AN IMPROVEMENT IN MORSE INKER' APPARATUS FOR TELEGRAPHIC AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1885

page_text: and other Purposes.
I, CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of N° 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane
in the County of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby
declare the nature of my invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN MORSE INKER'
APPARATUS FOR TELEGRAPHIC AND OTHER PURPOSES" to be as follows:-
"
In telegraphic and other apparatus wherein a "Morse Inker or small writing
disc is caused to mark dots and dashes on a travelling paper strip, the writing disc
has heretofore been so arranged that a tangent to its circumference, at the point
where it comes in contact with the paper strip, coincides with the direction of
motion of the latter, and consequently with the longitudinal direction of the
writing.
With this arrangement, the thickness or width of the dots and dashes, in the
direction at right angles to the width of the paper strip, is determined by the
thickness of the "Inker" disc at its periphery, while the minimum length of the
dots is determined by the diameter of the disc. On account of adhesion between
the Inker and paper strip, this minimum length cannot be reduced beyond a certain
limit, whereby the practically attainable minimum length of the letters and
sentences, and consequently the amount of paper required for a message will be
determined.
The present invention has for its object to enable a considerably smaller limit of
length of the letters and sentences, to be attainable, and it consists in arranging the
writing disc or "Inker" in such a position that a tangent to that point of its
periphery which is in contact with the paper strip lies at right angles, or nearly so,
to the direction of motion of the latter, and consequently of the direction of the
writing produced. With this position of the Inker, the thickness of its periphery
determines the minimum length of the dots, while its diameter determines the
thickness or width of the writing; by reducing the speed of the paper strip, the
minimum length can, by this arrangement, be rendered much less than heretofore,
and the writing obtained will, without detriment to its clearness, consequently be

page_text: much more compact and therefore more easily read, while at the same time an
economy in the consumption of paper will be effected.
The Inker is rotated by the clockwork of the apparatus, and its periphery may
be supplied with ink either by dipping into an ink trough, or by contact with an
inking roller of felt or hard material, which either dips into an ink trough or is in
contact with a sponge or felt pad supplied with ink, a scraper being employed if
necessary to remove any excess of ink.
The rotation of the Inker is by preference effected by means of a worm driven
by the clockwork and gearing with a worm wheel on the axis of the Inker. When
the contact between the inker and paper strip is effected by the movement of the
axis of the Inker, the end of the axis that gears with the worm is mounted in a
loose bearing, the other end being mounted on the reciprocating writing lever, close
to the Inker.
The most suitable inks for use with this arrangement of the Inker are anilin
inks, particularly with inferior qualities of paper.

page_text: and other Purposes.
I, CHARLES DENTON ABEL of No 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
In telegraphic and other recording apparatus such as the "Morse Inker "wherein
a small writing disc is caused to make dots and dashes on a travelling paper strip,
the writing disc has heretofore been so arranged that a tangent to its circumference,
at the point where it comes in contact with the paper strip, coincides with the
direction of motion of the latter, and consequently with the longitudinal direction
of the writing. With this arrangement the thickness or width of the dots and
dashes, in the direction at right angles to the width of the paper strip, is
determined by the thickness of the "Inker" disc at its periphery, while the
minimum length of the dots is determined by the diameter of the disc. On account
of adhesion between the Inker and paper strip this minimum length cannot be
reduced beyond a certain limit, whereby the practically attainable minimum length
of the letters and sentences, and consequently the amount of paper required for a
message will be determined.
The present invention has for its object to enable a considerably smaller limit of
length of the letters and sentences, to be attainable, and it consists in arranging the
writing disc or "Inker" in such a position that a tangent to that point of its
periphery which is in contact with the paper strip lies at right angles or nearly so,
to the direction of motion of the latter and consequently of the direction of the
writing produced. With this position of the Inker the thickness of its periphery
determines the minimum length of the dots, while its diameter determines the
thickness or width of the writing; by reducing the speed of the paper strip the
minimum length can by this arrangement be rendered much less than heretofore,
and the writing obtained will, without detriment to its clearness, consequently
be much more compact and therefore more easily read, while at the same time
an economy in the consumption of paper will be effected.
The Inker is rotated by the clockwork of the apparatus, and its periphery may
be supplied with ink either by dipping into an ink trough, or by contact with an
inking roller of felt or hard material, which either dips into an ink trough or is in
contact with a sponge or felt pad supplied with ink, a scraper being employed if
necessary to remove any excess of ink.
The rotation of the Inker is by preference effected by means of a worm driven
by the clockwork and gearing with a worm wheel on the axis of the Inker. When
the contact between the Inker and paper strip is effected by the movement of the
axis of the Inker, the end of the axis that gears with the worm is mounted in a
loose bearing, the other end being mounted on the reciprocating writing lever, close
to the Inker.

page_text: "
Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings illustrates marks made by a "Morse Inker
arranged in the usual way with the plane of the marking disc D in the line of
travel of the paper strip P, as compared with those made, as shown in Fig. 2
when the plane of the disc D is, as above described, transverse to the line of
travel of P.
It will be seen that whilst the marks in Fig. 2 corresponding to the dots of
Fig. 1 are thin lines, those corresponding to the dashes of Fig. 1 are thick lines, the
series of marks required for a signal occupying much less length of paper in Fig. 2
than in Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a side view and Fig. 4 an end view of those parts of a "Morse Inker'
which are modified for the purpose of adapting the instrument to operate in the
manner above described. The marking disc D is fixed on a spindle S carrying a
worm wheel w gearing with a worm W on a spindle driven by the clockwork, so
that the disc, when in use, is caused to revolve continuously. The bearing for the
end S of the spindle is sufficiently loose to allow the disc to oscillate vertically
between the inking roller I and the paper roller R. This roller is, as shewn in
Fig. 4, preferably made with a middle groove r into which the paper P is a little
bent by the disc D when it is raised by the lever L that is worked in the usual
way by an electromagnet. Obviously, instead of moving the disc D to and from
the travelling strip, it might revolve in stationary bearings and the strip might be
moved to and from the disc.
I am aware that it has been proposed to mount the marking disc so that its plane
is transverse to the line of travel of the paper strip, and to give to it or to the
paper strip a transverse movement of greater or less stroke, so as to mark lines of
greater or less length as measured transversely to the strip, and therefore I make no
claim to apparatus so arranged, but
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is :-
In "Morse Inker" apparatus for telegraphic and other purposes, wherein a strip
of paper or the like travels continuously in one direction, and a marking disc, by its
contact with the strip for longer or shorter periods, produces marks longer, or
shorter measured in the direction of travel, mounting the disc with its plane
transverse to the line of travel and causing it to revolve, substantially as and for
the purpose berein set forth.