An Improved System or Method, and Means to be Used in Connection therewith, of Receiving and Automatically Recording Articulated Speech and other Sounds TransmittedVISIONAL SPECIFIC.
Year: 1884

page_text: An Improved System or Method, and Means to be Used in
Connection therewith, of Receiving and Automatically
Recording Articulated Speech and other Sounds Transmitted
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
I, WILLIAM EDWIN IRISH, of Electric Works, Sunderland, in the County of
Durham, Electrician, % Day, Davies & Hunt, Patent Agents, 321, High Holborn,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED SYSTEM OR METHOD AND MEANS TO BE USED IN CONNECTION
THEREWITH OF RECEIVING AND AUTOMATICALLY RECORDING ARTICULATED SPEECH
AND OTHER SOUNDS TRANSMITTED TELEGRAPHICALLY, TELEPHONICALLY OR OTHER-
WISE BY THE AID OF ELECTRICITY" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to an improved system or method and to means to bo
used in connection therewith of receiving and automatically recording articulated
speech and other sounds transmitted telegraphically, telephonically or otherwise by
the aid of electricity, and such improved method consists in automatically tran-
scribing and recording in true (but not arbitrary) sound signs or characters which
may be read off as phonetic signs the sound signals electrically transmitted and
received, and by means of which improved system or method the very considerable
advantage is attained of a permanent and if required an indelible record for
purposes of reference, confirmation or otherwise of the articulated speech and
other sounds transmitted and received as aforesaid.
It is not material to the Invention that the improved system or method should
be carried into effect in any particular way, or by the aid of any particular means
or arrangements of means, as its principle of operation may be carried into
practical effect in various ways, for example, the characters automatically formed
by the means employed may be produced in ink, or in any suitable marking fluid
or coloring or discoloring or bleaching fluid or matter and either in a temporary or
in a permanent or indelible manner, or by the perforation or discoloration
electrically or otherwise or other marking of the means employed (and which may
be very various in their nature) for receiving the automatic record in truc sound
igns of the sounds transmitted and recorded, and also the means employed may
ary in their nature, and would depend upon and vary with the means employed

page_text: of recording the sounds received, that is, whether by the aid of ink, marking fluid,
electric sparks, or other marking means used as aforesaid, and the sound signs
recorded would be true and always similar in the same or like instruments, but
are not arbitrary as representing any particular sounds, because they would vary
with different constructions of instruments.
In order that the principle of the Invention may be fully understood, I have
hereinafter described, by way of example, the application of advantageous arrange-
ments of means of carrying the improved system into effect when using (say) ink
or marking fluid supplied from a compressible reservoir as the marking agent, but
I wish it to be particularly understood that the present Invention has more ]
particular reference to the said improved system or method, than to any particular
-means of carrying such system or method into practical operation, and which, as
aforesaid, may vary.
This application comprises various substantially equivalent arrangements of
fixed and suspended permanent or electromagnets, and bobbins, or equivalent 1
means, which are combined with a compressible reservoir of ink or marking fluid,
and with flexibly suspended means (automatically operated by such magnets or
equivalent means in accordance with the influence of the various sounds electrically
transmitted and received by them) of transferring the ink or marking fluid and
thereby recording-in-phonetic signs or characters the varying motions of such
magnets or equivalent-means onto a moving sheet-of-paper or its equivalent so
that such recorded movements may be clearly and at-any-time_read_off_in_the-
manner in which ordinary shorthand is read off.
Even this particular application of the Invention may be carried into practical
operation by various combinations and arrangements of such parts, or of their
respective equivalents, and-I-have-hereinafter described some of such arrangements
which are of considerable advantage in their application-and-are-substantially
similar in their method of operation.
