A NEW ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Pierre François Rolland, of Hensies, in the Province
of the Hainaut, Belgium, Mechanic, for the Invention of "A NEW
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH."
Sealed the 3rd February 1860, and dated the 9th August 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Pierre François Rolland
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th August 1859.
I, PIERRE FRANÇOIS ROLLAND, of Hensies, in the Province of the Hainaut,
Belgium, Mechanic, do hereby declare, the nature of the said Invention for
"A NEW ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH," to be as follows:-
I purpose, amongst other innovations in electric telegraphing, to print the
dispatches in ordinary typographical characters, and to this end the dial will
carry on two separate lines the alphabet and the ten numerals. I move the
handle destined to open the current and produce the impulsion until it faces
the letter or numeral to be printed. As this movement takes place at the
communicating end a similar one takes place at the other end upon a wheel
carrying upon two lines the alphabet and the ten numerals no longer on the
surface but around its circumference and in relief. This done, the handle at
the communicating end is brought down into a species of groove, and by this
simple movement and the use of the apparatus already known as a com-
mentator the pole of the two electro-magnets changes, and thenceforth one of

page_text: the two permanent magnets is repelled and the other attracted. It is by using
the force obtained by this changement of pole, aided by a plug placed at the
end of a lever in communication with the electro-magnet at this moment
attracted, that I push the sheet of paper to be printed against the wheel
having the characters on its circumference, and as not only the paper (which
is in strips) is conducted by means of cylinders beneath the wheel bearing the
characters, but these characters have been charged with ink in their movement
by passing an inking cylinder, the letter or numeral will be found properly
printed. The person telegraphing has but to continue the same operation, and
words, numbers, and phrases will be rapidly reproduced by impression. The
same result may be obtained without the two permanent magnets, but in this
case two wires of communication will be necessary. As the different parts of
the apparatus are combined and worked like clockwork. communications may
be easily and rapidly transmitted, and no error need be feared.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Pierre François Rolland in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 8th February 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PIERRE
FRANÇOIS ROLLAND, of Hensies, in the Province of the Hainaut, Belgium,
Mechanic, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, 'did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Pierre François Rolland, Her special licence that I, the said Pierre
François Rolland, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Pierre François Rolland, 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 "A NEW ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Pierre François Rolland, my 'executors or adminis-
trators, 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 performed and cause

page_text: 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 Pierre François Rolland, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following.
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the:
figures and letters of reference placed thereon.
Figure 1 shewing the receiver.-N, scapement wheel, with fourteen teeth;
C, shaft carrying the wheel of the type; M, the scapement wheel and the
metallic piston P; Q, blade of very thin and flexible silver, attached at the
summit of the apparatus to an isolated support a¹; T, clock movement, giving
motion to the shaft C; K, shaft carrying the scapement anchor K³ and the
lever C, which is provided with a cap and loadstone C¹; F, electro-magnet
causing the shaft K to oscillate and release one tooth of the wheel N at each
oscillation of the lever C; F¹, recall screw, serving to regulate the distance
between the iron of the electro-magnet F and the cap and loadstone C¹;
I, antagonist spring (in thin steel) of the lever C. The degree of tension of this
spring is regulated by the screw I. E and E¹, screw regulating the course of
the scapement anchor K'; M, type wheel; this wheel is very light (in cork-
wood); printing characters in Roman letters are attached to it by strong glue;
these characters together form the alphabet with one E¹ more, and an
apostrophe. An empty space is left between the Z and the apostrophe for the
mark point and the separation of the words. This wheel, therefore, carries,
divided over its circumference, 28 signs.. L, roller, in cork wood, very light
and covered with a tissue imbibed with an oily ink; this roller, suspended on
its shaft, turns with the type wheel, which it supplies with ink. a, shaft,
carrying the "bascule" or balance G, H, and the lever U; on this lever is
fitted with a hinge the (arm of the) hooked lever U¹; O, electro-magnet,
setting the "bascule" G, H, at work, and putting it in movement by the current
of the local pile Y¹. The attraction makes the paper fall on the printing
characters which are opposite the pad in caoutchouc J, and the repulsion.of
the antagonist spring causes the advance of one tooth of the rotchet wheel D
by the play of the levers v, v¹. The roller of the flatting machine B, which
is on the same shaft as the wheel D, causes by this movement the advance of
the paper from H to B after each impression of letter. When the "bascule"
or balance is made to work in the intervals in front of the pad J, the paper
advances without having received the impression, and the word is separated
from that which is to follow. The paper Z is rolled upon the roller V; it is
guided by the pulley with a rim V, and received during and niter the dispatch

