IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING TELEGRAPHS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Pierre Antoine Joseph Dujardin, of Lille, a Town of
France, Physician, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING
TELEGRAPHS."
Sealed the 21st August 1860, and dated the 23rd February 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Pierre Antoine Joseph
Dujardin at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 23rd February 1860.
I, PIERRE ANTOINE JOSEPH DUJARDIN, of Lille, a Town of France,
Physician, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PRINTING TELEGRAPHS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists chiefly of a now letter wheel for the receiving
apparatus, shown Fig. 1. This new letter wheel consists of a very thin, light,
and flexible metallic dial, around the circumference of which are placed the
alphabetical letters or figures, made of a spongy substance, capable of retaining
oily ink, so that the wheel does not need an inking roller to press upon it, as
in other printing telegraphs. The letter wheel is shown at A, B, Fig. 1. Cis
a hammer, pressing upon the letter wheel, to print the dispatch; D is a
bearing, over which the paper ribbon E, F, passes, and with which the
hammer forces the letter wheel to come in contact, so as to print the letters
on the said paper. The hammer is provided with some flannel, which is kept

page_text: supplied with oily ink. When a letter is printed on the paper, it is deprived
of a small quantity of the ink with which it was saturated, but at the same
time a quantity of ink is restored to it by the hammer, so that the letters of
the said letter wheel are always supplied with ink and ready for making an
impression. G, H, is the clockwork giving motion to the letter wheel.
A, B, I, J, K, L, is another clockwork, giving the forward motion to the
paper ribbon E, F.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Pierre Antoine Joseph Dujardin in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 23rd August 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PIERRE
ANTOINE JOSEPH DUJARDIN, of Lille, a Town of France, Physician, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Pierre Antoine Joseph Dujardin, Her special licence that I,
the said Pierre Antoine Joseph Dujardin, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as 1, the said Pierre Antoine Joseph Dujardin,
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 PRINTING
TELEGRAPHS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Pierre
Antoine Joseph Dujardin, my executors or administrators, by. an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of tho 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 Pierre Antoine Joseph Dujardin, do
liereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say):-

page_text: My printing telegraph is composed of a transmitting instrument or manipu-
lator and a receiving apparatus or receiver.
The manipulator is founded on the principle of that of the French railway
telegraph; it is represented in Figs. 1 and 2; Fig. 1 is a vertical, and Fig. 2
a horizontal projection of it. A, A, wooden base plate; B, B, brass dial, fixed
upon A, A, having 26 divisions; one of them bears a cross, and the other
ones the alphabetic characters. The figures for numeration, the signs of
punctuation, and some other signs are placed on the interior of the dial. This
dial has 26 notches round its circumference corresponding to the 26 divisions.
C, C', crank, bearing a long pin D; it is supported by the piece E, E, on
which it hinges. The crank C, C¹, executes two movements, a circular one to
point to the letters on the dial, and a vertical one to bring down the pin D in
the corresponding notches. The pieco E, E, is furnished with the swing
bolt F, serving to keep the crank down; as shown by the dotted lines, Fig. 1.
G, G, brass pipe, serving as an axis to the wheel J, J; it runs through the
centre of the dial, and is supported by the foot piece H, H. The piece E, E,
is fixed on the pipe over the dial; I, I, rod running through the axis G, G;
its top is rounded, and is received in a little recess made underneath the
crank C, C; J, J, spiral grooved wheel, the same as that of the manipulator
of the French railway telegraph, and partly shown in Fig. 2. K, K, lever,
moveable round its centre, receiving an oscillatory motion from the rotary
motion of the wheel J, J; it bears a rectangalar ivory piece, on which are
fixed, at a distance from each other, two steel springs, indicated by the
signs and, and communicating with the binding screws L and M, which
screws communicate with the poles of the battery. N, O, are two squarely
folded pieces of brass, fixed on the plate A, A, and separated from each other
by two small ivory pieces. The top of all the said pieces is smooth, and allows
the steel springs above mentioned to rub and slide easily upon them. The piece N
communicates with the earth by means of the binding screw P, and the piece o
communicates with the telegraph line by means of the binding screw Q.
The lever K, K, and the pieces N, O, constitute together a commutator,
the play of which sends along the line alternatively positive and negative
currents. R, R, small horizontal axes supported by two square pieces fixed on
the plate A, A. Three short branches are soldered on the axis R, R, one is
horizontal and two vertical. The lower end of the rod I, I, hinges with the
horizontal branch; the spiral spring. S is attached to one of the vertical
branches, and is fixed at the other end to the plate A, A; the rod T is
attached to the other vertical branch and hinges with the lever U, U, move-
able round its centre, which lever bears a steel spring at its extremity. V, X,