In-one-modification thereof a permanent magnet (or it may be an electromagnet)
preferably of horse shoe shape is rigidly fixed-in-any convenient position and
manuer, and within the magnetic field of this magnet, a bobbin of wire, preferably-
having an iron or steel core (though it need not necessarily have such core) is
suspended, by a flexible tube, and two insulated wires which are wound around it
spirally and in opposite directions. These wires act also as tension regulators and
as conductors for conveying the electricity to the suspended bobbin. The flexible
tube is connected at one end to a compressible reservoir containing ink or other
suitable marking fluid, and at the other end to a marking instrument or writer
which may consist of a small glass or other suitable cylinder or tube formed with
a finely tapering end, and which is fixed to the bottom of and moves with the
suspended bobbin just above or in front of an evenly moving tape, paper, or like
or suitable means of receiving the record, and through which writer the ink or
marking fluid is forced from the reservoir onto the paper only when the apparatus
is in action. The suspended bobbin is or may be surrounded by a damper consisting
of an india rubber or other flexible tube or of equivalent means held in the hollow
of a fixed ring, and this damper controls the action of the bobbin preventing
oscillations and motions thereof other than those desired to be communicated
thereto.
When putting the apparatus into action, a weight, spring, or equivalent means,
is automatically or otherwise caused to bear upon and depress the reservoir and to
force the marking fluid therefrom through the writer in a continuous fine
stream on to the paper, (which, as aforesaid, is caused by clockwork or other
suitable means to pass in regular movement in front of and a short distance below
or from the marking end of the writer or its equivalent) in such a manner as to
form a permanent or indelible record of the movements of the suspended bobbin
in characters entirely dependent upon and accurately in accordance with the sounds
electrically transmitted and received, and which therefore form a code of true
sound signs, not arbitrary, as aforesaid, but peculiar to and dependent upon the

page_text: particular form or construction of instruments used, and identical in instruments
of like construction, and which may therefore be visually read off by anyone
acquainted with the code, and preserved for future reference as confirmation of an
order received, or otherwise.
Pressure is only required to be exerted upon the compressible reservoir during
the time it is required that the ink or marking fluid should flow from the writer,
that is during the transmission of the verbal or other sound communication
electrically transmitted, and it is also only required that the paper or other means
employed to receive the said record of the sounds received should be moved or
actuated during the same time. The pressure upon the reservoir may be brought
into operation, and removed, and the clockwork or other means operating the paper
may also be set in operation, and stopped, as desired, previously to and on
completion of the message, or automatically or otherwise. But by a convenient
method the sender when calling the distant station to which he wishes to transmit
the message, may, by the same act, and at the same time, send an electric impulse
which brings into play at the receiving station an electromagnet, which either
releases a spring or catch, thereby causing pressure to be brought to bear on the
reservoir, or cause the armature of the electromagnet to act directly upon it, and
this signal may also be employed for releasing the clockwork which propels the
paper; and a reverse signal sent from the transmitting station at the termination
of the message may be caused to both indicate such termination, and also to
remove the pressure from the reservoir thereby stopping the flow of ink, and to
arrest the motion of the clockwork operating the paper.
In a somewhat similar modification of this arrangement, the horse shoe magnot
(or clectromagnet) may have an iron ring fixed on its poles, this ring being
surrounded by a bobbin of insulated wire, centrally whereof at a short distance
above it is suspended by means of the said flexible tube and two insulating
connecting wires herein before mentioned, a small horse shoe magnet or piece of iron
around the poles of which is a bobbin of wire, and which may (but need not
necessarily be) enclosed within an iron ring. The writer, is, as aforesaid, attached
to the said flexible tube which passes through the top of the suspended_horse
shoc magnet and its bobbin which latter may be surrounded by a buffer as
previously described. Signals transmitted through the latter bobbin cause it to
move correspondingly as desired, and the writer with its flowing ink to describe
characters as aforesaid on the moving paper.
