US1126641A - Method of electric signaling. - Google Patents

Description

o. KINSLEY; METHOD-0F ELECTRIC SIGNALING.

APPLIOATIOHIILED AUGJZ, 1903. 1 1,126,641. Patented Jan. '26, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

N B F s m'ruwwwa 000 ozrooooo 7 G. KINSLEY. METHOD OF ELECTRIC SIGNALING.

'APPLIOATION FILED AUG. 12, 1903.

I Patented Jan. '26, 1915.

4 sums-sum zj C. KINSLEY.

METHOD OF ELECTRIC SIGNALING. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 12, 1903,

Patented Jan. 26, 1915.

L1QL

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

C. KINSLEY.

METHOD OF ELECTRIC SIGNALING. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 12, 1503.

Patented 52111.26, 19.15.

A SHEETS-SHEET 4.

Ll/VE f LINE cam. KInsLEY, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

METHOD or ELECTRIC SIGNALING.

Speeification'of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 26, 1915.

Original application filed February 2, 1903, Serial No. 141,524. Divided and this application filed August 12,1903. Serial in. 169,228.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CARL KmsLnY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois. have invented a new and useful Method of Electric Signaling, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to electrical signaling and particularly to improvements in the methods commonly employed in telegraphy.

It has. for its object the improvement of high speed transmission, to the end that legible indications or characters may be produced upon a record surface, controlled from a transmitting station at higher rates of speed than have ever heretofore been attainable.

This application is to be taken as a division of my co-pending application for telegraphic system and apparatus, filed Feb. 2, 1903, S. No. 141,524, in which I have described one form of apparatus by which my present invention may be practised, and have indicated some modified forms.

For the purpose of the present application, I have illustrated and shall describe the same system and the same apparatus as in the other application referred to.

In high speed telegraphic transmission as heretofore practised, many difliculties have been discovered and overcome from time to time, but there still remain limitations which appear to be inherent principally in the methods of receiving. Under present conditions it is quite possible to transmit many more characters in a given time than can be properly recorded by the methods in use. Most transmitters employ a perforated tape or its equivalent, and as the contact brushes resting on the tape are short and readily adjusted to any tension desired, practically the only limiting factors are the i line constants and those of the receiver. My

present invention is therefore particularly directed to improved methods of receiving messages. y

Speaking in terms of the apparatus, two types of receivers have been most generally used. These are the mechanical printer and the chemical recorder. Each has its. own

distinctive limitations, which I will point out.

It-has been said by competent authority that no system of this kind wherein mass has to be moved in response to the line impulses, Will ever bring down the cost of telegraph transmission to a point where it will rob the mails. In general this is true. It is quite true of the mechanical printers now in commercial or semi-commercial use. In some of these, alphabetical type levers have to be swung, or levers shifted, through a considerable path to print. Moreover such type bars or levers are controlled by printing magnets which are themselves controlled by line relays. This means that the inertia of all the moving parts of the printer is augmented by the inertia of the relay armatures, as well as by the magnetic reluctance in both printing magnets and relays, the aggregate time loss being of necessity fatal to the receipt of messages at a higher rate than perhaps one hundred words per minute, and perhaps not that. The employment of relays in such cases is almost imperative, in spite of the time loss they entail, because the changes in current on a line of any length are not sharp enough except at very moderate speeds to make clearly differentiated signals, and moreover, in order to cut down the number of impulses to a practicable point polarity is resorted to, and the relays made selective. The other class of receivers, that is the chemical recorders, have faults and limitations almost as serious as the printers. The recording is usually done on a tape, which can be driven under contact pens as rapidly as the transmitting tape, or nearly so. In so driving. it the contact pens usually rest on its sur fl face, and as current passes through them marks are made by chemical decomposition and recomposition. Over short lines, with strong currents, fairly good results can be obtained in this Way, but as soon as longer lines are tried (where in practice the greatest need for such systems exist) trouble hegins. The variations in current at the receiving end, passing at a frequency of 25,000-

or more impulses pcr'minute, are almost smoothed out, so that the action on the tape is slight: As decomposition takes place in the sensitizing'medium, moreover, part of the products of such decomposition adhere to the pen points, and cause a continuous chemical eflect on the tape-under the pens, making lines or tailings that are quite plain. Now, when, the weak increases or changesin the line'current come in, and frecording action .takesplace, the added de -'composition is hardly to be noticed, and in fact at very high speeds the record is hardly legible, the tape soon after starting show- 7 ing continuous white or light lines, with scarcely a variation. At lower speeds, even, this fault makes the record untrustworthy.

