Improvements in means or apparatus for Recording and Repeating and Re-transmitting Morse characters for use with Telegraphic Instruments.
Year: 1899

page_text: DI LUIFICATION.
Improvements in means or apparatus for Recording and Repeating
and Re-transmitting Morse characters for use with Telegraphic
Instruments.
We, CHARLES STEVENS, of 10, Wemyss Road, Blackheath, in the County of
Kent, Gentleman, CHARLES CLEMENT VYLE, of 74, Patshull Road, Kentish Town,
in the County of London, Telegraph Engineer, and WILLIAM MILNER, of 40,
Mercer's Road, Holloway, in the County of London, Telegraph Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The object of the present invention is to produce a tape having perforations
representing visually, dots and dashes of the Morse code, so that it may be read by
sight, or it may be passed through a repeater and the message read up by sound, and
when desired it may be used for re-transmitting a message.
This we effect by means of a constantly working plunger or pusher, and a punch
which can be operated by the plunger or pusher at successive operations of the latter
to produce dashes or dots, as may be required, spaces being produced by a non-action
of the punch.
One method of carrying our invention into effect is as follows:-
:-
The new perforator is driven electrically by means of a suitable battery and
a small motor; a paper tape is drawn into position under a punch by means
of a short train of wheels, which also revolves an eccentric to work
plunger.
a
The plunger is attached to the eccentric strap and thus has a rapid up and
down movement, its play being limited by the eccentric to the exact length
of a slot in the side of the punch. A crank may be substituted for the
eccentric.
The line coils are differentially wound to a resistance of 100 + 100, with pole
pieces, armatures and limiting stops, similar in construction to that of an ordinary
receiver, with the difference that a forked lever, projecting over a small bolt and
having its fork engaged with a pin attached to said bolt, is substituted for the usual
arm carrying the marking disc. Said bolt passes through the punch at one end
of the slot therein.
From the above description it will be seen that immediately a "marking" current
flows through the line coils, the fork moves from right to left, pushing the bolt
through the punch and underneath the plunger, thus shortening the length of the
slot in the side of the punch, the result being that the point of the punch is forced
through and withdrawn from the paper tape at a great speed; a reversal of the
current to "spacing," moves the fork from left to right, withdrawing the bolt
from underneath the plunger, in which position the plunger ceases to act on
the punch.
With the plunger working up and down at a rapid rate, and the small sliding bolt
for altering the length of the slot in the side of the punch under the control of
the marking and spacing currents, Morse characters can be punched electrically at
the end of a line with the usual working currents.
The motor battery is cut in and out of circuit for starting and stopping the

page_text: instrument, by means of a lever actuating a switch. The switch lever is also used
for removing the end of the plunger clear of the end of the bolt when at rest; this
is necessary because the end of the plunger, when left in line with the bolt, would
limit the play of the arinature and interfere with the local circuit.
For the purpose of reading up the punched Morse slip by sound, or of using the
slip for the purpose of re-transmission, a very simple arrangement has been adopted
preliminarily:
The perforated slip is made to pass along a platform and between two rollers driven
by a spring and clockwork, the upper roller, which keeps the paper tape in position,
being also used as a conductor for the local current. The lower roller is slotted in
the middle to allow of the introduction of a narrow fine-wire flat brush, the free end
of which is in a line with the centre of both rollers. The free end of this brush.
has an upward tendency, pressing against the upper roller or conductor, and thus
becomes a contact maker. The fixed end is connected with the local sounder
circuit. The four ends of the four wires forming the brush or contact maker, being
in a straight line, enter together and leave together the holes in the perforated slip
as the latter passes between the two rollers and over the brush, reproducing on the
sounder the Morse characters or signals registered on the slip, or, in the case of
retransmission, sending corresponding signals through the line.
The switch for starting and stopping the clockwork, also connects the local
battery when the instrument is running, and disconnects it when stopped.
.The arrangements for local reading up by sound are as follows.
A sounder is fixed
on a raised platform at the back of the instrument with three dry cells placed in
the base as a local battery.
The repeating instrument is thus complete in itself, it is portable, and can be
placed in any convenient part of the instrument room.
Dated this 3rd day of February 1899.
Improvements in means or apparatus for Recording and Repeating
and Re-transmitting Morse characters for use with Telegraphic
Instruments.
We, CHARLES STEVENS, of 10, Wemyss Road, Blackheath, in the County of Kent,
Gentleman, CHARLES CLEMENT VYLE, of 74, Patshull Road, Kentish Town, in the
County of London, Telegraph Engineer, and WILLIAM MILNER, of 40, Mercers Road,
Holloway, in the County of London, Telegraph Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The object of the present invention is to produce a tape having perforations
representing visually dots and dashes of the Morse code, so that it may be read by
sight or it may be passed through a repeater and the message read up by sound,
and when desired it may be used for re-transmitting a message.
The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which :-
Fig. 1 is an elevation of a receiving instrument.
Fig. 2 is a plan and Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation. of parts of the same.
Fig. 4 is a front view of an apparatus for re-transmitting or reading the message
up by sound...
Fig. 5 is an end elevation of the same partly in section, a few parts being omitted
for the sake of clearness, and
Fige 6 and 7 are detail viewe