According to another modification, the said fixed permanent or electromagnet is
made of a tubular or hollow formation having a bobbin of wire fixed at its lower
end, and, as in the former modifications, this magnet is held rigidly in any
convenient manner or position, and the flexible tubo, which, as aforesaid, connects
the reservoir of ink to the writer in front of which the paper is caused to travel,
passes through the said tubular magnet, immediately below which the writer is
securely fixed in the centre and to the underside of a very flexible diaphragm
which is held around its edges by a fixed support with its centre near to the pole
of the magnet possessing the said bobbin. Or by forming both the said tube and
the diaphragm of a less flexible formation, the diaphragm need not be held around
its edges. The said diaphragın may be of thin sheet iron, or of other suitable flexible
inaterial having a piece of iron secured about its centre. Signals received through
the said bobbin cause alterations in the attractive power of the fixed hollow iron
rod or magnet and affect the diaphragm correspondingly as desired, the method
and means of recording the movements of the diaphragm being as in the arrange-
ment previously described.
In the preceding and following modifications, the said flexible tube and wires
may be replaced by a flexible wire or wires, and the ink be supplied to the writer
or ejecting tube by other means than those already mentioned.
As an example, an iron rod or magnet having a helical slot is suspended by a
flexible wire at one end, and surrounded by a solenoid in which it is free to
vibrate, from the other end of the said rod or magnet there is suspended a wire
.

page_text: which terminates in a holder for supporting the writer which is supplied with ink
by a flexible tube separate from the said supporting wire.
In a further modification substantially similar to those hereinbefore described,
the top of the said tubular suspended writer has attached to it at right angles an
electromagnet having its poles turned upwards, and above this magnet and suitably
supported in a fixed position is a magnet or electromagnet having one of its poles
near the middle of the suspended magnet or electromagnet.
As an example of the manner hereinbefore referred to in which the said
characters or signs are produced electrically, I would mention that in any of the
preceding modifications, and in others, if the said writer or its equivalent is made
of suitable metal instead of of glass, as aforesaid, electrical sparks may be caused
to pass from the point thereof so as to perforate or discolor chemically or properly
prepared paper passing beneath or before it and so as to produce thereon the
desired characters or signs, truly representing the word signs electrically received,
and this result may be obtained by means of an induction coil and circuit
interrupter or similar means applied to the instrument in connection with the
metallic writer thereof and with a metal plate or other conductor lying under the
moving paper beneath or in front of the said writer.
It is obvious that the improvements herein described may also be adapted
for recording telegraph and other electric signals transmitted mechanically or
otherwise

page_text: An Improved System or Method, and Means to be Used in
Connection therewith, of Receiving and Automatically
Recording Articulated Speech and other Sounds Transmitted
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
I, WILLIAM EDWIN IRISHI, of Electric Works, Sunderland, in the County of
Durham, Electrician, % Day, Davies and Hunt, Patent Agents, 321, High
Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of my
Invention for "AN IMPROVED SYSTEM OR METHOD, AND MEANS TO BE USED IN
CONNECTION THEREWITH, OF RECEIVING AND AUTOMATICALLY RECORDING ARTI-
CULATED SPEECII AND OTHER SOUNDS TRANSMITTED TELEGRAPHICALLY, TELE-
PHONICALLY OR OTHERWISE BY THE AID OF ELECTRICITY," 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 an improved system or method, and to means to be
used in connection therewith, of receiving and automatically recording articulated
speech and other sounds transmitted telegraphically, telephonically or otherwise by the
aid of electricity; and such improved method consists essentially in automatically
transcribing and recording in true (but not arbitrary) sound signs or characters
which may be read off as phonetic signs, the sound signals electrically transmitted
and received, and by means of which improved system or method the very
considerable advantage is attained of a permanent and if required an indelible
record for purposes of reference or confirmation or otherwise of the articulated
speech and other sounds transmitted and received as aforesaid.
