AN IMPROVED- ELECTRIC BELL SOUNDING AND TELEGRAPHING APPARATUS FOR DOMESTIO USE
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Gedge, of the Firm of John
Gedge and Son, of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in the County
of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED-
ELECTRIC BELL SOUNDING AND TELEGRAPHING APPARATUS FOR DOMESTIO
USE. A communication from abroad by Léon Victor Jacquemard,
of Caen, France, Banker.
Sealed the 18th June 1869, and dated the 23rd December 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Gedge
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 23rd December 1868.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD GEDGE, of the Firm of John Gedge and. Son,
of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand in the County of Middlesex, Patent
Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED ELECTRIC BELL SOUNDING AND TELEGRAPHING APPARATUS FOR DOMESTIC
USE,"
a communication to me from abroad by Léon Victor Jacquemard,
of Caen, France, Banker, to be as follows;-
The apparatus, the subject of this Invention, may be combined in
various ways while preserving the same distinguishing characteristics.

page_text: First Method.--A wooden box more or less ornamented holds the
pile, composed of a piece of gas retort charcoal dipping in a liquid
coming from a glass vase or reservoir, the lower part of which extends
over the entire breadth of the box, and presents a cavity in which the
coal dips, being immersed in an exciting liquid always maintained at
the same level although used and evaporated by contact with the air
and a temperature more or less warm, this action however taking place
but very slowly, the liquid offering but a very small surface to such
contact being under the same conditions as an ordinary bottle uncorked
'full of liquid and with a narrow neck dipping in a small vase of the
same liquid when reversed between the reservoir and the coal. A zinc
cylinder is superposed on the surface of the exciting liquid in which
its lower end is to be immersed, and thereby constitute an electric
pile acting on a combined bell ringing or alarm sounding apparatus
and indicating board or plate. This pile may remain charged and
sufficiently powerful for use during as many years as may be desired
1, 2, 3, 4, and more, according to the capacity of the vase contained
in the box. The immersion of the lower extremity of the zinc
cylinder is effected by pressing upon a knob communicating with the
upper part of the box, and which rising again by means of a spiral
spring instantly interrupts the current. The zinc is held perpendicular
in a copper tube which permits its being slightly lowered when by
long use it has lost its usual position. This new pile is inodorous and
produces no deleterious action. It may be placed in a bed chamber,
in the most sumptuous drawing room, and form a handsomer article
of furniture than a simple striking knob with metallic contact, which
it advantageously replaces, because this may oxydise and eventually
have no effect even while the pile itself is sufficiently powerful.
Another advantage is, that should the communication be established
at the same moment in several places and act on the striking work,
far from producing a bad effect, it will only sound more energetically
and produce the desired action at the number on the indicator.
pile placed beneath the indicator serves to return all the numbers
exposed. The two wires coming from each apartment both act on
the electro-magnet whatever the direction of the current. If the
communication might by unaccustomed frequency wear out the pile
more rapidly than usual the precaution should be taken to place in
this spot a larger reservoir which would not impede the working of
the apparatus from the other apartments, whereas under the methods
A

page_text: hitherto in use if the pile was no longer sufficiently powerful. or worn
out all communication ceased throughout the establishment.
Second Method. The pile acting separately on the indicator is
furnished at its upper part with a bent electro-magnet in the wire of
which the electric current passes at the moment of transmission. An
armature is acted upon and produces all the vibrations of the hammer
of the bell or alarm. This arrangement constitutes an indicator giving
the certainty that the alarm has been sounded or the bell rung, when
it cannot be heard by reason of distance or other obstacle. A modifi-
cation may also be made in the inner construction of the pile. The
construction of the reservoir first above described is somewhat costly and
the filling it with exciting liquid presents some difficulty. To remedy
this a vase is placed in the length of the box intended to receive a gas
retort coal constantly immersed, the zinc is superposed a fractional
part of an inch above the surface of the exciting liquid into which
it is to be plunged; on the pressure of an outer knob a small screw is
provided to lower the zinc and keep it at a proper distance from the
liquid, the box also containing an ordinary bottle turned upside down
stopped by an ordinary cork and having an opening in the neck by
which the liquid escapes and keeps that in the vase constantly at the
same level. All that is required to keep up the pile without interruption
is, when the liquid in the feed bottle is consumed or evaporated to
replace it by another of the same caliber previously filled or to refill the
sanie one, as may be preferred.
Another modification consists in the suppression of the ordinary
alarm which is an apparatus independent of the indicator and of
combining both in a single apparatus. Straight interior bobbins of
soft iron in communication only by a covered wire passing from
one to the other are substituted in lieu of electro-magnets bent to a
horse-shoe form, the advantage being to cause the vibration of two
armatures opposed to each other and striking with their hammers
at the same moment upon two alarms or bells separate from each
other. The current is interrupted but by one of the armatures and
its spring. The other with its spring is isolated from the current and
comes under the same condition as the first when it approaches the
extremities of the bobbins constituting bent electro-magnets. This
may be proved by holding the right armature aside; the vibration
of the one will increase progressively as the other is brought nearer

