IMPROVEMENTS IN PNEUumatic TeleGRAPHY
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Felix Alexandre André Manier, of Inverness
House, Iffley Road, Oxford, in the County of Oxford, for the
LETTERS PATENT to Felix Alexandre André Manier, of Inverness
House, Iffley Road, Oxford, in the County of Oxford, for the
Invention of “IMPROVEMENTS IN PNEUumatic TeleGRAPHY."
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Felix Alexandre André
Manier at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition and Declaration, on the 16th September 1871, pursuant
to the 9th Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FELIX
ALEXANDRE ANDRÉ MANIER, of Inverness House, Iffley Road, Oxford,
in the County of Oxford, send grecting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PNEUMATIC TELEGRAPHY," 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 I am the true and
first Inventor thereof.
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page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Felix Alexandre André Manier, 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:―
The nature of my Invention consists in the adaptation of the
barometer to the purpose of telegraphy. The barometer indicates the
natural atmospheric pressure; I make it shew artificial pressures.
The alteration is effected by connecting the glass tubes of the stations
by means of a pipe in which the air can be submitted at will to increased
or diminished pressure; the level of the fluid in the glass tube rises or
falls according to these variations in pressure instantaneously and pari
passu at all corresponding stations.
Now if the plate in which the glass tube stands fixed is marked with
letters, words, figures, or any other signs instead of numbers the up-and-
down movements of the meniscus can be so regulated as to enable the
looker-on to spell words and read numbers; moreover these movements
being synchronic the telegram can be ready at the very time it
is sent.
The following are the material features of my working apparatus:—
1. Air Reservoir.-An elastic ball covered with linen, woollen, or silk
material answers best for short distances, say, up to 1,000 yards. A
double-action pump can be used when greater effect is required, as
between two railway stations. An air chamber in which air can be
condensed in any quantity is resorted to for longer distances.
2. Pressure. Unless the pressure is applied in a gentle and steady
manner, the oscillations of the liquid column greatly interfere with the
operation of telegraphing. By causing the air to pass through suitable
diaphragms which are inserted in the cocks, such as wire cloth, or by
applying or withdrawing the pressure by means of a screw, this
difficulty is overcome. When the screw is made to press against an
india-rubber ball a concave metallic plate protects the ball against
injury.
3. Connecting Pipe.—I have used with equal success lead pipe of or

page_text: 4. Barometrical Tube.―This I fill with colored alcohol, the coloring
facilitates the reading; the lightness of the alcohol allows a sufficient
range to be obtained for the travelling fluid with a much smaller
pressure than mercury or even water would require. The top of the
tube is left open instead of being closed up; this obviates the incon-
veniences of a long tube, but exposing the fluid columns to different
atmospheric pressures requires a correction to be made for any con-
siderable difference between the altitudes of the various stations. The
ordinary barometer gives the difference in height between two columns
of mercury; by multiplying this difference by the ratio between the
densities of mercury and alcohol one finds at once the correction wanted.
A difference of temperature between the stations does not materially
affect the weight of the travelling fluid, for the co-efficient of dilatation is
only 0.0016 for one degree centigrade, and no large quantity of spirit is
employed owing to the tube's being short. At most the operator might
be directed to bring the meniscus slightly above or below the line as the
case might be.
5. Scalc. The scale or sign board is not immovably fixed to the
tube, but can be raised or lowered, and is adjusted by rack work, so
that whatever may be the allowance required for capillary attraction,
dilatation, contraction, or a difference in altitude, the zero line can
always be brought level with the meniscus. A height of 18 inches is
found sufficient for the sign board, and gives sufficient room for a
telegraphic alphabet on the one side, and figures on the other; this,
however, could be easily increased.
6. Amount of Pressure.-These arrangements enable me to do with
very little pressure, for alcohol rising to 44 feet at the pressure of one
atmosphere, and the sign board being 1 foot, th of an atmospheric
pressure produces a full range, while th is enough to raise the column
from one letter to the next.
Given the diameter of the pipe, the dimensions of the air reservoir
can be most easily found.
The same pipe can be use for signalling, telegraphing, and for all the
stations on the same line.
Should the synchronism I have always found, although operating with
coiled and crooked pipes, become affected by the length of the pipes

page_text: short distances, such as correspondence within the limits of a town or
between neighbouring railway stations.
In witness whereof, I, the said Felix Alexandre André Manier, have
hercunto set my hand and scal, this Sixteenth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
onc.
FELIX ALEXANDRE ANDRÉ MANIER. (L.s.)