CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
HIGHTON, of Rugby, in the County of Warwick, Clerk, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Tenth day of July (One thousand eight hundred and
forty-four), in the eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Henry Highton, my exors,
adñiors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Henry Highton, my exors, adiñiors, and assigns,
and such others as I, the said Henry Highton, my exors, adiñors, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter, during the continuance of the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Islands of Guernsey,
Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies
and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC
TELEGRAPHS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said Henry Highton, to particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and to cause the same to
be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said partly-recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereto had, will more fully
and at large appear,

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Highton, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be fully described and set forth
in and by the following statement and Specification thereof, reference being
had to the accompanying Drawings (which I declare to be and to form part
of this my statement and Specification), by the letters and numeral figures
marked thereon for the purpose of such reference, that is to say :—
My Invention consists in and has reference to the principles of construction
and the modes of arrangement of the mechanical parts, and also the several
combinations of the same, as such several matters are herein-after described
and set forth and referred to, as regards my application of the same to the
object set forth and referred to in and by the title of the Letters Patent
granted unto me, the said Henry Highton, as herein-before recited.
The particular nature and intention of my said Invention I declare to
consist in forming and constructing an apparatus or mechanical arrangements
for the purposes of communicating signals of notification between distant
points or places, as, among other applications, between the terminii or the
intermediate stations of railroads and other ways and lines of transit or con-
veyance from place to place, and this by the agency and through the means
of electricity. I declare that I carry such the particular nature and intention
of my said Invention into practical organisation and effect in manner following,
that is to say:
For the sake of clearness and brevity, let it be supposed that a communi-
cation of signals is to be made from London to Liverpool, for this purpose
there must be one or more wires insulated from the earth extending between
the two places. At London I have first an Armstrong's hydro-electrical
machine, or any modification of that machine on the same principles, or à
powerful electrical machine of any of the ordinary constructions. Secondly,
I have a Leyden jar or a Leyden battery, or any similar known contrivance
for effecting the like purposes; this I charge from the electrical machine, and
to the said jar or battery 1 attach a Lane's discharging electrometer, or a
similar contrivance, for the purpose of regulating the power and frequency of
the discharges of the jar or battery. Thirdly, I have an instrument which
I denominate a transmitter, and which I describe as follows:-There are
three radial arms or branches of equal length, they are formed of some sub-
stance non-conductive of electricity, and they are set on one common centre,
which is at liberty to revolve in a horizontal plane on a vertical axis. These
radial arms or branches are set at equal distances from each other, or they
form with each other angles of one hundred and twenty degrees. Let each

page_text: of these radii terminate in a metallic ball, the ball at the extremity of one of
them (a in the Figure marked Figure 1), having a metallic communication
with the wire between London and Liverpool, and the two other balls (b and c
in the Figure) communicating with the earth and with each other. The wire
communicating between the ball a and the wire from London to Liverpool,
and also the wire communicating between the balls b and c and the earth,
are both of them made sufficiently slack in their tension to allow the three
radial arms above described to revolve about the centre on which they are
placed, or the required quantity or length of adjustment necessary for that
purpose may be given or provided for by setting helical or other springs on
one or both of the terminations of such wire, which will thus possess the
necessary elasticity. The wires must also be so arranged as to join their respec-
tive balls on different sides of the wheel a, b, c, in order to prevent the pos-
sibility of their coming into contact with each other, or they may be brought
through the centre of the wheel and along the radial arms, care being taken
that they are kept insulated from each other. I also take two metallic balls
d and e, and fix them so that when d is in contact with a, e shall be in contact
with 6, and so that d and e shall slightly press upon a and b, in order that
the operator when turning the wheel may thus be made aware when the balls
are in contact. The ball is put in metallic communication with the electro-
meter, and e with the outer coating of the Leyden jar or battery; now, when
a is in contact with d, and b with e, every discharge of the battery will pass
to Liverpool. When the wheel is turned so that touches d and c touches c,
the discharge will pass from 6 to c and produce no effect at Liverpool.
When a touches e and c touches d, then the electrical fluid accumulated on
the outer coating of the battery will pass to Liverpool, and that on the inner
coating into the earth at once. For the purpose of the last case the battery
must be insulated from the earth, and although it is thus insulated, it will
be still enabled to be charged with electricity, in consequence of the outer
coating being in connection through the ball a with so large a metallic sur-
face as is presented by the wire between London and Liverpool; thus if the
operator turn a handle fixed to the wheel any number of discharges
from the inner or outer coatings of the battery may be passed from London
to Liverpool in any order, leaving an interval or intervals of any number of
discharges passing immediately to the earth, which shall produce no effect at
Liverpool. The wheel may be placed horizontally, as before described, vertically,
or otherwise. To observe the signals at Liverpool I proceed thus:-Let a (as
in Figure 2) be a wire in metallic communication with London, and 6 be one
in metallic communication with the earth, let their terminations be brought

