IMPROVEMENTS IN SIGNALLING AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR to be as follows:-
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Aug., 1887
Complete Left, 5th May, 1888
Complete Accepted, 8th June, 1888
PARKINS ROBINS DERRIMAN of 21 Grosvenor Gardens, Pimlico, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of my said invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SIGNALLING AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR to be as follows:-
"
My Invention relates to signalling between two or more Stations within sight of
each other by means of signals visible at the distant station and my system admits of
being employed either on land or between vessels at sea or between a station on land
and any vessel within sight and either by day or by night.
My invention offers the great advantage of extreme simplicity so that it may be
learned and worked without the technical skill and training which are required for the
manipulation of the Morse code.
•
Another great advantage in its use is that the meaning of any signals or message
need not be known. either to the transmitter or receiver but only to the principals
from, and to whom, the message is sent.
According to my invention I employ four signal lamps, flags, or other devices
these being arranged as hereinafter mentioned so as to be raised, lowered or otherwise
rendered visible and invisible at the distant station, in rapid succession and for this
purpose I prefer to employ the means hereinafter set forth.
I arrange my system so that the four signals, being used in succession, in various
preconcerted order, will indicate the letters of the alphabet, not more than three
signals being required for any one letter and of such groups of signals representing
the alphabet, I arrange several, say 100 sets which may be set out in a key book in
four sections of 25 each, and, to each such is affixed in said book a number whereby
the same may be referred to a code of such phrases and signals as are most commonly
required for military, naval, commercial or other purposes. Of such code numbers I
have arranged tables numbering 625 to each section forming 2500 in the whole but
capable of being increased to several thousand if desired.
I prefer to use for the purposes of my invention a message book ruled with a series
of groups of lines, preferably colored, to correspond with or represent the colors of
the lamps (when the signalling is by lamps) or the equivalent indications of the flags
or other devices-the said lines being arranged in groups of four, say red, green, blue,
and black or white, and the page may also be divided into convenient spaces by a.

page_text: series of vertical lines. When a message has to be sent, the officer desiring to send it
will take such a message book and with the code book open before him he will choose
according as the message is to be secret or otherwise, one of the 25 sets which he will
indicate by marking the commencement of his message in the message book with the
appropriate signals of the number of the code. He will then continue marking in
each of the spaces between the vertical lines, and on the horizontal lines, the signals
to be sent, either as letters forming words, or as numbers referring to the code
book.
The message book so marked may be then handed to the transmitter who will
work the apparatus exhibiting the signals in the sequence indicated in the message
book.
The receiver at the distant station may be provided with a book similarly ruled and
will mark in it the signals as they are received, afterwards handing the book to his
superior Officer who will turn to his code book and develope the meaning.
It will be obvious that if a well known code be employed all parties concerned and
others who may see the signals will be able to understand the message but if the
message itself be given in a secret code only those having the key thereto can obtain
its meaning.
In signalling with lamps I prefer to use the colors red, green, blue or violet and
white, and in one form of my apparatus I arrange these lamps side by side in a
suitable case with a movable cover or shutter before each lamp and 1 provide four
keys or the like by which the said shutters or covers may be actuated so as to be
removed from before the lamp, each when its appropriate key is operated.
For daylight signalling I may employ either flags or a series of devices such for
instance as a drum, a cone, a cylinder, a cube, or other shapes which may lend
themselves most readily to my requirements and these I arrange to be brought in
succession as rapidly as may be convenient into view of the distant station.
The saving which this Invention enables me to obtain as compared with any system
previously in use is very great for the operators are not required to be skilled (as in
the dash and dot system) nor do they require to be kept in constant practice to
maintain their efficiency.
The simplicity of the arrangement insures that, with reasonable care, mistakes can
scarcely be made, perfectly secret communication may be secured between principals
and messages may be sent in any language using the Italian character although the
operators at both ends may be unacquainted with it.
Dated this 12th day of August 1887.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Visible Signalling and in Apparatus therefor.
I, PARKINS ROBINS DERRIMAN, of 21 Grosvenor Gardens, Pimlico, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for " [MPROVE-
MENTS IN VISIBLE SIGNALLING AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR" and in what manner
the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
My invention relates to signalling between two or more stations within sight of
each other by means of signals visible at the distant Station, and my system admits
of being employed either on land, or between vessels at sea, or between a Station on
land and any vessol within sight, and either by day or by night.