Every effort has been made by those interested in chemical telegraphs to eliminate v. the feature of continuous action, with resulting tailings, but so far, without practical success.

-:The ideal commercial system, is that .wherein the message is directly printed in J legible characters, and in such 'shape and on such material that it can be delivered to fltheperson for whom it is intended, without copying or other handling. My invention is intended to accomplish this, which heretofore has been posible only to the class of so-called printing telegraphs, the chemical recorders employinga code.

" found it expedient to combine features of In developing my purpose, and in seeking to] improve the existing methods, I have v the two old methods in such a manner as gmutually reinforce their advantages. 80"

mutually to neutralize their defects and to It may be true that no system wherein masses have to bemoved bodily will ever attain theoretical. freedom from speed limitation, or even attainthe ultimate speed at which instruments we, can gradually raise the resultant-speed until the theoretical limit is approached; but although this has always been apparent, it has not heretofore been possible, for mechanical reasons, to reduce the inertia, which means the number, or the mass, or both, of the receiver parts, beyond a certain point. I have found it possible to l to continue the reduction beyond any limits heretofore reached. To do this I have discarded mechanical printing mechanism,

a whether of the impact type or others, and

while I directly record legible characters, I substitute electrical action for the printing,

,thus borrowing one feature from the chemical methods. As the impression does not I depend on the possession of mass, or the momentum of the printing member, I am en- 1 'abled to employ greatly attenuated masses,

approaching the theoretical limit to which I have referred. Although the electrical v vprinting necessitates contacts and a traveling surface, obviously there will be no tailings, because there is not constant contact. I My invention consists essentially in prmtproposed rate of transmission. This natural period is higher than the free period by reason of the repulsive force caused by the signals and also the reaction of the resilient printing members and the elastic receiving surface.

By making the natural period of my receiver very high, and by attenuating the moving masses, I increase the range of responsiveness widely; and this is an important feature of my invention. Obviously, it v is quite possible to make such parts as pens or levers short enough to have a high period, but such division if possessing considerable mass would be limited to approximately one frequency of transmitted impulses, by reason of their mass; andwhile in some cases this might be desirable, as,

where resonant selectivity is desired, in general it is rather the reverse, as accurate re-' ceiving should not be dependentupon fine adjustments or regulation, which are easily attainable in the laboratory, but diflicult to I maintain in practice.

It is possible,by using small and light masses to cover a wide range of transmission, and to reach a periodicity above anything possible of transmission over lines of today. My method contemplates further increases in speed, however, by the employment of changes in both polarity and current strength, so that the numberof impulses per Word can be reduced? One embodiment of my invention consists magnets are connected to line so-that proper impulses thereover will efl'ect the release and the reattraction of the contacts, causing them to touch and to leave the surface as desired. In some cases the local circuit can be dispensed with, and the contacts and platen included in a branch of the line to derive current therefrom. I have found the local circuit satisfactory, however, as the record is uniform andfstrong. The contacts are usually pens of resilient material attached to the poles of permanent magnets so as to be normally held up in distorted position. Coils on the magnet poles permit the line impulses to vary or reverse the magnetization at will, and the use of polar magnets permits also a selective arrangement whereby a greater number of magnets can.

of a moving chemically-sensitized surface mediate losses.

be controlled over one or two conductors than would otherwise be possible. As the pens are normally held up, the attractive force of the magnets can be nearly balanced against their resilience, so that a Very slight change in the magnetization, due to a correspondingly slight change in line current, will release the pens, which snap down to the surface by their own resilient action, and snap back to the magnet by the reaction as Well as by the attractive force received upon cessation of the line current. The pens are small and light, and as they are acted on directly by the magnets, there are no inter- The action is absolutely certain, because 'the instant a pen starts away from the magnet pole we have a cumulative force acting against a diminishing resistance, with acceleration such that its stroke will surely be made; and to fully insure this I may proportion the parts so that the natural period of the pens in vibration would be approximately the same as the normal frequency of transmission. I have not found this necessary, however, as the results are excellent without it. The frequency of the current impulses is always lower than the period of the pens, as I can increase the period of the pens without trouble, by shortening them. The limit of current frequency is therefore resonance, as stated.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, wherein the same letters of reference point out the same parts throughout, Figure 1 is a diagram of a complete system embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a detail view of parts of the transmitter. Fig. 3 is a similar detail of the paper feed. Fig. 4 shows a section detached from the transmittingtape. Fig. 5 is a side view partly in section, and Fig. 6 is a bottom view showing the recording mechanism. Fig. 7 is a similar view to Fig. 5, showing a modification of the recording magnet structure. Fig. 8 is a diagram of a system employing certain modified arrangements of transmitter and receiver. Figs. 9 and 10 are diagrams showing further modifications. Fig. 11 is a diagram of a telegraph system embodying my invention and cluplexed by the bridge method. Fig. 12 shows an alphabet built up of elements according to my invention.

