AN IMPROVED GOLD COIN DETECTOR, APPLICABLE ALSO FOR WEIGHING POSTAL COMMUNICATIONS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jean Pierre Savouré, of 2, Catherine Street, Strand,
in the County of Middlesex, and 11, Rue de la Saunerie, Paris, in the
Empire of France, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED GOLD COIN DETECTOR,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jean Pierre Savouré at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th October 1854.
I, JEAN PIERRE SAVOURE, of 2, Catherine Street, Strand, in the County of
Middlesex, and 11, Rue de la Sauneric, Paris, in the Empire of France, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED GOLD COIN
DETECTOR, APPLICABLE ALSO FOR WEIGHING POSTAL COMMUNICATIONS,"
follows:-
My improvements in coin detectors refer to an arrangement of balance,
whereby the operation of testing coin is simplified, and also to the adaptation
of such balance to weighing postal communications. In balances commonly
employed for testing gold coin, the weight of the coin is determined by a
distinct and separate act from that by which its size is ascertained, and conse-
quently troublesome to perform; whereas, according to my improvements, the

page_text: coin is placed in the slit or measure of its size, and is therein measured and
weighed simultaneously. I employ a balance beam or lever, suitably supported
at its fulcrum and by suitable guides; on the one end of this lever depends
the weight, the counterpoise for the gold coins, while in the opposite end slits
are cut horizontally through the lever at the proper distances from the fulcrum,
so that the same weight answers for all the coins to be weighed. The slits or
measuring apertures are formed so that the genuine coin will just fit, and at
the same time preponderate in the balance; whereas if the coin be spurious, the
baser metals with which it would be alloyed being of less specific gravity than
gold, it would be found either too large to pass through the slit or too light in
the balance. In testing a coin, it is introduced about half its breadth through
the slit, by which it is held in a horizontal position, where it is weighed; sub-
sequently it is pushed entirely through the slit, when it drops on the other side
completely tested. To adapt this balance for weighing postal communications,
I render the counterpoise for the coins of a form to receive the letters to be
weighed, and to the opposite end of the balance I hang a weight, which is to
be slid to a position on the lever till it is on an equipoise with the letter. This
weighted end of the lever being graduate according to the weights required,
shows by the position of the sliding weight the weight of the letter.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jean Pierre Savouré in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 27th April 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JEAN
PIERRE SAVOURE, of 2, Catherine Street, Strand, Middlesex, and 11, Rue
de la Saucerie, Paris, France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Jean Pierre Savouré, Her special licence that I, the said Jean
Pierre Savouré, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Jean Pierre Savouré, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain

page_text: and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN
IMPROVED GOLD COIN DETECTOR, APPLICABLE ALSO FOR WEIGHING POSTAL COM-
MUNICATIONS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, tle said Jean
Pierre Savouré, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Jean Pierre Savouré, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
The object of my Invention is to give a readier means and greater security
than obtained by the weighing instruments hitherto used for ascertaining if
gold coins are genuine or counterfeit. The principle of my Invention consists
in having a gauge for the weight, and one for the size of gold coins, both
gauges acting simultaneously during the detecting operation.
The construction of my gold coin detector will be more readily understood
by referring to the annexed Drawings; in which Fig. 1 represents a longitu-
dinal elevation view of the entire machine; of which Fig. 2 shows a side
elevation view; whereas Fig. 3 is a top view of the beam or lever, repre-
sented provided with a coin. In these three Figures the same letters refer to
corresponding parts. The machine consists of a solid base A, provided with
two vertical standards B and B'; the upper end of the standard B has a slot
C and two holes, forming the beds for two suspension knives of a weighing
beam or lever D, of the kind called a Roman, the smaller arm E of which is
provided with a scale or letter holder, whereas the end F of the long arm G
moves up and down in the slot with which the upper end of the standard B' is
provided. In the height of this long arm G are cut longitudinal slots a, a', a², a³,
at such distances from the suspension point J of the beam D, that when the
gold coin to be weighed is laid in its corresponding slot (in the manner as is
represented in Fig. 3), the arm G will descend, and the end F of the same
come to rest on the under part of the slot of the standard B¹, if the coin be a
genuine one. The slots a, a, a², a³, are made of such length and height as to
correspond with the size of the gold coin intended to be weighed in this slot,
in such manner that a genuine coin of this sort will fit, or rather just pass
through, its corresponding slot; whereas a base or counterfeit coin of the same
weight as the genuine one, being manufactured entirely or partly of a metal of
less weight than gold, would consequently be of a larger size than the genuine

page_text: coin, and not pass through the corresponding slot. On the contrary, should a
counterfeit or base coin be exactly of the same size as the genuine correspond-
ing coin, then, on being laid into the corresponding slot, this counterfeit coin
being of less weight than the genuine one, would not cause the end F of the
arm G to descend on the under part of the slot of the standard B', which in
this case would at once detect the fraud. These slots a, a¹, a³, a³, serve conse-
quently as a gauge for the size of the coin, and for holding this latter during
the action of weighing; and if, therefore, a coin would pass through in its
corresponding slot, and on being laid into this slot cause the end F of the arm
G to descend on the under part of the slot of the standard B¹, then such a
coin might easily be known as genuine; whereas on failing in one of these two
points, the same might be declared counterfeit or altered. It will be under-
stood that the sizes of the slots a, a, a³, a³, and the distances at which the same
are placed from the centre of suspension J of the beam D, varies according to
the species of gold coins which are required to be detected by the machine.
In order to make this latter serve at the same time as a balance for ascertain-
ing the weight of letters, a scale or letter holder is adapted to the short arm E
of the beam D, and a small weight H may be suspended at the long arm G
in small cuts h, h, h², at such distances from the centre of suspension J as will
correspond with the weight desired to be indicated.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is put into practical effect, I wish it to be understood that
what I claim as my Invention consists in,—
Firstly, the construction of machines for detecting counterfeit or altered
gold coins, by which the size and the weight of these latter may be gauged
simultaneously.
Secondly, the general arrangement of, the gold coin detector here above
described, and serving at the same time as a letter weigher.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jean Pierre Savouré, bave hereunto set
my hand and scal, this Twenty-sixth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
GEO. WHITE.
.
J. P. SAVOURE. (L.S.)