AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR EMPLOYING ELECTRICITY FOR TELEGRAPHIC AND TELEPHONIC PURPOSES Communied
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake of the firm of Haseltine, Lake,
& Co Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London for an Invention
of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR EMPLOYING ELECTRICITY FOR
TELEGRAPHIC AND TELEPHONIC PURPOSES Communicated to him from abroad
hy Francois Van Rysselbergbe of Sabeerbook Belgium
"
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lako at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 14th June 1882.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine Lake & Co Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR
EMPLOYING ELECTRICITY FOR TELEGRAPHIC AND TELEPHONIC PURPOSES [Com-
municated to him from abroad by François Van Rysselberghe, of Schaerbeck,
Belgium]
"
Telegraphy and telephony, and more particularly the latter, encounter in cables
of great length a formidable enemy known as electric condensation, the effect of
which is such that it almost entirely destroys or nullifies the electric energy which
may be sent into the cable, within a very short time. For this reason, with tho
methods at present employed, telephony is impossible with long cables, and
electrical signals cannot be obtained at the end of a very long cable excepting by
employing instruments or apparatus of very special construction.
According to the present invention, however, I take advantage, and make use of,
this condensation for telephonic and telegraphic purposes in such a manner that I
ain able to use the ordinary instruments or apparatus (particularly the well known
Hughes" apparatus) in connection with a cable of any length whatever. Instead
of endeavouring, as is now done, to cause a direct current to reach the receiving
instrument, I provide, according to my invention, for each telegraphic or telephonic
communication, a double conductor, one of which may envelope the other. These
two conductors are insulated both with respect to other objects and with respect
to each other.

page_text: Referring to the sketch below;-At the transmitting or sending station I place
the conductor A which is connected with the transmitting instrument, the latter
being connected with the earth whilst the conductor B at this end remains free or
unconnected. At the receiving end or station the conductor A is free or
unconnected but the conductor B is placed in communication with the receiving
instrument which is connected with the earth. In this manner the electric
current sent by means of the transmitter is condensed and thus rendered inactive
in the conductor A, but the result of this is that an electric current is led or caused
to pass through the receiver to charge the other conductor. Therefore the current
is as powerful at the receiving end or station as it is at the transmitting end or
station.
Instead of causing the conductor B to envelope or
I may, in some cases, employ simply two parallel wires.
surround the conductor A,
By this method I obviate,
at the same time, the effects both of induction and derivation which are so
injurious in telephonic operations.
The following
La télégraphie en géneral, et tout particulièrement la téléphonic rencontrent dans
les câbles de longue portée, une ennemie redoutable qui se nomme la condensation
électrique, et dont l'action consiste à immobiliser presque totalement l' energie
C'est
électrique qu' on peut lancer sur un câble dans une durée trés courte.
pourquoi avec les méthodes actuelles, la téléphonic est impossible par les longs
câbles et c'est pourquoi on ne parvient actuellement à obtenir de signaux
électriques au bout d'un câble trés long, que par des appareils tout spéciaux.
a description of my said Invention in the French language:
Mon invention consiste a profiter précisement de cette condensation pour
arriver à telephoner et à télégraphier par les appareils ordinaires, et notamment
par l'appareil Hughes, sur un cable de quelque longueur qu'il puisse etre; au lieu
d'essayer comme on le fait maintenant de faire parvenir jusqu'au recepteur un
courant direct.
Ma méthode consiste à employer pour chaque communication télégraphique ou
téléphonique un double conducteur dont l' un enveloppe l'autre.
Ces deux conducteurs sont isolés en général et isolés entre eux.
Au poste d'expédition on met le conducteur A en communication avec le
transmetteur qui lui-même est en terre tandis que le conducteur B reste isolé.
Au poste de réception on laisse le conducteur A isolé, mais ou met le conducteur B
en communication avec le recepteur qui lui même est en terre.
De cette façon le courant électrique envoyé par le transmetteur se condense,
s' immobilise sur le conducteur A; mais il en résulte un appel de courant électrique
à travers le récepteur, pour charger l'autre conducteur. De cette façon lo courant
est aussi fort à l'arrivée qu'au départ.
Au lieu d' un conducteur B enveloppant un conducteur A on pourra, dans certains
cas, employer simplement deux fils paralléles.
Par cette méthode on évitera en même temps les effets d'induction et de
dérivation si nuisibles en télephonie.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th December 1882.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake, and C° Patent
Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND
MEANS FOR EMPLOYING ELECTRICITY FOR TELEGRAPHIC AND TELEPHONIC PURPOSES."
A communication to me from abroad by François Van Rysselberghe, of Schaerbeck,
Belgium.
Hitherto telephonic communication has been established either by a single
conductor grounded at the two extremities and containing the receiver and the
transmitter in its circuit, or by two parallel conductors forming one closed circuit
which contains the receiver and the transmitter; electricity being, in each case,
utilized in its dynamic condition and travelling through the circuit as a current.
My improvements consist essentially in establishing each telephonic communi-
cation by means of two conductors, one of which, by preference, surrounds or
envelops the other, and which are insulated from each other and from surrounding
bodies; and in utilizing such a system, not as a conducting circuit, but as a
condenser, in which electricity acts in its static condition; 1 effect this by con-
necting one end of the internal conductor with the transmitter, the other end of
that conductor remaining insulated at the receiving station; and connecting one
end of the external conductor with the receiver, the other end of that conductor
remaining insulated at the transmitting station,
In the accompanying drawing
Figure 1. represents a telephonic installation in which the transmitter is a simplo
telephonic apparatus, as is also the receiver.
Figure 2. represents an installation comprising a microphone and an induction
coil, of which the secondary wire is connected, on the one hand to the earth, and
on the other hand to one of the conductors of the cable.
In these Figures, the cable A is in communication with the transmitter, and the
cable B. with the receiver, these two cables being insulated from one another.
At
At the transmitting station the conductor A is placed in communication with
the transmitter which is grounded, whilst the conductor B remains insulated.
the receiving station, the conductor A is insulated, but the conductor B is placed
in communication with the receiver which is grounded.
In this manner the currents sent by the transmitter are condensed and thus
rendered inactive in the conductor A; but the result is that electric currents are
caused to pass through the receiver to charge the other conductor.
Instead of a conductor B enveloping a conductor A, two parallel wires can be
employed. By this method the effects of induction and of derivation so injurious
in telephony will be avoided.
Neither of the two conductors forins a complete circuit and the electricity instead
of acting in a dynamic state acts in a static state by condensation.
The distance to which telephonic messages can be transmitted is thus considerably
augmented and, at the same time, the effects of induction are avoided.
Having thus fully described the said invention as communicated to me by my
Foreign correspondent and the manner of performing the same I wish it understood
that I Claim;-
A new system of telephonic communication consisting in employing for each
communication either two parallel conductors or two conductors one of which
surrounds or envelops the other, these conductors being insulated from one another

page_text: and from surrounding bodies, one end of the first conductor being in communi-
cation with the transmitter and the other end insulated, and one end of the second
conductor being in communication with the receiver and the other end insulated,
which system is applicable for aerial, subterranean or other telephonic purposes.
In witness whereof I the said William Robert Lake have hereunto set my
hand and seal this Fourteenth day of December in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty two
W. ROB. LAKE (L.S.)