page_text: by the roller W. R, column guiding the spring f; part of this column is
pierced, and a nut S supports the spring f and regulates the tension of it.
Figure 2 shews relay.-This relay is put in motion by the current of the
line coming from the manipulator; it serves to transmit the current of the
local pile Y¹ in the screw of the electro-magnet O, Figure 1. B, electro-
magnet, causing the lever é to oscillate; the tension of this spring is regulated
by the screw F. G, conducting wire, putting the lever C in communication
with the negative pole of the local pile; G¹, conducting wire putting the
electro-magnet O, Figure 1, in communication with the positive pole of the
local pile; E, screw, with a silver end closing the current of the local pile in.
the electro-magnet O, Figure 1, each time that it touches for an instant the
metallic square E¹, from whence the conducting wire H starts. By the
screws E and D the course of the lever C is regulated.
Fig. 3 shews automatical controller.-This apparatus, which is of very
simple construction, and not liable to get out of order, is calculated to render
very important services to electric telegraphs. This controller makes known
to the person who manipulates whether the receiver at the opposite station
works regularly, whether it advances or retards, and consequently whether his
pile is too weak or too strong with regard to the tension of the antagonist
springs of the receiver to which he sends signals. He knows at each turn of
the handle, by the sound of a bell, whether the apparatus are well together at
the mark; if they are deranged, he himself sets his manipulator with the
receiver, for each sound of the bell indicates to him that the piston of the
scapement wheel is before the mark. He then interrupts the communication
by one of the means employed in telegraph working; he then rapidly replaces
his handle at the mark point, reopens the communications, and continues his
dispatch. This operation is performed in much less time than it takes to
describe it. This apparatus also makes known to him at each letter which he
transmits whether the bascule or balance has worked regularly, and conse-
quently whether the letter is printed. Thus, in the event of a clerk leaving
his post, a dispatch may be transmitted and he may be certain that it is
printed, and that he will only have to copy it when he returns. This apparatus
is put in movement by the current of a local pile, and the following reference
to the Drawings will shew its construction. B, iron shaft, on which is fixed a
piece of ebony M. M; C and C, two metallic plates, fixed with screws on the
piece M, M, and isolated the one from the other. The plate C¹ has at its
extremity a cap of soft iron. D and D', screws, with silver ends giving the
contact to the metallic squares E and E'; L, electro-magnet, giving move-
ment to the shaft. B at each passage of the current of the local pile Y¹,

