US295644A - Printing-telegraph - Google Patents

Description

2 SheetsSheet I;

(No Model.)

AC]?! JOHNSON. V PRINTING TELEGRAPH- I $10,295,644. Patented Mar. 25, 1884.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2. A. 1?. JOHNSON.

- PRINTING TELEGRAPH.

(No Model.)

No. 295,644. Patented Mar. 25, 1884;

n. Pain; PIlo Nirnn ALBERT F. JOHNSON, or BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

PRINTING-TELEGRAPH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 295,644, dated March 1884.

ToaZZ whom it. may concern: A

Be it known that I, ALBERT F. JOHNSON, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Printing-Telegraphs; andI hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, 'on two sheets, which form a part of this specification.

This inventionrelates to improvements in automatic printing-telegraphs, and is adapted to be used in connection with a receiving and printing instrument having. a separate mag; net and armature printing-lever for each letter or character-used in sending messages. It is more especially designed to be used in connection with a receiving-instrument for which Letters Patent of the United States No. 268,237 were granted to myself and Frank B. Johnson, as joint inventors, on the 28th of N ovember, 1882; and the main object of my prescut invention is to obviate the necessity for using a multiplicity of line-wires, which are both inconvenient and expensive, and to operate a receiving and printing instrument of the above description by the use of one line- 'wire only. V The invention consists, first, ;in improved means for connecting the several letter keys on the key-board at the sending-station and the several printing-magnets on the receivinginstrument at the receiving-station with one general line-wire, instead of employing a separate line-wire foneach letter; and, secondly, in improved means for equalizing the movements of the mechanisms at the sending-station and receiving-station, so that they shall act in perfect unison; and it further consists in certain novel constructions and combina-= tions of parts, all of which are hereinafter particularly described.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1, Sheet 1, represents a plan view of my improved key-board; Fig. 2, Sheet 1, a sectional elevation of the same, together with the equalizing mechanism above referred to, and a sectional elevation ofthe receiving-instrument;

- Fig. 3, Sheet 2, a diagram showing the electric circuits between the several instruments ing messages-which said magnets have each a lever-armature, b, at the end of which the printing-types c are secured, and also with an inking-ribbon, (Z, and appliances for holding a strip or fillet, 6, upon which the messages are printed, and appliances for feeding forward the said strip to receive the printing. It is also provided with a separate U--magnet, a,

and with a switch, f, the respective purposes of which will presently be described.

Further description of said receiving-in strument is not deemed necessary, as the construction of the same does not form part of my present invention, and said construction is fully described in the Patent No. 268,237, above mentioned. One of such receivers, or a receiver having a separate magnet ,to print each particular letter or character, is connected with the key-board at each station, and is provided with'appliances for throwing it out of circuit when a message is to be sent from the key-board with which it is connected,

and into circuit therewith when a message is to be received and printed.

A is a similar receiving and printing instrument at the sendingstation.

It Will be understood that messages may be received at or sent from either station, and that I designate the one as the sending-sta tion and the other as the receiving-station merely for convenience in describing my invention.

B and B represent my improvedkey-boards, one of which is located. at each station, and both of which are constructed substantially as follows, viz:

i. 9 represents a series of knobs or keys, each representing a particular letter or character.

h is the bedplate, which is made of nonconducting material.

it are metallic plates let into the bed-plate h at regular intervals, one under each key,

with which said plates the metallic stems of the keys 9 respectively make contact when the said knobs are pressed. The keys 9 are fitted on an annular plate, j, above the plate h, the said plates h and 9' being attached to each other by any suitable means, (as by posts b,)-but insulated from each other; and passing up through the center of'the plate h is a spindle, k, upon which is secured, immediately above the plate h, a needle, I, to the outer end,v of which is fitted a small roller, on, (or a spring,ifpreierred,) which makes contact with. the plates 2' successively when the needlel is revolved.

n is a metal plate, the inner end of which is pierced to receive the upper end of the spindle 70, with which it makes metallic contact, and to its outer end the line-wire G is connected.

