IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Chase Barney, of 41, Lombard Street,
in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS.”
Sealed the 20th June 1873, and dated the 4th March 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Chase Barney
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 4th March 1878.
I, WILLIAM CHASE BARNEY, of 41, Lombard Street, in the City of
London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "In-
PROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object to increase the rapidity with which
messages may be transmitted through long lines of electric telegraphs,
and more especially by deep sea cables.
It is an established fact that in long telegraph lines, whether of naked
wires suspended in the air, or of insulated wires placed underground or
under water, there is a great retardation of the current-caused by

page_text: induction, which mauction anters &
with which signals can be transmitted through long lines.
It is also now well known-
1st. That submarine and subterranean insulated wires do not act
simply as conductors or as mere channels through which the electric
current flows, but as reservoirs storing up electricity in quantities
proportional to the length of the wires.
2nd. That an insulated line connected to one pole of a battery becomes
charged with the electricity of that pole, provided the opposite pole bo
connected to the earth, and the wire attains the same static tension as
the battery.
3rd. That in an insulated line thus charged its terminus is actually
the terminus of the pole of the battery with which it is connected.
4th. That the earth may be regarded as presenting no resistance to
the passage of an electric current.
อ
By my Invention I am enabled to avail myself of all the above well
established facts, and to construct an electric telegraph by which signals
can be transmitted with perfect accuracy at a very high rate of speed
between stations connected by any length of insulated wire which can
be charged by a battery. For this purpose the end of the insulated wiro
at the place at which the signals are to be received is connected to tho
copper pole of a battery, whilst at the opposite end of the insulated wire
is the transmitting instrument, through which this end of the wire can
be connected or disconnected with a wire leading to "earth.” Tho
receiving instrument is connected to the zinc pole of the battery and to
"earth." By this arrangement the signals pass directly from the
terminus of the copper pole of the battery which is the end of the
insulated wire or, cable furthest from the battery through the trans-
mitting instrument to the earth, and through the earth to the receiving
instrument, and through it to the zinc pole of the battery; thus all the
evil effects of induction are avoided, as it is evident none of the signals
pass over the insulated wire.
.
The transmitting and receiving instruments which I employ are.
arranged on the well known Baine's system. In the transmitting
instrument the making and breaking contact between the terminus of
the copper pole of the battery and the earth is effected by a strip of

page_text: perforated paper interposed between two metal conductors, and caused
to travel between them, and and in the receiving instrument the currents
received are caused to pass through chemically prepared paper interposed
between two metal conductors. The chemicals used in the receiving
paper are not acted upon by the current from the zinc pole of the
battery, but are acted upon by the current from the copper pole.
The current which enters the earth at the transmitting station is from
the copper pole, and passes through the earth to the receiving instru-
ment, and through the prepared paper therein to the zino pole of the
battery, marking the paper in its passage.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Chase Barney in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 3rd September 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CHASE BARNEY, of 41, Lombard Street, in the Oity of London, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors
give and grant unto me, the said William Chase Barney, Her special
license that I, the said William Chase Barney, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Chase Barney,
my 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 ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William Chase Barney, 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 performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six

page_text: second battery is placed, having its copper pole connected to the
insulated line, and its zinc pole is connected to the line which leads to
the earth from the plate of the transmitting instrument, upon which
plate contacts are made by the stylus which is connected to the insulated
line. At the receiving station in chemical telegraphs where the recording
stylus rests constantly on the chemically prepared paper, the insulated
line is connected to the copper pole of the battery, and the zino pole is
connected to that part of the instrument over which the chemically
prepared paper is drawn, and the recording metallic stylus is connected
to the earth; but when the recording stylus is not allowed to remain
constantly on the paper and successive contacts regulated by the trans-
mitter are to be made by it by the use of relays and magnets, then the
relays and magnets are to be connected to the insulated line and earth
in the same manner, and a second battery if in chemical telegraphs is to
be on short circuit with its copper pole to the stylus, and its zinc pole to
that part of the instrument over which the paper is drawn on which the
signals transmitted are to be recorded. The connections of the several
batteries may be reversed throughout. By this arrangement the signals
are made by the transmitting instrument at the end of the insulated
wire or cable which is the terminus of the copper pole of the first battery,
and they pass to the earth, and a current leaves the earth at the receiving
station and passes to the receiving instrument, and through it to the
zinc pole of the battery; thus all the evil effects of induction are avoided,
as it is evident none of the signals pass over the insulated wire.
The transmitting and receiving instruments which I employ are
arranged on the well known Bains' system. In the transmitting instru.
ment the making and breaking contact between the terminus of the
copper pole of the battery and the earth is effected by a strip of
perforated paper interposod between two metal conductors, and caused
to travel between them; and in the receiving instrument the currents
received are caused to pass through chemically prepared paper interposed
between two metal conductors.
The current which enters the earth at the transmitting station is from
the copper pole, and a current of electricity leaves the earth at the
receiving station and passes to the receiving instrument, and through
the prepared paper thereon to the zinc pole of the battery marking the
paper in its passage. These connections of batteries with cable, earth,
resistance coils, transmitter, and receiver, can be applied to all telegraphic