page_text: Figure 2; F, antagonist spring in thin steel, bringing the screw D in contact
with E after each attraction of the electro-magnet L. The screw I serves to
regulate the tension of the spring F.
Figures 4 and 5 shew the manipulator. A, frame, in brass, round which
are inscribed the letters of the alphabet, an E', an apostrophe, and a space
between,, and the Z, in all 28 signs. A series of figures or ciphers is also
inscribed on it. Round this frame are also fourteen grooves, destined to
permit the passage of the screw ring C, Figure 4. B, handle, with hinge in
the middle, and a spring of steel O to make the pliant part rise again after
each change of pole; D, brass rods passing through the hollow iron shaft. It'
is intended to effect the working of the commutators with changing poles E
every time that the screw ring of the handle shall drop into one of the fourteen
grooves of the frame; L, metallic blade, forming a small spring, fixed to the
plateau in wood N. This blade is destined to transmit direct the negative
current in the wire of the line by the conductor M every time that the screw
ring K of the commutator shall touch it, that is to say, every time that the
latter shall work. H,. metallic wheel, with fourteen teeth, serving to produce
fourteen closings and fourteen interruptions of the current in the wire of the
line at each turn which is given to it by the handle of the manipulator. This
wheel receives from the commutator the positive current by the metallic
blades F and P, and the vertical shaft G, and transmits it in the line by the
contact I, Figures 4 and 5. T and T', movement destined to put the wire of
the line and the bell of the controller in communication with the earth by the
conductors U, S, and S¹, during all the interruptions of the current, in order
that the electric fluid may find a passage when the controller is at work.
R, square of iron, fixed to the commentator, serving to separate the contact S
of the blade S¹ when the handle is lowered to change the poles, in order that
the negative current may follow the wire of the line instead of returning to the
earth by the bell and the conductor G, Figure 6, which would happen if the
bell remained in communication with the earth, for the changes of the poles
always take place on interruption of the current.
Figure 6 bell of the controller. E, small electro-magnet, receiving the
current from the opposite station by the wire of the line at the point B; this
current returns to the earth by the conductor C. G, copper lever, with a
hinge at its base carrying a soft iron cap G', and striking the bell D at each
passage of the current in the electro-magnet E; J and J', screws, regulating
the course of the lever G; I, antagonistic spring, of steel, of the lever G.
The details of the several apparatus having now been described, as shewn
in the Drawings forming part of this my Specification, I will procced- to

page_text: explain their combined movement, and the march of the electric current,
observing, firstly, that the type wheel having 28 divisions, and the scapement
wheel which makes it move only 14 teeth, it follows that half of the letters
must be printed on the closing of the current, and the other half on the
interruptions.
•
I will commence by explaining the impressions which take place on the
closing of the current. The spring I, Figure 1, is regulated so as to allow of
the rapid oscillation of the lever C, which makes the type wheel turn. The
spring F of the lever C (relay, Figure 2) is stretched rather more, so that the
contact of the local pile Y' with the electro-magnet O, Figure 1, does not
take place while the handle of the manipulator is turned, but that when it
stops for an instant on a letter opposite a closing of the current of the line,
the local current sets at work the electro-magnet O, Figure 1, and the bascule
or balance G, H, thus the letter on which the handle shall have for an instant
rested will be printed and separated from that which is to follow. By means
of the springs f, Figure 1, and F, Figure 2, the working of the bascule G, H,
may be rendered as light as may be desired; and even by leaving the spring of
the relays as free as that of the receiver, the tension of the spring "à boudin "
or spiral of the large electro-magnet suffices to render this movement
very slow in taking place. As to the impression of the fourteen letters on the
interruptions of the current, it will be readily understood that by dropping the
screw ring of the handle of the manipulator into one of the fourteen grooves
of the frame, there would be sent into the receiver a current contrary to the
preceding; the cap of the receiver, being magnetised, will rather feel a
repulsion and remain immoveable. The cap of the relays being of soft iron,
the latter will work as though it received a positive current, and the letter
opposite one of the grooves will be printed.
I will now point out the movement of the current and the action of the
automatical controller, Figure 3. The current (positive or negative) leaves
the manipulator by the wire of the line A, enters into the controller by the
point G, passes through the blade C, returns to the screw H, enters the
receiver in the electro-magnet F, then goes to the relays in the electro-
magnet B, and returns to the earth at the point Z¹. The working of the
controller is as follows:-The shaft C of the receiver which carries the scape-
ment wheel also carries a piston P; every time that the type wheel passes to
the mark the piston P in passing touches the blade Q, and thus puts the
electro-magnet of the controller in contact with the local pile Y'; the receiving
apparatus is in communication with that pile by the point X, and the electro-
magnet L is so on its side by the conducting wire J, Figures 2 and 3. The

