A NEW OR Improved SYSTEM OF REGISTERING OR INDICATING APPARATUS FOR MINING AND OTHER
Year: 1870

page_text: ⚫LETTERS PATENT to Edmond Louis Ruelens, of Brussels, in the
Kingdom of Belgium, for the Invention of "A NEW OR Improved
SYSTEM OF REGISTERING OR INDICATING APPARATUS FOR MINING AND OTHER
"3
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Edmond Louis Ruelens
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 16th February 1870, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDMOND
LOUIS RUELENS, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED
SYSTEM OF REGISTERING OR INDICATING APPARATUS FOR MINING AND OTHER
PURPOSES," and have made solemn Declaration that I verily believe
myself to be the true and first Inventor thereof.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edmond Louis Ruelens, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed.
The object of my Invention is to provide owners of mines (and others)
with a mechanical and consequently an infallible means of checking
the quantity of merchandise produced or delivered. Apparatuses have
been provided for checking the number of persons visiting public
exhibitions, and I have endeavoured to supply for industrial purposes an
apparatus capable of verifying with exactitude the quantities of merchan-
dise-carried-by-wheel-barrows, waggons, or other vehicles.
My improved register or indicator is composed of a series of wheels
each having ten teeth, the first wheel marking units, the second tens,
the third hundreds, the fourth the units of thousands, the fifth tens of
thousands, and so on. Each of these wheels or disks have on their
outer face the numerals 0 to 9 so applied that at each appointed rotation
of the disk one of them faces a small opening in a sheet iron casing,
which forms the cover or vertical face of the box in which the registering
apparatus is set up. This arrangement of numbered disks permits the
reading of the register at any moment as easily as if the return were
inscribed on paper. Each disk is provided 1° with the ten teeth by
which it is actuated under the action of a ratchet or lever fixed to the
disk of lower denomination; 2° with a small toothed wheel and spring
escapement applied at the back of the disk to prevent recoil; 3° with a
small stop spring fixing the disk and permitting it to advance only.
one division at a time. This spring is governed by a stud or ratchet
applied to the wheel of lower denomination so as to release the superior
disk at the moment the main ratchet is about to make it advance.
The first disk, that of the units, is set in motion by a horizontal forked
lever fixed to the end of a vertical balance or beam to which a four
toothed wheel gives oscillation. The recoil of the beam after the escape
of the tooth of the driving wheel is effected by the action of a wheeled
or roller spring placed near its axle. The four toothed wheel above
mentioned is fixed to a driving shaft which also carries at its other
end a vertical tumbler which receives its motion from the vehicle, the
number of journeys of which it is desired to register. This tumbler is
composed of four arms corresponding to the four teeth of the wheel
actuating the balance or beam of the indicator. On the drawing

page_text: annexed to this description I have shown the kind of tumbler suitable
for checking the journeys of a number of wheel barrows. The barrow
passes over a platform having a way formed by angle irons pierced in
its length by an opening giving passage to the four arms of the tumbler,
which arms in rotating rise about half their length above the level of
the platform. When the wheel of the barrow enters on the way it
meets one of the arms of the tumbler and pushes and lowers it to the
level of the platform, under this movement the following arm rises
behind the wheel of the barrow and will in its turn be lowered by the
succeeding barrow, such is the action of this registering apparatus. The
guides of the way are furnished with two cheeks of strong sheet iron
cut to suit the circle described by the arms of the tumbler and intended
to guard them from the feet of the labourer wheeling the barrow and
from being set in motion by anything falling on to them. The
horizontal shaft carrying the tumbler is provided with a wheel and
click preventing any backward movement. To apply this system of
register to railway carriages or trucks, the platform is placed either
between the rails or outside the road and the tumbler actuated by a
projecting piece fixed beneath the carriage so as to meet the arms of
the tumbler.
On the accompanying Drawing the register is shown placed in a large
iron casing which may be opened and closed at will. It will be evident
that this casing might be made in any other manner to adapt the
register for other industrial purposes and to suit locality, in fact the
casing has only been shewn in order to demonstrate. the facility of
applying this apparatus to different purposes.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
A, first wheel of the register, indicating units; A', second wheel,
indicating tens; A", third wheel, indicating hundreds; A"", fourth wheel,
indicating units of thousands; A"", fifth wheel, indicating tens of
thousands; B, small horizontal lever, the heel of which pushes a tooth
of the wheel at each oscillation; C, vertical beam or balance carried by
the horizontal axle D; E, spring with pression rollers causing the
beam C to oscillate; F, wheel with four teeth governing the beam;
G, horizontal driving shaft; H, frame with sockets for the shaft G; I,
vertical tumbler with four arms, fixed on the driving shaft G; J, wheel
and click to prevent recoil; K, platform with groove or slot giving

page_text: passage to the arms of the tumbler; L, angle irons forming a way
guiding the wheel of the barrow; M, cheeks of strong sheet
iron cut to suit the radius of the arms of the tumbler, and having
for object to protect these arms from contact with the legs of the
labourer wheeling the barrow, or from the fall of any substance upon
them. The number of the wheels of this indicator or register multiplies
at will the quantities which it is to register. Thus a three-wheeled
indicator will register at the highest 999 or 1000 when it has come back
to 0 that of four wheels 9999 or 10,000 when back to 0 that of five
wheels 99,999 or 100,000 when back to 0, and so on.
Having now described my said Invention I would have it understood
that I do not confine myself to the use of any particular metal or
material in the construction of the various parts of my apparatus and
that I claim, the use of a tumbler in combination with toothed gearing
and indicating disks, and actuated by the wheel of a passing vehicle (or
by a projection thereon) substantially as and for the purposes herein.
'set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edmond Louis Ruelens, have here-
unto set my hand and scal, this Third day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.