A New or Improved Scale Weighing Machine for Delivering Predetermined Quantities of Substance from Bulk.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 13th June, 1895
Complete Specification Left, 13th Apr., 1896--Accepted, 12th Sept., 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Scale Weighing Machine for Delivering
Predetermined Quantities of Substance from Bulk.
I, DAVID CHARLES BALLINGER GRIFFITH Huntworth Bedford Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to scale weighing machines for delivering predetermined
and desired amounts of substance such as tea, sugar, grain and the like from bulk
and the same is carried out as follows.
A peculiar feature of my invention consists in the employment of two balanced
beams, one which I call the main beam and the other the secondary beam. The
main beam carries at one end the counterpoise or weight and at the other a
receptacle having a tipping bottom so balanced as to remain closed when the
receptacle is empty and secured in that position by a catch piece. The end of the
main beam which carries the receptacle acts upon one end of the secondary
beam.
The substance is fed to the receptacle from a shoot in communication with a
hopper; this shoot being provided with a stirrer or feeder which may be operated
by any well known and convenient motive power such as a weight or by clockwork,
a palate escapement or such convenient means being employed to regulate the rate of
motion of said feeder or stirrer.
The aperture in the shoot is closed by a pivoted shutter connected by pivoted levers
which are operated by the rise and fall of the main beam when the machine is in
operation. The levers which are required to be operative in one direction of their
movement only are provided with tipping or tilting levers pivoted to the ends of
same. In the case in which a weight is employed to operate the feeder or stirrer,
I find it convenient to connect same to a lever through the medium of a cord passing
over pulleys, said lever being operated by the fall of the end of the main beam which
carries the weights or weight to be weighed.
The action is as follows:-
In the case of weighing one pound, say of tea, I place a weight or counterpoise
of fourteen ounces upon the main beam, and a counterpoise of two ounces
upon the secondary beam. When fourteen ounces has entered the receptacle
from the shoot, the main beam moves towards a balanced position and in
so doing operates a lever which releases the shutter aforesaid and partially
closes the shoot aperture and reduces the amount of flow of substance and this
reduced flow of substance into the receptacle causes the end of the main beam to
rest or act upon the end of the secondary beam until sufficient substance has
entered the receptacle to overcome the two ounce weight or counterpoise on the
secondary beam aforesaid; when the end of the main beam passes same, at the
same time closing the shutter through the medium of a lever, and the catch holding
the tipping bottom of the receptacle is released and the substance is delivered into
a suitable holder or guide; the main beam in returning to its initial position again
opening the shutter through the medium of the levers aforesaid and also raising the
weight which operates the feeder or stirrer; and so on.
If desired, friction rollers may be employed upon the ends of the main and
secondary beam at their engaging point.
Dated this 11th day of June 1895.

page_text: A New or Improved Scale Weighing Machine for Delivering
Predetermined Quantities of Substance from Bulk.
I, DAVID CHARLES BALLINGER GRIFFITH, of Huntworth, Bedford, in the
County of Bedford, Gentleman, 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 :-
This invention relates to scale weighing machines for weighing and delivering
predetermined and desired amounts of substance from bulk, such as tea, sugar,
grain, or other material that is capable of being fed through a controllable orifice,
and has for its object the provision of means whereby the above functions are
obtained with great accuracy and when necessary the operation of the machine
may be automatically maintained by the force of gravity through the falling of the
material in the process of weighing and delivering in predetermined quantities.
This invention consists firstly in the means by which the weighing is effected by
two weighing devices and secondly in the means by which the automatic action of
the apparatus is effected.
In order that the invention may be the better understood I will now proceed to
describe it in relation to the drawings hereunto annexed, reference being had to the
letters and figures marked thereon.
Like letters refer to like parts in the various figures.
Figure 1 is a front elevation of an automatic weighing machine according to my
invention.
Figure 2 is a part sertional view on the line A¹ B¹, Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a side view of the hopper shewing the hinged door at the bottom.
To carry my invention into effect I mount the main beam A upon a supporting
plate or other device B. At the end a of the beam A I hang a device C carrying
a portion of the weight which is used as the counter balancing standard of weight.
