IMPROVEMENTS IN CERTAIN KINDS OF WEIGHING MACHINES, BALANCES, AND SCALE BEAMS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Archer, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Managing Clerk to the Firm of William and Thomas Avery,
of Birmingham, aforesaid, Scale Beam and Weighing Machine Manu-
facturers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CERTAIN KINDS OF
WEIGHING MACHINES, BALANCES, AND SCALE BEAMS."
Sealed the 26th December 1861, and dated the 4th November 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Archer at 4th
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the the
November 1861.
I, JOHN ARCHER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Managing
Clerk to the Firm of William and Thomas Avery, of Birmingham aforesaid,
Scale Beam and Weighing Machine Manufacturers, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN, CERTAIN KINDS OF WEIGHING
MACHINES, BALANCES. AND SCALE BEAMS," to be as follows:―":
The first part of my said Invention relates to weighing machines, balances,
or scale beams, in which, as ordinarily constructed, the beam turns upon
fixed bearings on the top of a column or other fixed part of the frame or stand
of the machine or balance, or scale beam, that is to say, to weighing machines,
or balances, or scale beams, the beams of which are:not suspended or hung
from points of support'above the said beams. In the said weighing machines,
Price I

page_text: or balances, or scale beams, the knife edges are exposed to greater risk of
injury by reason of the fixity of their bearings, and the moving parts act
with less freedom than in weighing machines or balances in which the
beam turns on a hanging or-suspended support.
The first part of my Invention consists of a small rectangular vertical frame
open at its top, which said frame is provided at its upper end with centres
or edges, by which it is hung or supported upon the bearings in the fixed
frame or standard in which the beam ordinarily turns. The said frame
hangs vertically, and in its inner vertical sides slots are made extending to
a short distance down the said inner sides. In the bottoms of the said slots
steel or other hard curved planes are fixed horizontally, and on the said
planes the knife edges of the beam rest and turn. In the sides of the said
slots against which the ends of the knife edges bear steel or other hard
planes may be inserted and fixed vertically. The beam is placed in the said
frame, its knife edges resting on the hard curved horizontal planes in the
said frame. The frame in which the beam turns is capable of an oscillating
motion upon the fixed standard or support. The beam thus acquires a
freedom equal or nearly equal to that of a suspended beam, and a blow or
shock given to the fixed support or standard is not transmitted to the planes
on which the knife edges of the beam turn.
My Invention consists, secondly, of a small cup which is fixed on the
under side of the weight scale of counterweighing machines, the said cup
being charged with shot or other small weights for the purpose of preserving
the equilibrium of the weighing machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Archer in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th
April 1862.
TO ALL TO. WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
ARCHER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Managing Clerk to
the Firm of William and Thomas Avery, of Birmingham aforesaid, Scale
Beam and Weighing Machine Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Archer, Her special licence that I, the said John

page_text: Archer, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Archer, 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 and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for " IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CERTAIN KINDS OF WEIGHING MACHINES, BALANCES, AND SCALE BEAMS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Archer, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 John Archer, 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
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
The first part of my Invention relates to weighing machines, balances, or
scale beams, in which, as ordinarily constructed, the beam turns upon fixed
bearings on the top of a column or other fixed part of the frame or stand of
the machine, or balance, or scale beam, that is to say, to weighing machines,
or balances, or scale beams, the beams of which are not suspended or hung
from points of support above the said beams. In the said weighing machines
or balances, or scale beams, the knife edges are exposed to greater risk of
injury by reason of the fixity of their bearings, and the moving parts act
with less freedom than in weighing machines or balances in which the beam
turns on a hanging or suspended support.
The first part of my Invention consists of a small rectangular vertical
frame open at its top, which said frame is provided at its upper end with
centres or edges, by which it is hung or supported upon the bearings in the
fixed frame or stand in which the beam ordinarily turns. The said frame
hangs vertically, and in its inner vertical sides slots are made extending to a
short distance down the said inner sides. In the bottoms of the said slots
steel or other hard curved planes are fixed horizontally, and on the said planes
the knife edges of the beam rest and turn. In the sides of the said slots,
against which the ends of the knife edges bear, steel or other hard planes may
be inserted and fixed vertically. The beam is placed in the said frame, its
knife edges resting on the hard curved horizontal planes in the said frame.