My invention offers the great advantage of extreme simplicity, so that the system
may be learned in a comparatively short time and may be worked with much less
technical skill and training than are required for the manipulation of the Morse
code.
Another great advantage offered by my invention is that in its use the meaning
of any signals or message need not necessarily be known either to the transmitter
or receiver, but only to the principals, from, and to whom, the message is sent.
According to my invention I base my system on the employment of four signals,
which may be Red, Blue, Green and White, and which may he represented either by
the colours themselves shown by flags, lamps, rockets, or otherwise, or equivalents
for these colours, such as respectively a Ball, a Drum, a Tetrahedron and a Cube; or
if coloured lamps are employed and two colours only used (as is expedient in some
cases) say Red and White, the one flash of the Red lamp is in my system equivalent
to red and two flashes in quick succession of the same lamp are equivalent to Blue;
one flash of the White lamp is equivalent to green, and two flashes in quick succes-
sion are equivalent to white; and further if only one light or other signal is available,
or used, it may be flashed or used so as to transniit long and short periods equivalent
to dashes and dots, one dash being equivalent to red two dashes in quick succession
to blue, one dot to green, and two dots in quick succession to white, thus providing
for the use of this system by any means by which the ordinary Morse Code can
be used.
I arrange my system so that the four signals or their equivalents being used in
various preconcerted order will indicate the letters of the alphabet, not more than
three colours or equivalents being required for any one letter, and I also arrange
such letter-indicating groups of signals in reference to a series of numbers, so that
any such number may be indicated and thereby the expression or message to which
such number is attached.
I prefer to use for the purposes of my invention a message book ruled with a series

page_text: of horizontal lines preferably coloured to correspond with the colour signals or
equivalent indications, say red, blue, green, and black or white, and the page may
also be divided into convenient spaces by a series of vertical lines. When a message
is to be sent the Officer desiring to send it may take such message book, and with the
code book open before him, he will choose, according as the message is to be secret
or otherwise, one or other of the alphabetical arrangements, or the code numbers, and
will indicate by marking the commencement of his message in the said message
book with the appropriate signals indicating the section and code he is about to use.
He will then continue marking, on the horizontal lines, the signals composing one
letter in each of the spaces between the vertical lines, the signals to be sent either in
letters forming words, or as numbers referring to the Code book.
The message book so marked may be then handed to the transmitter, who will
work the apparatus exhibiting the signals in the sequence indicated in the message
book.
The receiver at the distant station may be provided with a book similarly ruled,
and will mark on it the signals as they are received, afterwards handing, the book to
his superior Officer who will turn to his code book, and develope the meaning.
If however the Officer sending the message does not desire secrecy he can com-
municate the message he desires to send to, the Operator, who, using the letter-signals
intended for general use, would at once proceed to send the message, letter by letter,
which the distant receiver would understand, and at once write down, or read aloud
as might be required..
One of the principal advantages of this system is the facility with which competency
in signalling and reading in it is acquired as compared with the Morse system, and
the ease with which it is retained in the memory when not frequently used, whereas
it is well known that a very considerable time is required, and diligent practice, to
acquire any useful knowledge of the Morse system, and that few people can retain
the same when acquired unless they are frequently practising it, and hence the
circumstance that the working of the signalling apparatus is too often confined to a
few men specially trained, in whose absence it may be impossible for a message to be
sent, whereas my system is so easily acquired that every Officer in the Army and
Navy might be required to learn it, and many of the men in the ranks, and sailors,
so that the power of signalling might become almost as common as the ability to
write.
According to my system I make the signals shewn at diagram 1 of the accom-
panying drawings equivalent to, or indicate the letters, or figures respectively set
opposite them, and vice versa, the red colour of the signal in this and. the following
diagrams being represented by vertical shading, the blue by horizontal shading, the
green by oblique shading, and the white by a blank.
Diagram 2. shows in the first column the alphabet (with the exception of "J")
and in the second, third and fourth columns, opposite to each letter, the several
colours in the order which they (or their equivalents) are exhibited to represent that
letter; the fifth column is composed of the corresponding dash and dot symbols, and
the sixth column the numerical equivalent of each of the signals.
