IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Piggott at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd April 1868.
I, GEORGE PIGGOTT, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS," to be as follows:-
My Invention has reference principally to such electric telegraphs
as reproduce the message sent in letters or figures instead of in the
ordinary code of signals.
My Invention consists, further, in converting an electric telegraph of
the kind referred to into a printing telegraph.
My improvements consist, firstly, of a differential ratchet wheel or
barrel divided into a number of teeth equal to the letters of the alphabet
or any other required number. Motion is given to the said wheel or
barrel by hand or by a train of wheels, or by clockwork, the motion
being regulated by an escapement, which only allows the barrel to give
one revolution at a time. In making the barrel the teeth are first cut
from end to end of the barrel, and they are afterwards cut partly away

page_text: in steps, one behind the other lengthwise of the barrel, so that the first
space of the barrel will only give one tooth in the revolution, the second
space two teeth in one revolution, and so on to the last space on the
barrel. Upon the said ratchet barrel a pall bears pressed by a spring,
and every time it passes over a tooth a connection is made with the
battery, and an electric current passes along the wire to the distant
station. The pall is moved backwards and forwards along a slide with
the letters of the alphabet marked on it to correspond with the spaces of
the differential barrel. The said pall can be placed instantly over any
letter. When this has been done the escapement is touched and the
barrel makes one revolution, and the pall striking the required number
of teeth the proper number of currents are transmitted to produce the
required letter at the receiving end.
My improvements consist, secondly, of a receiving apparatus. Any
ordinary escapement attached to a train of wheels or clockwork is
released by an electo-magnet, and every current that arrives moves the
escapement one division, so that any number of currents from one to the
number of its teeth may be sent by the differential barrel hercin-before
described, and the escapement will give the same result at the receiving
end. I place a clutch or releasing apparatus between the shaft that
carries the needle and the escapement shaft, and I fix a spiral spring to
the needle shaft, so that the moment the needle stops at any division or
letter the receiver at the receiving end of the wire moves a handle and
releases the shaft with the needle on, and the spring causes the needle to
fly back immediately to zero. This handle by the same movement
makes contact with the wire which transmits a current back to the dis-
tributor to notify that he has received his communication. The current
may only be sent at the termination of cach word.
My improvements consist, thirdly, of a printing apparatus which is
moved by the same lever which releases the needle and transmits the
current back to the distributor. On the needle shaft I fix a double
type wheel, one side having letters and the other figures. For releasing
and transmitting the current the lever moves backwards, and when
moved forwards it moves the printing apparatus. The said printing
apparatus consists of a wheel to hold the strip of paper passing through
two sets of rollers to keep it straight and in a close position to the type
wheel. A presser in a line with a radius of the type wheel is pushed
forward by the lever immediately the letter is received on the dial by

page_text: the receiver, and the return motion is performed by a ratchet wheel
geared to the same lever which moves the paper along for the proper
distance for the next letter to be printed. The lever is pushed back
again, the escapement released, the type wheel flies back to zero, and tho
current may also be sent to the distributor.