IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC BELL APPARATUS
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henry Joseph Kirby Bouchette and
Joseph Aldridge at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th
May 1879.
HENRY JOSEPH KIRBY BOUCHETTE, of Northampton Square, Electrical and
Philosophical Instrument Maker, and JOSEPH ALDRIDGE, of Goswell Road,
Electrical Instrument Maker, both in the County of Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN ELECTRIC BELL APPARATUS."
Our Invention relates to improvements in electric bell apparatus for use in
hotels, offices, private houses, and in any other place where it is desired to provide
a sounding communication between any one portion or portions of a building and
any other portion or portions thereof, or between one building or place and another
building or place. The said Invention is chiefly designed as a means of communi-
cation between various rooms in a house or other building, or between separate
buildings situated at no great distance from each other for the purpose of calling
servants or others, but may also be employed if desirable between places which are
separated by a considerable distance, such for instance as railway stations, to convey
signals by the ringing of the bell.
The said Invention is carried into practice as follows, that is to say: We provide
a block of wood or other suitable material which is preferably made in circular
form and with a flat back to facilitate the fixing of the block upon a wall or other
desirable surface in a room or other place, the block being provided with eyes or
other devices through which nails or screws may pass.
The front part of the said block is cut out to a certain depth, and a cavity is
thus formed within which we place the electro magnet and other parts hereinafter
described, the bell itself being placed over this cavity in such a manner as to
completely cover the same and the parts therein. The ringing of the bell is
effected in the same manner as in ordinary electric bell apparatus, that is to say, by
means of a current operating to cause an armature to which a hammer or clapper
is attached, to vibrate the said hammer or clapper, striking the bell in its vibra-
tions. The manner in which such bells are caused to operate being well known
need not be further described. According to our said Invention we provide upon
the same block, in addition to the aforesaid mechanism, a device whereby another
bell or bells may be caused to ring in another room or rooms in the same circuit, that
is to say, a "push" or stud for completing the circuit is provided on the same block
and so arranged relatively to the wires and other parts that on being pressed it

page_text: disconnects the magnet on its own block so that the circuit is completed without
including this magnet, and consequently the bell on this block does not ring. As
soon as the "push" or stud is released the said magnet is thereby again put in the
circuit ready to receive the current to ring the bell on this block when the circuit
is completed by pressing the stud in another room or place.
A tube, screw-threaded at its upper end, extends from a bridge or other suitable
piece screwed to the floor of the aforesaid cavity, and the upper part of this tube
passes through an aperture in the centre of the bell, a nut being screwed upon this
part of the tube to secure the bell in its place. A rod or spindle passes through the
tube and projects above the upper part of the latter and through the aforesaid
bridge or other piece. To the upper part of this spindle a suitable button or stud
is secured to be operated by the person who wishes to ring a bell situated in
another room, and the lower end of the said spindle is in connection with a spring
attached to the floor of the cavity, and which causes the spindle and stud to return
so as to break the circuit when pressure is removed from the said stud. The said
spring when in its highest or normal position connects the electro-magnet in the
block to which it is fastened with the circuit; but when this spring is depressed, as
hereinbefore explained, the said magnet is disconnected and the circuit is
completed for ringing a distant bell or bells, the line wire being connected to a
point on the floor of the cavity immediately beneath the lower end of the aforesaid
spindle, and the latter coming in contact with that point.
The said blocks, with bell and mechanism as described, are designed to be fixed
in such a position that they will be within reach of the occupant of the room so
that the "push" or stud may be conveniently operated.
In some cases we also provide a device to indicate when the bell has been
rung, so that if the person for whom the signal was intended should happen to be
absent, he may on his return see that his bell has been sounded. This device
consists in a rod attached loosely to an arm or lever which is pivotted near the
armature of the electro-magnet. This lever or arm is provided with a shoulder
which rests upon a piece projecting from one end of the said armature, the said
piece holding the lever in such a position, when the bell is at rest, that the rod
attached thereto is held up, but when the current attracts the armature the piece
projecting therefrom is drawn out of contact with the lever, and the latter drops
by gravity, causing the aforesaid rod also to fall, its end then projecting at such a
distance through an aperture provided for it in the block as to indicate that the
bell has been rung; we prefer to provide a ball or knob on the end of the rod in
order that it may be easily seen.
The upper part of the shoulder on the lever in connection with the armature is
made with an incline so that the indicator may be readily readjusted, which is
effected by the aforesaid rod being pushed up; when this is done the inclined
portion of the shoulder rides easily over the piece projecting from the armature,
and this piece then holds the lever as before until the bell is again rung.
The said indicator may be applied to ordinary electric bells as well as to our
improved apparatus.
It will be obvious that our said Invention provides very simple means for com-
municating between various rooms or places, and for enabling the person to whom
the signal is sent also to send signals himself either to one or a number of rooms.