As before stated, my invention resides particularly in the methods of receiving. I

employ a known type of transmitting mechanism, in which I have made some improvements, however. Referring to Fig. 1, linewires 1 and 2 are employed, leading from the transmitting station T to the receiving station M. In operation, I automatically record the messages in legible characters at the receiving station through the agency of a number of polarized printing magnets, Worked by positive and negative impulses sent over the line- wires 1 and 2 separately or simultaneously. The mechanical arrangement for controlling the transmission of these impulses is indicated in Figs. 2, 3, and i. A paper tape P is taken from reel P and passing over guide rolls 19-29 is led over a platen t and under a set of springs or contact brushes t etc. shown in p an in Fig. 1), thence under another guide or friction roll 79 and to a toothed feednvheel and companion, 72*, 72 The teeth [7 of the feed-wheel turn within an annular recess 72 of, the companion, and engage with a central series of perforations 79 of the paper tape. to prevent slipping. This is best shown in Fig. 4. The brushes it, etc. are permitted to make contact at predetermined times and in predetermined order with the platen 15 1 through perforations punched in. the tape in any suitable manner. As the method of preparing tape in this way is well understood in the art it is unnecessary for me to describe it. All messages are punched in the tape as a preliminary to the tnansmitting operation.

The circuits of the transmitter are best shown in Fig. 1. Here B-B'-B -B are the main transmitting batteries, arranged in pairs with poles reversed to line, and connected to the conductors 1 and 2 by the branch wires 3-5-6. On the other side, battery B is connected to brushes 6 and f by wires 3-30 and 3-31 respectively; battery B is connected to brushes t and t by wires 4-0 and 4-41; battery B is connected to brushes t and platen section t by the wires 5-50 and 5-51 respectively; and battery B is connected to the brush t and the platen section 25 by the wires 6-60 and 6-61 respectively. The platen section 25 is grounded by the wire 18. By this arrangement it is possible to send current impulses of either polarity over either or both line wires and to ground, or over the metallic circuit, as follows: If brush 6 is permitted to touch theplaten t positive current goes to line from battery B; if brush t touches, negative current from battery B goes to line (this being wire 2 in both cases) if brush. t touches, positive current from battery B goes to line wire 1; if brush t touches, negative current from battery B goes to line wire 1; if brush t touches platen section t current flows in the metallic circuit 1-2 with positive pole of combined batteries B'-B to wire 1; if brush t touches platen section 23 current will flow in the metallic circuit from the combined batteries B-B in a reversed direction, 2'. 0. with positive to wire 2. Thus all combinations can be made, and any effect or group of effects produced by the arrangement of holes in the tape to permit corresponding arrangement of the brush contacts.

At the receiving station M I. employ the polarized electromagnets AA'-A A and A", each magnet when operatively affected producing a certain mark constituting an element of a. character, on a re cording surface, and one or more of the marks being imprinted for each letter or figure of a message. The mechanical features of the receiving magnets will be pointed out presently. Their connections are shown in Fig.- 1. A bridge 710 across the line-wires 12 has two parallel branches 8 and 9, containing the coils of the. receiving magnets A and A respecti ely. A ground connection from wire 1 by way of wires 14: and 17 7 contains arallel branches 15 and 16 with the coils 0 receiving magnets A and A while a similar ground connection from wire 2 by way of wires 11 and 17 contains parallel branches 12 and 13, with the coils of receiving magnets A and ,A The ma nets A A are all polarized, 01"l3l181! coils wound so that current of one signsay positive-will operatethem; while mag-v nets A'-A and A are oppositely polarized or wound. Thus current of one direction in the metallic circuit will operate one magnet A or A but not the other; while the re verse current will oppositely affect the pair. Similarly any of the other magnets may be made to operate or not,"one unit of each pair being available at the same time by sending current of proper. directionover the appropriate circuit.