In order that the fifth column may be more easily and fully understood I would
explain that the symbols forming it are intended to represent that the letter "A" is
indicated by one dash; the letter "B" by two dashes in quick succession; the
letter "C" by one dot; the letter D, by two dots in quick succession; the letter E,
by one dash, a short pause and two dashes in quick succession; F, by a dash followed
The
by a dot; G, by a dash followed by two dots in quick succession, and so on.
numerals in the sixth column are the numerical equivalents of the different colours
and may be read for their equivalent signals; thus 1, is the numerical equivalent of
red; 2, is the numerical equivalent of blue; 3 of green, and 4, of white, and hence
1, 2, represents red followed by blue and so on.
It will be observed that there are in my system, using dashes and dots, 74 signals
necessary to complete the alphabet, whereas according to the Morse system 82 signals
are required for the same. It will further be observed that while the signals forming

page_text: the Morse Code do not follow any regular sequence in their arrangement, my signals
follow a very simple order which is easily learned and remembered.
Diagram 3, is part of section 1, of a series of tables, and is marked with a red
signal, that being the commencing or leading colour in this section. Diagram 4 is
a continuation of the same, being the reinainder of the section. At the head of the
table is a series of figures being respectively the number by which the code beneath
each of them is described.
In the next line are represented the colour signals by which the codes are respec-
tively indicated when signalling and in the line below are the dash and dot signals
for the same purpose.
In the left hand or first column of the table is the alphabet in the second column
are the colour signals representing such letters; in the third column are the equiva
lent dash and dot signals; in the fourth column a series of figures the numerical
equivalents corresponding with the same signals; and in the fifth column the code
number indicated thereby. In the next or sixth column, (which together with the
7th column is Code 2) are the numerical equivalents of the signals corresponding in
Code 2 with the respective letters opposite to them in the first column, and in the
seventh column, the Code number indicated by such signal. The colour signal with
which this Code (Code 2) commences, and which, therefore, represents A, is blue,
and is indicated by its numerical equivalent 2, and thus all the signals in this code
occur one line higher in the diagram, and therefore represent one letter earlier
in the alphabet than those in the first code; thus A, in this code is indicated by
blue, as already stated, B by green, C by white, D by red and blue, and so on,
and Code numbers are attached to this code commencing with 26 and ending
with 50.
The next Code (Code 3), being the eighth and ninth columns, commences with
green, which colour therefore in this Code represents A, and the other colours follow
in the same order as in the previous codes as shown in the diagram. Code 4, com-
mences with white. Code 5, with red and blue, Code 6, with red and green, and
so on throughout the table and throughout Diagram 4, which (as already stated)
is a continuation of Section 1, each succeeding Code commencing with the next
colour signals in the progressive order in which they appear in the alphabet, and thus
these diagrams provide signals for code numbers up to 625.
The next table in my system is called Section 2, and is headed with a blue signal ;
its arrangement is exactly similar to that of Section 1 just described, except that the
colours are taken in a different order, namely blue, red, green, white, their com-
binations being based on this order; A being indicated by blue; B, by red; (1, by
green; D, by white; E, by blue and red; F, by blue and green; G, by blue and
white; H, by red and blue, and so on throughout this section which, like section 1;
consists of 25 Codes, and carries the code numbers up to 1250.
Section 3, is headed with a green signal and is similar to those preceeding it except
that the colours are taken in the following order: green, red, blue, white, and
the code numbers are by this section carried to 1875. Section 4 is headed by a
white signal, and the colours are arranged white, red, blue, green &c. and the code
numbers reach 2500. Section 5, is headed with two red signals, and the colours are
arranged red, blue, white, green &c., and thus provides code numbers to 3125.
Section 6, is headed with two blue signals, and the colours are arranged blue, red,
white, green &c., the code numbers reach 3750.
up
Section 7 is headed with two green signals, and the colours are arranged white, red,
blue, green &c., the code numbers reaching 4375. Section 8, is headed with two
white signals, and the colours are taken in the order: green, red, blue, white and the
numbers extending to 5000.
