Improvements in Electric Telegraph Apparatus.
Year: 1899

page_text: TROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Electric Telegraph Apparatus.
We, JOSEPH ARTHUR LOVEL DEARLOVE and SIDNEY GEORGE BROWN, both of
4, Great Winchester Street, in the County of London, Electrical Engineers, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in electric telegraph transmitting
apparatus of the class known as automatic transmitters, and is more especially
adapted for sub-marine cable circuits but may be used also for other lines.
In this class of transmitting apparatus the signals are transmitted by means
of a pair of transmitting or contact levers which are respectively connected to
line and to earth, and each of which is provided with a pair of fixed contact points
between which it is caused to oscillate. These fixed contact points are connected
to the opposite terminals of an electric battery. The transmitting levers are
operated by a perforated tape which is caused to pass over the points of a pair
of needles which have their opposite ends respectively connected to the arms at
one side of a pair of crank levers. When the needles enter perforations in the
tape, the opposite arms of these crank levers are adapted to move the transmitting
levers away from the contact points upon which they rest when in their zero
position, onto their other contact points with which they make contact for trans-
mitting signals. Similar levers are adapted to return the transmitting levers
to their zero position after a given short period. Suitable means such as clock-
work is provided for operating the crank levers and the returning levers. The
transmitting levers are retained in their positions in contact with one or other of
their contact points by means of "jockey" rollers carried by springs and bearing
respectively on the extremities at one end of the transmitting levers.
When the apparatus is constructed to transmit what are known as "curbing "
currents, the contact points with which the transmitting levers co-operate, are
not connected directly, but through the intervention of oscillating levers, to the
battery terminals. These oscillating levers are operated during the passage of
every signalling current, in such manner as to reverse the connections between
the fixed contact points of the transmitting levers and the poles of the battery,
so that each effective signalling impulse is sharply terminated or
an opposite impulse.
"curbed" by
Our invention refers to improvements in the construction of and means for
operating the oscillating levers for reversing the battery connections, also to means
for holding the transmitting levers in contact with one or other of their contact
points, and also for a construction which provides greater facilities for adjustment,
inspection and operation of the transmitting levers. Our invention further
elates to an electro-motor provided with a specially constructed centrifugal govern-
ng device for operating the transmitting apparatus.
According to our invention each of the oscillating or reversing levers for
eversing the connections between the battery terminals and the fixed contact
oints of the transmitting levers, is pivoted at one extremity to a plate or block
-
гD 0.71

page_text: A fixed
adapted to rotate on a centre or between grooves or guides on the frame or bed
of the apparatus. The opposite extremities of these reversing levers are suitably
connected together by an insulated connecting piece. The battery terminals are
respectively connected to the pivoted ends of these reversing. levers.
contact piece, to which one of each pair of the fixed contact points of the trans-
mitting levers is connected, is placed between the reversing levers as heretofore.
The contact piece to which the other fixed contact points of the transmitting
levers are attached, is situated between the reversing levers and is carried by a
projection of a preferably cranked rocking arm pivoted to the aforesaid rotating
plate or block. The opposite end of this rocking arm is connected by a spring or
flexible connection with or without a connecting rod to a rotating crank pin or its
equivalent carried by a continuously rotating shaft operated by a suitable motor.
The plate or block carrying the reversing levers and the rocking arm, can be
caused to rotate, preferably by means of an adjusting screw, for the purpose of
fixing the position of the reversing levers and rocking arm with respect to the
rotary crank pin and thereby giving the rocking arm. a bias to one or other side
so as to regulate the relative duration of the signalling currents and their curbing
currents.
When employing transmitting levers of ordinary construction we may omit
the jockey" rollers hitherto generally employed for retaining the said levers in
contact with their contact points, and may employ instead, for this purpose, springs
which have their extremities at one end attached to the said levers and their
opposite ends adjustably connected to fixed points by means of screws. These
springs are so adjusted that they buckle or bend and thereby retain the trans-
mitting levers in contact with either of their contact points as required.