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Gedge in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 18th June 1869.
TO ALL: TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD GEDGE, of the Firm of John Gedge and Son, of No. 11,
Wellington Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her
most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Edward Gedge, Her
special licence that I, the said William Edward Gedge, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edward
Gedge, 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 "AN
IMPROVED ELECTRIC BELL SOUNDING AND TELEGRAPHING APPARATUS FOR DOMESTIC
Usx," a communication to me from abroad by Léon Victor Jacquemard,
of Caen, France, Banker, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William Edward Gedge, 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 in which 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 William Edward Gedge, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by

page_text: the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Sheets of Drawing and to the figures and letters of reference marked
thereon;-
The apparatus, the subject of this Invention, may be combined in
various ways while preserving the same distinguishing characteristics.
First. Method. (Sheet I., Figs. 1 and 2.)-A wooden box B, more or
less ornamented, holds the pile composed of a piece of gas retort char-
coal C dipping in a liquid coming from a glass vase or reservoir V, the
lower part of which extends over the entire breadth of the box B, and
presents a cavity in which the coal C dips, being immersed in an exciting
liquid always maintained at the same level although used and evaporated
by contact with the air and a temperature more or less warm; this
action, however, taking place but very slowly, the liquid offering but a
very small surface to such contact being under the same conditions as
an ordinary bottle uncorked, full of liquid and with a narrow neck
dipping in a small vase of the same liquid when reversed between the
reservoir V and the coal C. A zinc cylinder is superposed on the surface
of the exciting liquid in which it lowers and is to be immersed, and
thereby constitute an electric pile acting on a combined bell-ringing or
alarm-sounding apparatus S, and indicating board or plate T, T, T, T.
This pile may remain charged and sufficiently powerful for use during
as many years as may be desired, 1, 2, 3, 4, and more according to the
capacity of the square glass vase V contained in the box B. The
immersion of the lower extremity of the zinc Z is effected by pressing
on a knob X communicating with the upper part of the box B, and
which rising again by means of a spiral spring instantly interrupts the
current. The zinc Z is held perpendicular in a copper tube F, which
permits its being slightly lowered when by long use it has lost its usual
position; this pile in action for 24 hours without interruption with the
striking work S and the indicator, admitting that each apartment rings
twenty times a day, which may be done twenty times in a minute, the pile
being excited by about the 1/10 of a quart of exciting liquid is only used
365 minutes in a year for 20 times a day, equivalent to 7,300 touches,
and as there are more than three times this number in 24 hours would
be equivalent to more than 3 years service. A 1/10th part of a quart
of liquid would be absorbed by contact with the air during this period,
but it is replaced by the reservoir V. It results from this Invention
that the pile may last as many more years as there is liquid in the

