IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH APPARATUS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the "International
Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH APPARATUS."-A communica-
tion from abroad by Elisha Gray, of Oberlin, Ohio, United States of
America.
Sealed the 18th February 1868, and dated the 1st January 1868.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 1st January 1868, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Consulting
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH APPARATUS," and have petitioned Her Majesty to
grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal
Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn declaration that it
has been communicated to me from abroad by Elisha Gray, of Oberlin,
Ohio, United States of America.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Sheets of Drawings
forming a part of this Specification :-
My Invention relates to the use of an inductive apparatus in con-
nection with a relay at each office and the use of an inductive to-and-
fro current to operate the relay instead of the direct or battery current.
In order to fully understand the nature of the said Invention, its
application, and great advantages, a brief statement will be made of some
of the difficulties incident to the machine now in general use, and which
difficulties this Invention is intended to overcome. It is well known
that the relays now in use when operating under heavy escapes or
currents of varying intensity require the most careful and frequent
adjustment, and that owing to the difficulty and delays attending such
adjustment it is not unfrequently the case that business is embarrassed
and often wholly interrupted. Each rclay when the line is working
badly may require a different adjustment for each office, and the con-
sequence is that the operators at such times are constantly interfering
with each other; from this cause business being retarded accumulates
to such an extent that it is necessary to have at hand extra operating
power to dispatch it.
In order to obviate these and other difficulties and cause the relay
to act more freely and independently of escapes and atmospheric dis-
turbances this self-adjusting or automatic relay is introduced, and is
constructed and operated in the following manner :-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1, Plate 1, is a top view of the relay; Figure 2 is a side view,
and Figure 3 an end view. of the same; Figure 4, Plate 2, is a top view of
the inductive apparatus; Figure 5 a side view of the same; Figure 6 an
end view; Figure 7, Plate 3, shows the relative position of the relay and
inductive apparatus to each other. Like letters refer to like parts in the
different views presented.
A, Figure 4, Plate 2, is a base, upon which is mounted an inductive
apparatus; B, C, and B, C, are two relay magnets, which may be con-
structed in the ordinary way, except that the magnets need not contain the

page_text: usual amount of wire; these two magnets are placed in the line or battery
circuit and are connected together so that their polarity will be opposite
when facing each other. D, D', are two straight magnets wound with
wire of such size as will produce the best effect. Instead of wire copper
ribbon may be used for these magnets, wound insulated and connected in
the same manner as the wire. One or more coils of the secondary wire
or ribbon, whether coarse or fine, may be wound on the magnets B, C,
and B, C, care being taken to connect them in the same circuit with
the coils of the magnets D, D'. In this way a compound induction may
be had, one from magnetism alone, the other from the battery current
in connection with the magnetism developed by it.
I do not confine myself to any particular mode of procuring an
induced current when the same is to be employed in combination with a
primary current for the purposes herein described.
The wires of the magnets D, D', are connected together by their inuer
ends a, while their outer ends b are connected with the binding posts
E, E. The poles of magnet D are placed between and in contact with
the poles B, B'. In like manner the poles of magnet D' are between
and in contact with the poles C, C'. The whole apparatus is clamped
together by the rod F and secured to the base by the stays G, Figure 5,
Plate 2. The rod F may be dispensed with by making continuous cores
through the magnets, but preserving the same connections between the
wires. Instead of solid iron cores bundles of soft iron wire may be used
with better effect. In the relay referred to and shown at Plate 1, the
magnets are wound with coarse wire, so as to be used with a quantity
current on a short circuit. I, Figure 1, Plate 1, is a base, upon which
is mounted the relay, consisting of the magnets J, J', supported by the
posts K, Figure 2. These magnets are made in the ordinary form of
relay magnets. L is a permanent magnet and takes the place of the
ordinary soft iron armature; it is secured to the armature lever M
mounted on a horizontal axis with two pivots c. The poles of the
permanent magnet L vibrate between the poles of the magnets J, J¹,
which are connected in the same circuit under the base by the wire d.
The magnets J, J', are so connected that when a current is passing
through them one will repel while the other will attract the permanent
magnet L, and thus the three magnets will act conjointly to throw the
armature in one direction; by a renewal of the current the three forces
will operate to throw the armature in the opposite direction; thus in

page_text: the former instance if J was the attracting force and J¹ the repelling, in
the latter J would become the attracting force and J the repelling.
These instruments may be placed on separate bases, as shown in Plate 3,
or both may be placed upon the same base, still preserving the same
connections.
The operation of my improved apparatus is as follows:-When the
line current is closed or any part of it by any key on the line it passes
through the coils of magnets B, C, and B', C³, rendering their cores
magnetic; these by induction magnetize the cones of D, D', and induce
a momentary current of electricity in the coils around them; this current
passes through the magnets J, J', of the relay which is placed in the
circuit of the secondary or induced current, which starting from magnet
D passes, through the wire b, binding posts E and N, magnets J, J',
binding posts N', E¹, to magnet D', which is connected with magnet D
by the wire a. Inasmuch as an induced current is a to-and-fro current
running in one direction when the primary or battery current is closed
wholly or partially, and in the opposite direction when it opens wholly
or partially, and inasmuch as the above-described relay works by a
reversable or to-and-fro current, it is plain that as often as the battery
current is closed by any key the relay armature will move in the opposite
direction. The advantages of this are numerous, a few of which are as
follows: The relay is self-adjusting, as from the principle in which it
works it is impossible for it to be otherwise; for this reason it will effect
a great saving in operating force at the head offices; it will work
through all kinds of weather without adjustment, and with very much
less battery power, owing to the delicate construction and peculiar
combination of the relay, thus rendering it possible and easy to do a
given amount of business with a less number of lines, less battery power,
and a less number of operators. By this apparatus a line is rendered
available for use at all times, and for this reason will much better
and more economically serve the wants of the public.
Having thus fully described the said Invention, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and shown how the same may be
conveniently and advantageously carried into practise, I claim,―
First. A relay with magnets so arranged in relation to each other
as to be operated by induced to-and-fro currents, substantially as set.
forth.
Second. Two independent metallic circuits arranged in relation to and

page_text: operating conjointly with a relay in such manner that one of the said
circuits is for the primary or battery and the other for the secondary or
induced current, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
Third. The inductive apparatus in combination with a relay arranged
and operated substantially as set forth.
Fourth. The arrangement of the magnets B, C, and B', C', in com-
bination with the magnets D, D¹, used in the manner and for the
purposes substantially as described.
In witness whereof I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE.
(L.S.)
Witness,
THO. N. PALMER,
Clerk to Messrs. Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
8, Southampton Buildings,
W.C.