IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY TRANS- MITTING AND RECEIVING SIGNALS FOR DENOTING PLACES AT WHICH ATTEMPTED BURGLARIES AND ROBBERIES MAY BE MADE, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES." PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frank Ricardo Francis, of Oxford House, Lawford Road,
in the County of Middlesex, Telegraph Engineer, and Cecil Donovan, of
12, Saint James Square, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for an
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY TRANS-
MITTING AND RECEIVING SIGNALS FOR DENOTING PLACES AT WHICH ATTEMPTED
BURGLARIES AND ROBBERIES MAY BE MADE, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frank Ricardo Francis
and Cecil Donovan at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
18th November 1881.
FRANK RICARDO FRANCIS, of Oxford House, Lawford Road, in the County of
Middlesex, Telegraph Engineer, and CECIL DONOVAN, of 12, Saint James Square, in
the County of Middlesex, Gentleman. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR AUTO-
MATICALLY TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING SIGNALS FOR DENOTING PLACES AT
WHICH ATTEMPTED BURGLARIES AND ROBBERIES MAY BE MADE, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES."
This Invention of improvements in apparatus for automatically transmitting and
receiving signals, for denoting places at which attempted burglaries and robberies
may be made, and for other purposes, consists in the application, combination, and
arrangement of a series of specially constructed commutators or contact makers in
number corresponding with the signals required, or with the rooms, doors, windows,
safes, and other parts of buildings or things to which the commutators may be
affixed in connection with insulated copper and galvanized iron or other wires for
communication between buildings or things so fitted as aforesaid, and the nearest
police or other stations, and arranged so that each commutator or contact maker
is capable of producing one signal only, such signal being the name and number of
the building, house, room, door, window, safe, or other thing so fitted, as before
mentioned, with the cominutators or contact makers, thus showing the precise
locality of any attempted burglary or robbery.

page_text: For this purpose we employ in connection with the before mentioned insulated
copper and galvanized iron or other wires a voltaic battery arranged and placed
in the police or other station so as to convey currents of electricity to and from
other instruments in the police or other station consisting of electro-magnets having
pivotted and balanced horizontal bars upon which are discs corresponding in
number with the buildings, houses, rooms, doors, windows, safes, and other things,
and which by the passage of the electric currents along the insulated copper and
galvanized iron or other wires and through the electro-magnets are caused to fall
or deflect from their horizontal position, and indicate the building, house, room,
door, window, safe, and other thing at which the attempted burglary or robbery is
being made, and continue so to indicate until attention to such indication has been
called and acknowledged by the replacing of the bar having the disc affixed thereon
to its normal horizontal position. In connection with the before mentioned
apparatus and arrangement we employ an electro-magnetic bell or gong which is
conveniently placed in the police or other station for the purpose of calling
immediate attention to the indication already mentioned. The specially con-
structed commutators or contact makers consist of a metallic spring insulated from
a brass or other metal plate, and supported by a beam of insulated material, and
having a platinized point under which and attached to the brass or other plate is a
pillar of platinum or other suitable metal. Through the brass or other metal plate
a hole is bored of convenient size, in which is placed a piece of granite or other
non-conducting substance, which on being pressed forces the spring from the
platinum pillar and thus breaks the electrical circuit. On the opening of any door,
window, safe, or other thing the pressure is removed from the piece of granite or
other non-conducting material, and the spring recovers its normal position, and its
point will rest as before on the platinum or other metal pillar and re-establish the
electrical circuit. To admit of the opening of any door, window, safe, or other
thing during such time as the apparatus may not be in use, as for instance during
business hours, we employ in connection with the apparatus described an instru-
ment commonly called a switch, the handle of which when placed in one direction
disconnects the electrical circuit, and when in the opposite direction closes or
connects the circuit.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Frank Ricardo Francis and Cecil Donovan in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 17th May 1882.
