AN IMPROVEMENT IN TRANSMITTING ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH SIGNALS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, E.C., Editor of the Mechanics' Magazine and
Patent Agent, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN TRANSMITTING
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH SIGNALS." -A communication from T. A. M. Sortais,
residing at Lisieux, France.
Sealed the 10th June 1859, and dated the 14th December 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald
Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 14th December 1858.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, E.C., Editor of the Mechanics' Magazine and Patent Agent, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
TRANSMITTING ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH SIGNALS," (communicated to me by T. A.
M. Sortais, residing at Lisieux, France,) to be as follows:-
According to the general method of transmitting electric telegraph messages,
where clockwork is used, the presence of an attendant is necessary at the
receiving station to set free the clockwork. Now this Invention consists in
setting free the clockwork, and bringing it into action and stopping it by means
of the current itself.

page_text: By the arrangements adopted by the Inventor not only is the clockwork
governed, but part of it is allowed to continue in action for a certain time, and
roll off a given length of paper after the conclusion of a message or signal.
As soon as the sending clerk acts upon the transmitting instrument, so soon
is the clockwork released at the receiving station and kept in motion. The
telegraphic signals cease as soon as the transmitting instrument is not worked,
but the clock work continues under the action of a spring to give off a certain
length of paper after the completion of the message or despatch. Thus,
without the intervention of manual aid, a separation is effected between
consecutive messages or signals.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th June 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD.
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, E. C.,
Editor of the Mechanics' Magazine and Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence that I, the
said Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN TRANSMITTING ELECTRIC
TELEGRAPH SIGNALS," (a communication from T. A. M. Sortais, residing at
Lisieux, France,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 the 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what mauner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
According to the general method of transmitting electric telegraph messages
where clockwork is used, the presence of an attendant is necessary at the
receiving station to set free the clockwork. Now this Invention consists in
setting free the clockwork, and bringing it into action and stopping it by means
of the current itself.
By the arrangements adopted by the Inventor not only is the clockwork
governed, but part of it is allowed to continue in action for a certain time, and
roll off a given length of paper after the conclusion of a message or signal.
As soon as the sending clerk acts upon the transmitting instrument, so
soon is the clockwork released at the receiving station and kept in motion:
The telegraphic signals cease as soon as the transmitting instrument is not
worked, but the clockwork continues under the action of a spring to give off a
certain length of paper after the completion of the message or despatch. Thus
without the intervention of manual aid a separation is effected between con-
secutive messages or signals.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is an exterior view of an apparatus
for transmitting telegraghic messages, with the improved mechanism applied
to it; Figure 2 is a plan of the same; Figure 3 is a side view of the
mechanism which causes the paper to advance a certain distance after the
despatch has been forwarded; and Figures 4 and 5 are views of the
details.
In the telegraphs now employed for transmitting messages the arrival of the
despatch is announced to the clerk by a signal. As soon as he moves a lever a,
Figure 2, from right to left the apparatus begins to work. This arrange-
ment requires the constant attention of the clerk, compels him to read the
despatch immediately, and to return the lever to its original position. By
the application of this mechanism the lever a is dispensed with.
Each time the electric fluid passes into the bobbins or coils 6 the armature c
is moved. This armature is fixed to one end of a lever d, which carries at its
opposite end the piercer f. This lever d oscillates about the knives e, and
causes the piercer f to act on the paper. The end of the lever which carries
the piercer is also furnished with a pin g, which raises at each oscillation of the
ever d the end h of a lever h, i, which is pivoted' at . The rising of the end h
produces the descent of the arm i, which strikes on the end of a lever

page_text: This lever
supported by the bracket g, the point of rotation of which is at m.
carries at its other end a steel point n; a steel projection o touches this lever,
which is fitted on a spindle p. The apparatus works as heretofore in trans-
mitting the despatch to the paper. When the despatch is finished, the lever
having ceased to be in contact with the bobbins or coils, allows the point n to
fall, which abuts against the projection o; it is at this point that the operation
takes place which causes the paper to advance in order to allow a certain
amount of time to elapse between the despatch that has been just forwarded
and the one about to be sent. The spindle p, as shewn in Figure 4, is
surrounded for a part of its length with a casing or covering r, on which the
A toothed wheel t is
projection is fixed as well as the conical portion s.
placed about the centre of the spindle p, and attached to a conical portion u,
which is free to turn with the wheel t, without drawing the covering with it;
a spiral spring is fixed to the conical portions s, as shewn.
projection o meets the point n, the covering r does not turn, but
does drawing with it the wheel t, and the conical portion u; from this it
follows that the spring which is fixed at one end and movable at the other
coils itself successively until its tension is sufficient to produce the stoppage of
the mechanism.
When the
p
the shaft,
Figures 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 are views of an arrangement of mechanism
for producing the same effect as that just described, being a modification of the
same. On a lever d there is fitted, as in the case just described, a pin (1), which
at each contact with the lever raises the pin (2) attached to a catch (3); each
time this catch is raised by the lever d, it allows the wheel (4) to move one
tooth which is set in motion by the pinion (5), to which motion is imparted
through a slight projection arranged on a platform behind the pinion. In order
to gain as much force as possible the catch (3) must be placed at the end of the
plate, as shewn at Figure 1, by the catch h. On the wheel (4) a lever (6¹)
is mounted, which is composed of two arms of equal weight, one of which is
terminated by a small ball or sphere (7) of sufficient weight to equalize the
balance. Each time the lever d is in contact with the bobbins or coils, the
rack rises and does not act on the wheel (4); the ball (7) acts by its own
weight, and the balance lever works in such manner as always to cause the
point (8), which is mounted on a shaft (10), carrying the fly wheel (11), with
the projection (9), to enter the paper. But if the lever ceases to touch the
bobbins, the wheel (4), at each motion of the pinion, advances a tooth, and the
ratchet holds the wheel (4) at each advance. This wheel takes with it the
balance lever, the point (8) of which, after passing several teeth, stops the
projection (9); this projection is mounted on a platform, to which is fixed a

page_text: weak spring, the tension on which produces, after several rotations of the
shaft (10), the stoppage of the mechanism. The spiral spring can be
dispensed with, and one of the shape shewn at (10¹) and (11') can be
substituted.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the improve-
ment in transmitting electric telegraph signals herein-before described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of June, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
R. A. BROOMAN. (L.S.)