Improvements in or in connection with Self Acting Weighing Machines for Grain and Granular and Powdery Substances.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 8th Mar., 1893.
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Complete Specification Left, 6th Dec., 1893-Accepted, 8th Apr., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or in connection with Self Acting Weighing
Machines for Grain and Granular and Powdery Substances.
".."
I, RICHARD SIMON, of Zulla Road, Nottingham, Engineer, do hereby declaro
the nature of this invention to be as follows :—'
The object of my invention is to increase the facility with which these machines
may be adapted to the variable requirements of flour milling and other manu-
facturing industries.
"
One part of my invention cousists, in making the catch or stop which regulates
the first part or full feed of this class of machines movable on a pivot connected
with a lever in the grain receptacle carrying a plate of variable length, or adjustable,
as for instance, as lazy tongs, which is lifted or moved by the inflowing grain &c.,
and, thereby causes the catch to release, and close the full feed with the object of
lengthening or shortening the time of the second or sprinkling feed; and thereby
regulating the speed of working. 1..
Another part of my invention consists in attaching to the grain vessel, one or
more ratchet wheels with suitable adjustable notches into which, after'n pre-
determined number of weighings, a catch or paul shall fall and prevent further
weighings.
"
"
Another part of my invention has for object, the weighing of residues
without having to remove weights; for this purpose I attach a spring balance to
the frame of the machine, and provide a link or other union, by which it can af
will be connected with the scale beam, so as to act against the dead weight..
In order to prevent the troublesome consequences which after arise from a
weighing machine accidentally sticking, I place in the shoot leading away from it,
a valve, so contrived that the weight of the falling material holds it open, and that
a counter balance closes when no such material is falling, and in so doing makes
contact, and rings an electric alarm.
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To facilitate the weighing of flour, and other powdery, or sticky materials with
speed and accuracy, place in the feed hopper of the weighjpg machine, a stirrer
or agitator, and also having the upper part detachable: in some cases, rotate or
shake the latterton:
11
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
15 Improvements in or in connection with Self Acting Weighing
Machines for Grain and Granular and Powdery Substances.
1, RICHARD SIMON, of Zulla Road, Nottingham, Engineer, do "hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
0 statement :-
.
The object of my invention is to increase the facility with which these machines
may be adapted to the variable requirements of flour milling, and other manu-
facturing industries.

page_text: One part of my invention consists in making the catch, or stop which regulates
the first part, or full feed of this class of machines, movable on a pivot connected
with a lever in the grain receptacle carrying a plate of variable length, or
adjustable as to its position in the receptacle, by means of lazy tongs, which plate
is lifted or mored by the inflowing grain &c., and thereby causes the catch to
release, and close the full feed with the object of lengthening, or shortening the
time of the second, or sprinkling feed, and thereby regulating the speed of
..working.
B
1
•
Another part of my invention consists in attaching to the grain vessel one or
more ratchet wheels with suitable notches, into one of which, after a predetermined
number of weighings have been made a catch or paul shall fall and prevent further
weighings.
Another part of my invention has for object, the weighing of residues without
having to remove weights, for this purpose I attach a spring balance to the frame
of the machine, and provide a link or other union by which it can, at will, he
connected with the scale beam so as to act against the dead weight.
In order to prevent the troublesome consequences which often arise from a
weighing machine accidentally sticking, I place in the shoot leading away from it, a
valve so contrived that the weight of the falling materials holds it open, and that
a counter balance closes it when no such material is falling, and in so doing makes
contact, and'rings an electric alarm.
To facilitate the weighing of flour, and other powdery, or sticky materials with
speed and accuracy, I place in the inlet of the weighing machine, a stirrer or
agitator, and also the hopper being detachable may in some cases be rotated or
jarred by suitable means to shake the powdery or sticky material into the machine.
Figures 1 and 2 of the annexed drawings aro front and sido elevations of an
automatic weighing machine, in which the duration of the first part of the full fee:
of such machines is determined, in a manner which admits of regulation by the
user, by the mass of wheat in the grain scale acting on a suitably formed telescopic
lever, or equivalent arrangement. The arrangement shown is a lazy tongs a fixed
on the rod band locked by the wing nut o. On the rod is fixed the lever d; the
inner end d' of which bears (when the scale is empty) against the catch, or arme
of the flap, which by falling and thus allowing wheat to continue to run only
through the small openinga m which are made in it, terminates the first or full feed,
and initiates the second or sprinkling feed. The longor the full feed is allowed to
go on that is to say the higher the plate A is fixed by closing the lazy tongs a and
fixing it by the wing nut e as shown by the dotted lines in Figure 1, the quicker the
grain scale N will be filled, and therefore the quicker will the machine weigh.
