Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 15th May, 1886.
Complete Left, 15th Feb., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 29th Mar., 1887.
I, Dr. SIGFRIED TAUSSIG, of Prague, Bohemia, in the Empire of Austria, Attorney
at Law, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to apparatus for automatically indicating at a central station
the outbreak of a fire in, or the attempted entrance of burglars or other unauthorized
the said
persons into, any house or building in connection with the said station;
apparatus at the same time indicating where the fire or attempted burglary has
occurred.
Moreover the occurence can also be signalled either acoustically or optically
directly to the house-porter or servant on duty on the premises to be guarded.
The improved fire and burglar alarm apparatus consists essentially of a clock
mechanism on the premises of each subscriber; which mechanism is arranged in
combination with a local circuit extending to all the points to be guarded, and
operates in such a manner that, when one of the contact devices placed in this circuit
is actuated by the unauthorized opening of a door, the weight of a person entering a
room, the drilling of a hole in a safe, or by the outbreak of a fire, an electromagnet in
connection with the clock mechanism is energized. This magnet then attracts its
armature lever and disengages the clock mechanism, so as to allow the latter to
operate, whereby a contact wheel in the main circuit is caused to rotate and send,
during its rotation, a series of impulses to the central station to indicate the place
from which the signal is sent.
According to my said invention a line passes from the central station to the
premises of each subscriber, where it is connected with a contact wheel through which
the main current can pass to earth.
This contact wheel is provided upon its periphery with a number of insulating
strips, one of which, when the apparatus is inoperative, is located below a contact
spring, which constantly presses upon the said wheel and forms the termination of
the line conductor, so that no current passes through the wheel.
The said contact wheel is in a train of wheels operated by a spring or by any other

page_text: A lever is pivotted in the frame of the clock mechanism, one end of which is in the
form of a pawl and is adapted to engage with a notch in the contact wheel, and
normally prevent the same from rotating under the action of the clock mechanism.
The other end of this pawl lever is adapted to be pressed downwards by one end
of a lever which forms the armature of an electromagnet, so that when the latter
attracts its armature lever, the armature end of the said lever presses the extended
end of the pawl lever downwards, and moves the pawl out of the notch in the contact
wheel, allowing the latter to rotate until the pawl again enters its notch.
During this rotation, all the conducting parts of the periphery of the type wheel
come into contact with the terminal spring of the line, so that the line current flows
from a battery at the central station to the contact wheel, thence to the earth and
thence through the central station where, by reason of the different arrangement of
the insulating strips of the contact wheels at the several stations, the place from which
the signal is sent is indicated on a bell or the like.
Each house or building connected with the central station has a local circuit,
including all the contacts at the various points from which indications are to be sent,
and in which the electromagnet of the mechanism is inserted.
In the normal state this local circuit is without a current. As soon, however, as
one of the contacts is closed, in consequence of the occurence of any of the casualties
above referred to, such as firo, attempted burglary, or the like, the local circuit is
automatically closed, so that the electromagnet is energized and the announcement at
the central station takes place in the manner herein before described.
The armature lever of the electromagnet can be provided with an extension, which,
in the operation of the armature, will close a shunt from the local circuit by means of
a spring contact. In this shunt is arranged an alarm-bell or other signalling device
arranged at a suitable place in the building itself, so as to give an indication to the
porter or other person.
It is to be understood that instead of arranging the circuits and contacts as before
described they may be arranged in any other suitable manner, without effecting the
nature of the invention.
Dated this 15th day of May 1886
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: I, Dr. SIGFRIED TAUSSIG, of Prague, Bohemia, in the Empire of Austria, Attorney
at Law, 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 :-
This invention relates to apparatus for automatically indicating at a central station
the outbreak of a fire in, or ile attempted entrance of burglars or other unauthorized
persons into any house or building in electric connection with the said central station,
the said apparatus at the same time indicating where the fire or attempted burglary
has occurred.
According to the invention, the electric alarm system comprises the following
parts.
1st. A local circuit per subscriber, encircling in a suitable manner the building or
office or other rooms to be protected and containing at suitable points, electric heat
detectors and devices adapted to close or break the circuit when tampered with. The
local circuits may be normally closed or normally open and the heat detectors and
mechanical contact devices included in these circuits are accordingly adapted to
act by breaking closed circuits and by closing open ones, as will readily be under-
stood.
2nd. An electro-magnet included in every local circuit.
3rd. A make and break disc interposed into the street-line, by means of which all
subscribers are connected to the central station, and which is mounted on one of the
shafts of a clock movement; the said clock movement being under normal circum-.
stances locked by means of a catch-lever, which also carries the armature of the aforesaid
electro-magnet. Thus, so soon as any of the local circuits get out of the normal condition,
the said catch-lever will set free the clock-movement, which then rotates the make and
break disc.
4il. A central station apparatus, included in the street-line and adapted to give an
audible or visible signal under the action of the succcessive electric impulsions caused
by the rotating make and break disc.
The accompanying drawing is a diagram of the circuits and apparatus forming the
improved electric burglar and fire alarm system.
a is one of the local circuits, supposed to be normally closed. is the galvanic
battery by which the electric current is supplied, and c, c.
are the electric heat
detectors or contact devices, by which the local circuit a is interrupted as soon as they
are acted upon in the manner they are devised for.
d is the electro-magnet, the bobbin of which is contained in the local circuit
a,
and

