Improvements in Transmitters for Morse Alphabet and Printing Telegraphy.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 11th Oct., 1899-Accepted, 11th Oct., 1900
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Transmitters for Morse Alphabet and Printing
Telegraphy.
We, Dr. LUIGI CEREBOTANI, Professor, of No. 63, Sendlinger Strasse, and CARL
MORADELLI, Purveyor, of No. 2, Baum Strasse, both in the City of Munich, in
the Kingdom of Bavaria and German Empire, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particu-
larly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
-
Transmitters for sending messages, whether in the Morse alphabet or by print-
ing by means of key boards, are already known, but none of such instruments
are of the same simple and reliable construction as the present arrangement,
which, moreover, possesses the advantage that several messages may be trans-
mitted simultaneously.
The arrangement is such that on depressing the necessary key, the latter
remains in such position until it has caused the sign to be transmitted. This
is effected by a cylinder commencing to rotate on the key being depressed, and
by contacts being made during the rotations corresponding to the letters to be
transmitted. The key then springs up again and the cylinder on having made
a full rotation stops. The chief feature of the device is a metal cylinder divided
into as many zones as there are keys. On the surface of each zone are either
bright places in which case the surface of the remaining part is non-conducting;
or there are different sized projections provided in the form of teeth or the like.
These bright places, or teeth, serve the purpose of closing an electric circuit as
soon as the respective key is depressed and such a place or tooth passes a contact
spring. Contact between spring and cylinder may be made at each spring, in
which case depression of a key simply effects closing of the circuit by the spring
concerned. Or the contact or connection of the spring at the zone in question
may take place through depression of the key whereby the latter tips a lever
which causes a current to pass. Peculiarities of the present invention are the
manner in which:-
1. Depression of the key, through the medium of' suitable wheel-work, rotates
the common cylinder;
2. The key without being operated by the finger remains depressed until the
contacts have been made.
3. The contacts are made; and
4. After rotation, the cylinder stops.
Starting and braking of the wheel-work, that is, rotation and stopping of the
cylinder, is effected through the displacement of an obstruction on the depres-
sion of the key until the contacts have been made. The retention of the key
in depressed position is caused by its engaging with a catch-bar immediately
upon depression, the engagement being interrupted as soon as the contacts are
made. The contacts are made by the spring which through depression of the
key comes into metallic connection with (and solely with) the line pole of the
transmitting battery, this metallic connection being continued through the
cylinder and line-wire, which runs from the cylinder to the receiving apparatus.

page_text: One form of carrying out the invention is shown on the accompanying draw-
ing.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation, and
Fig. 2 a plan view of the apparatus.
Fig. 3 is a side view, partly in section, showing a lever-key, as arranged
when the key operates in connection with a lever to make the contact,
Fig. 4 shows the starting and braking device.
Fig. 5 shows a portion of this device in connection with a key.
Fig. 6 is a view of Fig. 5 looking in the direction of the arrow v.
Fig. 7 is a view of the device for holding and freeing the key.
Fig. 8 shows a view of F. 7 looking in the direction of the arrow r¹.
Fig. 9 shows the course of the current.
Fig. 10 the same of a duplex transmitter.
Fig. 11 shows a second form of the transmitter.
Fig. 12 is a perspective view of a simple transmitter with permanently slid-
ing contact springs and
Fig. 13 is a perspective view of a duplex transmitter with lever-keys.
C (Figs. 1 and 2) is a metallic cylinder rotating about its axis. Motion can
be imparted to it by means of the wheel-work U. The cylinder C is divided
into as many zones as there are letters, and these zones throughout the greater
part of their surface have longer or shorter bright conducting places, as shown.
in the figure. The black places denote the non-conducting material or spaces.
These bright places during rotation of the cylinder comes in connection with a
contact spring f (Figs. 1, 2 and 3), which completes a battery circuit. The
contact spring as either permanently in connection with the cylinder, conduct-
ing the current only when the required key is depressed (cp. Fig. 12); or the
spring only comes in contact with the cylinder when the key is depressed. In
the following description only the second case is considered.