page_text: brass square pieces fixed on the plate A, A, and separated by a small piece of
ivory. They constitute with the lever U, U, a second commutator. The
square piece V communicates with the binding screw M, and the square
piece with the binding screw Y, which is in communication with the
electro-magnet E, E, of the receiver. The receiving apparatus is represented
in Fig. 3 and 4; Fig. 3 is a vertical, and Fig. 4 a horizontal projection of it;
A, A, wooden base plate; B, B, brass base plate fixed upon A, A, and serving
to keep the different parts of the apparatus in their exact positions. C, C,
clockwork essentially the same as that of the receiver of the French railway
telegraph; it is enclosed in a box. The axis of the escapement wheel, which
in the French railway telegraph is horizontal and actuates a hand, is vertical in
my apparatus, and impels the letter or type wheel D, D; this letter wheel
consists of a thin aluminium dial, near to the circumference of which a cross
and the alphabetic characters are embroidered with cotton thread. For that
purpose little holes are pierced through dial in the required number and at
determined places, and a cotton thread not much twisted is passed through
the holes so as to represent in embroidery a cross and the alphabetic cha-
racters on the under surface of the dial.
There are three rules which guide the making of the holes through
the dial.
1st, every right line in a letter requires two holes; for instance, the letter I
being composed of three right lines requires six holes, and the letter H, being
composed of seven right lines, requires fourteen holes.
2ndly, when two right lines in a letter meet together, as at the top of the
letter A, or when three right lines meet together, as in the letter M, the same
hole receives two or three cotton threads.
3rdly, every curved line in a letter must be decomposed into right lines, and
thus re-enters into the preceeding rules; for instance, the letter O may be
decomposed into four right lines; this letter embroidered on the dial is, in
fact, rectangular, but in practice, when printed on paper, it looks tolerably
elliptical.
The embroidered characters on the letter wheel are moistened with oily ink.
E, E, electro-magnet fixed vertically upon the plate B, B; it has two forked
armatures F, G, F, G, fixed on the top of its soft iron rods. Fig. 5 is a side
view of the clockwork C, C, of the electro-magnet E, E, and of the printing
electro-magnet U, U. In Figs. 3, 4, and 5, the same objects are represented!
by the same letters. The electro-magnet E, E, receives from the line electric
currents alternatively positive and negative, and consequently the polarity of
its armatures changes at the passage of every current. The electro-magnets

