IMPROVEMENTS IN TRANSMITTING FACSIMILE COPIES OF WRITINGS AND DRAWINGS BY MEANS ELECTRIC CURRENTS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henri Adrien Bonneville, of the British and Foreign
Patent Offices, 24, Rue du Mont Thabor, Paris, in the Empire of
France, and 88, Porchester Terrace, Bayswater, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TRANSMITTING FACSIMILE COPIES OF WRITINGS AND DRAWINGS BY MEANS
ELECTRIC CURRENTS."-A communication from Bernard Meyer,
residing at Boulevard Mont Parnasse, No. 165, Paris, in the Empire of
France.
Sealed the 15th March 1867, and dated the 26th September 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henri Adrien Bonneville
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 26th September 1866..
I, HENRI ADRIEN BONNEVILLE, of the British and Foreign Patent Offices,
24, Rue du Mont Thabor, Paris, in the Empire of France, and 38, Porchester
Terrace, Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for " IMPROVEMENTS IN TRANSMITTING
FACSIMILE COPIES OF WRITINGS AND DRAWINGS BY MEANS OF ELECTRIC CURRENTS,"
a communication from Bernard Meyer, a person resident at Boulevard
Mont Parnasse, No. 165, Paris, in the Empire of France, aforesaid, to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in telegraphic apparatus
for transmitting facsimile copies of writings and drawings by means of electric

page_text: currents without having recourse to the chemical means in use up to the
present time. The receiver is composed of a blade wound helically round a
cylinder, forming only one revolution, which is actuated by a kind of clock-
word movement, this pitch of the spiral of the blade may have from one to
ten centimeters (from half an inch to four inches, or thereabouts). A pad
saturated with oleic ink or other, turns freely on the blade and wets it
constantly. A length or strip of common paper, assuming under the blade a
convex surface, is pressed against a lever provided with an armature, and
which receives an oscillatory movement from the electro-magnet placed under it.
The width of this length of paper, the traction of which takes place on the
first axe that carries the weight, is equal to the length of the pitch of the
blade. The running of the paper takes place at the rate of a third or a
fourth of a millimeter, or thereabouts, to each pitch of the spiral of the blade,
according to the legibility of the printing that is required. The paper pressing
against the spiral blade receives its imprint by points and lines according to
the passage of the current through the electro-magnets, this constitutes the
printing process of the apparatus. The attractions are rendered by blanks
and the interruptions by ink marks. The despatch or any kind of drawing to
be transmitted is printed on the metallic paper, the width of which is equal
to the pitch of the spiral of the blade. The paper is rolled round a cylinder
of an indefinite length, but of a circumference equal to the length of the
pitch of the spiral of the blade. A metallic point carrying the current
describes in its course an helicoidal line from one end of the cylinder to the
other by means of a screw with its nut, the furrow of which is in exact
proportion to the running of the length of white paper. All that is white on
the metallic paper is in the same manner reproduced on the receiving paper,
and those parts that are in ink, by interrupting the current are faithfully
reproduced in colour or ink on the receiving paper; these isolated signs
recompose the printing with remarkable fidelity.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henri Adrien Bonneville in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 21st March 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRI
ADRIEN BONNEVILLE, of the British and Foreign Patent Offices, 24, Rue du
Mont Thabor, Paris, in the Empire of France, and 38, Porchester Terrace,
Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her
reigo, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Henri Adrien Bonneville, Her special licence that I, the said Henri
Adrien Bonneville, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN TRANSMITTING FACSIMILE COPIES OF WRITINGS AND DRAWINGS BY
MEANS OF ELECTRIC CURRENTS," a communication from Bernard Meyer, a person
resident at Boulevard Mont Parnasse, No. 165, Paris, in the Empire of France,
aforesaid, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henri Adrien
Bonneville, my executors 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 Henri Adrien Bonneville, 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
following statement, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in telegraphic apparatus for
transmitting facsimile copies of writings and drawings by means of electric
currents without having recourse to the chemical means in use up to the
present time. The receiver is composed of a blade wound helically round a
cylinder, forming only one revolution, which is actuated by a kind of clockwork
movement; this pitch of the spiral of the blade may have from one to ten
centimetres (from half an inch to four inches, or thereabouts). A pad
saturated with oleic ink or other turns freely on the blade and wets it
constantly. A length or strip of common paper, assuming under the blade a
convex surface, is pressed against a lever provided with an armature, and
which receives an oscillatory movement from the electro-magnet placed under
it. The width of this length of paper, the traction of which takes place on
the first axis that carries the weight, is equal to the length of the pitch of the
blade. The running of the paper takes place at the rate of a third or a