page_text: near each other over a small table c of dry wood, or other imperfectly con-
ducting matter. If necessary, on account of the weakness of the electric
spark, let the table, which may be covered with cardboard or other suitable
matter, be moistened with dilute sulphuric acid, to facilitate the passage of
the electric spark from the wire a to the wire b. I make the dilute sulphuric
acid to contain about thirty per cent. of real or dry acid, or a little more or
less, but this proportion I find best in practice. I employ other of the acids,
as the hydro-chloric, also alkalies and salts, which will also answer the same
purposes to a certain extent, but in practice I find the most effective to be
the sulphuric acid of the above strength. In this telegraphic apparatus the
different signals are distinguished by the number of sparks passed, and the
intervals of time at which they occur, for instance, three sparks passed as
quickly in succession as is permitted by the manner in which the electro-
meter is set in London, then an interval, say, of the time taken by two of
such discharges, followed by two more sparks and another longer pause, may
stand for a signal numbered 32, and which may bear any conventional
meaning agreed upon. Instead of allowing the fluid to pass from the wire b
immediately to the earth, it might be made to pass first through a similar instru-
ment or over a surface moistened with acid, &c. at one or more other stations,
thus making the same signals at each, and then be finally discharged into
the earth. For more convenient and accurate observation and registration of
the signals, let a slip of paper a, b, c, d, as in Figure 3, be driven or moved
by clockwork or other mechanism, or mechanism moved by a weight, by a
spring, or by the action of the steam in the boiler of the hydro-electric
machine, at an uniform rate, and pass under a rest 1. Let the observer lean
a pencil on the paper against this rest, and make a transverse mark on the
paper as often as he observes the passage of a spark, thus will be formed an
accurate register of the signals made, videlicit, of the number of sparks
passed, and the intervals of time at which they are passed.
Another mode of observing and registering signals is thus :-Let a strip of
paper or cardboard or similar substance (as a strip of thick uniform paper
doubled twice, so as to form four thicknesses,) be moved along uniformly, as
in the instrument last described, and on the two opposite sides respectively
of such paper, let the two wires (that communicating with London and that
communicating with the earth as before) be placed at right angles, or nearly
50, to the plane of the paper, just touching it at its opposite sides, and at a
short distance from each other in a line perpendicular to the line of motion
of the paper; thus each spark in passing from one wire to the other must
-traverse the paper, making a hole in it, the hole being close to the wire con-

page_text: municating with London, when the electricity transmitted along it is negative,
or from the outer side of the insulated Leyden jar, and close to the other
wire, when it is positive, or from the inner side of the jar communicating with
the positive sparks of the electrical machine; there will be then three cir-
cumstances which combine to determine the nature of the signal: first, the
number of sparks passed; second, the nature of the electricity of each as
determined by the position of the hole; and third, the intervals of time at
which they are passed.
As an example of the method in which the signals may be varied, suppose
that fourteen discharges be passed in succession in the following order :-
First, positive; second, negative; third, negative; and fourth to fourteenth
all positive. Let each negative discharge be taken to represent 0, and each
positive discharge the number 2, raised to the power of as many places as the
discharge comes after the first, then the signal will represent-
municating with London, when the electricity transmitted along it is negative,
or from the outer side of the insulated Leyden jar, and close to the other
wire, when it is positive, or from the inner side of the jar communicating with
the positive sparks of the electrical machine; there will be then three cir-
cumstances which combine to determine the nature of the signal: first, the
number of sparks passed; second, the nature of the electricity of each as
determined by the position of the hole; and third, the intervals of time at
which they are passed.
As an example of the method in which the signals may be varied, suppose
that fourteen discharges be passed in succession in the following order :-
First, positive; second, negative; third, negative; and fourth to fourteenth
all positive. Let each negative discharge be taken to represent 0, and each
positive discharge the number 2, raised to the power of as many places as the
discharge comes after the first, then the signal will represent-
+
0
+
0
+
0
+
0
+
23
+
8
+
21
+16, &c., to the fourteenth
term, which numbers being added, will be found to amount to the number
16,377.
By this method, in fourteen discharges, taking up a space of time (say of
fourteen seconds), any one of 16,384 different signals may be made; or, in
fifteen discharges any one of the number of 32,768; or, in thirty discharges
any one of a number of 1,073, 741, 824, and so on. Or, as a simpler
method, the signals may be thus made:-If one possitive discharge be first
passed, then in immediate succession six negative, then three positive, then
seven negative, then seven positive; these twenty-four discharges might also
represent the same number, 16,377. This signal, according to these two
methods respectively, would stand thus,-