page_text: E, E, actuates the levers H, I, and J, K, producing thus two distinct effects.
H, I, lever compound of a small iron plate H and of a brass rod I; it is
moveable on an axis, and has a support, as shown in Fig. 5. The extremity H
is placed between the armatures E and F, Fig. 3. Two permanent steel
magnets L and M, Figs. 3 and 4, fixed upon the plate B, B, and having both
their north poles N near to each other, magnetize by influence the iron plate
H; by this means H is rendered like a permanent magnet, and acts as such.
When a first current coming from the line passes through the electro-magnet
E, E, Fig. 4, H, being attracted by one of the armatures F, F, and repulsed
by the other, moves on one side; when a second current passes through E, E,
H is attracted and repulsed in a contrary direction, and so on.
These to-and-
fro movements are transformed into intermittent rotary motions of the wheel
D, D, in a manner similar to that of the receiver of the French railway
telegraph, that is to say, by means of an axis bearing two little forkes, one
vertical receiving the pin which terminates the lever H, I, and a horizontal
one sliding upon the tecth of the escapement wheel, as shown in Figs. 3, 4,
and 5. J, K, lever composed of a small iron plate J and of a brass rod K.
Its axis is carried by a brass support fixed on the plate B, B, and com-
municating with the binding screw P. The binding screws P and Q are in
communication with the poles of a local battery. R, R, regulating upright
brass support fixed on the plate B, B, but insulated from it by a small ivory
plate; it bears two screws S and T, which limit the motion of the lever J, K.
The nut of the screw T is made of brass, and the nut of the screw S is made
of ivory. R, R, communicates with the printing electro-magnet U, U, as
shown in Fig. 4. O, helical spring attached to the lever J, K, which breaks
and makes the circuit of the local battery as follows:-When one or several
currents coming from the line pass in rapid succession through the electro-
magnet E, E, the lever J, K, attracted by the armatures G, G, whatever be
their polarity, bears constantly upon the screw S, and breaks the circuit of the
local battery. The interval which separates two successive magnitizations of
the electro-magnet E, E, is too short to permit the lover J, K, to obey to the
spring O. When the currents cease to pass through the electro-magnet E, E,
the lever J, K, being no more attracted, obeys the spring O, and rests upon
the screw T, which makes the circuit of the local battery. U, U, electro-
magnet fixed on the plate B, B; it has a vibrating oscillating armature V, V ;
the rod X, X, is fastened upon V, V, and carries a conical pipe or instand Y,
closed at its lower part with a piece of flannel and filled with cotton. The
flannel and the cotton are imbued with oily ink. The extremity of the rod
X, X, is engaged in a little fork carried by the lever H', I'. Z, helical spring

page_text: attached to the rod X, X. A', A¹, spool moveable round its centre, on which
a long ribbon of paper is rolled up. The ribbon of paper in its course passes
first under the letter wheel, and afterwards it is taken by the rollers F¹, G'.
B', B', Fig. 5, lever carried by a support fixed on the plate B, B. It is
pulled by a helical spring C', and is worked by the rod X, X. The ribbon of
paper rests upon the end of B', B¹. D', D¹, clockwork enclosed in a box and
fixed on the plate B, B. It is more powerful than the clockwork C, C. Its
function is to move the ribbon of paper on which the dispatches are to be
printed. For that purpose the last axis of the clockwork D', D', bears an
escapement wheel E, E', which has two escapement pins, and moves in the
direction shown by an arrow. The axis of the fore last wheel bears a cylinder F¹,
which, by means of another cylinder G¹ pressing upon it through the action of a
spiral spring, forms a set of rollers F, G, which by their rotation draw the
ribbon of paper. H¹, I', lever moveable on its centre; the end H¹ is forked
shape, as before said, and the end I bears a tooth for stopping the
escapement pins of the wheel E', E¹. J¹, knob placed on the top of a square
vertical rod, sliding in a square vertical pipe fixed on D, D, and carrying two
arms K and L. By pressing on the knob J' the rod and the arms move
down. The arm K³, presenting at its end an inclined plane, impels the lever
H, I, in the direction shown by an arrow. Then the escapement wheel of
the clockwork C, C, being set free, turns until a pin, which is placed near its
circumference, is stopped by the arm L'. When the pressure on the knob
ceases, a spiral spring brings back the rod and arms to their former position.
This mechanism serves to bring back at the cross mark, by a single pressure,
the letter wheel every time it is not in a required position.
When a telegraphic clerk wishes to transmit and print a dispatch sent to
another station, he sends and prints it letter by letter as follows:-He turns
regularly the crank of his manipulator until it comes over the letter of the dial
be wishes to print; he then stops and presses upon the handle of the crank in
order to force the pin D to move down into the notch corresponding to the
letter, and this letter is printed at the receiving station. All the letters of the
dispatch are successively printed in the same manner.
Whilst the operator turns the crank, the lever K, K, Fig. 2, is put in
vibratory motion, and sends to the receiving station currents which are by
turn positive and negative. When he stops and presses on the handle of the
crank, the lever U, U, Fig. 2, is driven by means of the rods I, I, and T, and
it breaks the last current sent to the receiving station.
Receiving station. The crank of the manipulator is kept in the notch
corresponding to the cross mark; the lever U, U, Fig. 2, is in the position