Turning now to Figs. 5,6, and 7, I Wlll describe the structural features of .the receiver. In Fig. 5 the form of magnet ordinarily employed in my work is shown. A horseshoe permanent magnet A is provided with soft iron pole pieces a and a, the former carrying a coil a and having a projecting pole face a, while the latter carries a spring member a of magnetic material, such for instance as a steel watch-spring, this spring being rigidly attached to the pole a, and extending over in front of the pole face a b which it is normally attracted to comp etc the magnetic circuit. In attaching the watch-spring to the pole piece a I take care that the natural bent is away from the pole face a, so that when attracted thereby the spring will be distorted from its natural 'shape and will be under tension.

Fig. 6 shows a bottom View of the complete set of receiving magnets, ofwhich only one unit is shown in Fig. 5. The springs are arranged with their outer ends separated radially from a common point, and their inner ends nested so that the character that needs all the elements or several of them may be struck at one blow if desired. -At the end of each spring a type face or printing tip or attachment a is secured. This may be of the same material as the spring, but sometimes I find it necessary to use a .difierent metal, which may be aluminum,

although not necessarily,

platinum, or what not, according to the solution used on the recording surface, as will presently appear. In Fig. 6' these tips or attachments are clearl seen, forming three horizontal lines on t e left, and two short vertical'and an inclined line on the right, all in black and heavy lines in the drawing, to be clear, although in practice they are light and thin. The overlying coils a a a a a -a are shown in dotted lines so as to avoid confusion.

he spring-a is prevented from stlckmg to the pole face a by means of' an interposed non-magnetic stop, which may be a copper pin slightly projecting from the pole face,

or an electrolyticdeposit of copper, or the 7 ju'stable on the pole iece a, so that its ten- The simplest way of sion may be regulate doing this is shown in Fig. 5, where thee'nd of the sp'ringrests on a curved face and is The recording surface upon which the pens a make. their imprints, is preferably,

over a platen in the same manner as the transmitting tape shown in Fig. 2, the feedwheel having no teeth'however. I do not limit myself to this form of recording surface, as I may use a cylindrical surface fed along longitudinally as it revolves under the pens, so as to produce a spiral record. .I find the paper tape the most generally satis factory, howeve The tape (which may obviously be of any suitable material) is indicated in Fig. 5 directly below the printing magnet, passing over a platen a of conducting material. This tape is chemically sensitized with any one of the several solutions commonly employed for that purpose. Such a solution is ferrocyanid of potassium, mixed with ammonium nitrate to insure moisture of the tape. With this solution the printing tip or attachment a should be of iron, the spring and tip being connected by wire 19 with the positive pole of a printin battery b, and the platen a by a wire 20 with the negative pole. Several other solutions can be used, the material of the tip bein necessarily varied with the solution, as wel understood by those'who have used such apparatus.

The operation of the printin magnets can now be understood. When t ere is no current in the line the springs a are all held attracted and under tension by the perma-' a paper tape fed held thereon at any desired angle by a fiat binder and a pair of adjusting screws.

upon such contact there will be an instantaneous flow of current from the battery I) through the circuit 1920 and through the pen, the tape, and the platen. The eifeet of the momentary impulse ceasing, the spring 01 is again attracted, leaving its imprint chemically produced on the tape.

The tape P, during the operatlon of the apparatus, is constantly fed along under the pens. Owing to the small mass and high naturalperiod of vibration of each pen. the duration of impact of the pen on the tape is exceedingly short, so short, in fact, that even though the tape has a comparatively high speed of travel, its movement during the impact is inappreciable. Thus, there is no tendency to produce tailings, nor any distortion of the imprints of the type faces.

The impulses are so timed by the perforations in the transmitting tape that each pen is caused to make its imprint at just the proper time to give it the desired horizontal spacing in the line of print. In this manner, is not only the spacing between letters and other characters secured, but, also, the horizontal spacing between the various elemental marks of which any character is built up. This means that the times of nm pact of the various elemental type faces are so coiirdinated with respect to the speed of the receiving surface as to build up complete characters by combinations of the successive imprints.