page_text: which, therefore will, under normal circumstances, always hold its armature e in the
attracted position as shown. The armature-lever also serves as the catch lever of
the clock movement 9. driven by a weight and carrying upon one of its shafts the
make and break disc. A make and break discj is interposed in the normally interrupted
street linek, provided with an earth plate l'in every subscriber's station and in the
central station.
For the purpose of alternately closing and breaking the street line circuit, the disc j
has formed in its circumference a certain number of recesses, all of the same form
and size but arranged with different intervals, and a leaf spring m, arranged by the
side of the disc, is provided near the middle of its length with a projection m³, which
fits the recesses. In consequence of this arrangement, the spring m will be swung
as the disc rotates, and the free end of the spring will touch a contact screw n every
time the projection m¹ is acted upon by a portion between two recesses of the circum-
ference of the disc). As the contact-screw n is a terminal of the line circuit k, this
circuit will alternately be closed and broken.
In the central station, the electric impulsions thus produced may actuate a relay, which
then closes a local circuit containing the necessary signalling and recording apparatus.
For the sake of more clearness no relay is shown in the drawing, and a Morse
recorder o is directly interposed into the line-circuit. The line in addition to the battery b¹
contains an electro-magnet p, which serves as a relay for a local circuit 9 into which
a call bell is interposed. As soon as the electro-magnet p attracts its armature, the
armature lever p' releases by its hooked end a tilting lever ², and on falling down,
this tilting lever p², which is electrically connected to one end of the circuit 7, comes
into contact with a pin or screw p³ forming the other terminal of the said circuit,
consequently the call bell will begin to ring the moment when the disc j begins
turning and will ring uninterruptedly till the lever is brought into its former
position.
When the disc j has made one revolution, the weight h, which drives to clock
inovement reaches a metallic contact pieces, fixed to the end of a spring, and forces
down this contact piece s so as to cause it to touch the terminals s', s¹ of a shunt a¹ of
the local circuit a. Thus this shunt a will be closed, and the call bell ¹ interpose
into the said shunt will be rung.
The shunt ², containing a switch-key is intended for ascertaining the good
working of the electro-magnet d, clock-movement, disc j and the hell. For this
purpose, the line circuit is first broken by means of the switch key t¹, the shunt a²
is closed by means of the switch key t, and hereafter the heat detectors and
mechanical contact devices c are brought out of circuit, under these conditions,
the apparatus should be actuated on the shunts a² being opened by means of the
switch key t.
In order to admit of a telegraphic or telephonic intercourse between the subscribers
and the employé on duty in the central station, shunts and 2 may branch off from
the line line-circuit k, one of these shunts containing a Morse transmitter u, and
the other, which is provided with a switch key 2, containing a telephonic trans-
mitter v.
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.
First In an electric burglar and fire alarm apparatus, the combination with an
electro-magnet d included in the local circuit of a subscriber's station, of an armature
lever serving as a stop for a clock-movement g of a recessed metallic disc driven by
the clock-movement and electrically connected to the earth; a leaf spring m having a
projections which takes into the recesses of the discj; and a contact screw n,
forming a terminal of the line circuit k and adapted to be touched by the spring m
when this spring is forced sideward in consequence of its projections m² being acted
upon by non-recessed portions of the disc substantially as, and for the purpose,
described.

page_text: Second-In an electric burglar and fire alarm apparatus, the combination with an
electro-magnet d included in the local circuit of a subscriber's station, of a clock
movement g normally locked by the armature-lever and driven by a weight h; a
normally open shunt circuit a, containing an electric call bell and a contact
pieces adapted to be forced down by the weight hand to close the shunt circuit a³,
substantially as, and for the purpose, set forth.
Third In an electric burglar and fire alarm apparatus, the combination with an
electro-magnet interposed into the line-circuit at the central station, of a tilting
lever normally locked by the armature-lever and forming one terminal of a local
circuit containing a call-bell and a screw p³ forming the other terminal of the
circuit and adapted to stop the lever p², when the same is released by the armature
lever, substantially as, and for the purpose, set forth.
9
9.
Dated this 15th day of February 1887.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London,
Agents for the Applicant.