It is not material to the Invention that the improved system or method should
be carried into effect in any one particular way, or by the aid of any particular
means, or arrangements of ineans, as its principle of operation may be carried into
practical effect in various ways, for example, the characters automatically formed
by the means employed may be produced in ink, or in any suitable marking fluid
or coloring or discoloring or bleaching fluid or matter, and either in a temporary
or in a permanent or indelible manner or by the perforation or discoloration
electrically or otherwise or other marking of the means employed (and which also
may be very various in their nature) for receiving the automatic record in true
sound signs of the words transmitted and received; and further the means employed
may vary in their nature, and would also depend upon and vary with the means
employed of recording the sounds received, that is, whether by the aid of ink,
marking fluid, electric sparks, or other marking means used as aforesaid, and the
sound signs recorded would be true and always similar in the same or like
instruments, but are not arbitrary as respectively always representing any
particular sounds, because they would vary with different constructions of
instruments.

page_text: hereinafter described by way of example the application of advantageous arrange-
ments of means of carrying the improved system into effect when using, say, ink
or marking fluid, supplied from a compressible reservoir as the marking agent, but
I wish it to be particularly understood that the present Invention has moro
particular reference to the said improved system or method than to any particular
means of carrying such system or method into practical operation, and which, as
aforesaid, may vary.
This said application comprises various substantially equivalent arrangements of
fixed and suspended permanent or electro-magnets, and bobbins, or equivalent
means, which are combined with a compressible reservoir of ink or marking fluid,
and with flexibly suspended means (automatically operated by such magnets or
equivalent means in accordance with the influence of the various sounds electrically
transmitted and received by them) of transferring the ink or marking fluid and
thereby recording in phonetic signs or characters the varying motions of such
magnets or equivalent means on to a moving sheet of paper or other suitable
means for receiving the record, so that such recorded movements may be clearly
and at any time read off in the manner in which ordinary shorthand is read off.
Even this particular application of the Invention may be carried into practical
operation by various combinations and arrangements of such parts, or of their
-respective equivalents, and I-have-hereinafter described some of such arrangements
which are of considerable advantage-in-their application and aro-substantially
similar in their method of operation.
These modifications are illustrated on the accompanying drawings in Figs; 1,
to, 8, which will be hereinafter more particularly referred to.
In-the modification represented in Figs; 1, and, 2, which respectively represent
an elevation, and plan view, a permanent magnet, 1, (or it may be an electro-
magnet) preferably-of- horse shoe shape, is rigidly fixed in any convenient position-
and manner, and within the magnetic field of this magnet, a bobbin 2, of wire,
preferably having an iron-or-steel_coro, 3, (though it need not necessarily have
such core) is suspended by a flexible tube, 4, and two insulated-wires,-5,-6, which
are wound around it spirally and in opposite directions. These wires act also as
tension regulators and as conductors for conveying the electricity to the suspended
bobbin, 2. The flexible tube, 4, is connected at one end to a compressible
reservoir, 7, containing ink or other suitable marking fluid, and at the other end to
a marking instrument, style, or writer, 8, which may consist of a small glass or
other suitable cylinder or tube formed with a finely tapering end, and which is
fixed to the bottom of and moves with the suspended bobbin, 2, just above or in
front of an evenly moving tape, paper, or like or suitable means, 9, of receiving the
record, and through which writer the ink or marking fluid is forced from the
reservoir onto the paper only when the apparatus is in action. The suspended
bobbin is or may be surrounded by a damper consisting of an india-rubber or other
flexible tube, 10, or of equivalent means held in the hollow of a fixed ring, 11, and
this damper controls the action of the bobbin, preventing any needless excess of
movement and oscillations and motions thereof other than those desired to be
communicated thereto.
