AN IM- PROVED APPARATUS FOR ADJUSTING LEVELS AND OTHER INSTRUMENTS.
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arnold Budenberg, of 96, George Street, Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IM-
PROVED APPARATUS FOR ADJUSTING LEVELS AND OTHER INSTRUMENTS. "-A
communication from abroad by Carl Johann Reinhart Jähns, of Berlin;
in the Kingdom of Prussia.
Sealed the 28th December 1865, and dated the 9th August 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arnold Budenberg at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th
August 1865.
I, ARNOLD BUDENBERG, of 96, George Street, Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR ADJUSTING LEVELS AND OTHER INSTRUMENTS," to
be as follows:-
I use a block plate disc or collar with an oblique upper surface free to be
turned round, thereby bringing the oblique plane or face into different
positions. It works on or in a plane surface frame or collar. Another disc
or piece may be mounted parallel with the first-named oblique plane or face
on its axis, or on a pillar connected with it, so that the two may work
together. The plane or collar on which the oblique block or face turns may
work on a hinge, wedge, or otherwise, and a screw or like contrivance is

page_text: applied for adjusting it. This latter motion and that of the block or disc
with the oblique surface are the means for adjusting levels or other instru-
ments according to this Invention.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Arnold Budenberg in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
9th January 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARNOLD
BUDENBERG, of 96, George Street, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Arnold Budenberg, Her special licence that I, the said Arnold
Budenberg, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Arnold Budenberg, 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 "AN
IMPROVED APPARATUE FOR ADJUSTING LEVELS AND OTHER INSTRUMENTS," a com-
munication from Carl Johann Reinhart Jähns, of Berlin, in the Kingdom of
Prussia, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Arnold
Budenberg, 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 Arnold Badenberg, 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:-.
I use a block plate disc or collar with an oblique upper surface free to be
turned round, thereby bringing the oblique plane or face into different
positions. It works on or in a plane surface frame or collar. Another disc

page_text: or piece may be mounted parallel with the first named oblique plane or face
on its axis, or on a pillar connected with it, so that the two may work
together. The plane or collar on which the oblique block or face turns may
work on a hinge, wedge, or otherwise, and a screw or like contrivance is
applied for adjusting it. The latter motion and that of the block or disc with
the oblique surface are the means for adjusting levels or other instruments
according to this Invention.
Having thus stated the nature of the Invention, I will now proceed to
describe the manner in which the same is carried into practice, reference
being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed. Figure 1 of which shows a
vertical section of the apparatus arranged in accordance with this Invention
applied to the upper part of a stand or support for a theodolite, levelling, or
other instrument which requires to be adjusted in a true level.
The part of a surveying instrument in most general use for this purpose is
that commonly known as the parallel plate, part with four levelling screws
connected in the middle by a ball and socket, or a tripod with three
levelling screws. Both these arrangements have great disadvantages. In the
first instance the screws exert great strain against the plates, and are in
consequence easily damaged and become loose and shaky, as every instrument
will show which has been in use for some time; the second arrangement
requires a much larger base than is convenient, and both require considerable
time to adjust the instrument to a true level.
Now the advantages of this improved arrangement of apparatus over other
arrangements are, first, the prevention of any undue strain on the instrument;
and, secondly, the saving of time in the adjustment to a true level.
In Figure 1 of the Drawing hereunto annexed q is the table plate fixed to
the wooden legs (part of which is only shown in the Drawing) on which the
levelling, surveying, or other instrument is supported. The plate q is formed
with a projecting rim or flange, over which the hollow cylindrical cap f is
placed and connected thereunto by screws. i is a pin or axis which passes
through a joint or hinge formed by two projecting parts of plate q, and one or
more projecting from plate k. On the opposite side of the hinge or joint in
plate works a milled headed screw e ending in a ball j, which turns in a
slotted block or similar contrivance. By turning this screw e the inclination
of the plate k with the parts of the instrument above it may be varied. h is a
portion of a cylinder forming an inclined base to the vertical support o¹, in
which the vertical axis of the levelling or other surveying instrument turns.
These two parts with the inclined plane are connected by a slightly conical
pin with a semi-spherical head acting as a universal joint to the parts h and k,

page_text: having sufficient movement in its bearing to allow the upper plate h to be
turned round on the inclined plate k...
Figure 2 of the Drawing shows another arrangement of apparatus acting
on the same principle, which for some constructions may be found preferable:
a is the part which screws on to the table or plate of an ordinary level or
theodolite stand; i is a similar joint or hinge to that described in Figure 1;
b corresponds with the plate k in Figure 1. The screw e is employed for
adjusting the inclination of the plate b: The upper surface of the hollow
cylinder c is an inclined plane, to which is screwed the socket 9 which receives
the vertical axis of the surveying instrument.
+
The mode of adjusting the instrument to a true level is as follows, and this
description refers to both Figures of the Drawing-The inclined plane is
turned until the bubble of the spirit level is in the middle of its tube, by
reason of which the instrument is a horizontal position in one direction, if
then by means of the screw e the bubble of the spirit level is brought into a
horizontal plane at right angles to the first position the instrument is in a
true level.
Having now fully described the nature of the Invention, and the manner in
which the same is carried into practice, I would remark that the mode of
arranging the parts and in applying the same to different instruments may be
greatly varied without departing from the true character of this Invention,
which consists in arranging apparatus for adjusting levels or other instruments
by combining an inclined plane or surface capable of revolving in combination
with another surface, the angle of which is also capable of adjustment.
In witness whereof, I, the said Arnold Budenberg, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
ARNOLD BUDENBERG. (L.S.)