IMPROVEMENTS IN TELEGRAPHING OR COMMUNICATING SIGNALS AT SEA AND OTHERWISE
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Arthur Redl, of 27", Davis Street,
Berkeley Square, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TELEGRAPHING OR COMMUNICATING SIGNALS AT
SEA AND OTHERWISE."
Sealed the 18th January 1858, and dated the 28th October 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Arthur
Red at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 28th October 1852.
I, CHARLES ARTHUR REDL, of 27, Davis St., Berkely Square, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TELEGRAPHING OR COMMUNICATING SIGNALS
AT SEA AND OTHERWISE" to be as follows :-
This Invention consists of employing a system of collapsing cones;
or other formed bodies, the significations depending on the positions of
the cones, and which are not for the time being expanded, and the code
used therewith may be that which is now employed by the Admiralty
or otherwise; and as the cones or bodies cannot be seen at night, it is
necessary to employ lanterns so constructed and worked as to intimate

page_text: when the particular cones or bodies are expanded or contracted, and
this is best accomplished by the use of one or more lanterns, according
to my Invention, having cylinders of different colored glass and shades.
capable of movement by cords or bodies in like manner to the cones
when at the mast head or other support of the concs or bodies and
Jantame
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Arthur Redl in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 28th April 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
CHARLES ARTHUR REDL, of 27, Davies Street, Berkely Square, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Charles Arthur Redl, Iler special licence
that I, the said Charles Arthur Redl, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Arthur Redl, my exccutors,
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
TELEGRAPHING OR COMMUNICATING SIGNALS AT SEA AND OTHERWISE," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Arthur Redl, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Juvention, 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 Charles Arthur Redl, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof (that is to say):
This Invention consists of employing a system of collapsing cones,
or other formed bodies, the significations depending on the positions of
the cones, and which are not for the time being expanded, and the
code used therewith may be that which is now employed by the Admi-
ralty or otherwise; and as the cones or bodies cannot be seen at night,
it is necessary to employ lanterns so constructed and worked as to
intimate when the particular cones or bodies are expanded or contracted,
and this is best accomplished by the use of one or more lanterns,
according to my Invention, having cylinders of different colored glass
and shades capable of movement by cords or bodies in like manner to
the cones when at the mast head or other support of the cones or bodies
and lanterns. Telegraphic communications at sea, and between the sea
and shore, are carried on at present by a combination of flags and balls
by day, and by means of coloured lights at night.
Flags in most favorable circumstances cannot be seen when end
on, and a calm, rain, haze, or a bright sun are great obstacles; the
combination of flags with balls partakes of the former disadvantages,
whilst balls, by themselves, afford only limited combinations on account
of their uniformity of shape.
The present night signals by coloured lights require several lanterns
to be capable of the necessary combinations, and the continual hauling
up and down is a great loss of labor and time; the number of lanterns
employed, the lightness required, and the regard for economy have
reduced the light therein used to the lowest standard of intensity.
There is no substitute in case of atmospheric obstacles or want of
proper signal lanterns, and the signals are at the best uncertain on
account of the different distances to which the different coloured glasses
transmit the lights.
The night signals are totally distinct, and are carried on by a different
system from the day signals. The object of my Invention is to remedy
these defects, and to establish one system of communication which may
be carried on the same under all circumstances.
First, I make communication by day by means of an opaque and

page_text: collapsing body, which remains a fixture during the communication;
the body best adopted to such communications is. a conc, which, when
opened, shows in all directions a triangle. According to circumstances
I construct these cones, a, with elastic springs; b, with..brails;.c..on
the telescope principle; a, elastic cone."
-The hoop ȧ, Figures 1, 2, and 3, is a fixture on the middle of the
rope b; the two smaller hoops.d, and c, Figures 1, and 2, travel up
and down both ends of b; they are connected with a, by a number of
Hodge's patent accumulators f. f. f, Figures 1, 2, and 3.
Thic coats g, Figure 4, of any soft and dark material äre fästened to
c, d, and a; they have a number of sheaths h, Figure 4, for-the recep-
tion of the accumulators..
•
Το go home and to work better on the mast a part of the cone A, B;
Figure 2, is cut out, and the hoop.a, is provided with a roller m, Figure
2, and stays (k, Figure 1); b, the cone. with brails is represented in
Figures 1, and 2. If brails are substituted for elastic spring, c, and d;
have both an "up" and a. "down" haul, and the rope b, in consequence
a double block. The coats have parallel strengthening bands (y, y,
Figures 1 and 2) in lieu of the sheaths; small ropes; brails, (1,1, Figures
1, and 2,) are passed through a number of thimbles or rings fastened to
these bands, and join to each closing haul in such a manner as to gather
üp the coats when shut. c, telescope cones, Figures 5, and 6, may be
constructed when weight is no impediment, and durability and advantage;
they are constructed on: the telescope principle from metal or other
suitable substance; they may be worked either with one haul and their
own weight, or with an up and down haul; and, to add to strength, the
flanges (m, m, Figure 6,) for: collecting the preceding rings may be
formed into-cross-bars....
Second, for night-signals I use a. light of considerable intensity,
which remains stationary during the communication, being..capable of
shewing the different colors at pleasure, and providing, at the same
time, the necessary compensation for the different. powers of trans-
mission.
The change of color, if colored lights are used, is effected by making
colored glass.tubes travel up and down the stationary light within the

page_text: lantern by means of springs or any other mechanical contrivance. These
tubes may either move for themselves one in the other, as in Figure 8,
or together on the top of each other, as shewn in Figure 9. The
colored glass tubes a, and b, Figure 8, travel up and down the tubes
c, and d, and are fastened to the ring k, (Figures 8, and 10,) by means
of the guides I, 1, which move in slides m, (Figure 10). They are
secured with leather or cork or any elastic substance, as shewn in
Figure 10, and are stopped when travelling up by means of the
buffers n, Figures 8, 9, and 10. Thus, by means of two colored glass
tubes the different changes are produced.
The compensation is effected by the compensation string p, Figure 8,
so proportioned that if a, and b, be pulled together they may reduce the
field of light to the proper dimension.
The next stronger light is reduced by a stop in the haul down of its
neighbour.
In Figure 11, the glass tubes are kept in their position by three
metal rods (); four changes may be produced in this lantern by two
colored glass tubes, and one dark shade for the compensation; a third
glass tube of ground glass may be added, and each change provided
with its own down haul.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Arthur Redl, have hero-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of April,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
25 Witness,
B. GOBEY,
CHARLES ARTHUR REDL. (L.S.)
12, Cursitor Street,
Chancery Lane.