It is to be noted that I do not in any sense tune my resilient printing pens so that their natural rate of vibration coincides with the rate at which the operating impulses occur. This latter rate is a variable between wide limits. It is not important or generally desirable to attempt to tune the pen to the rate at which the impulses are sent. but it is important that each pen shall have such a high natural rate of vibration that when it is released by its electromagnet it will snap down against the paper and rebound into the control of the magnet before the next impulse of the same character comes. In other words, the natural period of vibration of the printing elements should be at least as short, and preferably shorter, than the shortest interval between impulses of the same character. By maintaining this simple relation between the natural rate of vibration of the pen and the shortest of the intervals between impulses that would operate the pen, I prevent confusion and false signals. This method assuresthe pen being always brought back into the control of its magnet before its next operating impulse arrives. Its time of release is thus rendered always perfectly definite as controlled by the prepared transmitting tape.

If required, I can make the natural period of the pens practically identical with respond instantly to any weakening in the magnetic force, that holds them, and by adjusting them ,until their retractile force is just over-balancedby the magnetic force, a very narrow working margin of current can be relied upon to act with certainty, this being of great importance where the instruments are to be worked over long lines.

In Fig. 7 a modification of the printing magnet is shown, in which the pen and one pole of the magnet are above the tape 2, and the other pole with the coil a are below the tape. In this case the apparatus works by attraction, the spring being adjusted barely to resist the attractive force of the pole-face a, so that a slight strengthening thereof will snap it down on the tape. I] am here able to work on a narrow margin, :1 so.

In Fig. 8 I show the same transmitting apparatus as in Fig. 1, but with generators in the shape of dynamo machines instead of batteries. The generator G has its poles connected through wires 3 and 4 to the pens J and t while generator G is connected to the pens t t, with side connections to the other pens and platen sections as in Fig. 1. Across the terminals of the generator G is bridged a non-inductive resistance R, to the middle point of which line wire 1 is connected. This resistance can be made of any magnitude desired, to regulate the voltage on the line. W'hatever brushes are in circuit, it will be found upon tracing out the connections that one half of this resistance will always be in circuit with the generator. Thus, if brush t touch platen t and all the others remain insulated, the circuit will be from groundby wire 18 to the platen, by brush t and wire 4 to, the generator G, to the upper end of the resistance R, down to its middle point, and so to line. The circuits of the other brushes may be similarly traced.

Resistance R bridges the generator terminal G, and has its middle point connected to line wire The functions are the same as in the case of resistance R. The use of these resistances, and their character, enables sparking at the transmitting brushes tobe practicallv eliminated.

At the receiving station in Fig.8, Ihave shown the magnet coils of A A connected magnets at the receiving station, permitting 4 thisway, too, an additional selective prinrespond, but those ciple being available, more than the six magnets shown can be employed. Thus, in Fig. 10 a system is'shown employing eight the use of eightinstead' of six elements for printing. Moreover, since the selective use of strength as well as polaritg is depended upon, it is not necessary to ivide the impulses between two or three circuits, and consequently one wire only is shown. In this figure the platen t is common to all the transmitting brushes, and is grounded by the wire 18. The generator G has its terminals bridged, by the resistance R-R', from the middle point of which the line wire is led off, at g. The springs'tflt, t, t, t, v t andt are connected to the points 1, r, 80

1 ,7 9', 1'20" and 1", respectively, on the coil R R. If now the spring t be permitted to touch the platen 25 9, a current of strength -4 will be sent to line by the following circuit: ground, wire 18, platen 29 sprin 25, wire 3, generator G, wire 4, resistance point 9 and to line. If spring t be allowed to touch the laten -a current of strength 3 will go to line, the circuit being from ground to p aten, to spring at, to point r, to point 1, to generator, and through-resistance R to line. The succeeding springs, when touching,- send decreasing portions of positive current to line in their order, until the point 9 is reached, when the springs' t, 45

t, t and t" send increasing strengths of. negative current to line, the circuit of spring t, forexample, being as follows: ground to platen, tospringt, to point 1", to point r, to generator, to point 1' to point 9, and to line. By'touching the proper spring to the platen, therefore, any one of four current strengths, of either direction, can be sent to line, and any of the receiving magnets operated.-

It will be observed that for each increase in current strength not only will the particular magnet responding to that strength elow it which are of the proper polarity. This makes it possible to group the characters and letters so that-several magnets can be worked and several elements printed to form a complete letter by a single'impulse. This increases the speed of transmission considerably. Where the characters are such that the single wire gives an insuflicient number of combinations, two wires may be employed as in the other figures. I consider this an important part of my invention.

