IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF RE-PRODUCING SIGNS, CHARACTERS, AND OTHER MARKS IN THE TRANSMISSION OF MESSAGES AND SIGNALS BY ELECTRIC.TELEGRAPH APPARATUS
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Clark at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th September
1866. A communication from abroad by Joseph de Susini, Gentleman,
Jean Marie Onésime Tamin, Doctor of Medicine, and Emile Bondonneau,
Photographic Artist, all of 29, Boulevart St. Martin, Paris.
I, WILLIAM CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,'
Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF RE-PRODUCING SIGNS, CHARACTERS,
AND OTHER MARKS IN THE TRANSMISSION OF MESSAGES AND SIGNALS BY ELECTRIC.
TELEGRAPH APPARATUS," to be as follows:-
It is well known that electro-chemical apparatus are based on the property
possessed by solutions of certain salts, such as peroxide of manganese, cyanide
of potassium, and others, of becoming decomposed by the electric current and
leaving colored marks on paper impregnated with these solutions. For this
purpose the transmitting apparatus is furnished with a strip or sheet of paper
or metal, on which is traced with a gummy ink, or other matter being a non-
conductor of electricity, the telegram, design, sign, or other marks to be
transmitted, while the receiving apparatus is provided with a metallic or paper
strip or sheet steeped in one of the above-mentioned solutions, and on which
are re-produced the marks on the strip or sheet of the transmitting apparatus.
The strip or sheet, however, does not serve for the re-transmission of the marks,
which would be of great advantage for a telegraph line having several relays,

page_text: and the present Invention has for its object to produce at the station of the
receiving apparatus the telegrams, designs, signs, or characters whatsoever
traced in an insulated matter or vice versa on a paper or metallic conductor
of electricity or vice versa, the which strip or sheet may serve again as a
transmitter to another receiving apparatus at a further station, at which a
similar re-production may take place, and so on until the message, signs, or
characters arrive at the station, where they are to be permanently fixed on a
suitable strip or sheet of paper or metal decomposable by the electric current.
For this purpose I avail myself of either electro-chemical and galvanoplastic
means or any suitable daguerrotype or photographic process. In order to
render the meaning clearer I will describe two plans, the one electro-chemical
and galvanoplastic and the other a daguerrotype or photographic process.
1st example Electro-chemical or galvanoplastic.-I first impregnate a
strip or sheet of paper or other suitable material with a solution of peroxide
of manganese, cyanide of potassium, or other suitable matter. The strip or
sheet so prepared is applied to the receiving apparatus, where it is decomposed
by the electric current, so producing the telegrams, designs, signs, or characters
whatsoever in a different color to that of the ground of the strip or sheet. I
then place a sheet in a bath containing an argentiferous solution, which bath
is subjected to the action of a battery, in this manner, by means of a galvano-
plastic process, the marks made by electricity on the strip or sheet are covered
with a coating of silver, the other parts of the sheet remaining uncovered; I
then dry the strip or sheet and rub it with pure mercury, which attaches only
to the silver.
Lastly, by the aid of a roller covered with lithographic or gummy ink or
other suitable insulated material I ink, so to speak, the sheet or strip, the only
parts not receiving the ink or insulated matter being those covered with the
mercury, hence there results in the first relay an exact re-production of the
telegram, design, or marks from the transmitting apparatus with this difference,
that in the said re-production the respective parts which in the original telegram
are conductors of electricity and insulated become reversed in the re-
production, and by employing the latter as a new transmitter until a second
relay is reached the electricity decomposes the whole base of the prepared
strip or sheet of the receiving apparatus, and leaves the color unaltered of
all the parts occupied by the traced messages, lines, or marks.
From, the foregoing it will be readily understood that in the second relay
the re-produced telegrams or marks will be similar to the original one of the
first transmitting apparatus, while in the third relay the message will leave
the receiving apparatus under the same conditions of electrical decomposition

page_text: as the receiving apparatus of the first relay, that is to say, every pair of relays
will re-produce the original message of the first transmitting apparatus, and
that every alternate relay will re-produce inversely to the others and similar to
that of the first relay.
2nd example: Daguerrotype or photographic processes. By the aid of
the paper or other strip or sheet of the receiving apparatus on which the
electricity has traced the marks by decomposing the salts before mentioned I
make a negative or positive proof by employing any suitable quick photographic
or daguerrotype process by means of the electric light if necessary, I then
employ one of the readiest methods known under the name of hlioplasty,
photo-writing, photo-engraving, photo-lithography, photo-typography, photo-
zincography, or auto-photography, or similar processes, in order to obtain from
the said negative or positive proof a copy in non-conducting ink on ground
which is a conductor of electricity or vice versa.
Lastly, by making use of this copy in a transmitting apparatus I obtain
similar results to those produced by the original writing, and continue to
operate from relay to relay in the manner before described until the message
has reached the final receiving station for which it is intended. By these
two systems either electro-chemical or galvanoplastic, and, secondly, by the
daguerrotype or photographic processes, telegrams, marks, or characters of.
any kind may be re-produced in conditions suitable for the electrical
re-transmission of the original writing sent from the starting point.
The Invention thus consists in the application generally in whatever
manner of electro-chemistry and galvanoplasty and photographic or daguerro-
type processes for the re-production of telegrams, characters, designs, or marks
of all kinds in telegraphy, and especially those produced by electric, electro-
chemical, and other suitable apparatus, I also reserve the right of applying the
electric light, helioplasty, photo-writing, photo-engraving, photo-zincography,
or photo-sculpture, and similar processes in any known manner for the
purposes of this Invention, and as before described.
Lastly, I claim the application of the re-producing process herein-before
described in combination with all kinds of telegraph apparatus or systems,
whether optical, electro-chemical, electro-graphical, electro-printing or
engraving, especially the systems known by the names of Caselli, Bonelli,
Lenoir, Hughes, and Gaiffe.