Fig. 9 shows how the current is made on the depression of the key and how
it runs through the spring f to the receiving station. One pole of the battery S
is connected to earth, and the other mole is in metallic connection with the
bearing and key t. If now the key is brought out of the horizontal by depres-
sion of the button, and the spring f. which is likewise in metallic connection
with the key. comes in contact with the cylinder C, i.e. with the zone corres-
ponding to the key, the current during rotation of the cylinder runs through
the line to the receiver M. and thence to earth, as often as bright parts pass,
the period for which the current flows depending upon the length of the bright
parts. Suppose now, that the number and length of the bright parts are those
of a Morse alphabet letter, it is clear that depression of a key during rotation
of the cylinder will result in the transmission of a Morse letter to the Morse
apparatus M.
Assume that the rotation of the cylinder is the result of depression of the key,
and that continuous depression is not necessary during rotation, and finally
that cessation of rotation occurs simultaneously with the springing up of the
key. This being the case. it is obvious that an instrument is provided, capable
of transmitting complete Morse signs, and no further instruction is necessary
than such as regards momentary depression of the correct key. which needs no
skilled training. Furthermore, the instrument provides for high speed in the
transmission of despatches, this depending entirely upon the manual dexterity
of the sender.
Figs. 3, 4, 5. 6. 7 and 8 show the manner in which the assumptions mentioned
above are realised by the present apparatus. Each of the keys (Fig. 3) moves
about a common axis d, up and down between the stop rails kk. Each key is
provided with a nose 7 which takes under the bar on depression of the key
(ep. Fig. 7). The further end of the key on rising lifts a rod in (Figs. 1, 5 and 6)
and approaches the spring f to the cylinder i.e, to the corresponding zone.

page_text: The disc a (Figs. 1 and 2) is rigidly connected with the cylinder and is rotated
in the direction of the arrow (Fig. 4 and 5) by the wheel-work U, immediately
the pawl levers turning at the fulcrum is disengaged from the nose a'. This
disengagement is effected when a key is momentarily depressed. The levers is
drawn towards the rod m by a spiral spring V, and only when the rod m is
lifted can the end of the lever be freed from the nose . Each end of the rod m
is supported rigidly on an arm of the bent lever turning about the points-e,
(Figs. 1, 2 and 6). The result of this arrangement is that depression of a key
causes uniform elevation. of the rod m. When, however, the rod m is thus
raised by the depression of a key, the levers will likewise. be raised, since the
rod m under the levers bears upwards and towards the right. The disc and
cylinder C will now rotate, whilst the levers will glide over the surface of the
disc a and stop the rotation immediately it engages with the nose a¹. From
the arrangement (Figs. 4, 6 and 5) it is clear how the cylinder is caused to rotate
and complete a révolution as soon as a key is depressed:
Figs. 7 and 8 show, firstly, how the key after depression remains in such
position; secondly, why it rises when contact is made and thirdly, why the
cylinder after a complete revolution comes to rest. The disc (Figs. 1 and 2).
is also rigidly connected with the cylinder Cand is provided with a nose a (Fig. 7)
which when the cylinder is at rest takes up a position above the axle, opposite
to the nose a¹ of the disc a. The lever (Figs and 7) is mounted on the
bracket and turns about the axle h. A spiral spring f¹ holds the lever v to
the surface of the disc b, so that the lever, on the cylinder rotating, first rises from
the surface of the disc and then snaps back upon the surface again.
The lever has rigidly attached to it the frame n, w, h (Fig. 8), so that when
it rises, this frame moves to the left, and then springs back towards the right
as soon as the nose of the levere snaps down as described. Thus depression
of a key causes the nose (Figs. 3 and 7) to engage the bar w, through the
spring being for the moment overcome, whereupon the key can only rise
when the bar w is moved aside; further, the depression of the key operates, as
described, the device whereby the wheel-work is started. From this it is clear
that the key upon depression automatically remains in such position, until the
nose of the disc b reaches the highest point; the bar will then spring from
the nose and the key under the influence of the spring springs up.