Fig. 11 shows a series arrangement of the receiving magnets similar to that in Fig. 10, but duplexed by the bridge method. This is intended to show the flexibility of the system. It readily lends itself to any of the ordinary methods of duplexing or even of quadruplexing which it is unnecessary to describe here. In Fig. 11,-the transmitting station is equipped with the strength and polarity transmitter shown in Fig. 10, and the same series arrangement of receiving magnets. At each terminal station the receiving magnets are included between points 1 and 2, connected through resistances R, R or R R to the transmitter; and to line on one side, 1, and ground through a condenser C on the other, 2. The points 1 and 2 are ofequal potential for outgoing or home electromotive forces and currents, but the receiv ng magnets of course respond to the incoming impulses the same as in Fi 10. Two line-wires may be used and eac duplexed in the same way.

Fig. 9 shows mly system equipped with transformers for t e receiving station, and I have found that the impulses I use in transmission will produce excellent results through such media. Inasmuch as the impulses are momentary, the secondary discharges are sufiicient for the purpose of detaching the receiving springs from the magnet faces, and the latter immediately resume their normal condition, with less lag, per haps, than when directly in the line circuit. As shown, the transmitting station is fitted with the form of transmitter described in connection with Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, while the receivers are all in parallel branches of separate local circuits connected to the secondaries of the transformers X, Y, Z, the primaries of which are across the line, and from the two sides of line to ground. The strength and polarity combination can also be efiected with transformers without difliculty, although I have not deemed ,it neces sary to illustrate it.

I have thus fully and explicitly described one form of apparatus, with several circuit arrangements, in which my present invention may be embodied and by means of which it may be practised. It will be ap-' parent, however, that the method'which I here set forth may be practised-by means. of widely difierent apparatus and circuits from those shown. Thus, the speed of any telegraph receiver, and in fact of any signal receiver, may be raised by mechanically tuning its moving mechanical parts so that I and in order to extend this both ways it 1s expedient to have the periodicity of the parts considerably above that of the current 15. the feed of the record surface is momenmean:

. moving masses light, and this is of great importance practically, for it avoids the necessity of any close regulation in transmitting. Variations of a quite considerable percentagedo not affect the receiving according to my method. The pens or levers will have a considerable range of responsive delicacy,

changes.

In most printingtelegraphs in use to-day tarily checked during the printing act when impact occurs between the printing member or type and the record member, Which is usually a paper tape.

per minute are caused to take place, a stop page of the feed mechanism or even the checking of the rapidly moving tape for each character printed would be an abso-. lute impossibility. vThe inertia of the moving parts and the physical laws bearing on the same would forbid any such operation ,except at low speeds.

According to my method I do not check the tape nor the feeding mechanism. On

the contrary I strive to make the movement of mytape as rapid, as smooth, and as regular as possible. Of course, the higher the speed of transmission and the greater the number of characters rinted per second, the greater the speed of the tape must be;

but by employing the methods I have setforth and which I am about to claim, .it is a very noteworthy fact that this speed of the tape-feed can be varied between wide limits without affecting the legibility of the message. The reasons for this permissible variation in speed of tape feed are as follows: The time of impact of the pens against-the receiving tape is so very short that even at the highest tape feeds no distortion of the printed mark occurs, due 'to tape movement during impact.

Furthermore, since the letters or other complete characters are formed by combinations of the various elemental imprints, it follows that variation of the receiving tape speed without'varying the rate at which the'immake narrower the received "pulses are being sent will merely widen or characters. Thus, for illustration, I will assume-that a certain definite time is required to transmit the letter M. If during this time the receiving tape moves, say ths of an inch, the letter M will appear of that width. If,

however, the tape moves slower, say, only -},th of an inch during that time, then-the letter M' will appear only vi th of an inch wide. Variations in tape feed, therefore,

Obviously, in high. speed work, where thousands of impacts whatever fol-m it may take.

while they do. alter somewhat the general appearance of the received, characters, do not alter their legibility unless they are extreme. The attenuation of the receiving pensprevents their being limited in responsiveness 'to a single frequency, and the method of printing by electric contact with a chemically sensitized surface enables me to disregard time ih that connection, as the printing act seems to be accomplished instantaneously.

. I believe I am the first to discover that the theoretical limit of speed in printing recorders, or'mechanical recorders of any kind, can be approached by tuning the moving parts of-the receiver to the same as or a higher periodicity than that of the line im-v pulses or changes; I am the first to present a practicable scheme for the adjustment of line frequencies, and instrument constants, such that not only will the instrument respond to every change in the current with facility, but the progression of the record can be made continuous, no time of impact of appreciable length being required and therefore no retardation in the machine, These things are not only important to high speed operation, they are vital. I print a legible record, and so far as my work has gone I am able to print at the highest frequencies permissible, of transmission.

