US59148A - Improvement in telegraphic signals - Google Patents

Description

JONES 61 HEDGES,

Telegraphic Transmitter.

No. 59,148. Patented Oct. 23, 1866.

N. PEIERS. Pholoilkhugnphur. Washington. D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT BUCKINGHAM, ENGLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN TELEGRAPHIG SlGNALE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 59,14S, dated October 23, 1806.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, RALPH A. J owns and Josnrl-r HEDGES, both of Aylesbury, in the county ofBuekingham, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Communicating Intelligence by Means ofElectricity; and we do hereby declare that the following is a fulhclear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure 1 represents a plan or top view of our tablet. Fig. 2 is a similar view of a modification thereof. Fig. 3 is a sectional side elevation of the electric style which we use in oper' ating on the tablet.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts.

This invention relates to certain improvements in the alphabet employedin telegraphiug messages used in connection with the Morse apparatus, as will be hereinafter more fully described.

A tablet is formed by inserting in wood or other nonconducting material certain pieces of brass or other metal or conductors of any desired or convenient form, which are connected with an electric battery or other source of electricity in such a manner that by passing or drawing over them a pen or style of suitable construction the electric circuit is alternately opened and closed and the required signs are produced.

These pieces of brass or other conducting material may be made of such a size and relative dimensions that the length of contact will show at the receiving-station on the pre pared paper or othersubstance dots and dashes similar to the Morse alphabet. These are not new, however, and I make no claim therefor. In addition to the dot and dash composing the Morse alphabet, a still longer stroke is employed, so that three symbols will be used instead of two, and by means of this longer stroke the Morse alphabet may be shortened, and affixes, prefixes, and arbitraries may be greatly increased, thereby diminishing the time required to send a message.

T represents our tablet, which may be made of wood or other non-conducting material.

In this tablet are inserted pieces of brass or other metal colored yellow and marked I) b. The lengths of such pieces of brass are proportional to the length of the dots and dashes which form the characters of the Morse alphabet. Thus we form the letter b, which is represented in the Morse alphabet by a dash followed by three dots, by a long piece of brass followed by three short pieces. Each piece of metal is insulated by being inlaid in the tablet, which, as before stated, is of non-couducting material, and separated from the following piece of brass or metal by an intermediate piece of insulating material, (marked 2' t and colored gray.) In the case of vowels, and in order to distinguish them more readily, which would facilitate the transmission of messages, we color the intermediate pieces of insulating material in these letters with some prominent eolor-such, for instance, as red. Thus in the vowel 0, which is represented by three dashes, the intermediate insulating portions (marked B) may be colored red or any other convenient and readily-distingnishcd color.

The pieces I) b, of brass orother metal, may be all either metallically connected with each other and with one pole of the battery, where a Rain or other instrument employing one current is used, or the long pieces, represent; ing the dashes, may be connected with one pole of the battery, and the short pieces, representing the dots, with the other pole, when instruments are used where two currents can be employed-as, for instance, Morses or double-needle instruments. \Vhcre two currents are employed a divided battery would be used.

In addition to the dot and dash used in the Morse alphabet, we employ a longer stroke, which will be made of a piece of brass or metal of a greater length than that regresenting the ordinary dash. This will be understood by referring to that part of the tablet where the word and or the prefixes enter, inter, intw,are represented bya symbol composed of a short piece of brass or metal, 0, and a second piece, (1, longer than that representing the dash, as seen in the letters of the alphabet. By the introduction of this long stroke the Morse alphabet may be remodeled and shortened and the number of arbitraries increased, whereby greater rapidity may be obtained in transmitting a message. In the same manner as the portions of the insulating material between the pieces of metal in the vowels are colored red,the corresponding portions in the arbitraries may be colored in any other desirable color, such as green, or they may be colored like the spaces in the vowels.

A modification of our tablet is shown in Fig. 2, where O and Z are pieces of brass or other conducting material inlaid in the tablet T, which is to be made of some non-conducting material. The pieces 0 and Z are connected with the opposite poles of a divided battery, whereby two currents may be employed, and by tapping or touching them with a metallic point or with a inake-and-break pen, in accordance with the Morse alphabet as now used, or with our improved form of letters, in which i three symbols are used, a message may be sent between distant stations. One piece of metal, 0, may be used for the dashes and long strokes and the other for the dots.

Fig. 3 represents the make-and-break pen or style S, which we use in transmitting a message by means of our tablet. It is made of any convenient material, such as wood or metal, and is formed hollow. Through the center thereof runs a wire, 1), which connects at one end with a fork, n, that forms the bearing for aroller, q, and the opposite end of said wire terminates in a cup, which may be filled with mercury or other good conductor of electricity, and which is closed by a metal screw, it. By connecting this screw with one pole of a battery, the other pole of which connects with the several pieces of metal in the tablet, and by carrying the roller end of the style over the tablet, the message is transmitted. The style may, however, be constructed in various different ways, and We do not wish to confine ourselves to the precise construction shown in the drawings.

What we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

An alphabet or characters composed of a long stroke used in conjunction with the dot and dash forming the several characters of the Morse alphabet, substantially as and for the purpose described.

In witness whereof we, the said RALPH AU- GUSTINE J ONES and Josnrrr Hnnens, have hereunto set our hands and seals this 1st day of January, in the year of our Lord 1866.

R. A. JONES. JOSEPH HEDGES.

L. s. [L. s]

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