FRANK RICARDO FRANCIS, of Oxford, Lawford Road, in the County of
Middlesex, Telegraph Engineer, and CECIL DONOVAN, of 12, St. James Square, in
the County of Middlesex, Gentleman. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR AUTO-
MATICALLY TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING SIGNALS FOR DENOTING PLACES AT
WHICH ATTEMPTED BURGLARIES AND ROBBERIES MAY BE MADE, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES."
Our said Invention relating to apparatus for automatically transmitting and
receiving signals for denoting places at which burglaries or robberies may be
attempted, and for other purposes, consists in the application, combination, and
arrangement of any desired number of commutators or electric contact makers, and
audible and visible signalling apparatus, whereby burglaries and robberies may be
prevented or detected.
In carrying out our Invention we affix to street doors, room doors, windows, and
other parts of buildings, safes, jewel-cases, or other articles it is desired to protect,
commutators, or electrical contact makers of any suitable construction, and connect
them by conducting wires to an audible and visible signal receiving apparatus
placed at the nearest police station or other station house or place appointed to
receive the signals, a battery being interposed in the line of conducting wires in
any suitable position to generate currents of electricity.
The signal receiving apparatus placed at the distant station consists of a case
containing a number of electro-magnets corresponding to the number of commu-
tators or contact makers, or signals to be employed, and each electro-magnet is
provided with a balanced horizontal bar carrying a disc or discs, which is or
are maintained in its or their normal elevated position by the armature of the
electro-magnet so as to obscure from view the name, number, or locality of the
window, door, drawer, or movable part to which the corresponding commutators
or contact makers are affixed. So soon however as a circuit is established through
the conducting wires by any one of the commutators or contact makers the
armature of the corresponding electro magnet is attracted and releases the balance
bar, and thereupon causes the disc to fall and to expose to view the name, number,
or other designation of the locality of the door, window, or movable part from
which the signal has been transmitted. The armature of each of the electro-
magnets may be fitted with a hammer or striker, which continues when the circuit
is established to strike a bell or gong placed within range of the hammer or striker
for the purpose of calling attention to the indication or signal, or a single electric
bell or gong may be fitted to the signal receiving apparatus to answer for the whole
of the signals. And in order to make our Invention clearly understood, we shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose shall
refer to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, which illustrate our Invention as
applied to the window of a house, as an example of the mode of carrying out our
Invention.
Figure 1 of the Drawings represents a front view of the lower portion of a
window fitted with our signalling device; Figure 2 is a front elevation partly in
section of the signal receiving instrument to be placed in the nearest police station,
or at any other station house or place appointed to receive a signal; and Figure 3
is a transverse section of the said signalling instrument. The remaining Figures
are details and modifications which will be hereafter referred to.
Referring to Figures 1, 2, and 3, A is a commutator or contact maker fitted and

page_text: A
secured in a recess B provided for the purposo in the lower part of the window
frame C. It consists, as shewn, in the enlarged view, Figure 4, of a metallic
spring D connected to a brass or other metal base plate E, but insulated therefrom
by any suitable insulating material F. The spring D is provided with a platinized
point at G, which in its normal position is in contact with a pillar or plate of
platinum or other suitable metal H attached to the base plate E. This base plate
is provided with a hole at I, through which passes a piece of suitable nonconducting
substance K so arranged that upon being pressed it will force the platinized point G
out of contact with the platinum plate or pillar H. 1 and 2 are conducting
wires, one of which, 1, is connected at L to the plate E, and the other wire 2 is
connected to the spring D. These conducting wires extend and are connected to
an electro-magnet, for example, M, fitted in the signal receiving instrument N
placed in a police station or other appointed place to receive the signals.
battery O of any suitable construction, to the opposite poles of which the con-
ducting wires 1 and 2 are respectively connected, is interposed at any convenient
part of the circuit between the commutators or contact makers and the signal
receiving instruments. When the window is closed the lower part thereof presses
against the non-conducting substance K, causing the platinized point G to be held
out of contact with the platinum plate or pillar H, whereby the electric current
through the wires is opened or broken, consequently no current can pass to the
signal receiving instrument at the station, but as soon as the window is partially
elevated or opened pressure is removed from the non-conducting substance K,
whereupon the platinized point G, under the action of the spring D, is brought
into contact with the pillar or plato of platinum H, whereby a circuit is com-
pleted or established through the conducting wires, and a current transmitted
to the station. The armature of the electro-magnet being thus attracted the
balanced horizontal bar carrying the disc is released, whereupon the disc falls and
exposes to view the name, number, or other device employed to indicate the
particular window that has been opened, a bell or gong at the same time being
sounded for the purpose of calling attention to the signal, as next hereaftor
described.