We preferably employ a pair of crank transmitting levers respectively connected
to line and to earth. These levers have the extremities of their arms at one end
forked or slotted, and their other arms are adapted to oscillate between contact
points and are respectively pivoted to the needles which are operated by the
perforated tape. Springs acting upon these crank transmitting levers, tend to
press the points of the needles upon the tape as the latter is passed through the
apparatus in the ordinary manner. The contact points between which the trans-
mitting levers oscillate are respectively connected to the battery terminals either
directly or through oscillating or reversing levers. These contact points, on one
side of the transmitting levers are fixed so as to be capable of adjustment, and
the remaining two contact points on the opposite side of the transmitting levers
are carried by one arm of a pivoted lever the opposite arm of which is situated
in the path of a tappet carried by a continuously rotating shaft. This last
mentioned, or tappet lever, is held in the path of the tappet preferably by means
of a spring, which spring tends also to hold the said lever against a fixed stop.
The arm of this tappet lever which carries the contact points, has one end of a
spring attached to it. The opposite end of this spring is provided with a tooth
which, when no signals are being transmitted, engages with the slots in the
forked ends of both the transmitting levers. When in their zero position the
transmitting levers make contact with the contact points carried by the tappet
lever, which latter is then held against its fixed stop. Each time the tappet strikes
the tappet lever, it causes the said lever to move away from its fixed stop and to
carry the contact points which it supports out of contact with the transmitting
levers, and also to raise the tooth out of engagement with the forked ends of the
transmitting levers. Should a perforation in the tape be then presented to one or
other of the needles, said needle will enter such perforation and the forked end
of the contact lever to which it is connected will be moved out of the path of the
tooth carried by the spring. When the tappet actuated lever is now returned to
or towards its fixed stop under the influence of its spring, the tooth re-enters the
fork of the lever which has not been moved by its needle; the said tooth however
does not re-engage with, but moves in front of, the fork of the transmitting lever
that has been moved by its needle, which results in this latter transmitting lever

page_text: being now moved into contact with its fixed contact point by the tappet lever,
and a signal being sent to line or to earth as the case may be.
We preferably employ an electro-motor for operating the transmitting appar-
atus, and we may place this electro-motor either in the casing at the side of the
transmitting levers in the position usually occupied by the clockwork heretofore
used, or we may place the electromotor below or in other suitable position with
respect to the transmitting levers.
It is necessary that this electro-motor should be suitably regulated. For this
'purpose we provide a centrifugal governor which is adapted to open the motor
circuit should the speed become too high, and which comprises a collar fixed to
one end of a rotary shaft, a sleeve which carries a contact disc and is mounted
on the other end of the said shaft, and springs or other suitable means which carry
weights and have their ends respectively attached to the said collar and sleeve.
The contact disc connects two brushes arranged in the electric motor circuit.
When the motor is running the rotary shaft revolves and, if the speed becomes too
high, the centrifugal force causes the weights to move the contact disc out of con-
tact with one or both of the said brushes, and to thereby open the motor circuit.
I should preferably so construct the instrument that all the electrical contact
levers are mounted in a horizontal position, this to allow of easy inspection and
adjustment.
The tape would be driven as heretofore but the needles may be conveniently
fixed on special cranked arms so as to operate the contact levers when mounted
in this horizontal position.
Dated this 8th day of December 1899
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicants.
ap Apparatus,
We, JOSEPH ARTHUR LOVEL DEARLOVE and SIDNEY GEORGE BROWN, both of
4, Great Winchester Street, in the County of London, Electrical Engineers, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This invention relates to improvements in electric telegraph transmitting
apparatus of the class known as automatic transmitters, and is more especially
adapted for submarine cable circuits but may be used also for other lines.
