IMPROVE- MENTS IN TYPE-PRINTING TELEGRAPHS
Year: 1861

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Meinrad Theiler at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th August
1861.
I, MEINRAD THEILER, of Einsiedeln, in the Republic of Switzerland,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN TYPE-PRINTING TELEGRAPHS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in a novel arrangement and construction of the
type-printing instrument, whereby chronometry is dispensed with, the instru-
ment being worked by means of a key similar to that of a single needle or a
Morse instrument. The letters are engraved or fixed on the periphery of a
wheel or disc, and they are inked by a band, or in any other well-known
manner. The strip of paper or the tape upon which the messages are to be
printed is passed before the type wheel by clockwork, and is struck by a
hammer of the clockwork against the wheel, when the required letter presents
itself before it. An escapement wheel actuated by a spring is mounted upon
the axle of the type wheel, and is held in its position by a hook or catch.
Two levers are applied for raising this hook, each of which is moved by
an electric magnet, when a current passes through its coil, and when the hook
is raised, and the escapement liberated, each of the two levers will take into a
part of the escapement, thereby allowing the escapement and type wheel to
perform only a certain portion of a revolution. The principal part of the

page_text: instrument is the escapement, which has its teeth arranged so as to stop the type
wheel at any one of its divisions corresponding with the number and order of
currents employed. These currents are produced by a local battery, and pass
alternately through one or the other of the magnets by means of a double
relay, able to serve or open the way alternatively to the one or the other of the
magnets. This double relay is worked in either the one or the other of the
two connectors by reversing the line current by means of a key similar to a
single needle or a combination of such with a Morse key. The clockwork, which
is at rest after having performed all the functions connected with the printing
of a letter, is started by the motion of any of the escapement levers, but
directly stopped again, and only allowed motion to complete the next letter,
when the levers are at rest. The sending of messages is performed as
follows: The clerk, by moving the handle of the key to the right or to the
left, upwards or downwards, sets the escapement of the instrument at the
receiving station in motion, and the type wheel will go round and present that
letter corresponding to the number and order of sent currents. As soon as the
clerk holds his key at rest the clockwork, which started at the same time as
the type wheel, is allowed to move on, lets the hammer drop, raises it again,
and causes the type wheel to return to its normal position, and a current is
passed to the speaking station, indicating that the respective letter has been
printed. By applying a number of currents not exceeding four, thirty letters
or types can be printed, but by adding one or two more currents the escape-
ment is enabled to increase the number of letters in rapid progression; for
instance, five currents may produce 62, and six currents 126 letters or
types.
Instead of acting on the magnets by reversed currents and a double relay,
an arrangement may be added for applying currents of different lengths and
requiring only a single relay and a key similar to a common Morse key. In
this case a commutator is applied to the printing instrument, which, firstly,
holds the way open to only one of the electro-magnets, and when short
currents are sent only this magnet will work; but when long currents are
sent this magnet, attracting its armature, opens to the current the way to the
other magnet also, and this latter one, attracting its armature, breaks off the
way to the first one, thus causing the lever which was moved by the motion of
that first magnet to drop likewise; therefore, only the action of the second
magnet remains just as if it had been worked by a separate current. If the
letters are engraved on the periphery of the wheel in a corresponding order,
the manipulation for each letter will be the same as in Morse's instrument.

page_text: In many cases, for example, for the use of railways, it may be desirable to
have the instrument capable of being worked by any person ignorant of the
manipulation of needle or Morse's keys. For that purpose I apply a key-
board containing a key for every letter, which, when depressed, sends the
currents in the required order by a clockwork.