page_text: instruments; the speed of transmission in all cases is limited only by
the rapidity of the instruments used to make the contacts.
The annexed diagram shews the arrangement I prefer for automatic
chemical telegraphs. At the transmitting station the copper pole of a
battery (A) is connected to the wire brush (6), the zinc pole is connected {
to the metallic plate (c) over which the perforated paper is drawn by
clock movement (E), or by any other power. An adjustable rheostat (R)
is placed on the line between the zino pole and metallic plate, the
metallic plate is connected to earth; the copper pole and wire brush are
connected to the cable by a commutator (O). When the brush (6) 1
makes contact on c through a hole in the perforated paper battery
A is on short circuit, but when the cable is connected at O to battery A
then the copper current of A when contact is interrupted between b
and by the paper passes into the cable, and this counter current
arrests the flow of the current from the first battery, thereby assisting in 1
causing the marks to commence and cease abruptly without tailing. At
the receiving station the copper pole of a battery (B) is connected to the
cable, and the zinc pole to the plate (c) over which the chemically
prepared paper is drawn upon which the stylus (6) makes contact. The
earth line (D) is connected to an adjustable rheostat (R), and thence to
the adjustable rheostat (R³) (shunt), and thence to the stylus (6). At
the transmitting station the rheostat (R) is placed for the purpose of
regulating the tension of battery A. At the receiving station the current
passing from the carth by lino D is made to pass through the adjustable
rheostat R for the purpose of decreasing the tendency to the admission 2
of false currents from the earth to the writing stylus b. The resistance
introduced must be graduated so as to overcome ordinary earth currents,
and the feeble current which always passes from the earth to the zinc
pole of a battery, the positive pole of which is connected to a long
insulated line, the end of which is free. The current from the line 8
battery B which is sufficiently strong to overcome the resistance of
rheostat R passes to a second rhcostat shunt R², by means of which the
quantity of the current allowed to pass through the stylus to the prepared
paper is regulated at will, and the flooding thereof is prevented, the
surplus current passing directly to the zinc pole of battery B. I also 8
use a battery F at the receiving station, the copper pole of which is
connected to the stylus 6 through an adjustable rheostat shunt R³, and
the zinc pole is connected to the line connecting stylus b. to earth for

page_text: the purpose of aiding to cause the signal marks on the paper to end
abruptly and squarely.
The transmission of the signals which are perforated on a band of
paper is effected in the following simple manner:-The cable is
connected at C to battery A. and brush 6; as the perforated paper is
drawn over plate c the brush 6 makes contacts through the holes in the
paper; battery A is then in short circuit, and the current from the
copper pole of battery B, the end of which pole is brush b, passes
through the holes as successive contacts are made to earth; at the same
time a current passes from the earth up the line D through the rheostat
to stylus & which is resting on the chemically prepared paper, and in its
passage decomposes the chemical solution of the paper, and leaves traces
clear and distinct in exact proportion to the duration of the contacts at
the transmitting station.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which it is performed, I hereby claim as my Invention,-
1st. The combination, adaptation, and application of electric and
magnetic forces for telegraphic purposes, as described in my Specifi-
cation.
2nd. The arrangement of batteries, resistance coils, and shunts, in the
manner shewn and described.
3rd. The arrangement by which the insulated line is always con-
nected to the battery, and the signals are made at the end of the
insulated line which is the end of the pole of the battery to which its
other end is connected, and the signals never pass into the insulated
line.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Chase Barney, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of August, in