According to our invention we employ a pair of cranked transmitting levers
connected respectively to line and to earth and operated through the medium of
suitable rods or needles from a perforated tape. The arms on one side of these
transmitted levers are adapted to oscillate between suitable contact points con-
nected to the battery terminals either directly when it is required to transmit
plain battery and earth signals, or through the intervention of "reversing" levers
when it is required to transmit “ curbed" signals.
one side of the transmitting levers are fixed so as to be capable of adjustment,
The said contact points on
and the said contact points on the opposite side of the transmitting levers are
carried by one arm of an oscillating lever the other arm of which is situated in
the path of a tappet carried by a continuously rotating shaft. The arm of the
cranked lever which carries the contact points also carries a spring the free end
of which is adapted to co-operate with the opposite ends of the transmitting levers

page_text: in such manner that when one of the needles enters a perforation in the tape the
transmitting lever to which the said needle is connected, is raised so as to make
contact with its contact point carried by the cranked lever while the other trans-
mitting lever is depressed onto its fixed contact point, and a signal is thus sent
to line or to earth as the case may be.
When transmitting "curbed" signals, we pivot the "reversing" levers at one
extremity to a movable plate and connect together the opposite extremities of these
levers by a strip of insulating material. The contact points on one side of the
transmitting levers are connected to a contact fixed between these reversing levers,
and the contact points on the other side of the reversing levers are connected to
a contact which is carried by a rocking or oscillating arm or lever which is
connected by an insulated spring connection to a crank pin or its equivalent
carried by the rotary tappet shaft. The movable plate is adapted to be adjusted
so as to give the oscillating lever a bias to one side or the other and thus regulate
the relative length of the signals and their curbing" currents.
In order that our invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into
practical effect, we will proceed to describe the same more fully in connection
with the accompanying drawings in which:-
Figure 1 is a side elevation of the apparatus.
Figure 2 is a plan of the transmitting levers.
Figure 3 is a plan of the oscillating lever carrying contact points and the
toothed spring.
a is the frame or plate to which the various parts of the apparatus are fixed.
b and c are a wheel and a toothed roller between which a perforated signalling
tape d is fed in a manner that is well understood. e and e¹ are the transmitting
levers which are pivoted to the plate a and adapted to oscillate between fixed
stops f, f and stops g, g¹ carried by one arm of a cranked lever h. The other
arm of the lever is provided with a roller which bears on the periphery of a
disc i carried by a continuously rotating shaft and having a tappet i upon its
periphery. is a spring which holds the roller h¹ on the lever h against the
periphery of the disc i; the disc i thus acting as a stop for the lever h.
k, kare the needles or rods connected to the levers e, e¹ and having their free
ends passing through holes in the projecting piece in the plate a and bearing
on the tape d. are screw stops for accurately adjusting the position of the
free ends of the needles k. are springs for holding the said needles against
the screw stops. 1 is a spring or plate which is carried by and insulated from
the cranked lever hand has a toothed free end adapted to co-operate with the
arms e, e of the levers e, e¹. e² are springs which tend to hold the free ends of
the rods against the tape d. e³ is insulation material in the levers e, e¹. E
and L are the earth and line connections to the levers e and e¹.
m, m' are the
reversing levers pivoted at one end to a plate n and having their opposite ends
connected together by a link of insulation material m². o is a contact which is
fixed to the plate a between the levers m, m' and to which the contact points g, g¹
carried by the lever hare electrically connected. is a contact which is carried
by one arm of an oscillating lever q pivoted to the plate n, and which is electrically
connected to the fixed contact points f, f¹. q, q2 are respectively a spring and a
connecting rod connecting the other arm of the lever q to a crank pin carried
by the rotary disc i. is insulation material between the spring and the
connecting rod q² m², n² are grooves or guides between which the plate n is
adapted to slide. n³ is a screw provided with a milled head by which the said
screw is turned for adjusting the position of the plate n in the guides n¹, n². B is
the battery, the opposite poles of which are respectively connected to the reversing
levers m, m¹.
The tape d is provided with lateral signalling perforations and central spacing
perforations and passes between the wheel band roller c as is well understood
The disc rotates continuously and at each revolution causes the tappet ¹ to
operate the lever h so as to raise the contact points g, g¹ and the spring 1, and then

page_text: to permit them to fall to their original position under the influence of the
spring ha
When no signals are received both the needles k bear on the surface of the
tape d, and the toothed end of the lever / as it rises moves out of engagement with
the arms e, ex of the levers e, e¹. As the toothed end of the spring falls it comes
into contact with the outer sides of the arms e* and e¹ of the levers e, e¹, that is
to say with those sides of the arms e, el which face away from the needles k;
the levers e, el both remaining stationary and out of contact with the contact
points f, f.