To the outer end of each of the plates 13 is attached a wire, 0, which connects it with the magnet representing the same letter on the receiving-instrument at the same station. The spindle is, carrying the needle 1, is revolved by a clock-work mechanism, D, which may be of suitable construction and driven by a spring or a weight. The train of gearing is not shown in the drawings, as it is not deemed necessary so to do; but I may state that the last wheel, r, of the train, being the wheel which carries the spindle k and needle Z, is caused to make from two hundred to three hundred revolu'' tions per minute. The plate a is insulated from the plate j, and the upper partof the spindle k, which carries the needle, is insulated from the lower part to prevent the current passing into the clock-work. This insulation of the spindlemay be accomplished by the device shown in Fig. 2, in which 8 is a thimble of rubber or other non-conducting material inserted into the upper end of the lower part of the spindle is, and into this thimble the upper part of the spindle, which carries the needle, is inserted by screw-threads or otherwise, so that the two parts of the spindle will revolve in unison.

In the drawings the clock-work is represented as being immediately underneath the key-board, forming a pedestal for the same, with miter-wheels ttone upon the shaft of the last wheel of the train and the other upon thespindle 7c-to change the motion from vertical to horizontal; but the relative arrangement may be changed, as preferred, by any located immediately underneath the same, so that whenever the said armature-lever v is at tracted by the magnet y the clock -work is set in motion, and when the attraction ceases the said lever is lifted by a spring, 2, secured to a plate, y, attached to the top of the post w, and, coming against the ratchet-tooth it, stops the movement of the clockwork.

An electric circuit is formed betweenthe equalizing mechanisms at the two stations, as will presently be described.

The disk to is made of non-conducting material, and a small metal plate, a, is secured upon its face immediatelybetween the ratchettooth u and the cent-er of the disk, and at each revolution of the disk this 'plate u makes contact simultaneously with two wire arms, 12' and 0 which at their opposite ends are attached to the frame of the clockwork D, (or

other suitable support,) but are insulated therefrom. A ground-wire, 7 havingaswitch, 6, interposed at some convenient'point, is attached to the arm 12, and a wire, 8, connects v with one pole of the magnet y, the other pole of said magnet being connected with the line-wire O by wire 9. One of these inechanisms is connected with the key-board at each station, and both are similarly constructed and arranged, as above described. In the diagram Fig. 3 they are brought out from under their respective key-boards for the purpose of clearly showing the circuits.

O is the line-wire, extending from one station to the other, and attached at each end to the respective plates, n, of the key-boards B and B.

0 0 0 are the wires which connect each key with its corresponding magnet at the same station, the key-board and its accompanying printing-instrument being placed in any convenient position in relation to each other at each station, and each wire 0, connecting one pole of the magnet that prints any particular letter with the plate 2', which is struck by the key representing said letter, and the other pole of each magnet is attached to a copper wire, 0, in the printing-instrument, the ends of which said wire are attached to one section of the switch f. A ground-wire is attached to the other section of said switch.

1 is the ground-wire attached to said sect-i011 of the switch f. 1

2 is a wire connecting the insulated plate j with one section of a switch, 3, the other section of said switch being connected with the ground-wire 1.

The operation is as follows When the switches 6 6 are open, the detent-levers '0 v are engaged with their respective ratchetteeth a a, stopping the clock-works. On closing the switches 6 6 a circuit is formed through the wires 7 7 and 8 8, magnets y y, and line-wire C, so that the detent-levers '0 c are attracted by their magnets y 3 thus releasing the two clock-works and revolving the needles Z Z, and by means of the plates a a and arms 12 o c c are checked at each revolution of the disksu a, which latter are thus made to keep time with each other, and if, from any cause, one of the disks it moves rather more rapidly than the other they will be brought into corresponding-position at the completion of each revolution, as will presently be described. Supposing a message is to be sent from B to B, the switch f on A is opened to cut off the latter from B, and the switches 3 3 and switch f of A are closed. The key-boards B and B and printing-instrument A are thus brought into circuit with each other whenever a key, is depressed, and the needles Z Z touch the plates i 2', corresponding to such key, and whenever one of said keys 9 is depressed to make contact with its correspon ding plate, i, the circuit through the magnets 1 y is broken as soon as the needle Z makescontact with such plate, and the other circuit through the plates n at of B and B, along the line-wire O, and through the printing-magnet of A corresponding to said plate i is closed,

and the letter represented by said plate '5 is thereby printed upon the strip passing through A. The two circuits are thus alternately to cut out the latter, and the switch f of A is closed to bring the latter into circuit.

