IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO RECORDING OR PRINTING TELE- GRAPHS
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Richard Herring at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st July
1871.
I, RICHARD HERRING, of St. Mary's Road, Canonbury, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO RECORDING OR PRINTING TELE-
GRAPHS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of improvements in that class of printing or
recording telegraphic instruments which is provided with two styles,
such as that for which I in conjunction with Robert Alexander Novare
obtained Letters Patent bearing date October 28th, 1870, No. 2845, and
relates in the first place to an improved mode of operating the feed
rollers for the purpose of feeding forward the paper on which the signals
or marks are made by printing instruments, the object of this improve-
ment being to obviate the necessity of using clockwork for carrying
forward the paper.
In the accompanying Drawing are shewn diagrams representing
convenient modes of adapting my present improvements to printing or

page_text: recording telegraph instruments. Fig. 1 represents a side elevation of
the instrument, and Fig. 2 a plan view of the same.
In order to adapt the first part of my Invention to the telegraph
instrument I fix upon the stand A a vertical plate B, upon which
plate I mount the feeding rollers C and D whereby the paper is drawn
forward and through the machine. E represents the position of the
inking apparatus. At the back of the plate B is mounted (in suitable
bearings) an axle carrying a ratchet wheel F, and a spur wheel G,
indicated by the red line. The spur wheel G gears into a pinion upon
the axle of the lower feeding roller D. Upon the axle of the wheels F
and G I mount a rocking lever K, carrying a pawl which takes into
the teeth of the ratchet wheel F. This rocking lever K is connected
by a suitable link rod L to a vertical arm M fixed at or near the axis
of the levers N¹ which carry one of the styles for marking the dots upon
the paper. When therefore this lever is drawn down by the magnet R,
during the transmission of a signal the ratchet wheel F will be driven
round one tooth at a time by the pawl on the lever K, and the paper
will be fed or drawn forward by the feeding rollers C and D. The
roller E¹ of the inking apparatus is driven by toothed gearing actuated
by preference by the pinion H on the axle of the feeding roller D.
The second part of my Invention also relates to that class of printing
instruments which is provided with two styles, and is also shewn in
Figures 1 and 2.
The instrument is worked by two currents of electricity, and it has
for its object the so arranging the parts of the apparatus as to dispense
with the use of the relay and to enable the instrument to be worked.
directly from the line wire. In order to do this I secure to the stand
of the instrument an L shaped permanent magnet o. At the upper end
of the vertical limb of this magnet I pivot two pieces of iron or steel
P and P¹, to which are attached the vibrating levers N which carry the
marking styles. At the other extremity of the L shaped magnet are
secured vertically two cylindrical pieces of soft. iron R, R', surrounded
by coils of covered wire, thus forming an electro-magnet the polarity
of which will be changed according to the direction of the current which
may be transmitted through the enveloping wire. The two pieces of
steel P and P¹ serve as armatures to the electro-magnet and are kept
at a sufficient distance from its poles by means of two spiral springs
S, S¹, attached at the other end of the style levers.

page_text: It will now be understood that when no current is passing through
the machine the soft iron rods R will act merely as prolongations of
the permanent magnet O, and having an opposite polarity to that of the
vibrating levers P, P¹, will exercise a certain amount of attraction for
both these levers, but which attraction is overbalanced by the spiral
springs S¹, S¹. When however a current of electricity is passed through
the enveloping coils of wire in either direction, the soft iron rods R¹, R',
will be transferred into an electro-magnet, and the two free ends of the
rods R, R', will be endued with an opposite polarity, but as they already
possess magnetism by the influence of the permanent magnet O the
effect will be that the polarity of one end of the rods will be weakened
or altogether neutralized, whilst that of the other will be considerably
intensified and will overcome the tension of the spring S or S' and will
draw down the lever P or P' which is opposite to it, and with it the
lever N or N' and the style attached thereto. The travelling ribbon of
paper will thus be marked with the desired signal (either dot or dash).
On reversing the current of electricity the opposite effect will ensue;
the poles of the electro-magnet will be reversed, and the other lever P
or P¹ with its lever N or N¹ and style will be depressed so as to mark
the paper with another signal.
An obvious modification of this arrangement is shewn at Fig. 3, and
consists in so arranging the several parts of the same apparatus as to
hold the style off the paper by means of the permanent magnet, and to
release one or other of the style levers by causing the current to
depolarize one or other of the ends of the electro-magnet and thereby
allow the spiral spring S or S' to draw down the style on to the travelling
ribbon of paper.