A NEW OR IMPROVED STENOGRAPHIC APPARATUS
Year: 1864

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Richard Archibald Brooman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 4th February 1864.-A communication from abroad by Joseph
Edouard Adolphe Léon Danel-Duplan, of Auberive, France.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "A NEW OR IMPROVED STENOGRAPHIC APPARATUS," to be as follows:-
This apparatus is suspended from the neck of the operator, who has only
to listen to the speaker while his fingers act on a key board which pricks, or
by preference prints, the stenographic characters on a band of paper. The
band of paper remains at rest during the formation of the character, but as
soon as the printing has been performed it advances a regulated distance by
means of clockwork.
The apparatus will be fully understood by reference to the accompanying
Drawings and the following description thereof :-
Figure 1 is a front view, and Figure 2 a back view. A, A, are keys
arranged concentrically on a board or table T, to which their outer ends Kare
hinged. These keys, one of which is shown in section in Figure 8, rest at i on.
pins which pass through the board T and retain the keys at such height.
that the types or characters which they bear at their inner ends, and which are-
represented some in black and same in red ink in Figure 1, are slightly
distant from the surface of the paper. A spring x returns each key to its
normal position after being acted on. The type fitted to the inner end of
cach key is formed of a small tube 6 closed at bottom except for the passage

page_text: of a cotton wick which supplies the ink required for printing. Or each key
may carry against each type or tube a small ink reservoir d, as shown in
Figures 4 and 5, communicating with the tube 6 by a small orifice. In the
apparatus shown in the Drawings there are eight keys A, four on each side,
there are also two small levers F, F. Figure 6 shows the arrangement of
these two levers which are placed in front of the board T and are actuated by
two keys F, F, behind the board. The pins which pass through the board T
and come in contact with the keys A are fixed to a plate P hinged at e to
the board T, and two coiled springs g, g, draw back the plate, or a single flat
spring may be employed. The escape lever G moves slightly under the shock
of the plate P each time only that the plate is drawn back against the board T
by the springs g. The lever G takes into the teeth of a roller K behind the
board, the surface of this roller is clothed, and a pinion is fitted to the centre
of its axis. The roller is retained by the lever G, each movement of which
permits it to turn sufficiently to draw the band of paper C, the pinion 1 gears
into a wheel m, the axis of which carries a pinion which gears into a barrel
N fitted interiorly with a spring. The cylinder E is grooved and is placed in
front of the roller K and moves with it. The spring of the barrel N is wound
up by a rod p and handle r. The paper band C is unwound from a bobbin B,
passes under the types of the keys which print the stenographic characters
thereon, then guided by a slide or bar D it passes under the roller E. The
apparatus is as before stated suspended from the neck of the operator, four
fingers of each hand are made to act on the keys A in front while the thumbs
act on the keys F¹ at the back of the apparatus.