I do not confine myself to theexact c'onstruction of the mechanism for equalizing the movements of the needles, as above described, as it is obvious that the same may be changed or modified to effect the same results without departing from the principles of my invention.

From the above description it will be understood that the circuit through themagnets 3 y is closed only when the arms 12 c in both mechanisms rest upon their respective plates a", and is broken whenever one of the said plates passes out of contact with its arms 1) c and when broken the springs z cause the detents,

to engage with the ratchetteeth a; and, further, that if the speed of the disks has not been exactly equal, whenever one of them is stopped by its detent v, the other will advance until it comes into a corresponding position. For instance, if the disk a at the sendingstation has traveled a little faster than that at the receiving-station, and itsplate a has made contact with its arms 1) c" before such contact has been made on the instrument at the receiving-station, the circuit through the magnets 31 is broken and the armaturedetents c retracted, and the disk a at the sendingstation will thereby be stopped; but the disk at the receiving-station will, by the force of its clockwork, be carried forward to complete its revolution,

and at. the completion of its revolution its plate a and arms 1/ 12" being then in contact),

sponding position at the completion of each revolution and before another revolution is commenced.

If necessary, any well-known retarding device-such as a fan-wheel or similar retarding device-may be employed to break the force of the concussion between the ratchet-teethu andthe detents c.

What I claim as my invention is v 1. In combination with a telegraph receivinginstrument in which each printing-type is actuated independently of the others, the keyboards B B, the latter located at the receivingstation and the former at the sending-station, and connected with each other bya line wire, 0, the said keyboards being constructed substantially as described, and having needles Z, that rotate synchronously with each other, and each provided with a series of keys, g,

and corresponding circuit-closing plates, z,

(one for each letter or character,) radially arranged, and traversed by a revolving needle,

Z, driven by clock-work mechanism, which closes an electric circuit whenever it makes contact with one of said plates, said key-board B having its plates '5 connected, respectively, with the several printing-magnets which print the letters represented by said plates 2, the whole being arranged, substantially as de scribed, with ground and battery wires forming properly-arranged electric circuits,whereby an electric impulse is transmitted along said line-wire O at each contact of any of the keys 9 with their corresponding plates, 11, at the sending-station to the corresponding plate, 6, at the receivingstation, and from the latter to the corresponding magnet on the printinginstrument to print the,letter, as described.

2. In combination with the key-boards B and B, constructed substantially as described, the equalizing mechanisms connected therewith, one of said mechanisms being located at the sending-station and the other at the receiving-station, and each consisting of the following parts, namely: a revolving disk, at, provided with an insulated plate, a", and a ratchet-tooth, a, the magnet y, the pivoted armature-lever't, forming a detent,,the contact-arms o 0 and the spindle k, carrying the needle I, said mechanisms being provided with ground and battery connections, substantially as described, and being operated in .connection with said key-boards through the medium of electricimpulses sent over the line-wire O, as and for-the purpose set forth.

3. The keyboard B, herein described, com- 5 printing-magnet, an insulated annular plate, j,

posed of the following parts, namely: a series of keys g, each representing aparticular letter, and a corresponding series of insulated contactplates, 2', adapted to be connected each With a carrying a ground-wire, and insulated platen, carrying a line-Wire, and a revolving needle, Z, mounted upon a spindle, 7c, driven by cl0ck- Work and arranged tomake metallic contact with the plates 7;, the Whole being constructed IO substantially as described, to operate/as and for the purpose set forth.

ALBERT F. JOHNSON.

WVitnesses:

J OI-IN S. THORNTON, M. H. TOPPING.

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