IMPROVE- MENTS IN INSTRUMENTS, OR A COMBINATION OF CONDUCTORS AND ATTACHMENTS, FOR TRANSMITTING AND RECORDING MESSAGES IN ANY FORM OF LETTER OR CHARACTER BY MEANS OF ELECTRICITY OR ELECTRO-MAGNETISM ACTING EITHER MECHANICALLY OR CHEMICALLY, AND WHICH INVENTION MAY ALSO BE APPLIED TO THE TRANSMITTING OR COPYING FIGURES, AS MAPS OF ANY FORM OF OUTLINE
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edmund Forman Barnes, of the City and State of
New York, United States of America, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN INSTRUMENTS, OR A COMBINATION OF CONDUCTORS AND ATTACHMENTS,
FOR TRANSMITTING AND RECORDING MESSAGES IN ANY FORM OF LETTER OR
CHARACTER BY MEANS OF ELECTRICITY OR ELECTRO-MAGNETISM ACTING EITHER
MECHANICALLY OR CHEMICALLY, AND WHICH INVENTION MAY ALSO BE APPLIED TO
THE TRANSMITTING OR COPYING FIGURES, AS MAPS OF ANY FORM OF OUTLINE."
Sealed the 9th August 1861, and dated the 18th February 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edmund Forman Barnes
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th February 1861.
I, EDMUND FORMAN BARNES, of the City and State of New York, United*
States of America, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN INSTRUMENTS, OR A COMBINATION OF CONDUCTORS AND ATTACH-
MENTS, FOR TRANSMITTING AND RECORDING MESSAGES IN ANY FORM OF LETTER OR
CHARACTER BY MEANS OF ELECTRICITY OR ELECTRO-MAGNETISM ACTING EITHER'
MECHANICALLY OR CHEMICALLY, AND WHICH INVENTION MAY ALSO BE APPLIED TO THE
TRANSMITTING OR COPYING FIGURES, AS MAPS OF ANY FORM OF OUTLINE," to be as
follows:-
The distinguishing and characteristic feature or principle of my Invention
consists in combining for practical action and operation a number of wires
say five or more, and in so arranging and grouping such wires, or the parts
connected therewith, at the transmitting-station that they shall all be brought
in contact with metallic letters or outlines, so that whenever each and every

page_text: of such wires, or their attachments, come in contact with the metallic letters
or outline the circuit will be closed and a current of electricity will be sent
through the wires, and a record or impression be made at the other ends of the
wires or at the receiving station corresponding to the contact with the metallic
letter or outline at the transmitting station. Each of such wires acts inde-
pendently and distinctly from the others, and as each wire comes in contact
with the metallic letter or outline it closes the circuit at the transmitting
station, making a record or impression at the receiving station; and as the
times and order in which the several wires close their respective circuits and
the record is made will depend upon the shape or form of the metallic outline,
it follows that the records or impressions made by the several wires at the
receiving station will have the same position in respect to each other as the
several parts of the metallic surface at the transmitting station, and will
unitedly form the letter or outline passed over there. If at the receiving station
the several wires or the levers acted upon and put in motion by the electro-
magnets there carry a point, the several points or impressions of all the wires
will, as the circuits are closed at the transmitting station, correspond in shape
and position to the form of the surface brought in contact with the wires at such
transmitting station. If chemically-prepared paper is used the several points
of the levers will leave their traces by discoloration of the paper in the same
manner. If at the receiving station the levers connected with the several
wires have a surface of some little extent, and such surfaces on the ends of the
several levers are so arranged as to size that the impressions will meet each
other when brought in contact with the paper, then the impressions made by
the several wires or their levers, as the circuit is closed at the transmitting
station, will give the full form of the letter or outline instead of the skeleton
shape. If, now, messages at a transmitting station be set up in metallic type
of a size sufficient to admit the contact of the several wires, and such type be
placed upon an endless belt, or the like, and moved under the ends of such
wires, the circuits of these several wires will be closed and opened according as
the wires are brought in contact with the surface of the letters, and every such
contact will cause an impression to be made at the receiving station, and such
type can be moved so rapidly as to record or print a thousand or even five
thousand or more letters in a minute as easily as a dozen or a hundred. The
size of the letters used to send messages may be half an inch or even an inch
long, if desired, to ensure more certain contact of the wires with them, but the
size of the letter recorded or printed will be regulated by the aggregate.size of
the surfaces of the printing levers. As will be readily apparent, any form or
outline, whether letter, fac-simile, cypher, or otherwise, may be traced or