When a perforation in the tape d passes over the point of one of the needles k,
say the point of that needle which is connected to the lever e, this needle k passes
through the said perforation in the tape and permits the end of the lever e to
which it is connected to be raised, and the arm e to be moved by one of the
springs e², so that when the spring and the contact points and g¹ fall, the
point g makes contact with the lever e, and the toothed end of the spring / engages
with the inner side or that side of the arm e* which faces the needles k and also
engages with the outer side of the arm ex. The lever e¹ is thus caused to make
contact with the contact point f¹ while the lever e is making contact with the
contact point g, and the circuit of the battery B is closed so that a signalling
current passes from one pole of the said battery through the reversing levers,
the point g and the lever é to earth E and returns through the line L, the lever e¹,
the contact and reversing levers to the opposite pole of the battery B; the
reversing levers reversing the terminals of the battery B during part of the time
that the circuit of the battery B is thus closed, so as to send a curbing current to
As the tape d passes on
line L and back through earth E as is well understood.
and the spring is again raised the lever e is lowered and the circuit of the
battery B is opened.
For transmitting a signal of opposite sign the free end of the needle / that is
connected to the lever e¹, passes through a perforation in the tape d so that the
lever e is raised. When the spring and points g, g¹ fall, the point g¹ makes
contact with the lever e¹, and the lever e makes contact with the point f; the
circuit of the battery B being thus closed and a signal being sent through the
reversing levers to line L and returning by earth E and the said reversing levers,
and a curbing current being sent to earth, in a similar manner to that previously
d'escribed.
By turning the screw in the required direction the position of the plate n
may be shifted so as to adjust the position of the lever q with relation to the
crank pin 2, for the purpose of regulating the relative duration of the signalling
currents and their curbing currents.
If it is not required to curb the signals, that is to say if it is required to trans-
mit plain battery and earth signals, either the contact points f, f¹ may be connected
directly to one terminal of the battery B and the contact points g, g¹ may be
directly connected to the opposite terminal of the said battery; or the battery
terminals may be still connected to the reversing levers, m, m¹ and the plate n
then shifted so far in one or other direction that the lever becomes inoperative
and the said levers m, m' merely act as simple contacts. The levers e, e¹ the
needles and the lever h continuing to operate as above described.
q
It is obvious that our invention may be somewhat varied in detail, for instance,
the arms e, e may be provided with forked ends instead of the pointed ends
shown in the drawing the toothed end of the spring engaging with the forked
arm of the transmitting lever that is not raised, but engaging with inner side of
the forked lever that is raised by its needle passing into perforation in the
tape as above described. Also the plate n carrying the reversing levers and the
arm may be adapted to be rotated above a fixed centre by means of an adjusting
5 screw for the purpose of regulating the relative position of the reversing
levers m, m¹ and the arm q, to the crank pin .

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim in telegraph transmitting apparatus operated by needles which co-operate
with a moving perforated tape is :-
1. The transmitting levers having arms adapted to co-operate with the toothed
end of a spring carried by an oscillating lever in such manner that when the
needle of one of the transmitting levers enters a perforation in the tape the said
lever makes contact with a contact point carried by the oscillating lever and con-
nected to one terminal of the battery, while the other transmitting lever makes
contact with a fixed contact point connected to the other battery terminal, sub-
stantially as and for the purpose specified.
2. Reversing levers which are pivoted to a movable plate, have their free ends
connected together by a link of insulating material, and are adapted to be oscillated
by a rocking contact arm, which is pivoted to the movable plate and is flexibly
connected to a rotary crank pin, substantially as and for the purpose specified.
3. Apparatus constructed, arranged and operating substantially as described
with reference to the accompanying drawings for the purpose specified.
1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicants.