A NEW OR IMPROVED BALANCE
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Webster, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick; Engineer, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED BALANCE."
Sealed the 28th August 1855, and dated the 16th June 1855;
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Webster at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
June 1855.
I, JAMES WEBSTER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED
BALANCE" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of a balance constructed in the following manner :-
I take a beam and make the same turn on a knife edge; as in the ordinary
balance, the said beam being supported on the base of the instrument. To
one end of the said beam I attach an ordinary scale pan, and to the other
end of the beam I attach one end of a helical or other spring, the other end
of the said spring being attached to the base of the instrument;. I also attach
to the beam a quadrant or arc, the edge of which is made into teeth, which
said teeth engage with the teeth of a pinion. On the axis of the said pinion

page_text: an index finger is fixed, which said finger traverses a graduated circle
on a dial plate. The whole of the instrument may be enclosed in a case
excepting the scale pan. The action of my new or improved balance is as
follows:-
The article to be weighed is placed on the scale pan, and depresses the end
of the beam on which the scale pan is hung until the weight of the article is
counterbalanced by the stretched spring at the other end of the beam. The
toothed quadrant or arc:acts on the index finger, through the pinion on whose
axis the said finger is fixed, and indicates on the dial plate the weight of the
article.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James -Webster-in-the Great-Seal Patent Office on the
23rd October 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
WEBSTER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer, send
greeting.
:3
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Webster,! Her special licence that, I, the said James Webster,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or-such others as I, the said James
Webster, 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 A NEW OR IMPROVED
BALANCE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Webster,
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 James Webster, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof (that is to say):
-
･･
My Invention consists of a balance,. constructed in the manner herein-after
described, and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing.
Figure 1 represents a front elevation of a balance constructed according to
my Invention; Figure 2 represents a back view of the interior of the same;
and Figure 3 represents a horizontal section, taken through the line a,
Figure 1. b, 61, is the beam, turning upon an axis c, the said axis being. sup-
ported by and working in the case of the balance d. Instead of the axis ca
knife edge may be employed, as in the ordinary balance; but I prefer the use
of an axis, as represented. On the end 6 of the beam the scale pane is sus-
pended, and to the end 6-of-the beam the upper end of the helical spring. fis
connected. The lower end of the said spring f is attached to the base of the
balance at g. .h is a quadrant or sector, attached to the beam b, b¹, the said
quadrant or sector being so attached to the said beam that the axis c of the
beam shall be the centre of the curved edge of the said quadrant or sector.
The curved edge of the said quadrant or sector is made into teeth, as
represented, which said teeth engage in the teeth of a pinion i. One end
of the axis of the pinion i passes through the case of the balance, and
carries the index finger k, which said finger traverses a graduated circle on the
dial plate 7.
The action of my Invention is as follows:-The article or matter to be
weighed is placed upon the scale pan e; the end 6 of the beam becomes thereby
depressed to an extent dependent on the weight of the article or matter placed
on the said scale pan e, the said end 6 of the beam descending, and the end b¹
ascending, until the elastic force of the stretched spring f exactly equals the
weight in the scale pan. During the motion of the beam, the quadrant or
sector h, acting on the pinion i, causes the finger k to traverse the dial 7, and
when the beam after a few oscillations comes to rest, the said finger k indicates
upon the said dial the weight in the scale pan. A light spring m, fixed at
one end to the case at n, and at its other end to the axis of the pinion i, keeps
the teeth of the said pinion bearing steadily against the teeth of the quadrant
or sector h.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my said Invention; but I claim as my
Invention, the construction of a balance in the manner herein described,

page_text: and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, a beam balance
in which the article to be weighed is counterbalanced by a spring, the said
balance indicating on a dial the weight of the article placed on its scale pan.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Webster, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw.
JAMES WEBSTER. (L.S.)