A Unison Apparatus for Printing Telegraphs.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Aug., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 29th Apr., 1892-Accepted, 4th June, 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
A Unison Apparatus for Printing Telegraphs.
I, HENRY VAN HOEVENBERGH, of No. 44 Broadway, in the City of New York,
State of New York, United States of America, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows:-
This invention is for use in connection with that class of printing telegraphs in
which the receiving instrument at one station embodies the use of a rotary type
wheel on a shaft driven, controlled or operated by successive pulsations or impulses
of electricity or electric current originating from or at a transmitting instrument
located at a second station, the object being to provide means whereby the trans-
mitting operator shall be informed by the automatic action of his apparatus whenever
the wheel or rotating shaft of the receiving instrument is out of unison or corre-
spondence with the rotating shaft of the transmitting instrument, and further to
provide means for quickly and certainly bringing the transmitting and receiving
machines or instruments into correspondence or unison.
To this end I provide means to automatically arrest the rotating shaft of the
transmitting station or instrument at a predetermined point; that is, the unison
point, and to hold it in the arrested position until the rotating shaft or type wheel
of the receiving instrument is brought to the corresponding or unison point when
the said transmitting shaft is automatically released by the action of the receiving
instrument and the two rotating shafts proceed in unison or correspondence.
Dated this 31st day of July 1891.
FELL & WILDING,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A Unison Apparatus for Printing Telegraphs.
I, HENRY VAN HOEVENBERGH, of No. 44 Broadway, in the City of New York,
State of New York, United States of America, Electrical Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of my invention 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 that class of printing telegraphs in which a type wheel
shaft is driven or controlled step by step by a succession of pulsations or currents
derived from a transmitting apparatus; and the object of my improvement is to
provide means whereby the transmitting operator by the automatic action of his
own apparatus may be informed whenever the type-wheel of the receiving-machine
is out of correspondence or "unison" with the shaft of the transmitting instru.nent,
and, furthermore, to provide means of quickly restoring the correspondence or
unison of the transmitting and receiving machines.
In the unison devices hitherto in use the type-wheel of the receiving instrument
has been held by a detent at the unison point until the transmitting shaft has arrived
at the corresponding point, when it has been released and the two started together.
In my improved unison movement I reverse this mode of operation-that is to say,
I arrest the transmitting-shaft, together with its circuit wheel and attachments, at
the unison point and hold it there until the type-wheel of the receiving instrument
has been brought to the corresponding point, when the release is effected by
annronriate means

page_text: I have herein shown my improvement as applied to the printing-telegraph
apparatus shown in Letters Patent No. 11,144 of 1891, but I remark that my
invention may be applied with equal advantage to any step-by-step printing
telegraph in which only one receiving instrument is designed to be operated by the
transmitter at the same time.
In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a theoretical diagram of a trans-
mitting apparatus embodying my invention, and Fig. 2 is a similar diagram of a
receiving apparatus.
In Fig. 1 of the drawings, A represents the main shaft of a printing-telegraph
instrument of this class, with its commutator C, break-wheel I', power connection W,
escapement i, type-wheel T, and press magnet H.
B, Fig. 2, shows the shaft of another machine, precisely similar to the first,
except that the last three elements are omitted for the sake of simplicity, as they
are in all respects like those of the shaft A.
In the commutator C a, a', and a² are metallic segments separated by narrow
nonconducting spaces and respectively connected by independent wires to a corre-
sponding group of keys b b', &c. As shown, all the segments lettered a are normally
open at the keyboard, while the alternate segments lettered a¹ are normally closed.
When the contact device or trailer d rests upon an open segment, the line-wire e ee,
which is supplied with current from the main battery mb, is open, and hence, the
armature of the relay D falls upon its rear stop g. The shaft A, by the action
of the local battery lb, electro magnet h, and escapement i, then advances one
step, carrying with it the trailer d and causing the same to rest upon a closed
segment. The main line circuit e e e is now closed, the armature of the relay D
is drawn against its front stop g', and the escapement allows the shaft A to
revolve another step, which brings the trailer d again upon an open segment. a.
The successive repetition of this operation therefore results in a continuous
progressive revolution of the shaft A, as more fully described in my former Patent
hereinbefore referred to. In an apparatus thus organized if any one of the keys b
or be depressed the shaft A revolves and the trailer d advances until it reaches
the segment connected to the depressed key, when the revolution is arrested until
the key is released. If the particular key depressed happens to be a normally
open circuit key, (which by the act of being depressed is converted into a closed
circuit key,) the succession of impulses sent to line by means of the series of
actions just described will be interrupted, leaving the circuit closed upon the main
line e e.
While the said key is still depressed if the main circuit should be opened
at any other point and closed again the trailer d will be permitted to escape
from the segment upon which it rests, and its progressive movement will continue,
even though the key be still held down. I avail myself of this circumstance.to
effect the automatic correction or unison of my improved machine. There is. upon
the type-wheel a blank space, which occupies the place of one of the characters
corresponding to an open-circuit segment. The key J connected to this segment
is a normally closed key, and hence when depressed interrupts the. otherwise orderly
succession of alternately open and closed circuit keys. When the trailer. d reaches
the corresponding segment a, .the rotation of the shaft A would be arrested and
further progress stopped, precisely the same as if any other open circuit key had
been depressed if no provision existed to produce a different result. By tracing
the main line circuit eee to the receiving instrument (shown in Fig. 2) it will be
seen that the main line circuit ee is carried through a metallic disk I,on, the
shaft B of the instrument, which is provided with one insulated point P, against
which presses a contact spring k. This disk and spring are so adjusted that the
main circuit is interrupted for a time equivalent to that occupied by the passage
of the trailer over one segment at the same instant of time that the shaft of the
transmitting instrument would otherwise be arrested by reason of the trailer d
resting upon the closed circuit segment a³, connected with the key J in Fig. 1.
The rotation of the sending shaft A therefore proceeds uninterruptedly, the receiving

