IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPARATUS FOR COMMUNICATING INTELLIGENCE BY MEANS OF ELECTRICITY
Year: 1865

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ralph Augustine Jones
and Joseph Hedges at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 19th April 1865.
We, RALPH AUGUSTINE JONES, of Aylesbury, in the County of Buckingham,
and JOSEPH HEDGES, of the same Place, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPARATUS FOR COMMUNICATING
INTELLIGENCE BY MEANS OF ELECTRICITY," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates more particularly to improvements in the "com-
mutator," as employed in telegraphing messages. Instead of the " "key
commutator" at present used or employed in connection with the apparatus
of "Morse" and others, it is proposed to insert in wood or other non-conducting
substance herein-after called a "tablet," certain pieces of brass or any other
metal or conductor of any desired or convenient form, and so connected with
an elastic battery or other source of electricity that by passing or drawing
over them a pen or "style," in which is inserted a wire or wires or pieces of
metal connected with the electric circuit, electric contact is established, and
the circuit completed.
The aforesaid pieces of brass or other metal may be made of such a size
and relative dimensions that the length of contact will show at the receiving

page_text: station on the prepared paper or other substanco dots and dashes similar to
the "Morse alphabet."
In addition to the "dot" and "dash" which compose the "Morse alphabet,"
we propose to employ a still longer stroke, so that three symbols will be used
instead of two. By means of this said longer stroke, the "Morse alphabet "
may be shortened, and affixes, prefixes, and arbitraries may be greatly
increased, thereby diminishing the time required to send a message.
The pen or style is composed of some non-conducting material, and is
formed hollow. Through this hollow style are passed two wires or pieces
of metal insulated from each other except at one point. One of these
wires or pieces of metal is in connection with the line wire, and the other with
the instrument at the sending station. As soon as pressure is brought on the
point of the style, by being passed or drawn over the tablet, the contact of the
two wires or pieces of metal is broken, and a current passes from the tablet to
the instrument at the receiving station.
By using these arrangements two electric currents may be employed by
using a divided battery, and connecting the pieces of brass or other metal
representing the "dots" with one pole, and the "dashes" and long strokes
with the other pole, by which arrangement also a message may be sent from a
printing telegraphic instrument such as "Morse's " to a "needle instrument,"
or through a needle instrument or instruments to a printing instrument.
Another form of "tablet" which we may adopt consists of two brass or
metallic plates set in a non-conducting material, but connected with a divided
battery, whereby two currents may be employed. By touching these said
metallic plates with the pen or "style" according to the dots and dashes of
the "Morse alphabet," or my alphabet herein mentioned, in which three
symbols are employed, a message may be sent from a printing instrument to a
printing or a needle instrument.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Ralph Augustine Jones and Joseph Hedges in the Great 30
Seal Patent Office on the 19th October 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, RALPH
AUGUSTINE JONES, of Aylesbury, in the County of Buckingham, and JOSEPH
HEDGES, of the same Place, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters 35
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord

page_text: One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Ralph Augustine Jones and Joseph Hedges, Her special licence that we,
the said Ralph Augustine Jones and Joseph Hedges, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Ralph Augustine Jones
and Joseph Hedges, our 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
AND APPARATUS FOR COMMUNICATING INTELLIGENCE BY MEANS OF ELECTRICITY,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Ralph Augustine
Jones and Joseph Hedges, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our, or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Ralph Augustine Jones and Joseph
Hedges, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement:-
"
This Invention relates more particularly to improvements in the "com.
mutator," as employed in telegraphing messages. Instead of the "key
commutator at present used or employed in connection with the apparatus
of "Morse" and others, it is proposed to insert in wood or other non-conducting
substance, herein-after called a "tablet," certain pieces of brass or any other
metal or conductor of any desired or convenient form, and so connected with
an electric battery or other source of electricity, that by passing or drawing
over them a pen or "style," in which is inserted a wire or wires or pieces of
metal connected with the electric circuit, electric contact is established, and
the circuit completed.
The aforesaid pieces of brass or other metal may be made of such a size
and relative dimensions that the length of contact will show at the receiving
station on the prepared paper or other substance dots and dashes similar to
the "Morse alphabet."
In addition to the "dot" and "dash" which compose the "Morse alphabet "
we propose to employ a still longer stroke, so that three symbols will be used
instead of two. By means of this said longer stroke the "Morse alphabet "

