IMROVEMENTS IN TELEGRAPHING AND IN COLLECTING ELECTRICITY FOR TELEGRAPHING AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1873

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Frederick Henry Greer at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th June 1878.
I, FREDERICK HENRY GREER, of the City of New York, in the
United States of America, now residing at No. 18, Fitzroy Square, in
the County of Middlesex, Electrician, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMROVEMENTS IN TELEGRAPHING AND IN COLLECTING
ELECTRICITY FOR TELEGRAPHING AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
My discovery or Invention is connecting the clectrical stratum or
ocean (high in the air) with the earth, thus forming a circuit for
telegraphing, generating heat, motive power, light electroplating,
electro-photographing, &c. I dispense with cables or wires and
ordinary batteries using the natural electricity for battery, and to
connect the different stations on mountain peaks, the electrical stratum
forming one part of the circuit and the earth the other, thus being able
to telegraph over oceans or continents.

page_text: or stratum of electricity which surrounds the globe. These cones or
towers are to be placed on the highest points of the most lofty mountains
in different parts of the world. In countries where the mountains are
not of sufficient height I erect telescopic towers high enough to reach
this stratum or ocean, and then place the said vanes or cones horizontally
or perpendicularly. This vane is made in two or more sections insulated
or perpendicularly. This vane is made in two or more sections insulated
from each other.
The first section is constructed of copper or other suitable material,
and has a bulge or mouth from which projects one or more lightning
rods or conductors, so arranged that they can be removed and replaced
readily; the first section is insulated by a ring of india-rubber and
ebonite, or glass and a ring of gutta percha. These insulating rings are
held between flanges or rings formed at the ends of the first and second
sections through which insulated rods or poles pass.
The second section is made of zinc or suitable material and terminates
in a ventilator from which projects a copper vane which is not insulated
and points upwards; from this vane a lightning rod projects. The
ventilator and vane (when the cone is in a horizontal position) are keyed
so that they act as the largest part of a weather vane, always keeping
the mouth of the cone or vane in the direction from which the wind
blows. A large tower or mast well insulated from the earth, capped with
a copper plating, is places upon the top of mountains for the vanes or
cones to revolve upon. By the natural electricity, damp air, &c., rushing
through this cone, a powerful battery is formed. An insulted is
connected to this copper plating or to the cone and taken down the
mountain sufficiently far to be connected with an office. Said wire will
be used in conducting the electricity for telegraphing and other purposes.
My principal Invention is the establishing of an electrical circuit by
connecting the aerial electrical current or ocean with the earth,
telegraphing over oceans and continents without ordinary batteries and
without cable or wire to connect the different continents or stations,
and the utilizing of electricity obtained as above for motive power, heat,
light, &c. The circuit being broken & closed would give a corre-
sponding effect with all stations that are connected by the aerial
electrical current.

page_text: An additional feature of my Invention is the using of the aerial
eliptical current entirely with artificial or without artificial batteries,
the upper and under air current forming the circuit, which circuit I
break whenever necessary for an office.