IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS FOR WRITING AND TELE- GRAPHIC PURPOSES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Jensen, of 89, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS FOR WRITING AND TELE-
GRAPHIC PURPOSES."-A communication from abroad by Malling
Hansen, Superintendant of and Chaplain to the Royal Institution
for Deaf and Dumb, at Copenhagen, in the Kingdom of Denmark.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Peter Jensen at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Declaration,
on the 14th May 1870, pursuant to the 9th Section of the Patent
Law Amendment Act, 1852.
5 TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
JENSEN, of 89, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Consulting.
Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS FOR WRITING AND TELEGRAPHIC
PURPOSES," (a communication to me from abroad by Malling Hansen,

page_text: Tovoney www relegrapheny
Superintendant of and Chaplain to the Royal Institution for Deaf and
Dumb, at Copenhagen, in the Kingdom of Denmark), and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement, reference being had to
the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon, that is to say :—
The investigations set on foot by the Inventor, which may be regarded as
the foundation for this Invention answer the following three questions :—
How many sounds of language can be uttered verbally in a coherent
discourse in a certain given time?
How many characters expressive of sound can be written in the same
time?
And how many can be expressed with the deaf and dumb hand alphabet?
The answers will be,-
Twenty characters expressive of sound can be uttered in one second.
Four characters expressive of sound can be written in one second.
Twelve characters of sound can be expressed with the hand alphabet
in the same time.
We therefore talk five times as fast as we write, and with the hand
alphabet a rapidity is attained which is three times greater than the
rapidity in writing, and which approaches the rapidity of discourse.
These observations brought the Inventor to the idea that provided we
were able at a motion of the finger, as in the hand alphabet, to place
before the eye a letter written or printed the rapidity of writing might
be made three times as great as it is in general at present, and this
rapidity might still further be increased provided the motion of the
finger were reduced to the greatest possible simplicity, for instance, like
that which a finger performs in striking on the key of a piano. A pianist
can readily play from 20 to 30 keys in one second. The writing ball is
constructed with the object of accomplishing this..
A (Fig. 1A) represents an apparatus according to this Invention, and
called the writing ball, as it is shaped like a ball. It must be already
here mentioned that the globular form is employed, because this is
deemed to be the most appropriate, but as for the rest the Inventor also
reserves to himself the right of employing other forms. This piece of
ball has perforations (at least as many in number as the language

page_text: contains letters), all of which point towards the centre of the ball. In
each of the perforations is placed a spindle or piston rod v, v, which on the
upper end has a button or knob, and on the lower a letter or sign fitted
for stamping. The piston rod is kept in a raised position by a spiral
spring in the socket S, its motion is guided both above and below in
angular holes, so that it cannot during the down stroke turn about on
its axis; k signifies a moveable shoulder on the piston rod, and a small
spiral spring, which keeps it in the raised position. All the piston rods
are consequently placed like radii to the ball, and are flat at the ends
which are parallel with the plane they are to strike against. This plane
is common to all the pistons, and is a large circle plane, which has the
middle part of the ball as centre. The nearest of the piston rods and³
the two outermost inclined rods are represented in Fig. 1A, by dotted
lines. One. letter applied to the lower end of the piston rod is painted
or otherwise. indicated on the knob u; K indicates a box or writing desk,.
which has an aperture in the cover over which the writing ball is placed.
The manner in which this apparatus is used consists in striking with the
fingers of both hands on the knobs u, nearly in the same way as we
strike the keys on a piano. The spiral springs raise the piston rods after
each down stroke. The piston rods v, v, all being of equal length and
all having the same direction towards the centre of the ball, the stamps
or letters will thus by homogeneous strokes also strike against the centre
itself, and here they will meet with the paper and are imprinted upon
this. In order that these strokes may occur as convenient as possible
the knobs are arranged about, as shown in Fig. 1B. The small circles
indicated by + point out the fundamental position of the fingers. The
numbers show which fingers are to act upon the keys, and the dotted
lines combine the keys which are to be acted upon by the same finger.
In the middle is placed a blank type, by the aid of which the distance
can be marked out between the words. The pistons can also be made
with distinctive marks.
°
In the following the apparatus is explained on which the paper is
laid and which conveys it regularly under the piston or letter, so that
the writing can be placed in straight lines. This apparatus is enclosed
in the above-named box or writing desk K, and it consists of a cylinder

page_text: .
corresponds with the length of the cylinder; this groove is indicated by
the dotted lines h*, h*, and on the end of the cylinder is a pin which
fits in the same. There is furthermore affixed a disc a to the cylinder,
in the circumference of which is applied the threads of a screw which
is working on the teeth of the rack c. This rack is placed on the frame
supports d*, so that it may slide up and down on them; but left to
itself it is held to the uppermost end of the supports by the spiral
springs *. When the axle 6 is revolved round its axis the cylinder is
brought round with it, and as the screw a, during the revolving motion,
works in the rack c, the cylinder, which with the above-mentioned pivot
slides in the groove on the axle, receives together with its revolving also
a longitudinal motion. The rotation of the axle 6 in this case is obtained
by the aid of two electro-magnets e, f. One of the wires from an
electrical battery is put in connection with the ball piece A (Fig. 1A)
and thereby also with all the pistons. The other end on the contrary
with the metal cup m which covers the ball piece, from which it how-
ever is separated by a non-conducting mass n. The close of the current
can by each depression of the piston be procured in like manner as
is shown in the Drawings. In the very moment that the above-men-
tioned plate k on the piston touches the surface of the metal cup m the
current flows through the covering of the electro-magnets, and the
keeper g is then drawn down as well as the hook which is in connection
with it. This hook falls into the cog wheel d which is firmly affixed to
the end of the axle 6 and the wheel is thus at every close of the current
turned one, cog forward. It must here be remarked that the current
on account of the spiral spring is closed a little before the piston
touches the paper i, indicates a pawl which causes the wheel to advance
only one tooth forward at each close of the current. The paper on
which the impression is to be printed is laid together with the
blackening or colouring paper round the before-mentioned cylinder, so
that two of its opposite sides will be lying parallel with the thread
of the screw on the disc a. The position of the paper on the cylinder
is represented at Fig. 3, the 'cylinder being shown on a smaller scale.
If the pistons are pressed down alternately. on the paper thus applied
while the cylinder is moving forward in its spiral course, the distance
between the letters produced by the depressions of the pistons will be
determined by the distance between the cogs on the wheel d, the
distance between the lines will be equal to the distance between the

