IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING Telegraphi INSTRUMENTS
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Herbert William Higgins, of No. 17, Cornhill,
in the City of London, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN PRINTING Telegraphi INSTRUMENTS."
Sealed the 12th June 1877, and dated the 14th April 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Herbert William
Higgins at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 14th April
1877.
FREDERICK HERBERT WILLIAM HIGGINS, of No. 17, Cornhill, in the City of
London, Civil Engineer. “ IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING TELEGRAPH INSTRUMENTS."
The object of the Invention is mainly to construct a printing telegraph instru-
ment, which can be worked on a single wire without the aid of clockwork for
driving the type wheel.
The instrument consists of the following parts:-Either one or two type wheels
fixed to a common axis and driven by a propelment, which is so constructed as to
prevent the momentum of the type wheels carrying them beyond the desired point.
For this purpose two pallets, carried by a rocking lever, act alternately on top and
bottom of a ratchet wheel on the axis of the type wheel, and there are pin stops
for the pallets to come against at the end of their forward movement. There is
also an arrangement for bringing the type wheel to the zero point.
The armature which carries the pallets is composed of iron and brass, and is
magnetized from a large fixed permanent magnet through the arbor of which it
forms a part.
The transmitter sends alternate currents; the currents pass through or cause
other currents to pass through coils of electro-magnets which are placed on either
side of the magnetized armature.
The printing is effected by the current being diverted by a magnetic_switch
which is made insensitive, and only acts when the current is caused to flow for
a slightly longer flow than when the type wheels are being rotated.
The circuit of the type magnets is closed at such times, and the whole force of
the battery passes through the printing magnet, or a separate battery may be used for
operating the printing.

page_text: The printing from one wheel or the other is controlled by an arrangement which
traverses a shield to and fro to cover or uncover the paper below the wheel to be
printed from, and at the same time brings a support below the printing pad beneath
it and unlocks the printing pad under the one not being printed from.
Where figures are not much required one type wheel and a narrower band of
paper and lighter printing mechanism may be employed. The arrangement will
continue the same, but a greater number of contacts per revolution of the type
wheel will be required, or the ten figures required may be disposed on opposite
sides of a separate type wheel.
Sixty or more characters may be used, but for the distribution of general
intelligence thirty-six will be sufficient, with a corresponding key board. For very
long distances an escapement and train of clockwork are employed, the other
arrangements remaining the same. But the shunting magnet puts in operation a
local battery instead of diverting the main current. The type wheel axis is con-
nected to and obtains motion from the train by a light intermediate coiled spring ;
the pulsations are not therefore sensibly felt by the train.
Any form of transmitter which sends alternate currents and can be stopped on
either, and when no current is passing, may be employed, provided the motion be
regular. Where a steam, gas, or other engine is employed to produce electricity
for a large system, relays may be dispensed with, and the necessary contacts be
made by cains or eccentrics driven by the motor or engine.
To detach the armature promptly from the electro to which it was last attracted
two springs are employed, which are of such tension that very little force is needed
to repel it; or the repelling may be cut off shortly after having attracted the
armature so as to concentrate the whole force of the current on the other. This
may be effected by a polarized switch alternately closing the circuit of the electro-
magnets, according to the direction of the current. The inking roller is made of
cloth covered with Utrecht velvet.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Frederick Herbert William Higgins in the Great Seal Patent Oflice
on the 13th October 1877.
FREDERICK HERBERT WILLIAM HIGGINS, of No. 17, Cornhill, in the City of
London, Civil Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING TELEGRAPH INSTRUMENTS."
The object of the Invention is mainly to construct a printing telegraph instru-
ment which can be worked on a single wire without the aid of clockwork for
driving the type wheel.
The instrument consists of the following parts:--Either one or two type wheels
fixed to a common axis and driven by a propelment, which is so constructed as to
prevent the momentum of the type wheels carrying them beyond the desired point.
For this purpose two pallets, carried by a rocking lever, act alternately on top and
bottom of a ratchet wheel on the axis of the type wheel, and there are pin stops for
the pallets to come against at the end of their forward movement. There is also an
arrangement for bringing the type wheel to the zero point.