page_text: Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, A is the framing of the instrument, which is situated
on a wooden table B having drawers C and D.
a is a constantly working plunger or pusher working in guides a¹ and pivoted at a²
to a connecting piece or eccentric strap a³ operated by the eccentric 6 mounted on
the shaft b¹.
This shaft bis driven preferably by means of a small electro-motor M giving motion
to the toothed wheel e which rotates the pinion 62 fixed on the eccentric shaft b¹.
A crank may be
The plunger or pusher a has a foot-piece at to act on the punch c.
substituted for the eccentric if desired.
c is a punch mounted in guides c¹ and formed with a fine end or cutter c² for
perforating the paper strip d, which latter is fed forward regularly. by a short train of
wheels driven by the wheel e.
The punch c is provided with a tension spring c³. The strip of paper d is drawn off
the roll in the drawer D and passes over guide pulleys d² d³ and under a tension
pin d to the punching table or die f having a hole f¹ therein, through which pass
the pieces of paper cut by the cutter c². These pieces fall into the drawer C. The
strip of paper passes from the punching table f under a tension pin d³, around
guide pulleys d d to the draw-off roller e¹ driven by the train of gearing before-
mentioned.
The punch c has a slot c4 in its side, within which the pusher foot a¹ works.
slot is equal in length to the movement of the plunger or pusher a.
This
The line coils g are wound to a resistance of 100 + 100 with pole pieces g¹,
armatures 2 and limiting stops g³ similar in construction to that of an ordinary
receiver, with the difference that a forked lever h, projecting over a small bolt i and
having its fork h¹ engaged by a pin attached to said bolt i, is substituted for the
usual arm carrying the marking disc. The bolt i passes through a hole in the punch c
at one end of the slot c4 therein.
From the above description it will be seen that immediately a marking current
flows through the line coils g, the forked lever h moves from right to left, pushing the
bolti through the hole in the punch c and underneath the foot at of the constantly
working plunger or pusher a, thus shortening the length of the slot ct in the side of
the punch c, the result being that the point or cutter c² is forced through and with-
drawn from the paper strip at a great speed, and as the paper strip d is being drawn
forward at a constant speed, a slot is cut therein representing a dot or a dash,
according to the time that the marking current is caused to flow through the line
coils g. A reversal of the current to "spacing" moves the fork from left to right,
withdrawing the bolt i from underneath the foot at of the plunger a, in which position
the plunger ceases to act on the punch c.
i
With the plunger working up and down at a rapid rate and the small sliding bolt
for altering the length of the slot in the side of the punch c under the control of the
"marking" and "spacing" currents, Morse characters, as shown in Fig. 4, can be
punched at the end of a line with the usual working currents.
The motor battery is cut in and out of circuit for starting and stopping the
instrument by means of a lever jactuating a switch (not shown). This lever j, by
means of the link j¹ and pivoted lever 12 carrying the guides a¹, is also used for
removing the foot at of the plunger clear of the end of the bolt i when the instrument
is at rest. This is necessary because the foot at of the plunger, if left in line with the
bolt, would limit the play of the armatures g² and interfere with the local circuit.
The levers k and k¹ are used for raising and lowering the friction pulley 2. The
post k³ acts as a guide for the paper strip d, and at the same time serves as a grip to
facilitate giving motion to the levers j and k.
The paper strip d may be read up visually or by means of the sounder and
re-transmitter shown in Figs. 4 and 5.
This instrument consists of a base E having standards E¹ and reel E2 upon which
has been wound the perforated strip d. This strip d is drawn along the platform l
between two rollers 1112, one of which is driven by a spring and clockwork F provided
with a winding spindle F1 and removable key F2.