page_text: threads of the screw, and all the lines be parallel with the two opposite
sides of the paper.
With regard to the manner in which the motion of the cylinder is
effected it should be remarked that the explained method is not the
only one applicable. The Inventor reserves to himself on that acount
the right also to make use of other means. The motion of the axle may
thus be produced by the aid of a spiral spring, while the electric power
then only regulates the motion in the above-mentioned or in a similar
manner. Even the entire electrical apparatus may be excluded, and
the Inventor reserves to himself the right to bring about the motion of
the cylinders and the regulation of the motions by 'other mechanical
means.
.
Instead of the cylinder apparatus treated of the Inventor reserves to
himself the employment of another apparatus, the main features of
which are represented in Fig. 2. The writing paper, as well as the
inking or colouring paper is here laid on a square plater where it is
held on by a frame a, which can be shut down over it. The plate r is
resting on four wheels s¹, which run on rails 6, and on the lower side of
tho plate is applied a fixed rack, into which the cog wheel c gears;
d indicates a moveable bed plate for the rails, which, as the Drawing
reprosents, may obtain a traversing motion by sliding in the grooves w
in the fixed foundation plate e; f is a screw, which is placed in the
foundation plate e and which is caused to move through a nut which is
fixed to the plate d; by means of this screw the last-named plate obtains
the traversing motion before mentioned. If the plater has passed the
rails and is to be conveyed back it is only to be lifted on one side by
the aid of a lever g, so that the wheel c may fall out of gear with the
rack. The same can also be obtained by placing the wheel c in such a
manner on an axle that the necessary removal of it to one of the sides
may be obtained in order to get out of gear with the rack while the
plate is moved back.
As to the manner in which this apparatus obtains motion during the
employment of the writing ball it is sufficient to refer to what has been
before stated concerning the cylinder apparatus.
The writing ball may also be used in the telegraphic service. If its
pistons be made with cogs, as shown at a, Fig. 4, and if the Morse signal
key be arranged so that the outer end of the lever falls in the centre

page_text: of the ball, the downward pressure of the piston will cause the point c
to come against the point d as many times as there are cogs on the rod.
When the piston ascends, the outer point b of the key is raised at every
cog that passes by, without bringing the point c out of its attitude of
repose. If one of the polar wires is in connection with c and the other i
with d the downward pressure of the piston with cogs, as that on the
piston a, will be able to produce the Morse signs, &c.
The writing, ball can also be taken advantage of in the application as
a printing telegraph. In each of the perforations of the ball there are
two rods applied, the one above the other.. The lower ones have each:
a type, a number, or a sign, and round the ball lies a circle of keys, as
shown in Fig. 5. a, Fig. 6, is one end (the key) of an angular bar; the
second arm 6. is connected with one of the lower pistons c; d is a wheel
standing in a vertical position on the axle e, which can turn it round
under the key a, by this means raising the latter as it passes by. If the
key a is raised the axle 6 is lowered (Fig. 6), by which means the
piston c is brought down towards the centre of the ball and again raised
by the spiral spring when the wheel has passed the key. The one
polar wire of the battery is put in connection with the upper rods. The
under layer for the paper on which is to be printed is situated in the
centre of the ball, and has a point of contact which extends outside the
paper. This point of contact, which is in connection with the other
wire that leads to another station can be struck by a projecting point
of contact from each of the lower piston rods. The wheel d at the
communicating station has a synchronetical motion with the corre-
sponding wheel at the receiving station. If these wheels are put in
motion the keys are raised, and the pistons holding the types are lowered
synchronetically at both stations without the flowing of any current
through the conductor and without any printing being performed, before
one of the uppermost pistons is pressed down by the operator. This
done, and the upper pistons thus put in communicating connection
with the lower the current will flow to the corresponding point of
contact on the paper under layer and through the conductor to the other
station. The conducting paper under layer on this station must, together
with its point of contact, be raised by an electro-magnet to the centre
of the ball in the moment the current passes through the conductor,
and then strikes against the piston that carries the same letter or

page_text: sign which the wheel at the first station has brought down to the
centre.
After thus having explained the principal parts of the construction of
the writing ball, as well as some of its applications, the following is
claimed as the Invention:—
1st. The writing ball, an apparatus for direct or indirect impression of
letters, numbers, marks, signs, and figures (in raised, flat, or indented
work) by the aid of piston carrying rods, which are applied in such
manner that their prolonged axes pass through one and the same point,
which is the centre for the common plan of all the pistons.
2nd. The two above described apparatus as an under layer for the
paper, and the motion of this, which is carried into effect by electric
power, by clockwork, or other mechanical means.
3rd. The two above described apparatus for telegraphing purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Jensen, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.