IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING TELEGRAPH APPARATUS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the "International
Patent Office," Southampton Buildings, London, Consulting
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING TELEGRAPH
APPARATUS."-A communication from abroad by Elisha Whittelsey
Andrews, of Englewood, New Jersey, and George Baker Field, of
the City and State of New York, both in the United States of
America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 8th June 1870.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office,"
Southampton Buildings, London, Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING TELEGRAPH
APPARATUS," a communication, to be as follows:-
Several electrical telegraph instruments have been placed so as to
operate at different stations in one line, but relays or local circuits are
used in connection with them.

page_text: The first part of this Invention relates to arranging several printing
telegraph instruments in one main circuit, and operating the instruments
by positive and negative currents passed through the said instruments
without the use of local circuits or relays, the positive current operating
the devices that set the type wheel, and the negative currents act through
switches so as to make the current operative upon a second set of
mechanism to effect the printing and feed of the paper or vice versa.
The second part of the said Invention relates to a compound electro-
magnet composed of four helices and soft iron cores, these are placed
in a group, and between the pairs of coils are iron or steel switches, and
the connections to the helices are made so that when a positive current
is employed the magnetism produced moves the switches by attraction
or repulsion and throws the entire current through two of the coils.
If a negative electrical current is employed, the poles are reversed and
the switches thereby moved so that the electrical current passes through
the other magnet. One magnet operates the type wheel, the other the
lever that impresses the paper and feeds the same. In place of directing
the entire current through one pair of helices or the other, by the polarity
of the magnet, the current may pass through all the helices, and the
switches that [are set according to the polarity of the current will act
to block one armature and release the other, so that one can operate
to set the type wheel, and the other will be held from moving, and the
reversal of the current will bring the magnet for printing into action.
The third part of the said Invention relates to the pawls or clicks
that act to move and stop the type wheel; these are arranged to act in
both directions, so that the attraction of the armature moves the type
wheel half a space, and its repulsion completes the movement so as to
lessen the throw of the armature. The type wheel is made of two or
more rings, one containing figures, the other letters or signs so as to
print on different lines upon the paper. The ink is supplied from a
hollow drum perforated at its periphery and surrounded with cloth that
comes in contact with the types. The magnets are placed in or below
the bed of the machine, and the paper feed consists of a roller and two
'swinging pawls, one operated as the lever moves to give the impression,
and the other operating at the reverse movement of the same lever.
The fourth part of the said Invention relates to a device for bringing
into unison all the machines in a line by stopping them at a nonius or
zero point. This purpose is effected by an arm on the type wheel shaft

page_text: coming into contact with a spring circuit closer that diverts the current
from the magnet moving the type wheel and stops its action without
breaking the main circuit; hence several pulsations of electricity can
be made to bring to the nonius any machine in the circuit that may be
behind, and when enough of these pulsations have been given the
polarity of the circuit can be reversed, and the spring circuit closers
withdrawn, so that the machines are all in unison for being set for
printing.
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 11th November 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office,” Southampton
Buildings, London, Consulting Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special licence
that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "In-
PROVEMENTS IN PRINTING TELEGRAPH APPARATUS," a communication to me
from abroad by Elisha Whittelsey Andrews, of Englewood, New Jersey,
and George Baker Field, of the City and State of New York, both in
the United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
scals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed. in the Great Seal Patent Office within six