•
The signal receiving apparatus shown in our Drawings contains twenty signal
indicators, but any other number may be employed. As the whole of these indi-
cators their connections and mode of working are precisely similar in each, it will
only be necessary to describe one of them in order to render our Invention
intelligible; we shall therefore confine our description to the one marked M as an
example. V, V, Figures 2 and 3, represent the coils of an electro magnet, the
armature W of which is centred at U to the frame Y, and is held out of contact
with the pole Z of the magnet by a spring A. Beneath the armature W is a
balance bar b, to which is fixed a disc c, held in its normal, vertical, or nearly
vertical position by a catch d on the armature W engaging with the arin e from
the bar b. The disc c is sufficiently large and is so arranged as to cover in its
normal position an opening provided in the front g of the case of the signal
receiving instrument. Arranged immediately behind the discs of the several
magnets is a strip h of any suitable material, upon which is inscribed the numbers,
names, or devices indicating the places with which the signal indicators are
connected, so that when a disc falls out of its normal position, as at M, Figure 2,
the name, number, or indicating device may be seen through the opening f.
Or instead of the strip containing the names or devices, as last described, the
bar may carry an additional disc, as shown at M2 and M³, having the name,
number, or device inscribed or marked thereon, and which when the before
mentioned disc falls out of its normal position is brought opposite the
opening f, as shown at M³, so as to expose to view the name, number, or
device. The discs are returned to their normal position by means of a sliding
bar or rod a' provided with protections 6', which when the sliding bar is moved in
the direction of the arrow bear against the tail piece c¹ fixed upon the bars b, and
thereby elevates the disc or discs to a position to be engaged by the armatures of

page_text: the magnets. Each of the electro-magnets may if desired be provided with a bell
or gong to be sounded by its armature for the purpose of calling attention to the
signal when a current is passing through the magnet. We prefer however to
employ for the purpose a separate electric bell, as shown at i, which is caused to
ring when any one of the signals is operated upon, and to continue to ring until
the signal is attended to. In order to prevent or stop the ringing of the bell, or to
prevent the transmission of a current, we provide in each of the signal lines, both
at the receiving stations and at the places from which the signals are transmitted,
a switch k, by means of which the establishing and breaking of a circuit may be
effected as required. The switch consists of two metallic plates l,, to which the
conducting wires are connected, and which are fixed at a short distance apart, as
shown in Figure 2, an opening being provided between them for the reception of a
metallic peg or key m, which when inserted therein makes metallic contact
between the two plates and completes the circuit, so as to admit of a current being
passed through the wires, but upon withdrawing the peg or key from the hole the
circuit is broken, and consequently no current can pass through to the electro
magnet of the signal receiving instrument. Instead of employing a removable key,
as described, a key composed partly of metal n, and partly of non conducting
material o, as shown in Figure 1, and on an enlarged scale in Figure 5, may be
employed fitted to turn in the opening q, the key being provided with a handle p
for the purpose of turning it, so as to bring either metallic portion of the non
conducting portion of the key into contact with the metallic plates, and thus
establish or break the circuit as required. By the employment of these switches at
the place or places from which the signals are transmitted the apparatus may be
put out of action when required, as, for example, during business hours, so as to
admit of the entrance of any person having charge, control, or use of an outer door
without establishing a circuit, and consequently without transmitting any signal to
a distant station or place.