The armature which carries the pallets is composed of iron and brass, and is
magnetized from a large fixed permanent magnet through the arbor of which it
forms a part.
The transmitter sends alternate currents; the currents pass through (or cause
other currents to pass through) coils of electro-magnets which are placed on either
side of the magnetized arinaturc.
The printing is effected by the current being diverted by a magnetic switch
which is made rather insensitive, and only acts when the current is caused to flow
for a slightly longer time than when the type wheels are being rotated.

page_text: and has the armature of the magnet fixed to it. Where only one type wheel is
used the printing lever simply supports at its end a pad over which and below the
type wheel the strip of paper to receive the impressions is led, bnt where two type
wheels are employed, as the Drawing represents, other arrangements become
requisite, which I will presently describe. In either case the strip of paper after
leaving the printing lever is passed over the roller M, where a nipping pawl N
acts upon it. The pawl N receives its movement from an arm L², extending from
the printing lever, and it draws the paper forward each time that the lever moves
up to print. A second pawl, not shown, acts to prevent the paper moving back
with the pawl N.
The types are kept constantly inked by the ink roller O, which rests lightly upon
them. Stops P control the motion of the printing lever. Q are the coils of the
electro-magnet, which determines the direction which the current takes in its
passage through the instrument; it is shown separately in elevation at Figure 5,
and its operation is to put the coils K out of circuit so long as it is required that the
type wheels should continue in movement; and when the printing is required to take
place it places these coils in circuit and puts out the coils A. The magnet Q is
provided with an armature R pivotted at R', and having an arm R² carrying a
contact spring, which when the armature is held off the magnet by its spring
makes contact with the insulated standard S, but when the armature is drawn
down by the magnet through a sufficient distance this contact is broken and
another contact is made with a standard T. To follow the effect of this it will be
necessary to trace the connections of the instrument, commencing at the coupling
scrow U; the current passes to the coils Q, but if, as we will suppose, the currents
are of the rapidly alternating description employed to rotate the type wheels they
will not cause the armature to descend sufficiently to break the upper contact. The
currents then pass next through the coils A, then by a connection shown in
Figure 3 they reach the frame of the instrument, and through this metal they are
conducted to the armature R, and thence to the standard S, which is in connection
with the other coupling screw V, by which the instrument is connected in circuit.
When the right type has been brought round, and it is desired to print, the trans-
mitting instrument maintains a current of one sign for a longer time, and then the
armature R leaves its upper contact and completes its lower one.
Tracing as before from the coupling screw U the course of the currents is now as
follows: They first traverse the coils Q, they then pass to the standard T, and so
.to the armature R, and to the metal of the frame, thence through the coils K of the
printing magnet to the coupling V.
Where the circuit is long it is sometimes desirable to modify the arrangement by
employing a local battery to work the printing lever, in which case the contacts for
this local battery are made by means of the armature R.
I will now describe the arrangement which is employed to enable the operator
at the transmitting instrument to ensure that the type wheels of all the receiving
instruments in circuit come to the zero point simultaneously and in unison with the
transmitter; W is a worm fixed upon the axis of the type wheels; and W1 is a stop
pin, which the axis also carries; X is a lever working upon a loose joint at X', and
carrying a pin X, which by the weight of the lever and by a light spring is held
down so that it enters between the threads of the worm. The worm then causes
the lever to move laterally, and if this movement is continued for two or three
rotations of the type wheel it brings a shoulder on the end of the lever X into the
path of the stop pin W, and when the pin comes against the shoulder the rotation
of the type wheels is mechanically arrested at the zero point, and no further motion
takes place, although the alternating currents may continue to be transmitted
through the coils A. In the ordinary working of the instrument however before
the lever X has been moved far enough to arrest the motion of the type wheel the
pause for printing is made, the printing lever rises, and as it does so the pro-
jection L upon it strikes up the lever X, lifting the pin X¹ out of the worm, and
the spring then draws the lever and pin back to the starting point. Thus it is only

page_text: when two or three complete rotations of the type wheel is made without any pause
for printing that the arrangements described for setting to zero are operative.