page_text: calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being made to the Drawing here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say) :-
Several electrical telegraph instruments have been placed so as to
operate at different stations in one line, but relays or local circuits were
used in connection with them.
One part of this Invention relates to arranging several printing tele-
graph instruments in one main circuit, and operating the instruments
by positive and negative currents passed through said instruments with-
out the use of local circuits or relays, the positive current operating
the devices that set the type wheel, and the negative currents act
through switches so as to make the current operative upon a second
set of mechanism to effect the printing and feeding of the paper or vice
versa.
Another part of this Invention relates to a compound electro-magnet
composed of four helices and soft iron cores, these are placed in a group
and near the pairs of coils are iron or steel switches, and the con-
nections to the helices are made so that when a positive current is
employed, the magnetism produced moves the switches by attraction
or repulsion, and throws the entire current through two of the coils.
If a negative electrical current is employed the poles are reversed and
the switches thereby moved, so that the electrical current passes
through the other magnet. One magnet operates the type wheel, the
other the lever that impresses the paper and feeds the same.
In place
of directing the entire current through one pair of helices or the other,
by the polarity of the magnet, the current may pass through all the
helices, and the switches that are set according to the polarity of the
current will act to block one armature and release the other, so that
one can operate to set the type wheel and the other will be held from
moving, and the reversal of the current will bring the magnet for
printing into action.
This Invention also relates to the pawls or clicks that act to move
and stop the type wheel, these are arranged to act in both directions so

page_text: that the attraction of the armature moves the type wheel half a space,
and its repulsion completes the movement so as to lessen the throw of
the armature. The type wheel is made of two or more rings one con-
taining figures the other letters or signs, so as to print on different
lines upon the paper. The ink is supplied from a hollow drum per-
forated at its periphery and surrounded with cloth that comes in contact
with the types. The magnets are placed in or below the bed of the
machine, and the paper feed consists of a roller and two swinging
pawls, one operated as the lever moves to give the impression and the
other operating at the reverse movement of the same lever.
And this Invention relates to a device for bringing into unison all
the machines in a line by stopping them at a nonius or zero point, this
is effected by an arm on the type wheel shaft coming in contact with
a stop or circuit closer, that diverts the current from the magnet moving
the type wheel or stops the type wheel without breaking the main
circuit, hence several pulsations of electricity can be made to bring to
the nonius any machines in the circuit that may be behind, and when
sufficient of these pulsations have been given the polarity of the circuit
can be reversed, and the spring circuit closers withdrawn so that the
machines are all in unison for being set for printing.
In the Drawing Fig 1 is a plan; Fig. 2 is an inverted plan; and
Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the improved apparatus; Fig. 4 is a
diagram illustrative of the connections to the instrument.
The base a contains within it the compound magnet b, c, and upon
said base are the frames d carrying the respective shafts and axes.
The part 6 of the compound magnet acts upon the armature e of the
printing and paper feeding mechanism, and the portion c acts upon the
armature and lever f¹ to operate the type wheel. The type wheel
is made of two rings upon arms, the one ring h having figures, signs,
or fractions, and the other ring i has letters or similar characters, so
that either one or the other can be printed at will, because the characters
on one wheel come opposite a blank space on the other wheel facili-
tating the construction and setting of the wheel and allowing the letters
to be printed on one line, and the figures aud fractions on another, and
there is a portion of the type wheel where there are not any characters
and at this part the unison connection is made to operate. The
lever f¹ is on a fulcrum 2 and the spring 3 acts to draw the armature
from the magnet when the electrical circuit is broken, the lever ƒ¹

