A NEW AND IMPROVED METHOD OF TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION BY AN HYDRAULIC OR PNEUMATIC APPARATUS
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Charles Douglas Norton and
James Grieve Lyle at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 24th September 1875.
We, CHARLES DOUGLAS NORTON, of No. 17, Arthur Road, Stoke
Newington, in the County of Middlesex, and JAMES GRIEVE LYLE, of
No. 57, Bishopsgate Street, within the Oity of London, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for“ A NEW AND IMPROVED METHOD
OF TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION BY AN HYDRAULIC OR PNEUMATIC APPARATUS,"
to be as follows:—
We make a metal pipe, which we charge with air or liquid, and which
pipe we lay in the ground, fix on hooks, or in any other manner we
may think fit; and into the end of pipe we insert a small pump or
plunger with neck arrangements and valves for pressure. At one end
of pipe we make a small lever attached to a piston, and by the trans-
mission of air or liquid by pressure, as above stated, the needle or
indicating point will move to the desired extent on a dial or other
suitable surface placed at the required distance.
Our Invention further consists of making two double-acting cylin-
drical pumps fitted and arranged with stuffing boxes, plungers, or

page_text: pistons, and india-rubber or cap leather fittings at the bottom end of
each or both; into the cylinders we insert a pipe or pipes with screw
couplings, cap linings, and connections. We place the two pumps on a
horizontal plane in a vertical position, well screwed and bolted down at
any distance apart, and exactly parallel with cach other. Across and to
the upper end of each cylinder we make a beam and lever combined in
the shape of the letter T inverted, the top of the letter to form the beam,
and the other part to form the lever. Across the two cylinders and
pistons we fix the beam on a central bearing with bolt or pin. The
extending points of beam are connected with the plungers of each pump
by a slot, pivot, or other means. The pumps, which we make according
to the manner described above, we afterwards designate an instrument.
By the forward and backward movement of the lever belonging to the
instrument the pressure will be alternately transferred from one pump
to the other, the result being a constant displacement of the air or
liquids which we use in the pipes already mentioned, thereby indicating
at the required distance, as from A to B, and from B to A, by a sign or
signs shown by the rising or falling of the hand or needle attached to
pistons or plungers, and which indicating hands or needles we place
in front of a dial, tablet, or any other suitable surface, which we fix or
place close to the instrument; by this means the person operating will
be able to read any words, letters, figures, or marks shown either alpha-
betically, numerically, or otherwise.
To each instrument we attach two pipes leading to the required
distance, at which extreme end the needle will indicate the same marks
or signs as those shown in front of the senders, so that receiver and
sender of message or communication will have the same marks or signs,
each shown as above described.
Our Invention also consists of the following additional arrangements:-
We make a bell or gong connected with a ratchet, cog, or crank; to
this we fix the lever, piston, or plunger (or to other parts of said
instrument suitable for our purpose), and on the slightest pressure being
given at either end of long or short distances the bell or gong will ring
or sound, one, two, or three times, as desired, which will call attention
to the instrument for those in attendance to receive the communication.
Our Invention further consists as follows:-We make a vertical cylinder
with pipe fixed in bottom; the open or upper end of pipe we make

page_text: project above the top of said cylinder, into which we put an inverted
cylinder with an air-tight cavity at top to receive end of fixed pipe.
We put liquid in the outer or largest cylinder and charge the smallest
or inner cylinder with air, there being a corresponding arrangement at
the required distance; the two small cylinders will float and balance
each other at whatever distance they may be placed from each other,
and to facilitate and regulate the pressure of air given by the balancing
lever of the instrument, as already described, and to prevent any over
pressure we make a valve connected with a tap attached to upper part
of air chambers of small cylinders.
We claim the above means of communication as being applicable to
use on railways between stations, signal boxes, between towns and cities,
and for all other purposes for which electricity is now used.