page_text: contact of the piston P with the blade Q necessarily closes the current. I may
here remark that this contact takes place during a solution of continuity when
the wire of the line is free, and that it is only to last during the space of a
solution by contact.
I will now describe the effect produced by the temporary polarization of the
electro-magnet Lat each turn of the handle or at each turn of the type wheel.
The screw D is abruptly separated from its contact E, and the screw D' recoils
against the contact E', thus transmitting directly in the line without passing
by the receiver the positive current of the pile Y, the negative pole of which
is already in communication with the earth. This current arrives at the bell
of the controller, placed by the side of the person manipulating, and by
sounding indicates that the receiving apparatus is at the point of the mark.
I sometimes place a wheel with fifteen instead of fourteen teeth to the
manipulator, in order to produce the closing and interruptions of the current,
but the tooth opposite the arm of the handle is of ivory. By this means it is
not necessary to stop at the mark when not at the end of the word in order to
make a separation, and the controller has twice the time to work, that is to
say, that the solution of continuity is twice as long at the mark as at the
other teeth; nevertheless, the same apparatus may be worked in a satisfactory
manner with fourteen teeth.
I have said that the person manipulating always knows whether the letter
which he wished to transmit has printed itself or not at the receiver. This
is effected as follows:-Every time that the bascule or balanco G, H, .works,
the pointed end G passes below the contact Q", and in again rising closes the
current of the local pile in the electro-magnet L by the conductor K. I say
that the bascule closes the current in again rising, because the pointed end at
its lower part is capped with ivory in order that the contact shall not take
place until after the printing of the letters. This contact produces, as has
been already explained, a movement of the controlling apparatus, which sends
a stroke of the bell to the station, which transmits it. In the run of words
and of sums in figures there are frequently similar letters or figures which
follow each other. In this case, with the apparatus now in question, there is
no necessity to remake the tour of the frame and return two or three times to
the same sign. By resting the handle three or four times in the same groove
the same letter may be printed three or four times, and the letters which are
generally met with twice in the same word are found in front of as many of
the grooves of the frame of the manipulator. As to the figures, they are all
placed opposite one groove, and may thus be printed several times in
succession.

page_text: The following is the system which I prefer for the transmission of
figures; they are represented by the letters before which they are found placed
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0,
A, C, E, F, H, J, L, N, P, R.
on the frame of the manipulator, as follows:-
When it is intended to transmit figures, a sign agreed upon, say Z, will be
printed on the band of paper; this sign will be separated as a word, and the
figures inscribed on the frame of the manipulator will then be acted on.
Thus when it is wished to transmit 1860, the receiver will print A, N, J, R.
The clerks will always have the translation of the letters under their eyes by
looking at their manipulator. Besides, it is only ten signs that they have to
retain in their memory. When the apparatus shall happen to get out of order
during the transmission of a dispatch, the person sending, on perceiving the
first blurred letter, will himself arrange his manipulator with the receiver, and
printing an apostrophe on the band of paper to signify (to the person who has
to copy the dispatch) that the preceding word is null, will then recommence
with the missing word, and continue his dispatch. Thus the reading over of
the dispatches becomes quite unnecessary, and it may be calculated on that
one telegraph office will send twice the number of words in the same time, as
the reading over occupied as much time as the original transmission. And
my apparatus already transmits much faster than the ordinary telegraphs,
"à cadran " or dial telegraphs.
The automatical controller before described may be applied to all dial
telegraphs at a very trifling expense, which is one of the advantages of my
Invention. The type wheel and the band of paper move in the front of and
outside the apparatus, and the eye can therefore follow the printing of the
letters and the formation of the words, and they can be transcribed as fast as
they are transmitted. All the small letters which are on the conducting wires
in place of the cuts indicate the mark for the continuation of the wires.
These letters are f, f, g, g, h, h, i, i, jj, and so on.
In witness whereof, I, the said Pierre François Rolland, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Third day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
A. LIEVIN.
P. F. ROLLAND. (L.S.)