page_text: distributor V, an immense advantage over the piles hitherto used, which
would only act for 5, 6, or sometimes 10 months, but with a greater
quantity of couples united in a battery, and representing a large
surface of zinc submitted to the attacks of chemical products during
an entire year to work the telegraph less than 24 hours for each apart-
ment. Further, the resetting and cleaning is repulsive and takes a long
time, when renewal is necessitated by the decomposition of the chemical
products. The loss of these products, and of zinc in this new pile is
very slight. Take, for example, 10 "couples" of sulphate of lead, the
zinc Z dipping in the dissolving liquid has a surface a thousand times
less than this latter, and is exposed to the chemical action but one
minute against 1,440 to obtain the same result. This new pile is
inodorous and produces no deleterious action. It may be placed in a
bed chamber, in the most sumptuous drawing room, and form a hand-
somer article of furniture than a simple striking knob with metallic
contact, which it advantageously replaces, because this may oxydise and
eventually have no effect even while the pile itself is sufficiently
powerful. Another advantage is, that should the communication be
established at the same moment in several places and act on the striking
work, far from producing a bad effect, it will only sound more
energetically and produce the desired action at the number on the
indicator. A pile placed beneath the indicator serves to return all the
numbers exposed, the two wires coming from each apartment, both act
on the electro-magnet E, whatever the direction of the current. R,
branch of the return electro-magnet. I, nut serving to regulate the
equilibrium of the piece P. If the communication might by unac-
customed frequency wear out the pile more rapidly than usual, the pre-
caution should be taken to place in this spot a larger reservoir which
would not impede the working of the apparatus from the other apart-
ments. Whereas, under the methods hitherto in use, if the pile were
no longer sufficiently powerful, or were worn out, all communication
ceased throughout the establishment.
Second Method.-(Sheet I., Figs. 3 and 4). The pile P, P, acting
separately on the indicating board is furnished at its upper part with a
bent electro-magnet E, in the wire of which the electric current passes
at the moment of transmission. An armature is acted upon and pro-
duces all the vibrations of the hammer of the bell or alarm. This
arrangement constitutes an indicator, giving the certainty that the alarm

page_text: has been sounded or the bell rung when it cannot be heard by reason of
distance or other obstacle.
A modification may also be made in the inner construction of the
pile. The construction of reservoir V first above described is somewhat
costly, and the filling it with exciting liquid presents some difficulty;
to remedy this a vase (see I, I, I, I,) is placed in the length of the
box intended to receive a gas retort coal C constantly immersed, the
zinc Z is superposed a fractional part of an inch above the surface of the
exciting liquid into which it is to be plunged on the pressure of an outer
knob X, a small screw is provided to lower the zinc Z and keep it at the
proper distance from the liquid between C and Z. The box also con-
tains an ordinary bottle B, A, turned upside down, stopped by an
ordinary cork, and having an opening in the neck by which liquid
escapes, and keeps that in the vase constantly at the same level. All
that is required to keep up the pile without interruption is, when the
liquid in the feed bottle is consumed or evaporated to replace it by
another of the same caliber previously filled, or to refill the same one, as
may be preferred.
Another modification consists in the suppression of the ordinary
alarm S, which is an apparatus independent of the indicator, and of
combining both in a single apparatus with the indicator T, T, T, T.
Straight interior bobbins A, A, of soft iron in communication only by
a covered wire passing from one to the other are substituted in lieu of
electro-magnets bent to a horse-shoe form, the advantage being to cause
the vibration of two armatures I, I, opposed to each other, and striking
with their hammers M, M, at the same moment upon two alarms or
bells T, T, separate from each other. The current is interrupted but by
one of the armatures I and the spring K, R. The other with its spring
is isolated from the current and comes under the same conditions as the
first when it approaches the extremities of the bobbins constituting bent
electro-magnets. This may be proved by holding the right armature
aside, the vibration of the one will increase progressively as the other is
brought nearer the bobbins. This is an economical arrangement in the
construction of the indicator and the suppression of a bobbin of covered
wire for each needle which served to return the numbers or names
exposed at the moment of the alarm. In this system the return is
effected by bringing the poles of a magnet to the front U; this
manipulation does away with the old contact knobs and the return pile,
the economy obtained being equivalent to the saving of the whole of the