page_text: fourth of a millimètre, or thereabouts, to each pitch of the spiral of the blade,
according to the legibility of the printing that is required. The paper pressing
against the spiral blade receives its imprint by points and lines according to
the passage of the current through the electro-magnets; this constitutes the
printing process of the apparatus. The attractions are rendered by blanks
and the interruptions by ink marks. The dispatch or any kind of drawing to
be transmitted is printed on the metallic paper, the width of which is equal to
the pitch of the spiral of the blade. The paper is rolled round a cylinder of an
indefinite length, but of a circumference equal to the length of the pitch of
the spiral of the blade. A metallic point carrying the current describes in its
course an helicoidal line from one end of the cylinder to the other by means
of a screw with its nut, the furrow of which is in exact proportion to the
running of the length of white paper. All that is white on the metallic
paper is in the same manner reproduced on the receiving paper, and those
parts that are in ink by interrupting the current are faithfully reproduced in
colour or ink on the receiving paper; these isolated signs recompose the
printing with remarkable fidelity.
For the better understanding of these improvements reference is had to
the Figures of the accompanying Drawings.
The transmission apparatus is made up of the cylinder E, F, on which is
set the dispatch; it is written on a square sheet of silver or tin metallic paper;
The
it is made to adhere on to the cylinder by means of a slight layer of wax.
screw H, I, which is actuated at H, and which turns in a contrary direction
to the cylinder E, F, carries the cursor s furnished at r with a pin or little
wheel, which traces on the cylinder a helicoidal line of indefinite length. A
current is established when the point passes on the metal, and an interruption
in the current when it passes on the ink of the writing. It is needless to say
that the ink must be such as to interrupt the current. The receiver com-
prises the right electro-magnet J, K, borne by one of the lever arms a, b, c, d,
and oscillating between the magnet N and the soft iron O; it carries with
it in its oscillatory motion the lever a, b, c, d, which supports the paper
receiver. The paper is of ordinary description cut into strips of great length.
The drawing or traction of the paper takes place at P, R; it is continuous,
and at the rate of about the eighth of a line (the quarter of a millimètre, or
thereabouts) for every turn of the screw; by this arrangement the paper
remains fixed upon the apparatus; no preparation is required from one
dispatch to another. L, M, is a helicoidal line against which buffets the
lever which carries the paper. The screw is constantly humected by a pad
which turns freely on the screw. It is readily understood that the electro

page_text: magnet receiver, by exactly executing the oscillations as indicated by the point
of the cursor, reproduces by its contact on the helicoidal line traced on the
white paper all that is written on the original.
The synchronical working of the apparatus is regulated as follows:--On the
clockwork is a massive fly wheel V which carries two flyers or winglets fixed
by a helical spring; concordance may be easily obtained for the fraction of a
second; to render it lasting, at every turn of the screw a corrective current
passes into the bobbins X, Y, and disengages the axis T, S. The finger i
passes by the corresponding tooth of the corrective wheel e, f, the axis of
which is under a soft friction at m, n, and slightly advances or retards the
receptive and transmitting apparatus. The two apparatus brought together
work simultaneously; the impression is obtained on both, so as to keep them
in the same conditions of working order. The currents of the apparatus are
superposed so that each is actuated by its own current; the lines in red ink
indicate the course of the current which is identical in the two apparatus.
During the transmission of the dispatch a rod is placed at y; the current
reaches the transmitting paper and from there reaches the inversor g, h; this
latter by its contact at h sends the current into the bobbin J, K, but at each
blank interval of the helicoidal line the inversor weighs at 9 which sends the
current into the other bobbin; the correction takes place, and the working of
the two apparatus is thus rendered irreproachable. When at rest the rod y is
put at ; the communications may then be made between two stations, as by
Morse's system. p, q, is one of Morse's ordinary manipulators.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider and therefore
claim as novel and original is, the transmission of facsimile copies of writings
and drawings by means of electric currents without having recourse to
chemical means, and the apparatus connected therewith, disposed and arranged
as herein-before described and set forth in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, have hereto.
set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
H. BONNEVILLE. (L.S.)