IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRICAL COMMUNICATORS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John David Adams, of the Haymarket, in the County
of Middlesex, Ironmonger, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ELECTRICAL COMMUNICATORS."-A communication from abroad by Louis
François Clément Bréguet, of Paris, in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 23rd August 1864, and dated the 22nd June 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John David Adams at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd June 1864.
I, JOHN DAVID ADAMS, of the Haymarket, in the County of Middlesex,
Ironmonger, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM.
PROVEMENTS IN ELECTRICAL COMMUNICATORS," a communication to me from
abroad by Louis François Clément Bréguet, of Paris, in the Empire of France,
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain peculiar constructions and arrangements of
electrical communicators intended to be used for sounding bells or working
indicators for domestic and other purposes, and consists according to one
arrangement of apparatus in the employment of a small box or case provided
with a button for making and breaking an electric circuit. Inside this casing
and behind a face or dial plate fitted thereou are secured two metal springs,
Price 81

page_text: one of which is contact with the button at one end, and at the other end is.
connected by wire with the battery. The second spring is connected with one
end of the coil of an electro-magnet, the opposite end of the coil being con-
nected with a wire which communicates with any suitable electric bell. The
second spring is disconnected from the first spring excepting when the button
is depressed,at which time the two springs are brought into contact with each
other and a current then passes from the battery through the two springs and
electro-magnet, and thence through the wire connected with the bell, which is
consequently caused to ring. The electro-magnet being excited causes a
needle in front of the dial to deflect, showing that the bell, which may be some
distance off, is ringing. This deflection of the needle establishes a second
circuit which is maintained after the first circuit has been broken by the
release of the button. This second circuit is formed when a pin or stop placed
on the axis of the needle is brought into contact with the end of a fine spring
which is attached to the first of the two larger springs herein-before referred
to. The current now passes through the axis of the needle and by a con-
ducting wire to the second of the larger springs before mentioned, and thence
through the magnet to the bell as herein-before described. The object of this
second circuit is to maintain the circuit unbroken and cause the bell to con-
tinue ringing after the button is released and until the attendant at the bell
breaks contact.
According to another arrangement of electric communicator intended for
establishing an electric communication with several bells or indicators, it is
proposed to employ as many insulated conducting wires as there are bells or
indicators to be operated upon. These wires terminate in a small box or
hollow handle suspended from a card or otherwise provided with as many
depressible buttons as there are wires. Each button communicates with a
blade spring to which its corresponding wire is attached. A metal ring is
fitted inside the box or hollow handle so as to be surrounded by the swivel
buttons, and it is in direct communication with the battery but out of contact
with the buttons excepting when any of such buttons are depressed, in which
case an electric current immediately passes through the ring and through the
conducting wire or wires in connection with the depressed button or buttons
and consequently rings the corresponding bells or deflects the needles of the
indicators as the case may be.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John David Adams in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th December 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1 JOHN
DAVID ADAMS, of the Haymarket, in the County of Middlesex, Ironmonger,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John David Adams, Her special license that I, the said John
David Adams, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said John David Adams, my executors, administrators, or 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ELECTRICAL COMMUNICATORS," a communication to me from abroad by
Louis François Clement Brequet, of Paris, in the Empire of France, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John David Adams, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, or under the hand and seal of one of them, 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 John David Adams, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
The said Invention relates to certain peculiar constructions and arrange-
ments of electrical communicators intended to be used for sounding bells or
working indicators for domestic and other purposes, and consists according to
one arrangement of apparatus in the employment of a small box or case.
provided with a button for making and breaking an electric circuit. Inside
this casing, and behind a face or dial plate fitted thereon, are secured two
metal springs, one of which is in contact with the button at one end, and at

page_text: the other end is connected by wire with the battery. The second spring is
connected with one end of the coil of an electro-magnet, the opposite end of
the coil being connected with a wire which communicates with any suitable
electric bell. The second spring is disconnected from the first spring excepting
when the button is depressed, at which time the two springs are brought into
contact with each other, and a current then passes from the battery through
the two springs and electro-magnet, and thence through the wire connected
with the bell, which is consequently caused to ring. The electro-magnet
being excited causes a needle in front of the dial to deflect, showing that the
bell, which may be some distance off, is ringing. This deflection of the needle
establishes a second circuit, which is maintained after the first circuit has
been broken by the release of the button. This second circuit is formed when
a pin or stop placed on the axis of the needle is brought into contact with the
end of a fine spring, which is attached to the first of the two larger springs
herein-before referred to. The current now passes through the axis of the
needle, and by a conducting wire to the second of the larger springs before
mentioned, and thence through the magnet to the bell, as herein-before
described. The object of this second circuit is to maintain the circuit
unbroken, and cause the bell to continue ringing after the button is released,
and until the attendant at the bell breaks contact.
According to another arrangement of electric communicator intended for
establishing an electric communication with several bells or indicators it is
proposed to employ as many insulated conducting wires as there are bells or
indicators to be operated upon. These wires terminate in a small box or
hollow handle suspended from a cord or otherwise, and provided with as many
depressible buttons as there are wires. Each button communicates with a
blade spring, to which its corresponding wire is attached. A metal ring is
fitted inside the box or hollow handle, so as to be surrounded by the several
buttons, and it is in direct communication with the battery, but out of contact
with the buttons, excepting when any of such buttons are depressed, in which
case an electric current immediately passes through the ring and through the
conducting wire or wires in connection with the depressed button or buttons,
and consequently rings the corresponding bells or deflects the needles of the
indicators, as the case may be,
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the corre
sponding Figures.