page_text: Two bell-crank contact levers m arranged side by side (which are joined up to
the local sounder circuit) are pivoted at m³ and are held by coiled springs m² with the
ends of their upper arms in contact with the perforated strip d as it passes along the
platform l, and are actuated by the springs m² causing their upper arms to pass
through the perforations in the paper strip, thereby forcing their lower arms against
a contact screw n, which limits their range and completes the circuit as controlled by
the perforated strip d, reproducing on the sounder the Morse characters or signals
registered on the strip d, or, in the case of re-transmission, sending corresponding
signals through the line. It will be understood that the spaces on the paper strip
will act on the upper arms to force the lower arms of the contact levers away from
the contact screw n.
This use of two bell crank levers m to act in connection with a strip having a single
row of perforations has been adopted with a view to ensure correct action as in
the event of only one such lever being used, it would be liable to fail to make
contact if the perforations did not happen at any point to be exactly central
therewith.
The switch lever j for starting and stopping the clockwork also connects the
local battery G₁ when the instrument is running, and disconnects it when
stopped.
The arrangements for local reading up by sound are as follows. A sounder is
fixed on a raised platform G at the back of the instrument with, say, three dry
cells G¹ placed in the base G2 as a local battery. The sounder consists of two
electro magnets o and an armature o¹ fixed on an armature lever 02 pivoted at p¹
to one of the posts p shown in Fig. 4. This armature lever o² has a projection o³,
to the end of which is attached one end of a spring of, the other end of which
is carried by the adjustment p² carried by the post. 4. The upper part of this post
carries banking screws p³ to limit the motion of the armature lever o².
We would here remark that other arrangements of apparatus for producing a
perforated strip of paper or other material representing Morse characters of the
character herein described, may be employed without departing from the peculiar
feature of our invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we claim
is:-
1. A strip of paper or other suitable material perforated in a single line with Morse
characters, substantially as herein shown and described.
2. The employment of a strip of suitable material perforated in a single line with
Morse characters for the purpose of re-transmitting messages, substantially as herein
described.
3. The employment of a strip of suitable material perforated in a single line with
Morse characters for reading up messages by sound, substantially as herein
described.
4. An instrument for receiving telegraphic messages having a constantly working
plunger and a punch capable of punching Morse characters in a strip of suitable
material, substantially as set forth.
5. In an instrument for receiving telegraphic messages, the combination of a
constantly working plunger, a foot on said plunger, a punch having a slot therein of
like length to the stroke of the plunger, a bolt passing through said punch operated
by a forked lever, and means for operating said forked lever by the usual "marking"
and "spacing" currents, substantially as herein shown and described.
6. In an instrument for receiving telegraphic messages, the combination of a
constantly working plunger and guides for said plunger mounted on a lever connected
to a switch for starting and stopping the motor nsed to drive the plunger, said lever
being also used to throw the plunger into and out of action, substantially as set
forth.
7. In an instrument for receiving telegraphic messages, the combination of a

page_text: constantly working plunger, a punch, a suitable connection for connecting the
plunger and punch, and means for operating the connection by the usual "marking "
and "spacing" currents, substantially as set forth.
8. In an instrument for re-transmitting telegraphic messages, the combination of
5 means for drawing a strip of material perforated with Morse characters in a single
line and a lever or brush for the purpose of making electrical contact bearing against
the strip and having its end of size to enter the perforations, substantially as set
forth.
9. In an instrument for reading up messages by sound, the combination of means
0 for drawing a strip of material perforated with Morse characters in a single line, a
lever or brush for the purpose of making electrical contact with a local circuit, and a
suitable sounder, substantially as set forth.
L1000
HARRIS & MILLS,
23, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents.