The telegraph manual: a complete history and description of the semaphoric, electric and magnetic telegraphs of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, ancient and modern.

THE BRETT PRINTING TELEGRAPH.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Brett's Printing Telegraph-Description of the Composing Apparatus-The
Printing Apparatus and Manipulation-The Compositor or Commutator
described-Mr. Brett's Last Improvement.
BRETT'S PRINTING TELEGRAPH.
THE printing telegraph system, patented by Mr. Jacob Brett,
in Great Britain, is founded upon the House system, of
America, and patented by Mr. Brett, in the first place, as a
communication.
These gentlemen, Messrs. Royal E. House, of America, and
Jacob Brett, of England, some years since, co-operated together
in this printing telegraph. The former patented the same or
a similar apparatus, in the United States of America. After
the issuing of the first English and American patents, Mr.
House continued his energies in the perfection of his mechanism
until he produced the beautiful and effective printing telegraph,
since used on many lines in the United States. Like results
attended the labors of Mr. Brett, except that the system
perfected by him has not been permanently used on the lines
in Europe. The following description of the machinery will
serve to explain the instrument patented by Mr. Brett, and
known in Europe as his printing telegraph.
The apparatus comprises two essential mechanisms, the
"Transmitter", or "Compositor," and the "Receiver" or
"Printer." I will first describe the former.
DESCRIPTION OF THE COMPOSING APPARATUS.
The compositor is a key-board, having some 28 keys, and 30
or 40 may be used, if desired, arranged as in figs. 1 and 2.
Above these keys is an axis, A A/, which is called the axis of
the keys, bearing at its extremity a wheel R, called a circuitwheel. This wheel receives a movement from a weight p, fig.
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