page_text: may be shortened, and affixes, prefixes, and arbitraries may be greatly increased,
thereby diminishing the time required to send a message.
The pen or "style" is composed of some non-conducting material, and is
formed hollow. Through this hollow style are passed two wires or pieces of
metal insulated from each other except at one point. One of these wires or
pieces of metal is in connection with the line wire, and the other with the
instrument at the sending station. As soon as pressure is brought on the point
of the one by being passed or drawn over the tablet the contact of the two
wires or pieces of metal is broken, and the current passes from the tablet to
the instrument at the receiving station.
By using these arrangements two electric currents may be employed, if
desired, by using a divided battery, and connecting the pieces of brass or other
metal representing the "dots" with one pole, and the dashes and long strokes
with the other pole; by which arrangement also a message may be sent from
a printing telegraphic instrument, such as "Morse's," to a needle instrument,
or through a needle instrument or instruments to a printing instrument.
Another form of tablet which we may adopt consists of two brass or
metallic plates set in a non-conducting material, but connected with a divided
battery, whereby two currents may be employed. By touching these said
metallic plates with a pen or "style" according to the dots and dashes of the
"Morse alphabet," or our alphabet herein mentioned, in which three symbols
are employed a message may be sent from a printing instrument to a printing
or a needle instrument.
Having thus far explained the nature and object of our said Invention we
shall now proceed to describe the same moro particularly, and in order thereto
we shall refer to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters and
figures of reference marked thereon respectively, as follows:-
Fig. 1 represents a "tablet marked T, T, which may be made of wood or
other non-conducting material. In this "tablet" are inserted pieces of brass
or other metal coloured yellow, and marked b, b, &c. The lengths of such
pieces of brass are proportioned to the length of the dots and dashes which
form the characters of the Morse alphabet; thus we form the letter B, which
is represented in the Morse alphabet by a dash followed by three dots, by a
long piece of brass followed by three short pieces. Each piece of metal is
insulated by being inlaid in the tablet, which as before stated is of non-con-
ducting material, and separated from the following piece of brass or metal by
an intermediate piece of insulating material marked i, i, i, &c., and coloured
brown.
In the case of vowels, and in order to distinguish them more readily, which

page_text: would facilitate the transmission of messages, we colour such intermediate
pieces of insulating material with some prominent and readily visible colour, as
for instance, red. Thus in the vowel O, which is represented by three dashes,
the intermediate insulating portions marked r, r, r, may be coloured red or
any other convenient and readily distinguished colour.
The said pieces of brass or other metal b, b, b, &c., may be all either
metallically connected with each other, and with one pole of the battery, where
a Bains or other instrument employing only one current is used, or the long
pieces representing the dashes may be connected with one pole of the battery,
and the short pieces representing the dots with the other pole, when instru-
ments are used where two currents can be employed, as for instance, "Morse's "
or double needle instruments; where two currents are employed, a divided
battery would be used.
In addition to the dot and dash used in the Morse alphabet we employ a
longer stroke, which will be made by a piece of brass or metal of a greater
length than that representing the dash. This will be understood on referring
to the right hand of the "tablet" T, Fig. 1, where the word "and," or the
prefixes "enter," "inter," "intro," are represented by a symbol composed of a
short piece of brass or metal c and a piece d longer than that representing the
dash, as seen in the letters of the alphabet. By the introduction of this
symbol, the Morse alphabet may be remodelled and shortened, and the number
of arbitraries increased, whereby greater rapidity may be obtained in trans-
mitting a message. In the same manner as the portions of the insulating
material between the pieces of metal in the vowels were coloured red, the
corresponding portions in the arbitraries may be likewise coloured green, as
represented and marked g.
Cand Z
Fig. 2 shows another form of "tablet" which we sometimes use.
are pieces of brass or other conducting material inlaid in the "tablet" T,
which is to be made of some non-conducting material. The pieces of metal
C and Z are connected with the opposite poles of a divided battery, whereby
two currents may be employed, and by tapping or touching them with a
metallic point, or a "make and break" pen, in accordance with the "Morse
alphabet" as now used, or with our improved form of letters, in which three
symbols are used, a message may be sent between distant stations. One piece
of metal, C, for instance, would be used for the "dashes" and long strokes
and the other for the "dots."
Fig. 3 represents the "make and break" pen S, which we use in trans-
mitting a message by means of our tablet. It is made of any convenient
materials, such as wood or metal, and is formed hollow. Through the centre

page_text: run the two wires p, n, connected the one with the receiving instrument and
the other with the line wire. They are insulated from each other, except at
one point a, the writing point b being prolonged and made into a spring, so
that in writing contact may be made and broken whenever the pen is raised
from the "tablet" or pressed on it.
Another style or pen, Fig. 4, may be used, having only one wire inserted,
connected with the "line," so that when brought into contact with the pieces
of metal inserted in a "tablet a current is sent from the battery connected
therewith to a distant station. In this case an ordinary switch would
'be used.
Having now fully described the nature and object of our said Invention,
together with the best means we are acquainted with for carrying the same
into practical effect, we wish it to be understood that we do not confine our-
selves to the precise forms and details or relative dimensions we have
herein-before described and represented; but what we do claim is,-
First, a board or frame of suitable non-conducting material, which we call
a "tablet," having its surface inlaid with pieces of metal representing the
"dots" and "dashes" of the "Morse alphabet," or the dots, dashes, and long
strokes of our characters, the said pieces of metal being in connection
with the electric or magnetic battery or batteries employed in sending the
message.
Secondly, we claim the use of a long stroke in conjunction with the
dot and dash used in forming the "Morse alphabet," as herein-before
'described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, we, the said Ralph Augustine Jones and Joseph
Hedges, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Sixteenth day
of October, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-five.
-Witness,
JOHN COOPER HEDGES,
RALPH AUGUSTINE JONES. (L.S.)
JOSEPH HEDGES.
(L.S.)
Cambridge St.,
Aylesbury.