In my companion application, to which reference is made herein, I have claimed the apparatus embodying the principles I have here presented. In the present case I have endeavored to present a broader statement than is possible in termsof the apparatus.

I wish it to be understood that the. terms of definition I use herein are intended to be and the period or periodicity of the receiving parts such as the printing levers, are Well understood, being measured in units. of change, per unit of time. In the following claims I shall make use of a similar standard for expressing the third element or the relation between the feed of the recording surface or the record members of the receiver, and the actuating or printing members thereof. Thus, for a tape, this may be expressed as the units of passage (or change) per unit ofv time, meaning by unit of passage the space of one character in the feed; for other types of recording machines, the units of recording movement collateral ments which respond directly to the current changes, may be taken per unit of time.

"or incident to the initial controlling movesetting mec refer to in terms of its period, measured in.

units of progression per unit of time. By this means I=-am enabled to express the gist of my invention in briefer and clearer terms than would otherwise be the case. The underlying idea is independent of any mechanism, but embraces all mechanism by means of which impulses at a high speed of transmission are to be recorded or rendered intelligible. Stripped of all non-essentials it may be stated as follows: To record successfully high frequency current chan es, the parts controlled, which directly trans ate the electrical changes into mechanical motion, must have a natural period of the same order as that of the transmitted impulses, and preferably higher; the working parts of the recording mechanism must progress steadily, having a period of their own, without interruption or interference due to the line im ulses or controlling arts; and finally t e controlling parts, orming the link between line impulses, and recording members, must cooperate with the latter, whatever be the function performed, for a time so brief in comparison to the unit of progression as to have no disturbing effect on the record or the recording members. In this specification and in my claims I make use of the expression high speed as applied to my method. While I do not care'to confine myself to any particular frequency, or to frequencies of any given order, I wish to make it plain that there is a wide distinction between the speeds I use and those of the ordinary printing telegraphs, the latter being below. 100 per minute, and

my speeds ranging from several hundred to a thousand or more words per minute. This distinction is well recognized in the art,-

callin for different classes of apparatus and d fferent methods.

It isto be understood that by the use of the word F alphabet is meant all of the letters therein and all of the numerals.

In the following claims I shall use cer-.

tain expressions which may be thus defined: By potential driving force I mean a force present and due to potential energy stored up in each one of the group of rin't fjiingagencies or pens. As described, the potential ener y is stored up by distorting a; spring, wh1c is a fixed part of eachpf said a agencies, along a path ds, when the potential energy may be expressed by the equation '1 E.=frds.

F is the force of the spring which may vary at each point in the path, and is called the potential driving force. The distortion,

of this. spring is produced by a force exerted in an opposite direction to F which can be continuously sustained, and which I may refer to as a balancing holding force,

F0. The energy used in obtaining the potential energy stored up in eachof the printing agencies is derived from a local source and need not be transmitted over. the lines. To render the potential energy in each agency available to drive the same through a printing cycle, as I shall specify in the claims, I cause an electrical impulse transmitted over the telegraph lines to momenexpended in driving the printing member down and back, through its printing cycle. The energy necessarily transmitted from the telegraph line for this method of operation may be far less than that needed by any other system which has ever been proposed before to my knowledge. In other systems the energy transmitted by the current impulse acts directly on the printing members oron intermediate parts, such as relays, with a low speed of operation and greater difliculty than by my method.

thus described my invention,

Havin what I caim is:

l. The method of printing telegraphic sig nals transmitted at high speed which consists inthe following steps: (-1) 'applyin a potential driving force to each one o a group of printing agencies, and maintaining the same normally inactlve by a balancmg holding force continuously sustained in opposition to said driving force; (2) transmitting in predetermined order, a succession of single impulses of individually differin character, the effective part of each I impu se being of shorter duration than one? complete cycle of operation of'one of the said.,;;lprinting agencies; (3)"causing each of sand impulses, accordlng to its character, to

selectively and directly affect "one of said printing agencies so asto instantly Junbalance the-Jsame by weakening""'the holding""'" force during the persistence'of the impulse nly, 11nd,"; thereby 4 releasing thejpoten tial driving force applied to the selected 7 printing agency and causing the same to'.

produce a characteristic .mark on a record surface having suitable feed movement, all of the printing agencies being operated-in the same order as the order in whichtheimpulses are transmitted.

