The Bramão Telegraph

Table Telegraph built by Maximiliano Herrmann and innovated later by Cristiano Augusto Bramão. This is an innovative piece in the world of communication since it allowed a faster transmission and reception as well as a better economy in the consumption of the ticker tape, due to its double chain operation.
With this innovation, Herrmann intended to fix the problem in the Telegraphic Morse Receivers. Before there was a major technical problem since the Morse Receivers were constituted with a dry tip or a strip with ink. In the dry tip case, the signals were marked in the paper with a steel pointer, but these were of difficult perception and disappeared easily. With the ink on paper strip method it was, sometimes, impossible to read due to the excess of ink. Because of these technical problems, Herrmann built a type of inkstand with a thin stylus, flexible enough to allowed the user to adjust, using just the enough amount of ink to write the message. This innovation was made known to the Foreign Telegraphic Administrations and was presented in 1865 at the International Telegraphic Conference in Paris, by José Vitorino Damásio, director of the Portuguese Telegraphs.
This rectangular trapezoidal shaped piece is made of wood, golden brass, metal and glass. The front face has a plate on which the model is identified. In the right side of the upper panel there is a reel with paper tape where the telegraphic message was printed, also containing two morse keys that worked with a manual computer. In the center and in the left there is a clockwork mechanism consisting of a mechanical system of gears in brass, copper and metal. At the rear face there is six pins for connecting wires identified by the letters "L", "T", "C", "Z", "C" and "Z".
In December 1872, there was conducted a test between Lisbon and Carcavelos using this mechanism, concluded with a positive result which resulted on placing ten copies of this Telegraph, running regularly, in the Main Stations of Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra and Bom Sucesso.
This telegraph was present at the Universal Exposition in Paris in 1878, where the Portuguese General Directorate Telegraphs received a "Diplôme d'Honneur".
Maximiliano Augusto Herrmann was born in 1838, Lisbon. He studied at the Industrial Institute of Lisbon from 1857 to 1862 and worked as an Inspector in the Telegraph Company of North and East Portuguese Railways. Herrmann developed major improvements in Morse Receiver apparatus, making them more simple and easier to regulate.
Herrmann and Cristiano Augusto Bramão developed a partnership in order to innovate and improve the initial design of the telegraph.
Cristiano Augusto Bramão was born in Elvas in 1840. At the age of 15 he joined the Army’s Telegraphic Artillery Regiment. Later he led several telegraph stations in Portugal.
During his journey, Bramão had the opportunity to exhibit at the Exposition Universelle in Paris, where the telegraph received a "Diplôme d'Honneur" assigned to the General Directorate of the Portuguese Telegraph. Despite its innovative sense, Bramão was not known internationally.