page_text: recorded, and the one as easily as the other; and by increasing the number of
wires any surface, however large, as maps and the like, may be repeated and
delineated. I prefer to use five wires, especially when messages are to be
transmitted and recorded in the shape of printed letters, as all the capital
letters and figures in the English language may be formed. or. traced: by five
separate lines or impressions with more certainty and rapidity than. by any
other number. The arrangement of the levers. or points at the transmitting
station to open and close the circuits of the several wires, and of those at the
receiving station to record the impressions there, may be varied in many ways
and be effective to produce the result desired. Different arrangements of
mechanism may also be made use of to move the type at the transmitting
station, and the movement of the paper at the receiving station may be regu-
lated and placed under the control of the operator there, so that by regulating
its speed either faster or slower than the movement of the type at the trans-
mitting station he can elongate or shorten the width of the letter recorded as
he may desire. Instead of opening and closing the circuit at the transmitting
station through the letters, and by direct contact of the ends of the wires with
the metallic surfaces of the types, a series of levers may be, arranged in con-
nection with the ends of the wires, so that as the ends of such levers pass over
the surface of the letter or outline they will, by points at their other ends, open
and close the circuits. By such an arrangement also the circuits will be
opened and closed by direct contact, and by a single point instead of by a
sliding contact, and which greatly increases the capability and effectiveness of
the instrument. In such case also, when the circuit is opened and closed by
a point, and not through the letter itself, it is entirely immaterial, whether
the letter is of metal or wood, or of any other substance, as its only use is to
operate the lever to open and close the circuit.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edmund Forman Barnes in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 13th August 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDMUND
FORMAN BARNES, of the City and State of New York, United States of
America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her

page_text: reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Edmund Forman Barnes, Her special licence that I, the said Edmund
Forman Barnes, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Edmund Forman Barnes, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN INSTRUMENTS, OR A COMBINATION OF CONDUCTORS AND ATTACHMENTS, FOR
TRANSMITTING & RECORDING MESSAGES IN ANY FORM OF LETTER OR CHARACTER
BY MEANS OF ELECTRICITY, OR ELECTRO-MAGNETISM, ACTING EITHER MECHANICALLY OR
CHEMICALLY, AND WHICH INVENTION MAY ALSO BE APPLIED TO THE TRANSMITTING OR
COPYING FIGURES, AS MAPS OF ANY FORM OF OUTLINE," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Edmund Forman Barnes, 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 Edmund Forman Barnes, 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 :-
The general character of my Invention consists in the application and use,
for practical action and operation in transmitting and recording letters or out-
lines by means of an electric current of a number of wires or conductors, each
one acting independantly and distinctly from, but in combination with each
and all the others, and in so arranging such wires or the parts connected
therewith at the transmitting station, that the ends of all such wires or their
attachments shall be brought into contact with the surfaces of raised letters
or outlines, so that whenever any or all of such wires or their attachments
comes in contact with the surface of such letter or outline, the circuit of such
wire or wires will be closed, and a current of electricity be sent through them,
and a record or impression be made at the other ends of such wires or at the
receiving station, corresponding to the contact of such wire or wires with the
letter or outline at the transmitting station.
When such Invention is to be applied and used for the purpose of tele-
graphing or transmitting and recording, messages, in the shape of printed letters,
I use five wires in combination, as all the capital letters and the figures of the

page_text: Janguage may be best formed and represented by five elementary or seperate
lines or impressions or records, and with greater and more certainty and rapidity
than with any other number of wires or conductors.
Fig. 1 shows the arrangement of the wires, and their levers, or the parts
connected therewith, in connection with raised letters, when applied for
transmitting messages; Fig. 2 shows the connection of the several wires to
the magnets, and the combination of the several magnets and impressing or
recording levers and surfaces at a receiving station; Fig. 3 is a detached
view of one of the levers connecting with the wires at a transmitting station;
Fig. 4 is a detached view of one of the magnets and recording levers at a
receiving station, with a section of the inking and paper rollers; Fig. 5 is a
diagram of the several impressing or recording surfaces showing their relative
position and extent.
The manner of extending the wires from place to place, and of their
insulation, may be the same as are generally made use of, except that if the
wires are supported on poles they should be so placed in respect to each other
that their conductability will not be diminished by the dripping of rain or
moisture, from one to the other. The efficiency of the wires will also be much
increased by using a larger wire than is generally used, and they will be
rendered more durable by galvanizing them.
The lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, represent five wires connecting with the transmitting
and recording portions of the instrument. The raised surfaces or letters are
shown in Fig. 1 by the word TELEGRAPH.
A series of bent levers A, A, Fig. 1. equal in number to the number of the
wires, and insulated from each other, are supported on a shaft B; or each
lever may be hung on a seperate axle suspended on points, the lower ends of
which come in contact with the surfaces of the raised letters, as the letters
pass under them as hereafter described. The lower ends a, a, of such levers
are bevelled or so shaped as to easily pass over the letters, and while passing
be in continued close contact with them. The other ends 6, b, of such levers
carry small points c, c, which as the lower ends of the levers A are raised
by passing over the raised letters, are brought in contact with the plates or
anvils d, d, connecting through the binding screws e, e, with the wires 1, 2, 3,
&c. and thereby communication opened between the battery and line or wires.
By the arrangement and combination of the points c, c, acting against the
plates d, d, the circuit is closed by a direct contact, which renders the action
of the instrument much more effective and certain, and by having the plates
d, d, somewhat elastic, they yield a little as the points c, c, come in contact
with them, and prevent any jar or shock of the instrument by reason of their

