AN IMPROVED TELEGRAPH OR APPARATU3 FOR THE TRANSMISSION OF SIGNALS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Porter Maddison, of Barnsley, in the County
of York, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED TELEGRAPH OR APPARATU3
FOR THE TRANSMISSION OF SIGNALS
Sealed the 30th September 1856, and dated the 5th April 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Porter Maddison
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th April 1856.
I, WILLIAM PORTER MADDISON, of Barnsley, in the County, of York, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "AN IMPROVED TELEGRAPH
OR APPARATUS POR THE TRANSMISSION OF SIGNALS," to be as follows:
This Invention consists in transmitting signals from one place or station to
another, by exerting mechanical pressure upon atmospheric air in a tube, one end
whereof is fitted with a small cylinder and piston, as also a piston rod, to the
top of which a small weight or hammer is affixed, said cylinder being held in
proper position by screwing the same to a piece of wood. There is a bell or
other mechanical contrivance fixed to the said piece of wood immediately over
the aforesaid hammer, which is caused to strike the said bell by compressing
the atmospheric air contained in the tube, for which purpose the opposite end
of the tubo is connected to a pair of bellows, the upward movement whereof
allows the atmospheric air to enter the bellows, and the downward movement
compresses the air in the tube, and thus effects the rising of the hammer and
the striking of the bell, and by these means signals may be transmitted. from
place to place in a simple and efficient manner.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Porter Maddison in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 4th October 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PORTER MADDISON, of Barnsley, in the County of York, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria; by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Ierself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Porter Maddison, Her special licence that I, the said William
Porter Maddison, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said William Porter Maddison, 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
IMPROVED TELEGRAPH OR APPARATUS FOR THE TRANSMISSION OF SIGNALS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Porter Maddison, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument 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 per-
formed, 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 I, the said William Porter Maddison, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists in transmitting signals from one place or station to
another, by exerting mechanical pressure upon atmospheric air in a tube, one
en:l whereof is fitted with a small cylinder and piston, as also a piston rod, to
the top of which a small weight or hammer is affixed, said cylinder being held
in proper position by screwing the same to a piece of wood. There is a bell or
other mechanical contrivance fixed to the said piece of wood immediately over
the aforesaid hammer, which is caused to strike the said bell by compressing
the atmospheric air contained in the tube, for which purpose the opposite end
of the tube is connected to a pair of bellows, the upward movement whereof
allows the atmospheric air to cuter the bellows, and the downward movement

page_text: Figure 1 is an elevation of one form of construction of my improved tele-
graph or apparatus for the transmission of signals; Figure 2 is a sectional
elevation of another form of construction of my said improved telegraph. At
Figure 1, A is a tube, elastic or otherwise; B, a cylinder, fixed to the..top
thereof and to a piece of wood Z; this cylinder is fitted with a piston C, which
should not work air-tight therein; D, a rod, affixed to said piston; E, a, small
weight or hammer, fixed to top of said rod; G is a bell, fixed to the piece of
wood Z, immediately over the hammer E; H is an ordinary pair of bellows,
the size whereof must be in accordance with the length and diameter of the
tube A; the nose of these bellows is connected air-tight to the tube A. The
mode of operating with the above improved telegraph or apparatus is as
follows: Supposing the piston and bellows to be in the position exhibited by
the Drawing, it will appear evident, that upon exerting pressure upon the top
of the bellows the air contained therein will be compressed, and passing up
the tube A will be forcibly pressed against the piston; thereby causing the
hammer to strike the bell, any surplus air, together with the air above tho
piston, passing freely out through the holes a, a.
As regards the construction of the apparatus exhibited at A, Figure 2, it
consists in substituting cylinders A fitted with pistons Band valves b, b, in lieu
of the bellows II (at Figure 1), and further in exhausting the air from the
tube A, instead of compressing it therein, as previously described. By these
means the external atmospheric pressure forces the piston B' up the tube A*,
and imparts motion to the index hand c, the point whereof may be used in
connection with a dial plate, having divisions and numeral figures marked
thereon, or other symbols representing certain conventional signals, which can
be easily read off. By arranging the valves b, b, in the manner exhibited at B,
Figure 2, the apparatus then operates so as to compress the air in the tube A,
in a similar manner to that previously described with reference to Figure 1.
I would here remark, that by modifying the construction of the lastly above-

page_text: mentioned apparatus, that is to say, by placing two pistons in one tube instead
of two separate tubes, and by exhausting the air from one piston and coin-
pressing the air against the other piston, each piston being attached to å
pointer or indicator, a telegraph thus constructed may be made to send and
receive messages at the same station, or, in other words, to convey signals in
two directions in one tube, so as to send and receive a signal at the same
station. I also propose by the above arrangement to transmit signals to á
number of stations communicating with several other stations by means of one
or more tubes.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention of "An
Improved Telegraph or Apparatus for the Transmission" of Signals," together
with the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the same into practical
effect, I would remark, in conclusion, that what I claim as my Invention;
intended to be secured to me by the above in part recited Letters Patent, is,
the mode above set forth of transmitting and receiving signals by the use of
apparatus constructed and actuated as above particularly described, and repre-
sented by the Drawing hereunto 'annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Porter Maddison, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this First day of October, in the year, of
our. Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
WILLIAM. PORTER MADDISON. (LS.)
Witness,
CHARLES LORIMER,
Gordon Terrace, Barnsley.