IMPROVEMENTS IN WEIGHING MACHINES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, E.C., Editor of the Mechanics' Magazine, and
Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WEIGHING MACHINES."
Sealed the 25th September 1858, and dated the 26th March 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald Brooman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th March 1858.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, E.C., Editor of the Mechanics' Magazine, and Patent Agent, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WEIGHING
MACHINES," (communicated to me by P. A. Brussaut, a foreigner residing
abroad,) to be as follows:-
The object of the present Invention is to dispense with all weights for indi-
cating the weight of the article placed upon the platform or seale. The
platform or scale is supported upon a combination of levers, which communi-
cate through a connecting rod and other levers with one end of a pair of arcs
or segments, the opposite end of which is connected to a weight. A rod is
connected to one of the levers in the combination, which is made to rise upon

page_text: the article being placed on the platform or scale; and this rod causes a pointer
to move over a fixed dial or index plate, and indicate the weight of the article
weighed, or its value, or sum to be paid, or both weight and value.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 25th September 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, E.C.,
Editor of the Mechanics' Magazine, and Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign did, for Herself, Her heirs, and successors, give and grant unto.me,
the said Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence that I, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WEIGHING MACHINES," a communication from
P. A. Brussaut, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, 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 Richard Archibald Brooman, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
The object of the present Invention is to dispense with all weights for indi-
cating the weight of the article placed upon the platform or scale. The

page_text: platform or scale is supported upon a combination of levers which communi-
cate through a connecting rod and other levers, with one end of a pair of arcs
or segments, the opposite end of which is connected to a weight. A rod is
connected to one of the levers in the combination, which is made to rise upon
the article being placed on the platform or scale, and this rod causes a pointer
to move over a fixed dial or index plate, and indicate the weight of the article
weighed, or its value, or sum to be paid, or both weight and value.
The Drawings hereunto annexed illustrate one method by which the
Invention is carried into effect.
On
Figure 1 is a side view of an apparatus constructed with these improve.
ments; Figure 2 is a plan, and Figure 3 a transverse view of the same.
the rails a, b, are placed the arcs c, d, which are connected at one end by the '
rod c, carrying the weight f, and at the other by the rod g, which communi-
cates motion to the arc c, d, by means of the levers h and i; the lever i is
centred at k, and has connected to its lower extremity the arm l, to which are
jointed the rods m, m'; these are supported on knife edges by the pillars n, n,
and carry on other knife edges the bars p, p, on which rests the table, platform,
or scale g; to the arm is connected a rod r, jointed to another 8, by means
of which it transmits motion to the needle or pointer t. When an article is
placed on 9, the outer ends of the rods m, m³, are depressed, and their inner
ends raised, and the latter by raising the arm 7 communicate motion through
the levers i and h to the arcs c, d, which assume a position depending upon
the weight of the article on 9; and at the same time the arm also raises the
rod, depresses s, and thus causes the needle or pointer t to move and indicate
the weight on the graduated arc A, Figure 3.
A much simpler form of the apparatus is shewn in Figure 4; here, the
levers m, m³, carry solid segments, of which the curves a¹, b¹, c', and d', e', ƒ¹,
are concentric. A flexible band x, passing around these curves, is fixed by its
extremities to the pillar n, and the plate p of the platform q, respectively, and
perinits the levers m, m2, to descend and ascend, according as weights are
placed upon or taken off g, without sliding or friction of any considerable
amount. This form of apparatus may be made very sensitive.
Figure 5 represents a perspective view of a weighing machine for luggage
constructed according to this Invention; 9 is the weighing platform, and A is
the indicating card, which is visible to both officials and passengers.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same may be performed, I declare that I claim, the construction
of weighing machines with a platform or scale supported upon lovers, in

page_text: connection with rocking arcs or segments, essentially as herein-before described,
and illustrated in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have here-
unto set my band and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of September,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
R. A. BROOMAN. (L.s.)