Furthermore, since during depression of the key contacts are made, causing
transmission of a letter to a distant place, it is obvious that the present invention
forms an extremely simple means by which anyone without any special technical
knowledge being necessary, may send a message with rapidity and certainty.
Fig. 11 shows a slightly modified form of the transmitter. All parts as regards
starting and stopping of motion are the same as before, except that the device
to be moved is here the contact spring itself, instead of the cylinder. If we
imagine the contact spring f connected with an axle o (Fig. 11) in such manner
that this axle represents the axle of the cylinder, and that the contact spring
on stopping of the axle takes up the position shown in the figure: further, a
stationary disc C provided with four long contact strips 16 and below the
latter four small ones ²²-depression of a key effects. firstly, the rotation of f
in the direction of the arrow; secondly, the sending of currents at those strips b¹
or a², which depression of the key brings into communication with the pole of
a transmitting battery. Suppose, for instance, the letter A is to be transmitted,
the key A is momentarily depressed, bringing about the operations illustrated
by Figs. 4. 5 and 7.
The key A is in electrical connection with the first small strip a² and the
second longer one . The positive pole of the battery S is connected with the
key A and other keys also. If now, A is depressed, metallic connection is first
made to the small strip and then to the second large strip . If then, the
contact spring with brush passes over the small strip 2, a short current impulse
passes from the battery S through the key A, coating a², brush f, axle o, line L,

page_text: Morse apparatus M, to earth. When the brush comes to the long strip ba
second current passes in the same manner, but for a longer period. The result
is that a
point and a dash are transmitted to the Morse apparatus, i.e, the Morse
alphabet letter. A.
Thus the arrangement may be such that the depression of a key causes rota-
tion of a cylinder, the surface of which passes over as many contact springs as
there are keys (Fig. 1). Or, a common contact spring f (Fig. 11) may rotate
over from 1 to 4 metal coatings or strips, which by means of the same depressed
key are connected. with the pole of a transmitting battery. In either case the
result is the same: the apparatus can be used to send Morse signs, that is letters
composed of points and dashes.
•
The present invention is also well adapted for making contacts for a printing
telegraph. The apparatus could be used in connection with Cerebotani's print-
ing telegraph for local traffic, (see British Patent No. 10040 May 12th 1899,)
with which a number of current impulses in one direction set the type, and then
an impulse of current in the opposite direction effects the printing. In this
case the arrangement would be such that on depressing a key, instead of the
contacts forming the Morse signs, the number of contacts would be made which
would set the required type at the receiver, and then a contact (the same with
each key) which would effect the transmission of a current impulse from a second
battery in the opposite direction. For this purpose, in the case of a cylinder
rotating, an extra disc c (Fig. 2) may be provided, by means of which, at each
rotation, after the type-setting contacts corresponding to the depressed key, a
contact is made and thus an impulse of current passed from the second battery.
This transmitting apparatus, as is obvious without detailed explanation, can
also be employed for duplex and multiplex telegraphy by means of Cerebotani's
polarised relay, (see British Patent No. 14194, July 10th 1899). Both in con-
nection with the cylinder C (Fig. 1) as also with the disc C (Fig. 11), several
keyboards may be employed, in such manner (1.) that each keyboard sends a
different kind of current, to which only the corresponding receiver responds;
(2.) that the transmission of the current only takes place at that fraction of the
stationary disc or of the time of a cylinder rotation, which corresponds to each
key-board. Fig. 13 shows such a duplex transmitter with rotating cylinder.
