IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Chase Barney, of 41, Lombard Street,
in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS."
Sealed the 25th April 1873, and lated the 10th March 1873.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Chase Barney
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 10th March 1873, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CHASE BARNEY, of 41, Lombard Street, in the City of London, send
greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPES," and have petitioned Her most Excellent Majesty
Queen Victoria to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made
solemn Declaration that I am the true and first Inventor thereof.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Chase Barney, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, to be as follows:-
The speed of transmission of signals on all long telegraph lines
whether on wires suspended in the air or on insulated wires buried in the
earth or submerged under water is greatly retarded by induction, so that
when the electro-chemical system of telegraphing is used, such as that
invented by Alexander Bain, the signals when sent rapidly over long
lines are not distinctly and clearly defined, but have what is known as
“tails,” and sometimes run together, and one continuous line is marked
on the recording paper.
By the method of arrangement of instruments which I have dis-
covered all the evils arising from induction are avoided, and distinct
signals can be transmitted with perfect accuracy at any rate of speed
between stations connected by any length of wire which can be charged
by a battery. To accomplish this result in operating electro-chemical ]
telegraphs in which the solution of the recording paper is acted on by
the positive current only I do not permit the signals to be sent over the
wire but I direct the signals directly from the transmitting instrument
to the earth as shown at diagram 1, hereunto annexed, whence those
signals are received on the recording instrument from a wire leading 2
from the earth to the stylus or recording pen.
"
1
All scientists use the wire for transmitting the signals and term the
wire the "line of going" or "fil d'aller," and term the earth the "line
of return or "fil de retour." I use the earth as the "line of going "
and the wire as the "line of return." To effect this I connect the wire
from the copper pole of the battery to the stylus or brush of the
transmitting instrument, and I connect the metal plate over which the
perforated paper passes by a wire to the earth. I connect the line to the
zinc pole of the battery at the transmitting station, and to the metal
plate of the recording instrument and I connect the stylus or recording s
pen by a wire to the earth.
To avoid the great inconvenience and loss of time in repeating
messages to verify their correctness I place a recording instrument in
the transmitting station connecting the stylus or recording pen to the
wire upon which the return current comes from the distant receiving g
station, and I connect the metal plate by a wire leading to the zinc pole
of the battery. By this arrangement the message transmitted to the

page_text: distant station is recorded simultaneously at the distant station, and in
the recording instrument in the transmitting station, thus the recorded
message in the transmitting office must be a perfect fac-simile of the
message recorded at the district station.
1
For the purpose of verifying the correctness of messages on my land
lines and cables, when "tailing" or a continuous line is produced on
the recording paper, I place a recording instrument, as shewn at
diagram 3, in the circuit in the line leading from the transmitter, so that
a copy of the message is recorded thereon simultaneously with the
recording at the distant station. In this diagram A is the battery; B,
the transmitter; O, the verifying recorder; and D, the recorder.
I claim the combined arrangement of electric telegraphs substantially
as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Chase Barney, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
RADY