When putting the apparatus into action, a weight, spring or equivalent means, 12,
is automatically or otherwise caused to bear upon and depress the reservoir, 7, and
to force the marking fluid therefrom through the writer, 8, in a continuous fine
stream on to the paper, 9, (which, as aforesaid, is caused by clockwork or other
suitable means to pass in regular movement in front of and a short distance below
or from the marking end of the writer or its equivalent) in such a manner as to
form a permanent or indelible record of the movements of the suspended bobbin
in characters entirely dependent upon and accurately in accordance with the
sounds electrically transmitted and received, and which therefore form a code of
truo sound signs, not arbitrary, as aforesaid, but peculiar to and dependent upon
the particular form or construction of instuments used, and identical in instruments

page_text: of like construction, and which may therefore be visually read off by anyone
acquainted with the code, and preserved for future reference as confirmation of any
order received.
Pressure is only required to be exerted upon the compressible reservoir during
the time it is required that the ink or marking fluid should flow from the writer,
that is during the transmission of the verbal or other sound communication
electrically transmitted; and it is also only required that the paper or other means
employed to receive the said record of the sound received should be moved or
actuated during the same time. The pressure upon the reservoir may be brought into
operation, and removed, and the clockwork or other means operating the paper
may also be set in operation, and stopped as desired, previously to and on
completion of the message, by the receiver of the message, or automatically, or
otherwise. But by a convenient method, the sender when calling the distant
station to which he wishes to transmit the message, may by the same act, and at
the same time, send an electric impulse, which would bring into play at the
receiving station an electro-magnet, which would release a spring or catch, and
thereby cause pressure to be brought to bear on the reservoir, or would cause the
armature of the electro-magnet to act directly upon it, and this signal may also bo
employed for releasing the clockwork which propels the paper; and a reverse
signal sent from the transmitting station at the termination of the message may be
caused to both indicato such terinination and also to remove the pressure from the
reservoir, thereby stopping the flow of ink, and to arrest the motion of the clock-
work operating the paper.
In a somewhat similar modification of this arrangement illustrated in Figs.
3, and, 4, which are similar views to Figs; 1, and 2, the horse shoe magnet, (or
electro magnet), 1, is represented as having an iron ring, 13, fixed on its poles, and
this ring is surrounded by a bobbin, 14, of insulated wire, and in the centro
thereof at a short distance abovo it, is suspended, by means of the said flexiblo
tube, 4, and two insulating connecting wires, 5, 6. herein before mentioned, a small
horse shoe magnet or piece of iron, 15, around the poles of which is a bobbin, 16,
of wire, and which may (but need not necessarily) be enclosed within an iron
ring, 17. The writer, 8, is, as aforesaid, attached to the flexible tube, 4, which
passes through the top of the suspended horse shoe magnet, 15, and its bobbin, 10,
which latter may be surrounded by a buffer (10) as previously described. Signals
transmitted through the latter bobbin, 16, cause it to move correspondingly as
desired, and the writer, 8, with its flowing ink to describe characters as aforesaid
on the moving paper, 9.
According to the modification illustrated in the sectional elevation Fig; 5, tho
said fixed permanent or electro-magnet, 1, is made of a tubular or hollow formation,
having a bobbin, 14, of wire fixed at its lower end, and as in the former modifica-
tions, this magnet is held rigidly in any convenient manner or position, and the
flexible tube, 4, which as aforesaid connects the reservoir, 7, of ink to the writer, 8,
in front of which the paper, 9, is caused to travel, passes through the said tubular
magnet, immediately below which the writer is securely fixed in the centre and
to the underside of a very flexible diaphragm, 18, which is held around its edges
by a fixed support, 19, with its centre adjacent to the pole of the magnet possessing
the said bobbin. Or by forming both the tubes, 4, and the diaphragm, 18, of a
less flexible formation, the diaphragm need not be held around its edges. The
diaphragm, 18, may be of thin sheet iron, or of other suitable flexible material
having a pieco of iron secured about its centre. Signals received through the said
bobbin, 14, cause alterations in the attractive power of the fixed hollow iron rod
or magnet, 1, and affect the diaphragm correspondingly as desired; the method
and means of recording the movements of the diaphragm being like those in the
arrangements herein beforo described.