Upon the other end 6 of the beam A I hang the hopper D which is fitted with a
counter balanced hinged bottom d the latter being maintained in the closed position
by a catch or detent d'. Upon the support B 1 also arrange a second beam E
at the end e of which I hang a device F to carry the remaining portion of the
weight which is used as the counter-balancing standard of weight. The end e' of
the beam E is adapted to engage with a part on the end of the main
beam A when the two beams are at approximately the horizontal position, but
when the beams have moved through an angle away from the horizontal position
the main heam A trips past the secondary beam E.
:
At the back of the support B I arrange a hopper G into which the material to be
weighed is placed. An orifice g. is arranged in the support B, leading from the
hopper G, which is provided with a hinged door H preferably arranged with a
counter balance h. This door H is connected by a slotted link K, to a lever L
pivotted on the pin l, supported in the plate B. This lever L is provided with a
counter balance weight to more or less counter balance the end of the lever to
which the door H, is connected. A dash pot M is arranged on the support B, and
is adapted to control the movement of the lever L and the other moving parts of
the device as hereinafter more fully described. A frame connecting rod N is
pivoted at its upper end to the lever L and is adapted at its lower end to slidingly
engage in a guide n. This connecting rod N has one or two projections which
are adapted to engage on the up stroke of the device with pivotted fingers P
carried by the main beam A. The fingers P are restrained from turning in one
direction by a pin or stop P' when however the beam is moving in a downward
direction the fingers P trip under the projections so that the beam A on its
return upward stroke tends to lift the connecting rod, and as the mechanism

page_text: reaches it upper position the fingers P slide away from the projections O and
become disengaged therefrom for the reason that the projections and fingers are
moving in ares away from one another.
The door His provided with two or more notches R R to control the flow of
the material from the orifice g, first with a coarse and afterwards with a fine feed
in order to obtain accuracy of weight. The door H, is maintained in these positions
by a detent, S adapted to engage in the notches R R¹. This detent is connected
by a rod r to a lever T pivotted at t on the support B. This lever T has a raised
portion and an adjustable part U which are adapted to engage with a wheel V
mounted on the end a of the main heam A. The portion t is arranged so that
when the wheel V moves the lever T to the right the detent S is withdrawn from
the notch R and the door H falls from the position of coarse feed to that of fine
feed, when it is retained by the detent S engaging the notch R'. When the
wheel V comes in contact with the part U, the detent S again moves and allows
the door H to close the orifice g.
At the mouth of the orifice g or in any other convenient position a stirring or
agitating device or devices W are arranged to keep the material in motion
especially during the fine feed. This device W may be operated by any suitable
mechanism X which may be driven by spring or weight or by other suitable source
of energy. In the case of a weight or a spring, the upward movement of the
beam A may be utilized to lift the weight or wind up the spring and thus utilise
the energy of the falling weight carried by the device C on the return stroke of the
main beam A after the discharge of the hopper D. In the case of the weight, this
may be effected by the lever L being connected to the chain of the weight and
pulling the latter up through the medium of a ratchet barrel as is usual in a Dutch
clock. In the case of a spring the lever L may be similarly arranged to wind up
the spring barrel through a ratchet and pawl the amount it has run down since the
previous movement of the lever L.
As it is desirable that the motion of the beam A shall be as steady and gradual
as possible I prefer to take up the main counter balancing weights gradually. This
can be effected by having a step support Y as shewn in Figure 1 and adapting the
weights so that they rest upon the various steps and are picked up one by one as
the beam A moves. This function may also be effected by inserting a spring
between the end a of the beam A and the counterbalancing weight carried by C, in
other words by depending C from the beam A by a spring.
Beneath the hopper D៰I arrange a shoot or receptacle Z into which the hopper D
discharges. The lever of the retaining catch d' is adapted to come into contact
with the side of the shoot Z or other convenient device on the downward stroke in
order to release the door d and allow the superincumbent weight of material in the
hopper D to open the door d and deliver itself into the shoot Z.
The operation of my machine is as follows. It is assumed for example that one
pound of material is to be weighed at each operation, in which case the counter
balancing weights may be divided by putting 13½ ozs. on the device C of the main
beam A and 2 ozs. in the scale pan F of the secondary beam E.