2. The method of printing telegraphic'signals transmitted at high speed which consists in the, following steps: (1) applying a potential driving force to each-one of a group of printing agencies, and maintaining the same normally inactive by a balancing holding force continuously sustained in opposition to said driving force; (2) transmitting in pre determined order a succession of.single impulses of individually differing character, the effective part or operative period of each impulse being oflshorter duration than one complete cycleof operation of one of the said printing agencies, the period of the cycle of operation aforesaid being not greater than the shortest period betweenthe effective parts of two successive impulses;

(3) causing each of said impulses, according to its character, to selectively and directly affect one of said printing agencies so as to instantly unbalance the same by weakening the holding force during the persistence of the impulse only, and, thereby, (4) releasing the potential driving force applied to the selected printing agency and causing the same toproduce a characteristic mark on a-record surface having suitable feed movement, all of the printing agencies being operated in the same order as the order in which the impulses are transmitted.

3. The method of printing telegraphic signals transmitted at high speed which consists in normally maintaining applied to each of agroup of printing agencies, a potential driving force adapted to drive the same through a printing cycle, retaining said agencies normally inactive by a holding force sustained in opposition to said driving force, transmitting selectively to said agencies electrical controlling impulses, and translating said impulses into controlling forces in opposition to said holding forces whereby the holding forces are reduced below their effective limit and the driving forces become active to drive the agencies through the printing cycles in the order of their selection. 1

4:. The method of printing telegraphic signals, which consists in transmitting to a group of printing agencies having independently determined individual periods of operation, controlling impulses varying in character and adapted to selectively affect the agencies to cause the successive operation of those necessary to print the characters desired, effecting operation of the printing agencies in unison with the transmission of the controlling impulses, but deeration, con-trolling impulses varying in character and adapted to selectively affect the agencies to cause the successive opera tion of those necessary to print the characters desired, effecting operation of the printingagencies through the direct influence of said'impulsesand in unison with the transmission thereof but determining the periods of duration of the indvidual impulses independently of the individual periods of operation of said agencies, and so that each agency when actuated may individually complete its cycle' of operation without further control.

\ .6. The. method of printing telegraphic signals which consists in magnetically re- -taining a group of printing elements under tension sufiicient to 'dri-ve'them through a printing cycle, transmittingto said group of printing elements controlling electrical impulses varying in character, translating said impulses into magnetic forces in opposltion to the magnetic retaining forces acting on said group, whereby the printing elements are selectively and variably released and carried under their tension successively through the printing cycle, and limiting the duration of said electrical controlling impulses to a period not greater than the period of said printing cycle whereby at the close of the printing cycle the elements are again magnetically retained under tension.

7. The method of' printing telegraphic signals which consists in potentially applying to each of a group of printing agencies a tension adapted to vibrate the same individually through a printing cycle, magnetically retaining said agencies against vibration, transmitting to said agencies electrical controlling impulses varying in character according to the signals it is desired to print and thereby selectively releasing said printing agencies, and predetermining themaximum period between successive controlling impulses so that it is greater than the natural period of vibration of the printing agencies.

8. The method of printing telegraphic signals which consists in retaining the individual elements of a group of printing agencies, under a tension sufficient to vibrate the same through a printing cycle, by permanently active magnetomotive forces differing in intensity and" polarity, transmit- ILG permanent'magnetomotive forces with translated magnetomotive forces of equal value and opposite polarity, whereby the former are individually, partly or wholly neutralized and the agencies selectively released to print the desired signals.

9. The method of transmitting and receiving telegraphic signals at high speed which consists in the following steps: 1) transmitting a periodic current over the line, and producing predetermined changes in the individual current waves or impulses corresponding to the signal desired to be transmitted; (2) causing an electromagnetically controlled printing device to respond 2 directly to said current changes, said printing device being proportioned and adjusted to have a natural period of vibration of, the

same order as that of the line impulses, and so that the time required for a complete cycle of operation of the printing device in prmting a character will be greater than the.

duration of the eifective part of the line impulse which produces such action, but less than the time interval between the beginning ofsuch eflective impulse or part of an impulseand the beginning of the effective CARL KINSLEY.

Witnesses:

CHAS. O. Pnocron, GERALD T. PARKER.

Copies of this-patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addresslng the "Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. G."

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