page_text: has arms carrying the spring pawls 4 and 5 that have hooked ends
acting upon the wheel 1, so as to move the said wheel one tooth at each
vibration of the lever f¹, the pawl 4 upon the return movement of the
armature giving a partial movement to the type wheel so as to ensure
the catching of the pawl 5 over the next tooth and lessen the amount of
play of the escapement lever. The lever f¹ has stop spurs 7 and 8
acting with the reverse ratchet teeth of the wheel to check the move-
ment and prevent the momentum carrying the type wheel more than
one letter at a time. The stop spurs 7 and 8 are arranged so that the
holding faces are at right angles to lines drawn from the center of
motion 2 so that the locking will be of the most reliable character, there
being no tendency to move the spurs or lever by the concussion of the
wheel against them in stopping. The printing or impression is effected
by the pad m upon the lever n that is mounted upon the axis or
fulcrum n¹, and actuated by the armature e to the magnet b. The paper
is fed along by the movement of the impression lever. The roller t is
mounted upon an axis that has upon each side of the roller sleeves that
carry crank arms 15, and spring pawls or points 16, and in the ends of
the two portions of the lever n that pass contiguous to these arms 15 are
diagonal slots placed in opposite positions, and taking pins that project
from the arms 15 so that as the lever n rises one pawl 16 will bind the
paper to the roller t and carry both forward and the other pawl will be
drawn back so that as the lever n descends the first named pawl 16 is
drawn back and the other pawl made to operate in feeding the paper,
thus the paper can be moved along with facility as there are two move-
ments to each impression of the letter or type, consequently but a small
motion of the lever is effective, while nearly twice that movement would
be required if only one feed pawl was used. The ink is supplied to the
types by means of a hollow perforated drum u or roller, into which the
ink is introduced, and around this roller a cloth or felt surface is attached
(as seen in Fig. 3) to rest upon the types of the type wheel the ink
gradually passing through the perforations, the surrounding cloth is
furnished with the quantity of ink necessary for the types. The roller
u is upon arms swinging upon the shaft u¹ so that the ink roller lies
constantly against the type wheel. The connections for the compound
magnet are illustrated in the plan Fig. 2 and diagram Fig. 4. In Fig. 4
the battery connections are shown in connection with an instrument
that is a slight modification from the magnets and connections shown in
Fig. 2, but the description of the operation applies to both forms of

page_text: connections. The battery at u² is divided, a connection passing from
near the center to the ground, the wire to passes to the finger key w¹ and
from the other end of the battery, the wire x passes to the transmitting
instrument y, thence to the line wire z, uniting with a wire from the
finger key and passing to the insulated binding screw 30 of the instru-
ment. The wire 32 passes from the insulated binding screw 31 of one
instrument to the insulated screw 30 of the next, and so on through as
many instruments as there are in the line, and then connects to the
ground beyond the last instrument. Near the helices b, b, and c, c, of
the compound magnet are steel tongues 33, 34, hinged and swinging
freely horizontally. The polarity of b and c will with a positive current
attract, by means of the arms at the end of the soft iron magnet, the
tongue so as to bring the part 34 to the circuit closer 36, and the part 33
will separate from 35, but by changing the direction of the currents, or
sending a negative current, the reverse movement takes place of the
tongue 33, 34. The transmitting dial y is made in any usual manner so
as to give the pulsations through the wire and screw 30 and the
current being positive the compound magnet as charged connects 34
and 36, and breaks 33 and 35, hence the current will be directed through
the helices c, the base plate forming part of the circuit to operate the type
wheel by the armature fand lever f¹. The current passes from the helix c
to the bed a of the instrument, thence through the tongue 34 (which
is in metallic contact with the base), circuit closer 36 and wire to the
screw 31 of the line or ground wire returning through the ground
¡ connection v. If the finger key w¹ is closed when the circuit through y
is broken, the direction of current is instantly changed and the
compound magnet b, c, is altered in its polarity, 34 and 36 separating
and 33 and 35 closing, so that the magnet 6 is made fully operative to
effect the printing, the current passing from 31 to the magnet b, thence
to the base a, switch 33, closer 35, binding screw 30, and wire z to the
key to and battery, and vice versa, according to the polarity of the
current. In this manner the tongues or levers 33, 34 become polarized
switches or circuit changers operated by the polarity of the contiguous
electro-magnets, and they bring in or throw out either electro-magnet
; that is not to be operative, and bring in the electro-magnet that is
to act, the polarity of the current itself (either positive or negative)
being the primary effective force.
In order to ensure unison of movement in the type wheels of several
machines in one line or circuit two or more blank spaces on each type