page_text: sounding apparatus placed at the upper part of the indicating table or
board, and consequently the cost price of fitting the apparatus is pro-
portionately lessened. The arrow indicates the direction of the electric
current. P, plate bearing the numbers or indicating words; B, bobbin
acting on the needle E; F, stop piece of the needle; N, pivot of the
needle.
This Invention may be divided into two parts, the first of which has
for object a considerable reduction of the pile (which will henceforth
occupy no more space than the existing knob) together with a great
reduction in the cost of fitting and maintenance, and the second is the
innovation of a simple and ingenious indicator which forms the corollary
of the first.
This new bell sounding pile admits of all the applications of those.
hitherto used, and will be found applicable to many other uses, for alarms
to iron safes and secretaries for example.
Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8 (Sheet II.), illustrate a combined arrange-
ment for 10 apartments, and Figs. 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15
(Sheet II.), illustrate several applications, which will be at once under-
stood by reference thereto; Figs. 16, 17, and 18, detached parts; Fig. 19,
pile; Fig. 20, indicator.
I will confine myself to a description of the simplest apparatus which
forms the basis of the Invention.
This apparatus is composed (see Fig. 19, Sheet II.),—
1°. Of a wooden or metal box enclosing a glass receiver A intended
to contain the exciting liquid, in which constantly plunges a piece of
gas retort coal B, constituting one of the poles of the pile.
2°. Of a rod C placed half in half out of the box, and itself made
in two parts, the upper part being a copper rod, which is lowered
by pressing on the knob at its end, and rises again by means of a spiral
spring, when the pressure is removed; the lower part D attached to the
first by the aid of a screw E is a piece of zinc, which in a state of repose
is slightly above the liquid into which it is to be plunged on the lowering
of the rod, thus making the circuit and constituting the active pile,
which acts on the bell and the indicator corresponding to each
apartment.
It will be seen at a glance that this new arrangement offers the

page_text: 1°. Of being, as previously herein set forth, less costly than other
electrical bell-sounding apparatus.
2º. The simplicity of the generating apparatus permits its being
entrusted to the care of any intelligent person, even a child, for, the
recipient being filled to such a height that there is no contact with the
zinc, it is only requisite according to the frequency with which the
apparatus is used to add a few drops of exciting liquid every three or
four months. When the zinc is slightly worn away it is lowered to the
required height by means of the adjusting screw
As I have just shown this novel apparatus is readily placed in order
and may consequently always be depended upon, whereas a sulphate of
zine pile of 10 elements is composed of 40 pieces, very unpleasant to
clean by reason of the decomposition of the products, and if care is not
taken to stir the zinc in the vases every five or six days it becomes a
compact and adhesive mass which destroys the action. Further this
battery being of a very great size becomes very embarassing as regards
the place which it is to occupy, for if placed in a dry spot this large
surface of liquid evaporates very quickly.
The difference in cost of maintenance compared with that of the
above mentioned is enormous, as by this new system a penny per year
will suffice for each apartment.
As to the consumption of zinc it is almost nil, for example, the surface
of zinc employed under this system for 10 apartments is more than
two thousand times greater than in the 10 elements of sulphate of lead,
and instead of being plunged in the chemical product during 365 day,
like this latter, it is only exposed to this action at the moment of sound-
ing the bell, that is to say, a few seconds per day.
I will now describe the indicator by reference to Fig. 20, Sheet II.
Before entering into the details of construction and application of this
apparatus I would observe that this indicator is formed of as many
apparatuses, placed side by side, as there are numbers required to
correspond with apartments. The interior of this apparatus is composed
of an electro-magnet, one of the branches A (Fig. 20) of which
constitutes a bobbin covered with electric wire. When the electric
current passes this branch acts on the magnetised needle B, and
thereby causes the appearance of the number indicating the apartment
from which the call has sounded. The other branch C of the electro-
magnet is covered with a bobbin of solid boxwood of the same size as

page_text: that covered with wire. The object of this bobbin is, firstly, to stop the
needle when it deviates, and further by its symmetrical position in
relation to the needle to keep it in equilibrium of magnetization. When
the number has appeared it is only requisite to present an artificial
magnet in front of the cypher to cause it to disappear and bring back the
needle to its first position.
The advantage of the indicator, each number of which constitutes an
isolated apparatus, consists in that it is not necessary to order a table
or indicator composed of a precise number of corresponding ciphers. It
is only at the moment of fitting that the indicating table is made by
arranging those of this new system in a series.
If at the end of a certain time it is desirable to increase the numbers,
or to remove part of those already placed to another part of the apart-
ment, this can be done without any irregularity, which is not the case
with the indicators hitherto used. .
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Gedge, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of June,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine
W. E. GEDGE. (L.S.)