closed up. This silk is shown by light lines i, represented in red
for greater distinctness in Figure 1. On the lower end of the lower 'stem h¹
there should, by preference, be wound about one grain in weight of uncovered
copper wire of about the size of Number 82 in order to keep the stems in a
vertical position when the float is in a state of rest. I also prefer to control
the motions of the float when the instrument is in operation, and for this
purpose I employ within the glass tube E a short piece of brass tube which
may be split aud sprung into the inside of the lower portion of the said tube E
and which should be provided with a ring k projecting from its inner surface,
as seen at Figure 1, and within this ring the lower stem will hang when the
float is at rest and the sides of the ring will at all times keep the movement
of the stem within proper limits. Around the spherical portion of the
float G is secured a magnetized steel band H or its equivalent, preferably of
six-eighths and a sixteenth of an inch in diameter, and having its north pole
at-N and its south pole at S. I prefer that this band should be made of the
best quality of watch spring about two and seven-eighths inches in length by
about three sixteenths of an inch in width, with a thickness such that its
whole weight shall be about six grains, and I also prefer that it should be
formed up over a steel arbor, about six-eighths and a sixteenth of an inch in
diameter, said arbor being divided off and indented into four equal parts for
the purpose of facilitating the division of the band into four equal parts; and
also of facilitating the puncturing of said band with the four small holes l, m,
n, and o, Figure 8. The band after it is hardened by securing it. tightly upon
a brass ring of about an eighth of an inch in thickness is to be fastened to
the float G by means of the two small cups p, p, Figure 3, which are
pressed up out of steel, and the other two small cups p', p', which are made
of brass, each of these four cups is preferably to weigh about half a grain,
and is to be provided with a fine pin q, q, q, q, which serves the two-fold
purpose of keeping the band H in. position by passing through the before-
uientioned four small holes l, m, n, and o, and also of keeping the band and
float with its stem equidistant from the inside surface of the glass tube E.
In order to prevent any air from being confined in said cups I prefer that
the edges of the same should be notched or serrated. After the steel band
has been secured to the glass' float, care being taken to have the two steel
cups p, p, opposite to each other so as to concentrate the magnetism of the
band and thereby form its poles, the band is to be maguetized in the usual
way, and then the whole float with the band secured to it is to be so balanced
in the alcohol within the glass tube that its weight shall be froui one-

page_text: fourth to one-half a grain, including the one grain weight of the uncovered
copper wire at the bottom of the lower stem h¹ of the float, and also including the
weight of the sewing silk within the stems of the float. In order to ascertain
that the upper stem h of the float is as sensitive in its deflections to the right
as it is to the left it may be tested by connecting the wires in the mode well
understood by electricians, so that the same will produce a steady and clear
deflections when the points of a copper and zinc wire are brought against the
tongue of the operator. I usually prefer to place around the upper part of the
glass tube É where it projects above the cap F, F, a disc of green paper or
other material to serve as a relief to the eye of the operator when the
instrument is in use.
The form of key or pole changer which I prefer to use with my improved
instrument is shown in Figures 6 and 7, but the connections of this with the
instrument, and its method of working, as well as the operation of my above
described improved apparatus, will be readily understood by those skilled in the
art without further explanation; but if desired any other suitable form of
current reverser or pole changer will answer the purpose.
In Figures 4 and 5 I have illustrated an apparatus which I denominate a
"dot and das definer," this consists of the metallic yoke screen, as it may be
termed, represented at I, which is to be so adjusted on the top of the glass
tube E above the cap F that the deflections of the upper stem h of the
float G shall be kept distinct, all motions to the left being taken to represent
dots, and all motions to the right being taken to represent dashes, while the
centre of motion will always be kept out of sight by one of the bars of the
definer.
I
It will be obvious that my object in floating or buoying the steel band H
in alcoholic spirits or other suitable fluid is to reduce its weight, and it may
be so balanced that its own weight, of say about six grains together with the
weight of the float and the four cups of, say, about seven grains more, or
about thirteen grains in all, will be diminished when floating in the spirits
to less than one grain; I am thereby enabled, when electrical waves of low
power are passing in close proximity to the band; to operate at great distances
much more powerful.magnets than usual. By reason of this my improved
apparatus is adapted to a more rapid and accurate transmission of telegrams
between remote places than has hitherto been known.
I prefer when my improved instrument is used that the operator should
face the east, but whichever point he may choose to face it is obvious that all
the other operators on the line should face the same point.
I wish it to be distinctly understood that I do not limit myself to the precise

page_text: details of my improved apparatus, as the same is above described, for many
"variations in it may be made without departure from my Invention; for
instance, a straight magnetized steel needle may be inserted in the stems of
the float G, and by means of suitably arranged coils of insulated wire may be
made to deflect to the right and left; or by suitably arranged coils the steel
band and float may be caused to wholly or. partially revolve, and thereby
produce signals adapted to telegraphic purposes.
...Or a very simple' modification of my Invention, which is illustrated. in
Figure 8, may be employed if desired; this consists of an arrangement
whereby the magnetized steel band or magnetized steel needle or its equivalent
may be held in position by the earth's polarity when supported or balanced on
a centre or point. In said Figure 8 J is the base of the instrument; 'K,
the reel; L, L, the coils of insulated copper wire, and M the metallic centre
'or point supporting the needle O, having north and south poles N and S.
This needle is so arranged in combination with the coils that the passage of.
electrical waves through the poles of the needle or equivalent will cause the
latter to dip and thereby produce deflections to the right and left in the
indicator P.
:
. If preferred, however, the coils may be arranged in other ways than as
illustrated in Figure 8, and there may also, if desired, be separate coils
under each pole, and still other variations in all of the forms of the apparatus
mentioned will perhaps occur to those practised in the art which will still
'embody my Invention; but the instrument first herein above described will
be found to be the best for practical purposes.
.
:
Having thus made known my improvements, what I claim as new is,-
First, a magnetized steel band or its equivalent so arranged as to be held
in position by the earth's polarity, substantially as described.
Second, the combination of a magnetized steel band or its equivalent, and
an air chamber or float or its equivalent, the whole arranged and operating
substantially as set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Little, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of August, A.D. 1866.
GEORGE LITTLE. (L.S.)