Improvements in Telephonic Communications.
Year: 1885

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.“L1.
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JE C
Improvements in Telephonic Communications.
I, HUGO WESTMAN of 35 Gough Road Birmingham in the, County of Warwick
Agent, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN
TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATIONS to be as follows:-
I enclose the telephone instrument within a sound proof Cabinet which. I place
detached from the walls of the building and isolated from the floor by the inter-
ception of yielding objects such as springs india rubber felt and the like.
Telephone instruments are more readily fixed to these Cabinets than by plugging
and fastening to the walls of the building, and the cabinet with the instrument
movable. The operator after entering the Cabinet and shutting the door isolates
himself and the instrument from surrounding noises & vibrations whether from
street traffic or disturbances on the premises messages can be sent and received
with perfect privacy, clearness and ease.

page_text: mprovements in Telepromo Communications.
I HUGO WESTMAN of 77 Upper Mary Street, Balsall Heath Birmingham,
Agent, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN
TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATIONS and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
My improvements refer to the means I employ for excluding local noises or
disturbances to interfere with the distinct hearing in receiving and dispatching
telephone messages, for enabling conversation to be carried on in privacy and for
easily shifting the position of the instrument as might be desired.
1. Before explaining my improvements and how they are to be carried out it would
be necessary first to mention that telephone instruments are as a rule fixed to the
wall of a room and afterwards often enclosed by surrounding them with a screen or
a special structure for their reception is erected on the spot.
The former can not prove effective as the enclosure will not prevent sound from
being conducted through the wall to which the instrument is attached. The latter
way of erecting a special structure is costly not always convenient and like the
former it becomes a fixture.
It is for preventing this that I fix the telephone instrument within a soundproof
& portable box or cabinet which I place detached from any of the walls and isolated
from the floor by which the instrument will receive a position not interfered with
by local noises or disturbances as well as giving the greatest facility for shifting
the instrument from place to place.
For carrying this into effect the cabinets are made in sections, that is to say, each
of the walls, the ceiling and the floor are in themselves pieces of soundproof
construction which are put together with a few screws, countersunk and covered
with caps buttons or otherwise hidden to prevent through their medium sound from
being conducted to or from the inside of the cabinet. To minimize vibrations the
cabinets are supported or resting on yielding objects such as india rubber, lead,
felting or the like in layers or in the shape of castors. For the lightening up of
the interior glasses are inserted on the sides of the cabinet or they may be placed
in the ceiling. In the former case they are preferably placed on the splay corners
leaving ample wallspaces inside for the suitable and convenient fixing of the
instrument on one side or the other as best suitable to the local light. Constructed
as before mentioned the cabinets as a whole with the instrument may be shifted on
the premises or it may be taken to pieces and moved or packed for transmission
like any ordinary package of merchandize and are as easily put together and
erected complete without the assistance of skilled labor. This is better explained
by reference to accompanying drawing on which the letters marked, indicate
A. A. A. walls, B ceiling, C floor, D doors, E glass F' screws (countersunk) G buttons
or caps, H yielding objects rubber etc, J alternative positions of the instrument.

page_text: Being placed in the position mentioned and ready for use the operator on
entering the cabinet and closing the door shuts himself and the instrument entirely.
off from the influences of surrounding disturbances conversation is carried on in
privacy and messages are sent and received with distinctivness clearness and ease.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
improvements and in what manner the same are to be performed I do not wish to
confine myself to any particular size, shape or appearance of the cabinets neither
to the manner in which they are made soundproof but declare as my improvements
the making and using portable soundproof boxes or cabinets, constructed and
arranged substantially in the manner and for the purposes as hereinbefore
described.