page_text: "
instrument opening the circuit at P synchronously with its closure at a' by the
transmitting instrument. This operation necessarily takes place only once during
each complete revolution of the respective shafts. Now if from any cause the
receiving instrument should "throw out' or fall out of correspondence with the
transmitting instrument the break P on the disk I, Fig. 2, would fail to pass
under the spring & at the proper time, the main line circuit would not be interrupted,
and hence the rotation of the transmitting instrument would be instantly arrested.
The transmitting operator would thus become aware that his apparatus had stopped,
although he had no key depressed. This would notify him that the receiver had
fallen out of unison. Having been previously instructed, he would depress the
key J, thereby breaking the main line circuit, and simultaneously therewith_the
circuit of the local battery lb, by means of the spring m and contact n. This
prevents the transmitting shaft from starting (as it would otherwise do) by the
opening of the main line circuit. The interruption of the main line circuit advances
the receiving shaft B, Fig. 2, one step and its closing (when key J is released)
another step. If this is all the adjustment necessary to bring the two shafts into
unison, the transmitting shaft will start as soon as the key J is released.
If not,
the operator must depress the key J as many times successively as may be necessary
until the two are brought together, when the regular rotation will commence and
continue as before.
As a matter of convenience it is preferred that the transmitting and receiving
instruments be made exactly alike, so that either may be used for sending or
receiving at will. A switch E, Fig. 1, provided with buttons marked S (send)
and R (receive) determines which operation it shall perform. When in the position
shown in the drawings, S being depressed, instrument Fig. 1 will transmit and
instrument Fig. 2 will receive. When it is desired to reverse the operation, the
button R is depressed. This cuts out the transmitting portion of instrument Fig. !,
consisting of the segment-disk C and its attachments, at the same time cutting in
the break wheel I' and spring k¹. Thus either instrument may become a transmitter
or receiver at will.
In adapting my improved unison system to a printing telegraph operated by
reversals it is only necessary to arrange the circuit wheel so that one reversal is
intermitted, the main line being put to earth after going through the main line
relay. The receiving instrument will then send out an impulse of the appropriate
polarity to take the place of the intermitted impulse of the transmitter. The
operation in other respects would be precisely the same as that herein before
described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. In a printing telegraph, the combination, with a main line circuit, of a step-by-
step transmitter organized to drop or intermit one of a series of breaks or impulses
and a receiving instrument organized to supply the break or impulse omitted by
the transmitter, substantially as set forth.
2. In a printing telegraph, the combination, with a main line circuit, of a step-by-
step transmitter organized to drop or intermit one of a series of impulses or breaks,
a receiving instrument organized to supply the break or impulse omitted by the
transmitter, and means, substantially such as described, for rotating the receiving
instrument, independently of the transmitter, substantially as set forth.
3. The combination, with the main line circuit ee, of the key J, locking
segment a, electrically connected therewith, trailer d, break wheel I, contact
spring and electro magnet /, substantially as set forth.
4. The herein before described method of effecting the unison of the transmitting
and receiving parts of a printing telegraph, which consist in first locking the trans-
mitting shaft at a predetermined point in its revolution, then advancing the type

page_text: wheel shaft of the receiving instrument until the type wheel has been brought to
the corresponding point, and finally releasing the transmitting shaft by the action
of said type wheel shaft, substantially as set forth.
Dated this 15th day of April 1892.
HENRY VAN HOEVENBERGH.