page_text: the passage of the spark along the surface and through the substance of the
paper will be facilitated. If the two outer surfaces of the paper be smeared
or coated also with matter which will be decomposed or discoloured by the
passage of the spark, this will render the signals both more visible and
permanent on the paper. Several of the insoluble metallic salts will answer
this purpose, but I prefer the chromate of lead; for in addition to its being
easily discoloured by the electric spark; it retains this property fully after
being moistened with sulphuric acid. By having the same instruments at
Liverpool as described to be used at London, and vice versa, and making the
necessary change in the communication of the terminations of the insulated
wire extending between the two places, an answer may of course be returned
from Liverpool to London.
Another form of the instrument I term a transmitter, which may be more
convenient in practice, I thus describe:-This is a wheel, having (say, as in
the Figure 4,) eight or any other number of metallic radii in metallic com-
munication with each other, at equal distances from each other, and of equal
length, projecting from the circumference. Each is furnished with a joint,
allowing it to be raised upwards and backward a little beyond the vertical
line, so as to rest either standing upwards in that position, or lying horizon-
tally, as in the Figure. Two wires, capped at the end with metallic balls,
are placed as at a and b in the Figure, the one communicating with the
inner coating of the battery, and the other with the earth. The wheel is made
to revolve by clockwork or other mechanism, or mechanism moved by the
action of the steam from the hydro-electric machine. As it revolves each
radius in succession comes into contact, or nearly so, with the ball b; at the
same instant another of the radii comes into contact with a, so that the battery
is discharged. If any of the radii, instead of lying horizontally, be made to
stand upwards, they come into contact, not with the ball a, but with another
wire placed above it, and in metallic communication with the wire which
extends to Liverpool, and thus the discharge, instead of passing to the earth
through a, passes on to Liverpool. The wire with which the radii come into
contact, when they are placed in their upright position, should be fixed so slant-
ing slightly outwards from the centre of the circle that it may, on coming into
contact with the radii, force then outwards, so that they shall fall back into
their original horizontal position; the wheel should be insulated from the earth.
The advantage of this form of transmission is, that the operator, by raising up
the necessary radii as the wheel revolves, arranges the signals beforehand, so
that there is less liability to mistake. For the purpose of giving notice of an

page_text: intention to make a telegraphic communication, or sounding an alarm (say at
Liverpool from London), let the wires at Liverpool, as before described, be so
arranged that the spark between them shall pass through an explosive mixture
of gases, as in the ordinary electrical gas pistol, or through gunpowder, (which,
to render it more readily explosive by the electrical spark, should be mealed,
and mixed with a small quantity of fine metallic filings,) or over some of the
fulminating powders, or through the atmosphere in a vessel containing spirits
of wine or other similar matter, the vapour from which, when the vessel is
kept warm (say about ninety degrees of Fahrenheit), forms an explosive
mixture with the atmospheric air contained in the vessel. If the vessel be
closed by a cork, or stopper, or piston, this will be forced outwards by the
explosion; and if a lever or other mechanism be so placed that one end of it
being impinged upon by the stopper or piston rod in its egress, the other end
shall set free the weight or moving power of an ordinary alarum. An alarm
may thus be sounded by means of the alarum for any required period of time,
or the explosion of a powder might be made to release the moving power of
an alarum in an analagous way. By making use of two or more insulated
wires, and an equal number of registering machines, as before described, the
number of signals made in the same time may be greatly increased and varied.
The advantage of this system of telegraphing consists in this, that we are
enabled to accumulate any required quantity of the electric fluid in a high
state of tension, and discharge it at once. Thus, a large accumulated quantity
of the electric fluid being thrown at one impulse upon the communicating
wire, a communication may be kept up for much greater distances than by
the ordinary method. It has also the advantage of enabling us to use the
hydro-electric and other electrical machines for the purposes of telegraphing
or making signals, as aforesaid.
I now declare that I claim as of my Invention the principles of construction
and arrangement of mechanical parts, together with the several combinations
thereof, as regards the object and intention of my said Invention, this as I
have herein-before stated, described, and specified such principles of con-
struction, such arrangement of mechanical parts, and such combinations.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Highton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.
HENRY (L.S.) HIGHTON.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Tenth day of January, in the
year of our Lord 1845, the aforesaid Henry Highton came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Tonth day of January in the year of our Lord One
Enrolled the Tenth day of January in the your of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-five.