In the preceding and following modifications, the flexible tube, 4, and wires, 5, 6,
may be replaced by a flexible wire or wires, and the ink be supplied to the writer
or ejecting tube, 8, by other means than those already mentioned.

page_text: As an example, in Fig; 6, which also represents a sectional elevation, an iron
rod or magnet, 20, having a helical slot, 21, is suspended by a flexible wire, 22, at
one end, and surrounded by a solenoid, 23, (the wire of which may be wound as
shown, or lengthways,) and in which it is free to vibrate; from the other end of the
rod or magnet, 20, there is suspended a wire, 24, which terminates in a holder, 25,
for supporting the writer, 8. which is supplied with ink by a flexible tube, 4,
separate from the said supporting wire, 22.
In a further modification substantially similar to those herein before described,
and illustrated in Figs; 7, and, 8, which are respectively an elevation, and plan
view, the top of the said tubular suspended writer, 8, has attached to it at right
angles an electro-magnet, 15*, baving its poles turned upwards, and above this
magnet and suitably supported in a fixed position is a magnet or electro-
magnet, 1, having one of its poles near the middle of the suspended magnet or
electromagnet, 15*.
As an example of the manner hereinbefore referred to in which the said
characters or signs are or may be produced electrically, I would mention that in
any of the preceding modifications, and in others, if the said writer is made of
suitable metal instead of of glass, as aforesaid, electric sparks may be caused to
pass from the point thereof so as to perforate or discolor chemically or properly
-prepared paper passing beneath or before it, and so as to produce thereon the
desired-characters or signs, truly-representing the sound signs electrically received,
and this result may be obtained-by-means of an induction-coil_and_circuit
interrupter (vide Fig; 5,) or similar means applied to the instrument-in.connection
with the metallic writer, 8, thereof, and with a metal plate or other conductor, 26,
lying under the moving paper beneath or in front of the said writer.
It is obvious that the improvements herein described may also be equally well
adapted for recording telegraph and-other-electric signals caused otherwise than by
the agency of sound. -
Having-now-particularly described and ascertained the nature-of-my said
Invention, and in what manner thio same-is-to-be performed, I declare that what
I claim, is
1. The herein before described improved system or method of receiving and
automatically recording articulated speech and other sounds transmitted tele-
graphically, telephonically or otherwise by the aid of electricity; such improved
method consisting in automatically transcribing and recording the sound signals
electrically transmitted and received, in true (but not arbitrary) sound signs which
may be read off as phonetic signs, on or in means which will permit of such record
being kept for future reference.
2. The combination with and use in means to be employed in carrying such
improved method into practical effect, of a flexibly suspended writer, style, or
marking instrument or equivalent means automatically operated by the signals
received, and by the movements of which writer the record is automatically effected
in sound signs, which may be read off as aforesaid, on or in any suitable ineans of
receiving it.
3. The combination in such means with such a freely suspended writer or its 4
equivalent, of a compressible reservoir or equivalent means containing ink or other
suitable marking fluid, or of other suitable means in communication or connection
with such writer for marking or delineating the movements thereof in corresponding
sound signs which may be read off as aforesaid, in a permanent or indelible manner
on a moving sheet of paper or other equivalent or suitable means of receiving i
such record suitably operated, and thus obtaining a record which may be rend
off as aforesaid at any time for purposes of reference or confirmation or otherwise
of the articulated speech or other sounds transmitted and received as aforesaid.
4. The use in combination with such means of fixed and suspended permanent
or electro-magnets and bobbins or equivalent means operating substantially as
herein before described, for receiving the said sound signals, and correspondingly

page_text: operating the said writer or recording instrument, the motions of which are
delineated and recorded as aforesaid, when such parts or their respective equivalents
are combined and arranged to co-operate substantially as herein before described.
5. The several herein before described substantially equivalent particular arrange-
ments and combinations of such parts for effecting such purpose, as hercinbefore
respectively described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
DAY, DAVIES & HUNT,
321, High Holborn, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.