page_text: rapid contact. As soon as the lower ends of the levers pass from off the
letters, the springs f, f, throw the points c, c, out of contact with the plates
d, d, and open the circuits, and the passage of the electric current is
arrested. The extent of the drop of the levers, and their dropping too far, is
regulated and governed by the cross bar g, and regulating screws h; h. Instead
of closing the circuit by the points c, c, and plates d, d, arranged as above
described, the lever A as shown in Fig. 6. may strike against the elastic lever
A¹ and bring it in contact with the point c¹ to close the circuit. The spring
d corresponds in purpose with the plate d.
Fig. 2 shows the arrangement of the magnets and recording parts of the
instrument. The main wires connect with the electro-magnets D, D, each
seperate single wire with a seperate magnet, and' such magnets are so arranged
in respect to the levers E, E, which carry or put in action the printing sur-
faces, as to act directly upon one end of such levers without the intervention
of any armature.
An intervening armature may, however, be introduced.
As the lower end of any one of the levers A comes in contact with the
raised surface of the letters, and the point c is brought in contact with the
plate d, and the circuit thereby closed at a transmitting station, the electro-
magnet D at the receiving station, with which the wire whose circuit is closed
is connected, attracts the lower end of the lever E, and causes the upper end
of such lever, or the arm j, against which it rests, to be carried against the
paper F on the paper roller H, and printing or making a record or impression
corresponding to the contact of the point a of the lever A with the surface of
the letter. As soon as the point of the lever A passes from off the sur-
face of the letter, and the circuit is opened, the spring k, the tension of which
is regulated by the screw I, draws back the lever E, and out of contact with
the magnet D, and a record is ceased being made.
The upper ends of the levers E, or the arm j, carry each a small roller i, the
relative size of which on the several levers is shown in Fig. 5. Such propor-
tionate size, or one about like it, is found most suitable for printing or forming
letters, as all of the horizontal parts of the letters, and which are the least in
width, will be made by the outside and central rollers, and the intermediate
portions of the letters will be formed by the broader ones. The length of the
recorded letter will be determined by the aggregate width of all the several
rollers. K is an ink vessel, underneath which are the ink rollers L, L, which
are revolved by the same power moving the other parts, thus keeping the
rollers continually freshly inked. Instead, however, of the ink rollers L, L,
and printing rollers i, an arrangement of ink fountain and tube, and printing
surface, such as is shewn in Fig. 7 may be used. This will require such a

page_text: position of the magnet D₁ as to allow the lever E' to have a nearly horizontal
position. In such case also the printing surfaces, though fixed and not
revolving, will be of the same relative size as before described.
The electro-magnets D, D, have their cores of flat soft iron, as thereby iron
of a more perfect fibrous character, and more capable of being uniformly
annealed can be obtained, and as a result the magnets can be more rapidly and
completely charged and discharged. The cores need not be more than about
one, or one a half sixteenths of an inch thick, by four or five sixteenths
wide, making magnets when wound about an inch by an inch and a quarter
in diameter. The ends of the levers E, E, when used as armatures may be
very light, and need not be wider than the cores of the magnets. Magnets
of the ordinary form of construction may, however, be used in the place of
those above described.
The several parts of the transmitting and recording portions of the instru-
ment are supported by suitable framework M, M, and their moveable parts
may be propelled by the same power, and they may be so connected that either
part may be thrown out of gear when not being used.
When type or letters are to be used, those generally known as block letters
with some variations are deemed preferable. The following form or style is
suitable, and it will be seen that they all are made or produced by five
elemental or combined impressions.
portioned width. Such type are set up to read as in print, and may be placed
in moveable cases, having a bottom and perpendicular sides, and of the width
of a single type. One side may open to allow of easier composing, and one
or both sides may have ribs to fit into corresponding nicks in the type, so
as to give greater stability to the type. These cases may have sharp points
on their under surfaces to penetrate an endless band which moves continuously
in one direction under the levers A. The letters may be of wood or any material
of sufficient substance to elevate the points of the levers A. The type being
carried along by the endless belt N, as the lower end of each lever A passes
over any part of the raised surface of the letter, the point c is brought in con-
tact with the plate d and the circuit closed, and a record made at the other