page_text: shown by the dotted lines. The currents issuing from the telegraphic line
rush in the following direction, namely, to the binding screw Q, Fig. 2, the
square piece O, the left spring of the lever K, K, the lever U, U, the square
piece X, the binding screw Y, the electro-magnet E, E, of the receiver,
Fig. 3, and finally into the earth. These currents magnetize the electro-
magnet E, E, and produce thus simultaneously the two- following effects;
first, the lever J, K, Figs. 3 and 4, being attracted, the circuit of the local
battery is broken; secondly, the lever H, I, gives a circular motion to the
letter wheel D, D. When the letter wheel stops the current of the line.is
broken, as has been said.. The lever J, K, being no more attracted, obeys
the spring O, and closes the circuit of the local battery. ; the local current
magnetizes the electro-magnet U, U, Figs. 3, 4, and 5., The armature, V, V,
being attracted, the three following effects are produced:-Firstly, the rod
X, X, moves down, and puts the inkstand Y in contact with the letter wheel
D, D. Secondly, the lever B', B', moves up and puts the ribbon of paper in
contact with the letter wheel. The ribbon of paper being thus pressed on
the letter wheel, the letter is printed on the said ribbon, and at the same time
the inkstand supplies the cotton thread of the letter wheel with ink for a
further impression; by this means the letter wheel is always ready for printing.
Thirdly, the lever I', I', acts, and the first escapement pin of the wheel E', E',
escapes. The first current arriving then from the line breaks the circuit of
the local battery, and the three following effects are produced by the spring Z;
firstly, the rod X, X, moves up; secondly, the lever B', B', moves down; and
thirdly, the lever I', I', acting again, but in an opposite direction, allows tho
second pin of the wheel E', E', to escape. At this moment the escapement
wheel E', E', being set free, it turns, and allows the pinching rollers F¹, G', to
turn at the same time, drawing the ribbon of paper, and preparing it for the
impression of the following letter. Every letter of the dispatch is printed in
the same manner on the ribbon of the receiver.
An operator of a transmitting station can print several times and succes-
sively the same letter at the receiving station, by merely bearing down several
times and successively the crank of his manipulator in the notch corresponding
to that letter. To avoid confusion, the words of the dispatches are separated
by cross marks. Two successive crosses mean that the letters following
represent the figures or other signs placed on the interior of the dial of the
manipulator.
I claim, first, the construction of the letter wheel as described, that is to
say, a dial of aluminium or of some other suitable substance, on which the
alphabetic characters and other signs are embroidered circularly with a thread

page_text: of cotton or other substance, and constantly moistened with oily or other ink
suitable for the purpose described.
Secondly, I claim the employment of the letter wheel for the purpose
described.
Thirdly, I claim the employment of the described inkstand in combination.
with the letter wheel for the purpose of keeping the letter wheel always sup-
plied with ink for printing.
Fourthly, I claim the employment of currents alternately positive and
negative for the purpose of impelling circularly the letter wheel as described,
and the combination of all the means producing that effect, as described and
illustrated on the annexed Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Pierre Antoine Joseph Dujardin, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
P. A. J. DUJARDIN. (L.S.)
A. F. I. CAZIER.