AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR INDICATING THE WEIGHT OF THE CARGO OR CONTENTS OF A SHIP OR OTHER VESSEL AFLOAT
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Haseltine, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake,
& Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR INDICATING
THE WEIGHT OF THE CARGO OR CONTENTS OF A SHIP OR OTHER VESSEL AFLOAT."
-A communication from abroad by Stephen Roff, William Brooks
Hoffman, and Joseph Lukey, all of Melbourne, in the Colony of
Victoria.
5
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said George Haseltine at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 12th September 1871, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HASELTINE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.; Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR INDICATING THE WEIGHT OF THE CARGO OR

page_text: CONTENTS OF A SHIP OR OTHER VESSEL AFLOAT," and have petitioned Her
Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns
Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn Decla-
ration that it has been communicated to me from abroad by Stephen
Roff, William Brooks Hoffman, and Joseph Lukey, all of Melbourne, in
the Colony of Victoria.
NOW KNOW YE that I, the said George Haseltine, do hereby declare
that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and seal,
fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing forming
a part of this Specification.
This Invention has been designed for the purpose of indicating
the weight of the contents of any vessel afloat, whether such contents
be solid or fluid, so that independently of its value for registering the 1
weight of any cargo received or discharged, it will also indicate any
increase in the weight of the contents of any vessel which may arise
from leakage, its power of registering not being affected by the rolling
or tossing of the ship when at sea.
The said Invention consists in the use and application of a column of 2
water inside a vessel afloat produced hydrostatically by the pressure of
the water outside for the purpose of indicating the weight of the
contents of such vessel. Now as the height of such column will vary
with the extent to which such vessel is sunk in the water, and as the
extent to which the vessel is sunk in the water will depend upon the
weight of its contents, it follows that the weight of its contents will
be indicated by the height of the column of water, when the weight is
increased the column of water will rise and vice versâ. But inasmuch
as the weight would in actual practice be generally placed on the vessel
unevenly, it becomes necessary that this column should take its rise a
from the centre of gravity in the vessel or as near thereto as practicable,
and further, inasmuch as very large quantities of cargo can be placed
on some vessels without sinking them in the water to any very appreci-
able extent it becomes advisable if not necessary to multiply the motion
of the water in such column, so that its slightest movement may be a
perceptibly indicated. This may possibly be done in many ways, but
at all events I am quite certain it can be done by means of a float
resting on the top of such column of water, and having a cord or chain

page_text: proceeding from it and passing over a barrel, and kept taut by a weight
suspended from its other extremity. The motion of this barrel can of
course be multiplied in the ordinary way. Now as the extent to which
a given weight will sink different vessels in the water is variable it
becomes evident that this apparatus must be adjusted to each separate
vessel, or rather that the dial on which the weight is indicated must be
marked off differently.
"
Supposing then that I were about to attach this Invention to a vessel,
I should first ascertain its centre of gravity and then make a hole as
near thereto as practicable of about one quarter of an inch in diameter
quite through the hull, and having temporarily corked it up, I should
proceed to erect a pipe of say three inches in diameter, and of such a
length as to permit of the water rising in it to the utmost point it could
possibly attain without the ship foundering, or of any less length that
might be thought sufficient, and to the top of this pipe I should attach
in any convenient way two small vertical tubes of any length and
supporting a dial at their extremity. Inside this pipe I should place
a spherical copper float two and three quarter inches in diameter loaded
with a little mercury. Above the top of these tubes I should fix a
barrel for supporting a silver chain, one end of which I should pass
down one of the tubes and attach to the spherical float, whilst the
other end I should pass down the other tube and attach to a counter-
balance weight sufficiently heavy to cause the barrel to register the
slightest motion of the float, and the weight of which I should regulate
by that of the float, I should provide suitable bearings for the spindle
of this barrel to work in, to one end of which spindle I should attach
an indicator like that of a steam gauge, although if the motion were too
rapid or too slow, I should regulate it by toothed wheels as is well
understood, and if preferred I could have two or more hands to indicate
different denominators, such as tons, hundredweights, and pounds, or
tons, tens of tons, and hundreds of tons in the same way as the hands
of a watch are made to indicate hours, seconds, and minutes, or the
indicators of a gas meter to mark the hundreds, thousands, and tens of
thousands.
In adjusting this apparatus to any particular vessel I should require
some data to enable me to mark off the dial correctly. To obtain this
I should proceed in one of two ways, I might measure the ship and
calculate the weight of water displaced by say every inch that she

page_text: sunk in the water, and mark the dial accordingly, but by preference 1
should place a sufficient weight on board to make a perceptible motion
of the indicators or one of them, and then taking it as the key or
standard should. proceed to mark off the dial or dials accordingly, that
is to say, if there were only one indicator and one dial, and if by placing
one ton on board the vessel the indicator moved half an inch, I should
proceed to divide off the dial into half inch spaces, each of which would
indicate a ton and so on, if there were more than one indicator or
dial.
I do not think that as a rule it will be required that the apparatus
should indicate the weight of the vessel or its contents before such
apparatus is attached to it, although I think it might be done by careful
calculations of the displacement of the water as stated above. I desire
to have the vessel in that condition when she is "down to her bearings"
as it is technically termed, that is an empty vessel fully equipped.
In speaking of the hole in the bottom of the vessel I have said that
it should be about a quarter of an inch in diameter, but so long as it is
sufficiently large to permit of the free entrance of the water it does
not matter (so far as regards the working of my apparatus) what size
it is, and it would work by making two holes at equal distances on each
side of the centre of gravity, always preserving the column of water in
the centre of gravity or as near thereto as possible, and it would also
work by making the hole in or about the centre of gravity, and con-
ducting the water to a vertical pipe in any convenient part of the vessel,
say for instance, to the captain's cabin. And in the event of the hole
being made in a wooden ship, I should place a pipe in it to prevent its
closing. So long as the pipe above this hole is sufficiently large for the
float to work in it does not matter what size it is, and it is immaterial
what is the weight of the float or its counter-balancing weight if it is
heavy enough to impart motion to the barrel. The pipe may be a
common gas pipe with its flanges bolted or screwed to the bottom. The
tubes and float I should prefer to make of copper, and the chain of
silver, simply because that material is less susceptible to the action of
sea air or water than other metals.
Referring to the Drawing hereto attached, Figure 1 is a central section
tion showin
modification of the

page_text: A is the hole in the hull; B, the pipe erected above it for containing
the column of water; C, the tubes; D, the dial; E, the copper float;
F, the barrel above it; G, the silver chain; H, the weight. Instead of
placing the main pipe B above the hole A. the connection may be made
by means of the pipe A' as shewn in Figure 2.
Having thus fully described the nature of the said Invention and
the manner of performing the same, I wish it understood that I do
not confine myself to the particular form of apparatus herein-before
described and shewn in the Drawing, nor to the materials of which the
several parts of such apparatus may be constructed so long as the nature
of the said Invention is retained, and I claim,―
First. The use and application inside a vessel afloat of a column of
water produced hydrostatically by the pressure of the water outside of
the vessel for the purpose of indicating the weight of the contents of the
same.
Second. The use of a float resting on such column of water and acting
as the medium for communicating motion to any suitable apparatus
substantially as set forth for the purposes described.
Third. The particular apparatus for this purpose herein described and.
illustrated in the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Haseltine, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witness,
W. ROB. LAKE.
GEORGE HASELTINE. (L.S.)