page_text: end of the line corresponding to the contact of the ends of the lever A with
the letter; and the combined record or impressions made by all the wires and
their recording apparatus will correspond with the whole surface brought in
contact with all the levers A. The size of the letters used at a transmitting
station has no necessary relation to the size of the recorded letter, which is
proportioned to the aggregate breadth or surface measurement of the impressing
surfaces, and which may be enlarged or diminished as desired. By propor-
tioning the size of the rollers carrying the endless belt N, and that of the paper
propelling rollers, the movement of the paper may be made equal to that of the
letters, so that the shape of the recorded letter will be the same as that of
the transmitting one, or the paper can be made to move faster or slower, and
the recorded letter be elongated or shortened.
The form and arrangement of the levers A, A, and the parts connected.
therewith for opening and closing the circuits, may be varied in many ways,
and the principle of action remain the same. The circuits may also be closed
by the mere contact of the levers with the letters, in which case, the letters
would require to be metallic, and would connect with the battery.
When the several levers A, A, connect with the battery by seperate wires,
the shaft B will be of hard rubber or a non-conductor; if such shaft is metallic
a single wire may connect it to the battery.
The arrangement and combination of the magnets and recording levers E, E,
and ink rollers, or ink fountains as shewn in Figs. 4, 7, are for use when the
record is to be printed or recorded by means of the electric current, when
acting mechanically to put the recording apparatus in motion and action.
When it is desired to apply my Invention so as to use the electric current
chemically, and make a chemical telegraph as it is called, the magnets and
the inking levers and apparatus will be removed, and in place thereof there
will be substituted and used metallic points with which the main wires will be
directly connected without the intervention of any magnets. The electric
current passes from the main wires through such metallic points, upon the
chemically prepared paper, and makes the record or impression in the same
manner as in ordinary chemical telegraphs. By greatly increasing the number
of wires figures of any shape and outline, as maps, charts, &c., can be traced or
copied with great rapidity, and with as great correctness as simple letters.
The use of five wires for the production or recording of capital letters is
deemed preferable, as such letters may be resolved into five parts or elements, or
combined impressions, each one of which can be made or produced by means
of a single wire; but it will be at once apparent that any one or all of the
impressions capable of being made by a single wire may be made by two

page_text: or more, and that therefore the number of wires to produce or make up any
one or more of such elemental parts may be increased without destroying or
changing essentially the numerical relation of the five substantive recording
surfaces and the five elemental divisions of the letters.
I do not claim generally the use of a number of wires in connection with
the transmission of the electric current from place to place, as such application
has long since been made by Soemmering, Steinheil, and others; but I claim,
as my Invention, and desire to have protected,-
1st, the combination and arrangement for the purpose of transmitting and
recording messages by means of electricity or electro-magnetism, of a series of
continuous wires each acting independantly, and having a seperate transmitting
and recording apparatus, but all acting in combination with each other, sub-
stantially as and for the purposes set forth.
2nd, the combination of the transmitting levers A, A, arranged substantially.
as described, with the series of wires as described.
3rd, the arrangement and combination of the recording levers E, E, carry-
ing or moving the inking mechanism or apparatus, with the electro-magnets
D, D, substantially as described, whereby the magnets act directly upon such
levers, which are made the armatures of the magnets.
4th, the combination of a series of magnets and recording levers, or appa-
ratus substantially as described, with a series of wires for the purposes set
forth.
5th, the combination of a number of transmitting levers and wires as
described, with a series of metallic points at the recording station, for making
a chemical record, substantially as set forth.
6th, the application and use of five seperate wires and their attachments,
corresponding to the five parts or elemental divisions of the letters, for the
purpose of transmitting and recording letters & figures, and whether made
and effected by five single wires, or by such wires increased as described, but
acting substantially the same as five wires.
7th, the whole instrument or apparatus constructed substantially as
described, for the purpose of transmitting and recording messages.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edmund Forman Barnes, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of July 1861.
EDMUND FORMAN BARNES. (L.S.)