In combination with the apparatus hereinbefore described we also employ a
galvanometer r, with which a local circuit is established from the conducting wires
1 and 2 by means of a branch wire a. The galvanometer is connected by wires t, t¹,
with an electric bell or other suitable alarm apparatus, which may be situated in
any part of the same building from which signals are transmitted, or in any other
place or locality desired. When a signal is transmitted through the wires 1, 2, &
current is also passed through the local circuit to the galvanometer, causing the
needle u to deflect and make contact with one or other of the spring contact
pieces v, v, and thereby transmit a current to the said bell or other alarm, causing
it to ring or sound so as to attract the attention of the occupant of the apartment
wherein the alarm apparatus is situated. We may also describe another electrical
indicator, illustrated at w, Figure 1, and in detail on a larger scale at Figure 6, for
registering the number of signals transmitted. This indicator consists of an electro-
magnet x, the armature of which every time a current is transmitted through the
conducting wires 1, 2, actuates a pointer y, causing it to point in succession to a
series of numbers on a dial B. On the arbour which carries the pointer is fixed a
ratchet or escape wheel 3, with the teeth of which the crutch of an escape lever
engages. This lever is centred at 6, and is attached at its opposite end to the
armature 7 of the magnet, so that at each impulse of the said armature 7 the lever
is oscillated, and thus imparts to the wheel 3 a partial rotary motion to the extent
of one tooth, and causes the pointer to move to the next figure and indicate on the
dial that a signal has been transmitted.
Figure 7 is a longitudinal section of a modified construction of contact maker
which may be employed instead of and in combination with the one hereinbefore
described. It consists of a tube 8 provided with a binged lid or cover 9, having a
metal point or projection 10 for the purpose next hereinafter described. In the
tube 8 is placed a blank cartridge 11 provided with a percussion cap or detonating
material or the like, which upon the lid being suddenly closed by the act of
opening the door to which it is fitted is discharged or exploded by the point or

page_text: projection 10 coming in contact therewith, thus causing a report sufficiently loud
to alarm the intended burglar and inmates of the apartment to which the apparatus
is applied. The tube 8 is composed partly of metal 12, and partly of non
conducting material 13, whilst the lid or cover is made of metal hinged to the
non conducting portion of the tube., The hinge is constructed and provided with 5
a spring, so as to cause the lid to close suddenly somewhat in manner of the blade
of a knife. The conducting wires 1 and 2 are connected one to the metal portion
of the tube and the other to the lid or cover. It will thus be understood that so
long as the lid remains open no current can pass through the wires, but as soon as
the lid is closed a circuit is established, and consequently a current will be trans- 1
mitted through tho wires to the distant station to operate one of the signals, as
herein before described with reference to the first mentioned arrangement. This
apparatus, which is provided with a screw 14 for fixing it in the required position,
may be employed without the electrical signalling arrangement described, and'
may be carried in the pocket or otherwise to be applied whenever required as an 1
alarm.
Figure 8 is a special form of contact-maker for windows. It consists of a brass
or other metal plate 15, having two springs platinized 16. This plate is fitted in
the window sasb, as at 15, Figure 1. The plates 17 are fitted in the window frame
a short distance above plate 15, and separated from each other by a piece of
suitable non-conducting material 18. When the window is elevated or opened
plate 15 presses against plates 17, and thus completes a circuit, plates 17 being
connected with conducting wires 1 and 2, as herein before described. The plates
when they touch each other, as shown at 17, Figure 1, cause a bell to ring and to
continue to ring after the window is closed, and until the signal at the distant
station is attended to.
Having now described our Invention, and the mode of carrying the same out in
practice, we wish it to be understood that we do not confine ourselves to the
precise construction and arrangement of the various details herein before described,
as many variations may be made therefrom without departing from the essential
features of our said Invention ; but what we desire to secure as our Invention is,―
The general construction, combination, application, and arrangement of apparatus
constituting a system of signalling for denoting at police or other stations or places
appointed at distances to receive signals from places or localities at which
burglaries or robberies are being effected or attempted, substantially as herein- 3
before described and illustrated by the Drawinga.
In witness whereof, we, the said Frank Ricardo Francis and Cecil Donovan,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Seventeenth day of May, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty two.