IMPROVED MEANS OF AND APPARATUS FOR PREPARING, TRANSMITTING, AND RECEIVING TELEGRAPHIC DESPATCHES
Year: 1872

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Edward William Jennings at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 31st October 1872.-A communication from abroad by Daniel
Craig, of New York, in the United States of America.
I, EDWARD WILLIAM JENNINGS, of Portland Place, in the County
of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVED MEANS OF AND APPARATUS FOR PREPARING, TRANSMITTING, AND
RECEIVING TELEGRAPHIC DESPATCHES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to means of and apparatus for preparing,
transmitting, and receiving telegraphic despatches at a great speed over
telegraph wires, by using direct and simple machinery in which the
ordinary clockwork and electro-magnets are dispensed with, the record-
ing being effected upon chemical paper (in motion) by pens caused to
traverse the paper at right angles.
The mechanical transmission of signals is established by electrical
contact given by perforations in paper and of duration, according to the
shape of the perforations; the duration of contact at the place of
transmission is recorded by the receiver in Morse code in lines across a

page_text: sheet of chemically prepared paper by electrical decomposition, the
decomposition appearing in long and short dashes of discolouration
corresponding to the long or short contact given by the large or small
perforations in the paper.
−(1), the
Three separate apparatus are employed in this Invention:-
perforator by which groups of holes are punched in the paper; (2), the
transmitter or contact brush which causes contact through the per-
forations in the paper; and (3), the line and page recorder which records
the message.
The perforator consists of a hammer-pierced with holes containing
spring punches, and having a guiding groove in which the tape paper
passes in front of the edges of the punches; the hammer is so
arranged that when the operator presses down a handle a lever brings
forward the hammer and strikes it against an anvil, the punches are
thereby driven against the paper and cause perforations. The anvil is
semicircular and is attached to one end of a rod that works on a
pivot, the other end of the rod is furnished with a handle and moves
immediately under another semicircle on which are the letters of the
alphabet. When the operator carries the handle around the semicircle
opposite to any letter, the anvil also moves around its semicircular face
to the hammer, and the anvil being pierced with holes some of the
punches escape, being driven back on to the paper. According to the
position of the handle to. the letters so is the position of the face of the
anvil to the hammer.
The face of the anvil is so indented that when a letter which in the
Morse code requires a long dash to express it.is pointed to by the handle,
the anvil when struck by the hammer drives back a large punch and
two small ones. When a short dash is required a single small punch is
driven back. In every case whether the letter required to be perforated
be a combination of or a single dot or dash, one blow of the hammer.
forms the whole letter, which is an important feature in this apparatus.
Under the semicircular alphabet before referred to is a piece of metal
having serrations or channels cut in it of different lengths,, according to,
the length of the letter in the Morse alphabet. The handle travels
around between the alphabet and this piece of metal, and when the
operator carries round the handle to the letter he wishes, to have
perforated, he presses down the handle; this causes a lever to drive the

page_text: hammer against the anvil; on raising the handle some small teeth catch
the paper tape and draw it forward a short distance; a blank space is left
where the punches are not operated upon; a modification of the above is
as follows: Instead of the head of the hammer striking an indented
anvil it strikes iron rods which are raised to meet it by the operator
pressing keys similar to piano keys on which the letters are written.
In this machine the force which drives the hammer against the rods is
a wheel driven by a treadle and the foot of the operator, the wheel
striking a bar in its rotation; this variation of the instrument makes it
more expensive but very rapid.
The transmitter is a block of non-conducting material in which is a
channel to allow the paper to pass; a brass wire brush arranged on
springs and connected with the wires presses gently on a brass plate
also connected with the wires; the paper is introduced between the
brass plate and brush, and breaks the circuit by means of wheels and a
handle; the paper is guided along the channel, and as it passes over the
brass plate the wire brush enters into the perforations and causes
contact with the brass plate.
The recorder is composed of a frame of non-conducting material in
which are set two rollers of plated metal which press gently together;
a roll of damp chemically prepared paper is attached to the plated
rollers, and when they turn, the paper is drawn over one roller between
and under the other; a handle which the operator turns when he wishes to
record a message drives an axle on which is a cog wheel; this cog wheel
causes a wheel to turn an endless brass band to which are attached three
metallic spring pens so arranged that one pen is always passing across
the sheet of paper that is traversing the first plated roller; the plated
roller is turned by the same axle that causes the pens to revolve, except
that the movement is altered by an endless screw.
Either of the three instruments before referred to can be used
separately, and in many cases one or even two of them can be employed
in combination with the instruments of known telegraphic apparatus.