page_text: b
wheel are provided, and an arm 38 is employed on the type wheel shaft,
which when a given one of these blank spaces is opposite the impression
pad, comes in contact with the insulated circuit closing spring 39, so
that a direct current passes through this spring, the type wheel shaft
and the bed of the machine, instead of the magnet c; hence the magnet
ceases to be operative although the current proceeds to other machines
and operates upon the same, bringing them to the same position should
they not be in that position. Upon reversing the current through w¹ the
impression magnet 6 operates the lever n, lifts the spring 39 from contact
with the arm 38, breaking the current through 39, and, simultaneously,
the stud 41 coming against the end of the arm 38 prevents the further
movement of the lever 12 sufficiently to impress or feed the paper; the
spring 39 being slightly under strain by the arm 38 clears the same as
the parts resume their normal position; these parts are shown more
clearly in Fig. 5. By having an arm upon the transmitting instru-
ment, as shown at 42, and locating the same so as to close the circuit
between 0 and at the period in the rotation of the dial when
the machines have been brought to a normal position, the machinery
becomes self-operating without the use of the finger key and applies
a reverse circuit for liberating the type wheels after they have been
stopped, so that all the type wheels in the electrical circuit are set or their
correct position prooved at every rotation of the type wheel, hence
ensuring great accuracy.
The same character of unison adjustment is effected by making the
arms 38 and 39 rigid as seen in Fig. 6; in this case the arm 38 stops
against 39 and prevents the type wheel being moved by the magnet and
when the current is reversed and the lever n raised, the hooked ends
clear each other so that the type wheel can be rotated.
What is claimed and to be secured by Letters Patent is,―
First. A circuit changer in combination with an electro-magnet and
the type wheel and an electro-magnet and the printing mechanism
substantially as set forth, whereby the current is directed through either
magnet according to the polarity of the current, substantially as set
forth.
Second. A polarized bar, permanent magnet or circuit changer, and
an electro-magnet to move the same, in combination with an electro-
magnet placed in the same circuit and brought into or thrown out of

page_text: that circuit according to the polarity of the current and the consequent
position of the said permanent magnet, substantially as set forth.
Third. The combination of a polarized bar or circuit changer with two
electro-magnets operated by a main circuit substantially as specified,
whereby either of the two electro-magnets may be brought into action
at pleasure by the use of a positive or a negative current, the other
electro-magnet being at the same time imperative, substantially as set
forth.
Fourth. Two or more printing telegraph instruments placed in one
main circuit and operated simultaneously by pulsations of electricity,
the type wheel being set by the pulsations of one polarity and the printing
being effected by pulsations of the opposite polarity, substantially as set
forth.
Fifth. The combination of a double-acting escapement with the type
wheel, printing mechanism, and magnet operated by the main circuit,
substantially as set forth.
Sixth. A compound magnet provided with steel tongues that direct
the force of the electrical current through one portion of the magnet or
through another portion according to the direction in which the current
passes to said compound magnet, substantially as specified.
Seventh. The double-acting pawls 4, 5, stops 7, 8, and lever f¹ combined
with the ratchets and type wheel, as set forth.
Eighth. Two type wheels on one shaft parallel to each other and arranged
so that the blank spaces upon one wheel are opposite the character spaces
on the other, and vice versa.
Ninth. The hollow perforated inking drum surrounded with a surface
of fibrous material and arranged so that the said surface is in contact
with the type wheel, as and for the purposes set forth.
Tenth. The pawls 16, 16, and crank arms actuated by the lever n to
feed the paper in the manner specified.
Eleventh. The arrangement of the magnets that operate the type
wheel and printing mechanism within the bed of the machine, as set
forth.
Twelfth. The arms 38 & 39 arranged substantially as set forth to
stop the action of the magnet b on the type wheel for the purpose of
bringing several machines in one main circuit into unison, substantially
as set forth.

page_text: Thirteenth. The combination of the compound magnet, the type wheel,
and actuating mechanism with the printing and paper feeding mechanism,
substantially as set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
E. C. JACKSON.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE. (L.S.)