For signalling to a distant station or ship, if lamps were being used, the operator
would, placing the lamp-box, hereinafter described, before him in such a position as
to be visible from the distant Station, proceed to call the attention of the distant
signalman by exhibiting the four colours in succession repeatedly and, having received
the affirmative signal, would proceed with the message. If he were about to spell

page_text: out the message letter by letter in the first code he would first exhibit the red
light to indicate that he was about to use the first code in the tables marked
Section 1.
He would then proceed to display the lamps in the order necessary to form the
letters and words required, as set forth in Code 1.
If he desired to send a message spelling it in a secret Code, he would, after having
obtained the attention of the station or ship signalled, proceed to exhibit, First, the
lamp or lamps indicating the section he was about to use then the lamp or lamps
indicating the code, and then he would exhibit the signals expressing in that code
the letters he desired to send.
If however he desired to send a code number for the purpose of indicating some
message in the Code-book, he would, after calling the attention of the Station
signalled, exhibit the red light four times to show that a code number or numbers
were about to be sent, and then, if such number were less than 625 show his red
lamp, or if it were between 626 and 1250 that is if it were a number in Section 2,
show his blue lamp; or if between 1250 and 1875, that is, if it were in Section 3,
show his green lamp &c., showing in fact the lamp corresponding with the section
in which the required number was to be found; he would next show the lamp or
lamps distinguishing the column or code on that sheet in which the required number
was situate, and then the lamp or lamps indicated in the particular square bearing
the number. Supposing for instance it was desired to send 388. The attention of
the distant signalman having been obtained, the red light would be exhibited four
times to indicate that a code number was about to be sent, then, after a pause, the
red light would be exhibited once to indicate the Section, one flash from the white
lamp and one from the green to indicate the column, then after a short interval,
one flash from the green, giving the particular square on which the number 388 is
to be found.
The coloured lamps herein before mentioned may be arranged side by side in a
suitable box or case with shutter screens one in front of each, so fitted as to be readily
lifted or removed from before the lamp preferably by the operation of a key, one for
each lamp, placed conveniently for the manipulation of the operator.
The signal lamps used in Her Majesty's service answer the purpose well, and may
conveniently be used in signalling by my system.
Instead of using lamps, other means for communicating equivalent signals may be
used, thus the colour signals may be displayed by sending up coloured rockets in the
same order as the lamps are to be exhibited; hand flags may be used, two persons a
few feet apart, facing the same direction, each with a flag in each hand, may raise
their flags, one at a time, in the order to require to indicate the signals, the right
hand flag as seen by a person standing behind the signallers, being taken as indicating
red, the flag in the same mans left hand signifying blue, the flag in the other man's
right hand signifying green, and the flag in his left hand white.
Signals may also be exhibited from the yard arm of a ship or signal stations or the
like as shown in Diagram 5; and in such case I prefer to use light frames covered
with canvas, or wicker constructions, one being a globe and representing red, another
a drum indicating blue, a triangle or tetrahedron representing green, and the other
a cube representing white; these being raised and lowered, preferably each by a rope
running over a suitable pulley operated from below, in the order previously indicated
will thus display the required message.
It has been already indicated how two lamps, red and white, or other signals may
be used instead of four, and hence any means by which two signals differing from
each other, as for instance in colour, length, intensity, loudness, shrillness, or other-
wise may be made use of to communicate by my system, thus one lamp, by exposing
it for long and short periods, corresponding to dashes and dots, in the manner and
sequence indicated in the third column of Diagrams 3 and 4, such dash and dot
signals being strictly equivalent to the corresponding colour signals both for reference
to the section and code, as well as for the message proper.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my Inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :
(1) The method of operating, and sending and receiving signals with one, two or
four lamps in the manner and by the codes of signals or either of them hereinbefore
described and set forth.
(2) The method of signalling by rockets, hand flags, or signals exhibited at a yard
arm or the like, according to the system hereinbefore described and set forth.
(3) The manufacture of books or sheets of tables hereinbefore described for use in
accordance with my said system.
(4) The code of dash and dot signals arranged in orderly sequence in the manner
and for the purposes set forth.
(5) The system of visible signalling hereinbefore described and set forth.
NEWNHAM BROWNE,
Agent for the Applicant.