IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC TELE- GRAPES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Highton, M.A., of Putney, in the County
of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC TELE-
GRAPES."
Sealed the 10th. October 1872, and dated the 10th May 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Highton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th May 1872.
I, HENRY HIGHTON, M.A., of Putney, in the County of Surrey, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS," to be as follows :—
This Invention has for its object improvements in electric telegraphs.
For this purpose a gold or silver leaf, deflected by a current of electricity
passing through it when placed in a magnetic field, is caused to complete
by its motion a secondary circuit, so as to work a recording or other
instrument or a relay. This may be done by making the gold or silver
leaf when deflected to the right or left come into contact with one or
more metallic studs in such a way as to complete the circuit of a
secondary battery.

page_text: Precautions in some cases must be taken to prevent the injurious
effects of a spark by inserting in the secondary circuit a shunt of such a
character as to diminish or prevent the spark. This shunt may consist
of a length of fine wire or a pair of plates immersed in water.
In some cases it may be found necessary to make the first gold leaf 5
complete a secondary circuit with a stouter gold or silver leaf, which
would not be so liable to suffer from a spark, and then make this
secondary circuit work a tertiary circuit with a Morse or electric bell or
other instrument.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 1
filed by the said Henry Highton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 9th November 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
HIGHTON, M.A., of Putney, in the County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her :
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-fifth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Henry Highton, Her special license that I, the
said Henry Highton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Henry Highton, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry Highton, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Highton, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:—
This Invention has for its object improvements in electric telegraphs.
For this purpose a gold or silver leaf, deflected by a current of electricity
passing through it when placed in a magnetic field, is caused to complete
by its motion a secondary circuit, so as to work a recording or other
instrument, or a relay. This may be done by making the gold or silver
leaf when deflected to the right or left come in contact with one or more
metallic studs in such a way as to complete the circuit of a secondary
battery.
Precautions in some cases must be taken to prevent the injurious
effect of a spark by inserting in the secondary circuit a shunt of such a
character as to diminish or prevent the spark. This shunt may consist
of a length of fine wire or a pair of plates immersed in water.
In some cases it may be found necessary to make the first gold leaf
complete a secondary circuit with a stouter gold or silver leaf, which
would not be so liable to suffer from a spark, and then make this
secondary circuit work a tertiary circuit with a Morse or electric bell or
other instrument.
hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a front view, and Figure 2 is a side view of a relay instru-
ment. a is the metallic foot of the instrument; it supports a box 6 of
ebonite or other insulating material, glazed at the front and back. The
upper part c of the instrument is also of metal, and through it the
sliding metal rod d passes. To the lower end of this rod, within the
box 6 the gold leaf e is attached, and the lower end of the gold leaf is
fixed to a metallic peg f in the bottom of the box, and which is in
metallic connection with the foot of the instrument. By means of the
sliding rod d the gold leaf can be adjusted to hang with the amount of
slackness required to allow it sufficient freedom of motion. 7 and k are
binding screws, by which the instrument is coupled with the telegraphic
line wire and with the earth. A magnet, not shewn in the Drawing, is
placed with its two poles in close proximity to the glass at the front and

page_text: back of the instrument, and about midway of the length of the gold leaf.
When a current passes in the line wire it deflects the gold leaf to one
side or the other, according as the current is positive or negative; on
both sides of the gold leaf are adjustable metallic points, and the gold
leaf in coming in contact with these points completes a secondary circuit, {
in which, if desired, the current may be positive and negative in
accordance with the currents which pass in the line wire.
Figure 3 is a diagram shewing the connections; or the connections
may, as is obvious, be so made that the current in the secondary circuit
shall always be in the same direction.
]
If an electro-magnet be included in the secondary circuit it will be
necessary to take precautions, as already mentioned, to prevent a spark
passing to the gold leaf in making and breaking contact, but it is better
to avoid the use of electro-magnets in the secondary circuit and use a
needle suspended in a coil to make contacts for a tertiary circuit, in 1
which a Morse or other electro-magnetic instrument may be included.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that I
claim, the construction of a relay telegraph instrument, substantially as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Highton, have hereunto set
my band and scal, this Eighth day of November, in the year of
2