We will suppose
that a quantity has just been weighed and delivered and that the hopper D is in its
lowest position. The door H is of course closed, and the secondary beam E is
horizontal. It will now be seen that the ends of the pivotted fingers P have
tripped, below the projections O and that the 13 ozs. in the device C lifts the
hopper D and connecting rod N and with it the lever L link K and door H.
As the beam A reaches its upper position the door is held by the detent S and the
fingers P trip past the projections O which allows the connecting rod N lever L
and link K to return to the lower position again. The door d of the hopper D has
been fastened automatically by the catch d' immediately the lever of the catch was
free. The material now pours into the hopper D from the orifice and as the
weight increases in the hopper D the beam A moves until the wheel V engages the
projection t¹ on the lever T'withdraws the detent S from the notch R aud releases
the door H to the position of fiue feed. The beam A now settles down on the
g

page_text: secondary lever E, the wheel V being now quite free from the projection t¹ and
the beam A is entirely unrestrained except by the weighing weight and the material
being weighed. Immediately the proper quantity has been allowed to fall into the
hopper the two beams A and E move downward, the wheel V comes into contact
with the projection U on the lever T which disengages the detents from the
notch R' of the door H, allowing the latter to close. When the beams have moved
through a small arc, the part 6 of the main beam A trips past the end e¹ of the
secondary beam E allowing the latter to return to normal position and the main
beam A when thus relieved of 24 ozs. of support to continue its downward
movement until the lever of the catch d' comes into contact with the shoot Z,
allowing the door d to open and the material to discharge into the shoot Z.
It will also be noticed that the fingers P have tripped over the projections and
have engaged themselves on the underneath side thereof ready to operate the
mechanism into the weighing position again. The stirring or agitating device W is
moving all the time under the influence of the spring, weight or other motor
mechanism, which may be reinforced at every cycle by the movement of the
lever L or other convenient and equivalent mechanism on the return stroke of the
unbalanced 13 ozs. The dash pot M allows the motion of the device to be effected
without any jerk or vibration, as on the return stroke of the machine when the
unbalanced increment of weight C on the main beam tends to exert considerable
force to return the mechanism to feeding position, the fingers P engage under the
projections O on the connecting rod N which is connected through the lever L with
the piston of the dash pot M; so that the motion of the mechanism is thus steadied
by the dash pot M. Similarly the motion of the part 6 of the main beam A trips
by the secondary beam E on its up stroke and thus is in position to engage the
beam E on the down stroke of the device.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed 1 declare that what
I claim is:
1st. A machine for automatically delivering predetermined quantities of weighed
material consisting of a main beam and a secondary beam adapted to engage with
one another and to trip by one another at a certain part of their movement each
carrying a portion of the counterbalancing standard of weight, a receptacle
containing the material to be weighed having an orifice controllable by a door, a
retaining device controlling the door, means for operating the retaining device by
the movement of the main beam, and a hopper with an automatically discharging
door, carried by the main beam.
2nd. In an automatic weighing machine in combination a main beam, a secondary
beam each carry a portion of the counter balancing standard of weight, adapted to
first engage with one another before the full weight of material is obtained and to
trip past one another after the full proper weight of material has been obtained, a
hopper or receptacle provided with a controllable orifice, a device operated by the
main beam controlling the said orifice before and after the critical period of
movement of the beam, and a hopper carried by the main beam having a counter-
balanced hinged bottom and a retaining catch released by the movement of the
device, substantially as described.
3rd. In an automatic weighing machine in combination, a main beam carrying a
portion of the counter-balancing standard of weight, a secondary beam carrying the
remaining portion of the said weight, the main beam being adapted to engage with
the secondary beam during the period of weighing and to trip past same after the
weighing has been effected, a device controlling the delivering device during the
non-critical period of operation of the main beam, a hopper carried by the main
beam adapted to deliver the material automatically after being weighed, means
connected with the main beam for effecting the return of the weighing device and
opening of the controllable feeding device and an agitating device to maintain the
delivery of the material from bulk.

page_text: 4th. In an automatic weighing machine the means of utilising the energy of the
falling counterbalancing weight of the main beam for the reinforcement of the motor
mechanism of the agitating device substantially as described.
5th. An automatic weighing machine constructed and arranged substantially as
described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated the 13th day of June 1896.
FELL & JAMES,
1 Queen Victoria Street, London, E.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.