IMPROVE- MENTS IN CARTS AND OTHER VEHICLES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincolu's Inn Fields,
in the County of Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City
of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CARTS AND OTHER VEHICLES."-A communication from abroad
by Pierre Henri Dubreuil and Jean Baptiste Dubreuil, both of Paris,
in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 21st January 1863, and dated the 13th August 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 18th August 1862.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North
Britain, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention för
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CARTS AND OTHER VEHICLES," a communication from abroad
by Pierre Henri Dubreuil and Jean Baptiste Dubreuil, both of Paris; in the
Empire of France, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates. to certain improvements in carts and other vehicles,
with the view of making them capable of weighing their own loads.
According to this Invention the body of the vehicle is made independent of
the framing, on which it is supported by means of flanges. Towards the back
of the framing there is a transverse axle to which a forked lever is attached,
and this lever at its fore end presses during the process of weighing upon one
arm of a Roman balance placed in front of the vehicle and attached thereto.

page_text: Regulating screws attached to the framework are made to support the body
during transit, but when the operation of weighing is to take place these
screws are worked by their wheels, so that they are lowered, and the body of
the vehicle is then thrown upon the forked lever, which acts, as before men-
tioned, on the weighing apparatus.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th February 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North Britain, Gen-
tleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date, the Thirteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,.the
said John Henry Johnson, Her special license that I, the said John
Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, or 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 and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARTS AND OTHER VEHICLES," a communication from
abroad by Pierre Henri Dubreuil and Jean Baptiste Dubreuil, both of Paris,
in the Empire of France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said John Henry Johnson, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, or under the hand and seal of one of
them, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 John Henry Johnson, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the follow-
ing statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:

page_text: The said Invention relates to certain improvements in carts and other
vehicles, with the view of making them capable of weighing their own loads..
According to this Invention the body of the vehicle is made independent of
the framing when weighing a load, and solid with it when simply trans-
porting the load towards the back of the framing. There is, according to one
arrangement, a transverse shaft to which a forked lever is attached, and this
lever at its fore end presses during the process of weighing upon one arm of a
Roman balance placed in front of the vehicle and attached thereto. Regu-
lating screws attached to the framework are made to support the body during:
transit, but when the operation of weighing is to take place these screws are:
lowered, and the body of the vehicle is then thrown upon the forked lever,
which acts, as before mentioned, on the weighing apparatus.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the corre
sponding Figures.
Figure 1 of the Drawings represents a plan of a modified arrangement of
weighing cart constructed according to this Invention; Figure 2 is a lon-
gitudinal section of the same in the act of weighing; Figure 3 is a similar view
of the parts when the weighing apparatus is not in action, the cart being in
transit, and Figure 4 is a side elevation of the cart.
At the front and rear of the framing A of the cart is fitted a transverse
shaft a (shown in dotted lines in Figure 1). On each of these shafts is
fitted an endless screw 6 gearing into the pinions c. These latter are fixed to
screw spindles d, the rotation of which in one direction or the other effects the
raising or lowering of the body of the cart. Each of the shafts a is provided
with a handle e for turning the same. This arrangement is only applicable
where the frame is horizontal; but in most cases it is preferable to lower the
body at each of the four corners successively by operating upon each of the
screw spindles separately. The body is guided when being raised by the four
bracket pieces e, e, disposed one at each corner, and engaging into cast-iron
feet secured to the frame, and serving to steady the body during transport.
In order to render the body of the cart as independent as possible from the
weighing machine during the loading of the vehicle, rails are fitted to the
framing A, and small pullies i to the body of the cart, (shown in dotted lines
in Figure 4,) so as to receive the weight of and to enable the body to be
adjusted forwards or backwards as required. In lieu of using the ordinary
knife edges in the weighing apparatus, points may be employed, which will

page_text: add to the sensibility of the machine. The weights employed for weighing
the load are placed on the steelyard or Roman balance R, to which the entire
weight of the load is transmitted through the transverse bent lever a³, shown
in detail at Figure 5.
In the ordinary state for transport the body of the cart rests within the four
bracket pieces e', which should be slightly inclined on the inner sides, so as to
facilitate the raising of the body, and to insure its assuming its proper position
when let down. When it is desired to weigh a load it is necessary to elevate
the four screws d, thereby raising the four arms of the weighing levers H, H¹,
and with them the body B of the cart from off the guides e', through the
intervention of the knife edges 9, 9, 9", g¹¹¹, upon which the body rests by
four corresponding, caps h¹, h". The levers H, H³, then bear upon the trans-
verse lever a¹ by the knife edges 1, 4, and intermediate piece m, the movement
of the lever a being transmitted to the lever or balance R by the rod C.
.
It is obvious that various other modes may be adopted for combining a
weighing machine with the body of a vehicle, and therefore I do not confine
or restrict myself to the precise arrangement herein-before described and
illustrated by the Drawings, the essential feature of this Invention being the
combination of any convenient weighing machine or apparatus with a vehicle
in such a manner that the body of the vehicle shall be independant from the
frame when in the act of weighing, and solid therewith when used in simply
transporting a load.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that what I consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is, the general construction and arrange-
ment of carts and other vehicles, with a view of making them capable of
weighing their own loads, substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of February, One thonsand
eight hundred and sixty-three.