MEANS OR APPLIANCES FOR AUTOMATICALLY INDICATING THE FORCE OF A BLOw
Year: 1886

page_text: WILLIAM SAMUEL OLIVER Albert House St. Paul's Road, Canonbury, N. Engineer
do hereby declare the nature of my invention for MEANS OR APPLIANCES FOR
AUTOMATICALLY INDICATING THE FORCE OF A BLOw to be as follows:-
My invention consists in the application of electricity to a machine for indicating
the force of a blow so that the act of placing a coin or the like in the apparatus will
cause the force of the blow struck to be indicated on a dial or the like or will mark
or print the same upon a card or the like.
To carry out my invention I use a machine for indicating the force of a blow
constructed upon any well known plan or otherwise and combine with it my special
apparatus. On a coin being dropped into the machine it closes an electric circuit
either directly by itself acting as a metallic connection between two portions of the
circuit or indirectly by moving by its weight or impetus one metallic contact against
another. Preferably I adopt the following arrangements to produce this result. In
the former case the coin falls down a shoot and lies upon or between two plates
forming the terminals of the divided portion of wire and thus forms the connection
between the two. In the latter the coin falls upon two pistons or springs which are
depressed and either come in contact with other pieces of metal or dip into a cup of
mercury. In either case there is an arrangement for getting rid of the coin when
the passage of the current is not further necessary. For this purpose I preferably
place the metals aforesaid upon a swinging platform which moves and drops the coin
when a pin or other device upon the mechanism comes into contact with a lever or
crank attached to it or releases a catch which holds it up. By either of the aforesaid
methods a current is allowed to pass through an electro magnet placed in the circuit
and attract to it an armature withdrawing it from its position of rest. This armature
having up to the moment of the coin being dropped in acted as a stop or bolt locking
the apparatus and preventing it being actuated by any blow struck upon the pad or

page_text: In the usual form of machine this is preferably effected by the armature engaging
the end of the inner cylinder carrying the spring or a projection attached thereto or
to some other convenient part of the apparatus.
I may also in some cases utilise the weight or momentum of the coin to either
introduce the battery plates into the exciting liquid or raise the liquid so as to cover
the plates.
I may also use an electro magnet to connect the cylinder carrying the spring
with the recording index, by either moving a bolt lever or other device so as to
engage some other part of the machinery, or by itself attracting to itself a portion of
the same and thus making a magnetic connection. Instead of an electro magnet I
may use an electro motor to raise the lever or make the connection.
Dated this 14th day of September 1886.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Means or Appliances for Automatically Indicating the Force of a
Blow.
I WILLIAM SAMUEL OLIVER Albert House, St. Paul's Road, Canonbury N.
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
My Invention consists in the application of electricity to a machine for indicating
the force of a blow so that the act of placing a coin or the like in the apparatus will
cause the force of the blow struck to be indicated on a dial.
To carry out my invention I use a machine for indicating the force of a blow
constructed upon any well known plan or otherwise and combine with it my special
apparatus. On a coin being placed into the machine it closes an electric circuit
either directly by itself acting as a metallic connection between two portions of the
circuit or indirectly by moving by its weight or impetus one metallic contact against
another.
The coin falls down a shoot and lies upon plates forming the terminals of the
divided portion of wire and thus forms the connection between the two.
I also provide an arrangement for getting rid of the coin when the passage of
the current is not further necessary. For this purpose I preferably place the metals
aforesaid upon a swinging platform which moves and drops the coin when a pin or
other device upon the mechanism comes into contact with a lever or crank attached
to it or releases a catch which holds up.
By the aforesaid method a current is allowed to pass through an electro magnet
placed in the circuit and attract to it an armature withdrawing it from its position of
rest, this armature having up to the moment of the coin being dropped in acted as a
stop or bolt locking the apparatus and preventing it being actuated by any blow struck
upon the pad or cushion.
My invention is represented in the annexed drawing.
A is the cylinder and B the push or plunger head, the stem C of which is encircled
by a spring D which resists the inward thrust of the stem C, and returns said stem
to its normal position. The inner end of the stem C has a stop or nose piece E, the
movement of which is opposed by the end of the armature G unless the requisite coin
is first dropped down the shoot H so that it lodges on the two contact plates I, J, by
which the circuit is completed, the two plates I, J, complete the electric circuit with
the penny there on through the wires K, L, one of said wires K being in connection
with the terminal M of the battery N the other wire L being attached to electro
magnets P which through another wire Q is connected by the terminal R to the
opposite pole of the battery.

page_text: The electro magnets attract the armature G and raise the end F above the stop E
so that when the plunger head B is pushed in a catch S on a prolongation T of the
stem C tilts the bottom of the shoot H and allows the penny to drop out the thrust on
the plunger B causing the prolongation T to turn the bell crank U and draw down
the rod or bar V by which the dial finger is operated for indicating the distance to
which the plunger head is thrust inwards.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is
In a machine in which the force of a blow can be registered, the electrical means
by which the armature end is released, after the insertion of a coin which completes
the electric circuit for enabling the plunger head to be thrust inwards and
simultaneously releasing the coin as described and substantially as shown by the
annexed drawings.