IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR TRANSMITTING POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE CURRENTS OF ELECTRICITY
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Sykes, of Pimlico, in the County of
Middlesex, Electrician; for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR TRANSMITTING POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE CURRENTS OF ELECTRICITY."
Sealed the 13th April 1865, and dated the 14th October 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Sykes at.
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th October 1864.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT SYKES, of Pimlico, in the County of Middlesex, Elec
trician, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS POR TRANSMITTING POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE CURRENTS OF ELEC
TRICITY," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in constructing apparatus for transmitting currents
of electricity as bereafter described.. To a frame I fix what I term a top
metal plate and put it always in communication by means of a wire with the
negative pole of a battery. I fix on another part of the frame a metal block,
hereafter called the bottom block, with two points of contact, and put it
constantly in communication with the positive pole of a battery. From the
top plate, carried by projecting brackets, depend two metal studs. At the
back part of the frame I fix two metal standards, one in communication withi
:..

page_text: the earth and the other with a line wire. To each of these two standards
I attach the back ends of a double leaf or tweezer spring. The open and
inner ends of these springs project over the points of contact of the bottom
-metal-block, but do not touch-them.--When the instrument is at rest the
upper leaves of the tweezer springs rest against the under surface-of-a-metal
cross head affixed on the inner end of a shaft which passes through the front
frame of the apparatus, and which carries the handle whereby the instrument is
worked. On putting the handle on one side it brings one end of the cross head
down upon one end of one of the tweezer springs and forces both leaves
in contact with the bottom block, at the same time the other end of the cross
head being raised allows of the upper leaf of the other tweezer spring making
contact with the metal stud above it and depending from the top metal plate,
thus by turning the handle to one side or the other positive or negative
currents are transmitted.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Robert Sykes in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 13th April 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT SYKES, of Pimlico, in the County of Middlesex, Electrician, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Robert Sykes, Her special licence that I, the said William Robert
Sykes, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Robert Sykes, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR TRANSMITTING POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE CURRENTS OF ELECTRICITY,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Robert Sykes,
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

page_text: 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 William Robert Sykes, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
My Invention consists in constructing apparatus for transmitting currents
of electricity, as hereafter described and represented in the accompanying
Drawings.
Figure 1 is a front elevation, Figure 2 a side elevation, and Figure 3 a
section through the line A, B, of Figures 1 and 2.
To a frame a, a, I fix what I term a top metal plate band put it always in
communication, by means of a wire c, with the negative pole of a battery. I
fix on another part of the frame a, a, a metal block d, hereafter called the
bottom block, with two points of contact e, e, and put it constantly in com-
munication by a wire f with the positive pole of a battery. From the top
plate carried by projecting brackets g, g, depend two metal studs h, h. At
the back part of the frame a, a, I fix two metal standards i,j; the standard i
is in communication with the earth by a wire k, and the other standard j with
a line wire which leads to an ordinary signalling apparatus, as shown. To
each of the two standards i, j, I attach the back ends of a double leaf or
tweezer spring m. The open and inner ends of these springs project over the
points of contact e, e, of the bottom metal block, but do not touch them.
When the instrument is at rest the upper leaves of the tweezer springs rest
against the under surface of a metal cross head n affixed on the inner end of
a shaft o which passes through the front frame of the apparatus, and which
carries the handle p whereby the instrument is worked. On putting the
handle p on one side it brings one end of the cross head n down upon one end of
one of the tweezer springs m and forces both leaves of that spring in contact
with the bottom block d, at, the same time the other end of the cross head being
raised allows of the upper leaf of the other tweezer spring m making contact
with the metal stud h above it and depending from the top metal plate b.
Thus by turning the handle p to one side or the other positive or negative
currents are transmitted.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim constructing
apparatus for transmitting positive and negative currents of electricity with a

page_text: top metal plate, bottom block, tweezer springs and cross head, arranged and
acting substantially as herein-before described and illustrated in the accom-*
panying Drawings.
In witness whereof the said William Robert Sykes, have hereunto set