page_text: Fig. 1 of my Drawings represents a full-sized front elevation of the first
arrangement of electric communicator herein-before referred to. Fig. 2 is a
side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical sectional elevation
of the apparatus, the dial and needle being removed to show the interior
thereof; and Fig. 4 is a back elevation of the dial plate and needle axis
detached. A is a box or casing of wood, hard india-rubber, or other suitable
material which is intended to be screwed to the wall or other convenient part
of an apartment or chamber. The front of this box is covered with a piece
of glass behind which there is a dial B and needle or moderator C. When
the apparatus is not in action the needle remains in a vertical position;
but when the stud or button I) on the top of the box is depressed, an electro-
magnet E inside the box becomes excited, and the needle is consequently
caused to deflect and point to the word "ring" on the dial, thereby indi-
cating that the bell, which may be at any distance, is ringing, such ringing
being continued until the attendant at the bell has broken the electric circuit,
whereupon the needle will return to its original position again, showing that
the signal has been attended to. To accomplish these results, two curved
springs F and G are secured to the back of the box, their free ends overlap-
ping but not touching each other. The end of the spring F is immediately
under the stud D, and on depressing the stud this spring is brought in contact
with the end of the spring G. A wire H leading to a battery and passing
through a hole in the back of this box is connected to the spring F, whilst
the spring G is connected through the wire I with one end of the coil of the
electric magnet E, the other end of such coil being connected by the wire K
with the binding screw L, to which the wire M is also attached. This wire M
leads to the signal bell or other indicator, and thence passes on to the battery,
thereby completing the circuit. So long as the springs F and G are out of
contact with each other this circuit remains broken, but the depression of the
stud D by making contact, establishes the circuit and rings the bell, at the
same time causing the needle to deflect. On the axis of this needle there is
a pin N which is brought in contact when the needle is deflected only, with
the end of a fine spring O attached to a pillar or support P on the spring F.
One of the pillars Q, to which the dial plate is screwed, is connected by a
wire R to the spring G. The effect of this is that the stud D having once
established a circuit as herein-before described, brings into action a second
circuit, which is maintained after the first one is broken by the release of the
stud. The piu N on the needle being brought in contact with the spring O,
the circuit is changed, and the current then passes direct from the spring F to
the spring O, thence through the pin N and axis of the needle along the

page_text: metal plate S at the back of the dial, and thence by the pillar or support Q,
wire R, and spring G, through the electro-magnet E, whence it passes as
before to the wire M leading to the bell or indicator. The essential feature
of novelty in this apparatus is, that the operator, by establishing one circuit,
brings into action a second circuit, over which he has no control, and conse-
quently the bell will continue to ring until such second circuit is broken,
which can only be done by the person whose duty it is to attend to the bell.
It is obvious that two magnets may be used, one of which I have indicated
by a dotted circle, the one serving to repel, and the other to attract opposite
ends of the needle simultaneously, but it will generally be found that a single
magnet made either to repel or attract one end of the needle will be sufficient.
Fig. 5 represents an external elevation of another form of electric communi
cator intended to establish an electric communication with any one of several
different bells or indicators at pleasure. Fig. 6 is a vertical section of the
same, and Fig. 7 is a plan of the upper half of the apparatus. A is a cord, to
the end of which is suspended a hollow box or case B of wood or other suitable
material, which may be made to unscrew in two parts at a, a. Inside the
cord A are enclosed as many insulated wires C,C,as there are different bells to
be operated upon, one end of each wire C being attached to a metal spring D
of its own fixed inside the case B, whilst the other end leads to a bell or
indicator and thence to a battery. A metal ring E is fitted inside the case B,
which ringis insulated from the springs D,but is in direct communication by a
wire Fwith the battery, such wire forming one of the group inside the cord A.
Round the case B are disposed a number of depressible studs or buttons G,G.
each of which bears against the free end of one of the several springs D,
and when depressed or forced inwards by the thumb or finger brings the
corresponding spring D in .contact with the ring E, and so establishes a
circuit through the particular bell in communication therewith, which is con-
sequently rung so long as the button is kept depressed. This apparatus is
more particularly adapted for use in the room of the manager or superinten-
dant of large establishments, as it affords a simple means of ready com-
munication with any or all the departments under his control. Although I
have illustrated and described this apparatus as being suspended to a cord, it
is obvious that it may be otherwise arranged so as to form a fixture to a table or
desk, or be secured to any convenient part of an office or other apartment, in
which case the cords might be dispensed with and the conducting wires carried
along the floor or wall in any direction required.
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

page_text: into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First, the general constructions, arrangements, and combinations of
apparatus for establishing electric communication substantially as herein-
before described.
Second, the so constructingand arranging apparatus for establishing electric
communication with bells or indicators that the making of one circuit shall
establish a second circuit which will remain intact until broken by the
attendant at the bell or indicator, substantially as herein-before described.
Third, the peculiar construction and arrangement ofelectric communicators,
substantially as and for the purpose herein-before described and illustrated by
Figs. 5, 6, and 7 of my Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John David Adams, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Seventeenth day of December, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-four.
JOHN DAVID ADAMS. (L.S.)