IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING TELEGRAPHS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Cook, of Beaufort Villas, Brixton, in the
County of Surrey, Gentleman, and Henry Cook, of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PRINTING TELEGRAPHS."
Sealed the 14th February 1862, and dated the 30th October 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Cook and Henry
Cook at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on
the 30th October 1861. -
We, WILLIAM Cooк, of Beaufort Villas, Brixton, in the County of Surrey,
Gentleman, and HENRY COOK, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PRINTING TELEGRAPHS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention of improvements in printing telegraphs relates to that
description of instrument in which the visible signals that are made on the
paper are effected by the transmission of an electric current to the paper after
the latter has been prepared with chemical agents which are liable to decom-
position by the agency of electricity.
Our Invention consists in preparing the paper on which the despatches are
to be printed by the agency of electricity with a salt of manganese, which for
various reasons will be found more advantageous and useful than the chemical
agents usually employed for analogous purposes.
In carrying out our Invention we find it convenient and advantageous,
before submitting the paper to the chemical solution or salt of manganese,
to prepare it with an alkali, so that any free acid contained in the paper

page_text: or in the solution of manganese may be neutralized and prevented from
acting injuriously during the action of the current of electricity on the man-
ganese salt. It also prevents the decomposed salt from being re-dissolved in
the solution.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Cook and Henry Cook in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 30th April 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
Cook, of Beaufort Villas, Brixton, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, and
HENRY COOK, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent by Her Letters Patent bearing date the Thirtieth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto us, the said William Cook and Henry Cook, Her special license that we,
the said William Cook and Henry Cook, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said William Cook and Henry Cook, our
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING TELEGRAPHS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that we, the said William Cook and Henry Cook, by an
instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal
of one of us, 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 William Cook, on behalf of myself and
of the said Henry Cook, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement (that is to say):-
"
Our Invention of Improvements in Printing Telegraphs relates to that
description of instrument in which the visible signals that are made on the
paper are effected by the transmission of an electric current to the paper after

page_text: the latter has been prepared with chemical agents which are liable to decom-
position by the agency of electricity.
Our Invention consists in preparing the paper (on which the despatches are
to be printed by the agency of electricity) with a salt of manganese, which for
various reasons will be found more advantageous and useful than the chemical
agents usually employed for analogous purposes.
In carrying out our Invention we find it convenient and advantageous,
before submitting the paper to the chemical solution or salt of manganese, to
prepare it with an alkali, so that any free acid contained in the paper or in
the solution of manganese may be neutralized and prevented from acting
injuriously during the action of the current of electricity on the manganese
salt. The alkali will also prevent the decomposed salt from being re-dissolved
in the solution. Various salts of manganese may be employed for effecting the
purpose which is the object of our Invention, as many different salts of man-
ganese are decomposable by the agency of electricity, but we have found that
practically the nitrate of manganese is preferable to any other salt, and in fact
is comparatively the only one that can be used with facility and advantage.
The solution of the nitrate of manganese which we employ should be of about
the specific gravity of 1-320, and before preparing the paper with the solution
of nitrate of manganese it should be steeped in an alkaline solution, say,
mono-carbonate of soda or potash, the solution well drained off, and afterwards
soaked in the solution of nitrate of manganese, when the paper will be ready
for use.
Having now described our Invention of "Improvements in Printing Tele-
graphs," and having explained the manner of carrying the same into effect,
we claim as the Invention secured to us by Letters Patent as aforesaid, pre-
paring the paper used in certain descriptions of printing telegraphs with the
nitrate or other suitable salt of manganese, as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Cook, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
FRED. WALKDEN,
66, Chancery Lane.
WILLIAM COOK. (L.S.)