The arrangement which determines which of the two type wheels shall print
upon the paper is as follows:-The printing lever L carries two pads L³, one for
each of the type wheels; and these pads are not fixed to the lever L but upon arins
pivotted to the lever at L; L' are feeble springs which sustain the pads, but allow
them to yield to a light pressure, so that they are inoperative for printing unless
otherwise sustained. This additional support is given to the pad which is required
to print the paper (by pressing it up to the type wheel) by means of the block Y.
This block is carried upon a frame Y capable of sliding transversely upon the
lever L, and connected by a link with the T form lever Z, the fulcrum of which is
upon a bracket fixed to the printing lever; the transverse sliding of the frame Y¹
to shift the block Y from one printing pad to the other is effected by working the
type wheels round until one or other of the two pins I on its axis is brought to
such a position beneath the axis that when the printing lever rises the head of the
lever Z is obstructed by the pin I¹, the lever Ź then has to yield, and the lateral
movement of the frame Y is effected.
There are blanks on the type wheels, so that no printing takes place at the time
when the pins l¹ operate. One pin I causes the movement of the frame Y¹ to the
right hand and the other to the left. There is an interval of one step of the pro-
pelment between the pins. The frame Y¹ also carries a shield of thin and flexible
sheet brass, this shield is between the paper and the type wheels. There is a slot
in the shield, which permits one type wheel to print, and the other type wheel nt
the time of printing comes in contact with the surface of the shield, and so cannot
mark the paper. The shield yields to the pressure of the type wheel, and so does
the free pad L immediately beneath, so that the full force of the blow is available
to bring the paper into contact with the other type wheel. Sometimes for the
purpose of aiding the working of the propelment I connect two springs c, e, with
the propelment arm E in the manner represented in Figure 6. The springs are
adjusted so that they are nearly but not quite competent to detach the tongues B
from the magnets when no current is passing in the coils. I also with the same
object cause the coils A on either side of the tongues to be short circuited and auto-
matically thrown out of operation as soon as the tongues recedo from them so far
that they cease to act with advantage. The coils remain short circuited until the
tongues return within their effective range. A simple way of effecting this is shown
in Figure 6. The lever E is put into metallic connection with the wire which
couples the coils on the right side of the tongues with those on the left; and it also
carries two contact-making springs, which, as the lever vibrates alternately, make
contact with the two studs c¹, and so the connections being as the Figure indicates,
the coils are at the proper times shunted and their resistances eliminated from the
circuit. When the circuit is long I employ a clockwork train, and in the place of a
propelment an anchor escapement. To give motion to the escapement I cause a
pin fixed in a tongue (similar to B) to engage with horns on the escapement axis
in the manner indicated in Figure 7, so that the play of the tongue between the
poles is short as compared with that of the escapement pallets. The last wheel of
the driving train, which is mounted upon the same axis with the escapement wheel,
is not fixed upon the axis, but it is able to turn upon it; and thero is a coiled
spring connecting the wheel with the axis in the manner indicated in Figure 8.
This arrangement admits of the driving train running with a regular, or nearly
regular, motion, whilst the movement of the escapement wheel and the type wheel
in connection therewith is intermittent. In this way a higher speed of working
can be attained than would be otherwise possible.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I claim,—
First. The construction of printing telegraph instruments, substantially as
described.

page_text: Second. The automatic arrangements for alternately diverting the current from
the type wheel coils A and from the printing coils K, substantially as described.
Third. The arrangements in connection with the printing lever L by which the
transmitter is able to determine from which of the type wheels the impression shall
be taken, substantially as described.
Fourth. The arrangements, substantially as described in respect to Figures 6, to
enable the vibratory motion of the tongue B to be maintained by comparatively
feeble currents.
Fifth. The arrangements, substantially as described in respect to Figures 7 and 8,
to be made use of when a clockwork driving train is employed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Herbert William Higgins, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twefth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
FH WHIGGINS (1.9)