The outer end of the leverd bears on the inner surface of the bracket g which acts
as a guide to the lever d holding it in and bringing it back to contact with the catche
of the flap. Wheat running into the grain scale N fills the same up to plate of
the lazy Longs a which is in the position say a Figure 1, and presses it outward,
and partially turns the rod to depress the inner end of the leverd until it
comes out of contact with the catch e and allow the flaps to fall and cover the main
feed and initiate the sprinkling feed which flows through the small orifices m in the
flap and will continue until the weight in the scale N corresponds to that of th:
dead weight on the other end of the scale benm which it overbalances, and in so
doing releases the second flap and a catch to allow the scale to tilt in the
well-known manner.
The lazy tongs are shown in two extreme positions at a and a' corresponding to
the slowest and fastest weighing.
The operation of the foregoing parts constituting my invention in combination
with the other parts of an automatic weighing machine, such as that described in
my Specification. No. 13703 of 30th August 1890, is as follows:-The receiver N
being empty, the weight A' rests on the cross bar or scale platform B', the in'e:
flaps being both open. Grain from the hopper C now runs into the receiver N
which gradually descende.

page_text: As the lever d' on the inside of the receiver N descends with the said receiver,
it misses or is moved from contact with the catch e of the flap f, (the lever d' has
also a movement upon its centre to accelerate the release of the catch e by means of
the lazy tongs a and plate h,) and allows said flap to close and cut off the full feed
of the grain which now continues to flow only in two thin streams through the small
orifices m, m, into the receiver N this being what is called the sprinkling feed.
The receiver N continues its descent under the sprinkling feed, and the weight A'
and scale platform Bits corresponding ascent until a catch C' on the platform
frame strikes the arm C' of the tumbling weight D' pivoted to a projection E' of
the standard tips same, causing it to fall for its arm C' to engage under the
ent G of the lever H' pivoted at 1', and release the stop J' from the catch K' and
allow the flap to fall and close the small sprinkling feed orifices m, m, before
mentioned. The catch K' of the flap in its fall strikes the arm Ĺ' which is
pivoted at M' to the sling N', and causes the end P of the arm L' to move away
from the stop Q' to free the receiver N which then tilts forward and inward a
sufficient distance to allow the mouth R' of the receiver N to free itself from the
covering flap S which is limited in its movement by reason of the flap S¹ catching
against the sling stop T', and holding it back for the grain to run freely out.
After the emptying, the weight A' brings the recoiver N back and the inlet
flaps, are re-opened by the catch d' which has resumed its normal position.
The lever U' Figure 4 is for the purpose of compensating for the amount or weight
of grain in suspension or falling from the flap at the moment the flapis
released by the before mentioned trip mechanism. By shifting the sliding weight VI
to the required position, the lever 'U' may be overbalanced at the right moment
exact accuracy is assured,
The lever Uswings by means of a knife edge on the stud U* (Figure 4), which
stud is inserted in the end of the beam W, so that its over weight brings down the
beam W', and closes the flap sooner than would otherwise be the case; by this
menns an equivalent is obtained for the weight of the wheat in suspension between
Hap and the surface of that which has already fallen into the receiver N at the
moment of closing.
W is the scale beam balanced upon a knife edge X', and Y, Y, are sliding
weights for adjusting the sling N¹ vortically between the guides Z1, Z.
The backward movement of the receiver N is limited by the stop A³ making
contact with projection B' on sling.
Figures 3 and 4 are front and side elevations of an automatic weighing machine
to which an arrangement has been applied adapting it to weigh flour and similar
materials. They also show the mechanism adopted to stop the machine
automatically when any specified number of weighings have been made, which
arrangement is evidently capable of use also on machines for wheat weighing, and
the like.