page_text: The frame in which the beam turns is capable of an oscillating motion upon
the fixed stand or support; the beam thus acquires a freedom equal or nearly
equal to that of a suspended beam, and a blow or shock given to the fixed
support or staud is not transmitted to the planes on which the knife edges
of the beam turn.
..
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents, in side elevation, a
counter scale provided with the frame, constituting the first part of my Inven-
tion; Figure 2 is an end elevation of the same; Figure 3 is a vertical
transverse section of a portion of the same taken through the line a, Figure 1;
and Figure 4 is a vertical transverse section of a portion of the same taken
through the middle of the scale. Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8 represent, in full
size, the frame constituting the first part of my Invention, Figure 5 being a
side elevation, and Figure 6 an end elevation of the said frame; Figure 7
represents, in elevation, one of the inner sides of the frame, and Figure 8
represents the said frame in plan; the said frame is marked 6 in the several
Figures. The said frame b consists, as will be understood by an examination
of the Drawing, of a nearly rectangular franie, open at top, the said frame
being provided at its upper end with centres or edges c, c, by which it is hung
or supported upon the bearings d in the fixed frame or standard e; fare the
vertical slots in the inner sides of the frame b, in the bottoms of which slots
steel or other hard curved or V-shaped planes marked 9 are fixed. The knife
edges h, h, of the beam i are passed down the slots f, and made to rest on
the planes g, upon which said planes the beam i turns. As the frame b is
capable of an oscillatory motion in the fixed standard or support e, on its
centres c, c, the beam i has a freedom of motion nearly equal to that of a
suspended beam, and a blow or shock given to the standard or support e is
not transmitted, or but very partially transmitted, to the knife edges h, h.
Besides the steel or other hard planes g, g, other hard planes may be fixed.
vertically in the slots f, f, immediately opposite to the ends of the knife edges
h, h, that is to say, at the place indicated by fa in Figure 7, and at the corre-
sponding part of the other half of the frame
1
Figure 9 represents, in side elevation, a counter weighing machine, to
which the first part of my Invention is applied; Figure 10 is a transverse
vertical section of the same taken through the line k, Figure 9; and Figure 11
is a plan of the same. Figure 12 is a side elevation of the frame which
hangs in the fixed supports of the machine, and by which the beam is
supported. The said frame is marked in Figures 9, 10, 11, and 12; the
centres on which it turns are marked m, and the slots in the said frame are
marked n; the knife edges of the beam o are marked p. The frame 1, Figures
1

page_text: 9, 10, 11, and 12, differs only from that represented in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
7, and S in being wider, so as to fit the increased width of the double beam o,
Figures 9, 10, and 11.
Figure 13 represents, in transverse vertical section, a portion of the base
of a weighing machine of the kind called an imperial weighing machine,
having the first part of my Invention applied thereto. The rectangular
frame by which the beam is carried is made in three pieces q, r, s, screwed
or connected together in the manner which will be understood by an exami-
nation of Figures 13 and 14, Figure 14 representing, in elevation, the inner
side of one of the parts q, s.
This, the first part of my Invention, is applicable to all kinds of weighing
machines, balances, and scale beams, which, as ordinarily constructed, have
fixed supports for the knife edges of the beam to turn upon; but I believe
the application of this part of my Invention to all kinds of weighing
machines, balances, and scale beams will be fully understood by the descrip-
tion herein-before given, reference being had to the various Figures of the
accompanying Drawings.
of
My Invention consists, secondly, of a small cup which is fixed on the
under side of the weight scale of counter weighing machines, the said cup
being charged with shot or other small weights for the purpose of preserving
the equilibrium of the weighing machine. Figure 15 represents the under
side of the weight scale of a counter weighing machine, to which this part
my Invention is applied, and Figure 16 is a vertical section of the same;
t is the weight scale, and u the cup for the reception of the shot or small
weights. The said cup u turns horizontally in the plane of the weight scale
upon a centre at v, being moved by the button or handle w; x is a stop
which fixes the position of the cup u. In adjusting the weighing machine,
the cup is turned from under the weight scale t by the button w, and the
required quantity of shot or weights having been placed therein it is
restored to the position represented in Figure 15.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not
limit myself to the precise details herein-before described and illustrated in
the Drawings, as the same may be varied without departing from the nature
of my Invention; but I claim, as my Invention,
Firstly, the improvement herein-before described and illustrated in Figures
1 to 14, both inclusive, of the accompanying Drawings in such weighing
inachines, balances, and scale beams as ordinarily have fixed bearings for the
beam to turn upon, that is to say, introducing between the beam and the fixed

page_text: frame or stand of the said weighing machines, balances, or scale beams a
hanging frame, in the opposite vertical sides of which frame the knife edges
of the beam are supported, the said frame turning upon centres upon the
fixed frame or stand of the weighing machine, balance, or scale beam.
Secondly, the improvement in counter weighing machines herein-before
described and illustrated in Figures 15 and 16 of the accompanying Drawings,
that is to say, the application of a small cup underneath the weight scale of
the said machines for the reception of shot or other small weights for the
purpose of preserving the equilibrium of the said counter weighing machines.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Archer, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
JOHN ARCHER. (L.S.)