Fig. 10 shows diagrammatically the arrangement and the course of the current
when this duplex transmitter is employed. The surface of the cylinder C2 com-
prises two zones 4 and 5. The one zone 4 is in connection with the key t of a
key-board on the right, the other zone 5 with the key of a second keyboard on
the left. For the current to be transmitted by the key t, a battery S (which for
instance, sends plus currents) is provided; and for currents through the key t¹,
a battery S (which sends minus currents). If now, the key t and at the same
time the key of the right hand keyboard is depressed, the cylinder 0 and
zones 4 and 5 will rotate. The bright parts, or projections of the zone 5 (which
only occupy a part of the circumference) come into contact with the contact
spring and momentary currents pass from S¹, the course of which is , f3,
L M², M, to earth; these currents find expression at that receiver M (and
only there) which responds to minus currents. Hereupon, however, i.e. in the
second fraction of the same rotation, the bright parts, or projections of the
zone 4 come in connection with the contact spring f and currents thus pass from S
over d, f, L M M¹ and to earth, these currents finding expression only, at the
receiver M2 which responds to plus currents.
actuating a lever
permanently bear
The circuit being
In the modification shown in Figure 12, instead of keys
device as described spring contacts are employed which
against the rotating cylinder C, so effecting a sliding contact.
completed by pressing down the corresponding key p on to the end of its spring
contact.
Thus in this modification the current "is closed immediately by the depress-
ing of a key p, whilst in the construction shown in Figures 1, 2, 3, by depress-

page_text: ing the key p, the spring f is moved into contact with the cylinder C and closes
the circuit.
t
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is :-
two or
1. A transmitting apparatus for Morse alphabet and printing telegraphy
whereby the transmission of a complete Morse character or the setting and print-
ing of a type is effected by means of current impulses on the momentary depres-
sion of a key, characterised by the arrangement by which
more sets of keys can be employed to send various simultaneous
intermittent messages, consisting of a cylinder (C, Fig. 1) divided into
zones carrying all the contact surfaces for exciting current impulses correspond-
ing to a depressed key; or of a contact arm (f, Fig. 11) rotating on a disc, said
arm or cylinder commencing to rotate on the depression of a key, whereby the
necessary contacts are made and the required,current impulses caused to flow to
a receiver, substantially as described.
2. A transmitting apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, comprising lever keys (p),
a cylinder (C) divided into zones of conducting and non-conducting parts cor-
responding to the separate keys and wheel-work for rotating said cylinder,
springs (f) borne against said cylinder on depression of a key, means for start-
ing and stopping the rotation of said cylinder on depression of a key whereby
contacts are made causing current impulses to pass corresponding to the character
represented by the depressed key, consisting of a rod (m) carried by bent arms
mounted on an axle rocked by the rising end of the depressed key, a lever (s)
one arm of which is raised by the rod (m) on rocking against the action of
spring pressure, a disc (a) having a projection (a) which normally engages with
the other arm of said lever (s), but is released on depression of said key, means
whereby the key is automatically maintained in depressed position, consisting
of a nose (1), on said key adapted to take under a bar (w) of a frame rocking
about an axle and borne against said nose (7) by spring pressure, and means
whereby the key is released on completion of the required contacts, consisting
of a disc (b) on the same shaft as the said disc (a), provided with a nose (r) which
raises the nose of a lever (e) mounted fast on the same axle as the frame, all
substantially as and for the purposes herein before set forth.
3. A modification of the apparatus as claimed in Claim 2, whereby instead of.
the cylinder, an arm (f) rotates over the face of a disc carrying contact pieces,
whereby when the key is depressed current impulses corresponding to the char-
acter represented by the depressed key are caused to pass, substantially as
described with reference to Fig. 11.
4. A modification of the apparatus as claimed in Claim 2, whereby instead
of the keys actuating a lever device in order to cause a current to flow, the keys
on depression simply make contact with springs which permanently bear against
the rotating cylinder, for the purpose of closing the circuit, substantially as
described and shown with reference to Fig. 12.
Doted this 11th day of October 1899
BOULT, WADE & KILBURN,
Agents for the Applicants.