In order to weigh flour, or other sticky, or tenacious materials which do not flow-
freely, it is necessary to use rotating blades or pins to assist, or initiate the required
motion. For this purpose, I nso a shaft or axle A, on which are placed three, or
more pios or knives B, the shaft being rotated by a belt, for which pullies are
provided, at a moderate speed, thus keeping the flour etc in motion, and preventing
caking. To suit these pins, I shape the inlet with concave instead of the usual
sloping sides. But as these stirrers can only act effectually while the flour can
How, and would tend to cake it if the flour could not get away, as is actually
the case while the inlet of the machine is closed for balancing and discharging, I
make the hopper C movable, and provide it with an arm D which is lifted as the
shaft A revolves by the cam F thereon.
The arrangement shown is for lifting only, but I sometimes use a side motion, or
give the hopper C a quarter-turn, or less, the essential thing being to impart to it
ashaking, or oscillatory motion by any suitable mechanism for the work to
be done.
The automatic stop motion consists of a ratchet wheel G (with one or more'

page_text: grooves or slots as L.) fixed to the grain scale together with a suitably placed catch H
and spring for holding this on its work, together with a loose, or swinging arm I
pivoted on the point J of the sling or support of the grain scale. When the
grain scale falls forward for emptying, the arm I lies on the wheel G, one tooth of
which comes into contact with the inner face of the projecting rectangular nose K
of the arm I, and is pushed backward in the direction of the arrow, but if it
so happened that the notch,L in the wheel came against K, then K would catch in
it, and holding the wheel & fast would thus also hold fast the grain scale, as
is shown by dotted lines in Figure 4, and prevent its re-filling until released by tho
attendant. The wheel G inay be provided with any desired or suitable number of
teeth and notches, the latter being covered with movable plates, as L, so that the
attendant by moving the plate required (all being numbered) can predetermine the
number of weighings that will be inade.
Figure 5 shows the arrangement adopted to weigh residues without having to
tako off weights. This consists in providing a spring balance M fixed to the frame
of the machine which shall be able to compensate for and measure the amount of
deficiency from a full weighing which may be present in the grain scale N, that is
to say, the difference between the residue of which (less than a full charge) has
run into N and the normal weights on the weight scale P. When this state of
affairs exists, all that will be necessary in consequence of this novel arrangement,
is to connect the spring balance M with the dead weight scale P by means of a
suitable hook or link at Q, and thus by means of the screw at R to bring the beam
into equilibrium, as shown by the indices darkened in the drawing. The reading
on the spring balance will be the difference of the loads in N and P, and deducted
from the normal weights will give the true weights in N.
Figures 6 and 7 illustrate different methods of making the electric alarm in con-
nection with an automatic weighing machine, or otherwise. In both figures, S is a
shoot below the discharge hopper C of the automatic weighing machine or in any
convenient part of the mill. Tis a gate or valve hinged on a pivot U, and
connected with a levor V, on which is the sliding weight. W, which is so adjusted
ns to balance the gate T, and cause it to rise when there is no weight of falling
wheat on it. While wheat is running freely down the shoot, the gate is depressed,
as shown by the dotted lines in Figure 6, or opened, as in Figure 7, by the
momentum of the whent, which is thus enabled to pass frooly, but if the flow of
wheat is interrupted, the counter balance W brings the gate into the positions
shown by the full lines in Figures 6 and 7, and in so doing makes contact with
an electric bell switch X which rings the bell so as to draw attention to the
oppage. The arrangements shown are only types of how the appliance can be
arranged to suit local conditions.
Having bow particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The use of telescopic levers or lazy tongs with swinging lever to determine
the longer or shorter time for closing the first fap of a weighing machine provided
with two flaps for charging and equally for the first portion of the movement of a
single flap where one only is used.
2. The wheel G and the swinging arm I constructed and placed as described, or
any mere modification thereof, for the purpose of predetermining the number of
weighings to be made.
3. The use of a spring balance and a hook or lever connecting it with the
weight scale for tile purpose of determining, the weight of ŉ resitue, or any merė
modification thereof.
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4. A valve depressed or opened by the passing wheat, and rising or closing
automatically when the wheat runs, and in rising or closing forming 'an electric
connection to ring an alarm bell, as and for the purposes described, or any more

page_text: 5. The combination of an oscillating or heaving hopper and rctating stirrers
with an automatic weighing machine for weighing sticky materials, as and for the
purpose described, or any mere modification thereof.
The 6th day of Denimber 1902
H. GARDNER,
Patent Agent, 166, Fleet Street, London,,
Agent for the said Richard Simon.
H. GARDNER,
Patent Agent, 166, Fleet Street, London,,
Agent for the said Richard Simon.