Improvements in and connected with the Adjusting and Stamping Plugs of Weighing Machines and Weights.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Sept., 1905
Complete Specification Left, 23rd June, 1896-4ccepted, 1st Aug, 1896
VALO
Complete Specification Left, 23rd June, 1896-4ccepted, 1st Aug, 1896
PROVISIONAL SEMITIVATION,
Improvements in and connected with the Adjusting and Stamping
Plugs of Weighing Machines and Weights.
I, FREDERICK THOMAS WENBORN, of 99, York Road, Westminster Bridge Road,
in the County of Surrey, Weighing Machine Manufacturer, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to improvements in and connected with the adjusting and
stamping plugs of weighing machines and weights, and the object of it is to facilitate
the adjustment of weights and to prevent tampering the stamping plugs of weighing
machines and weights.
In carrying the invention into effect, a hole of the proper area, preferably i.e., of
about the same area as the stamp is made in the part in which the plug is to be
inserted. This hole is tinned in order that the molten metal of the plug shall adhere
to it. The surface of the plug is finished off, preferably, flush with the surface in
which the hole is made, or a projecting tube may be fitted round the hole. This hole
may be countersunk or undercut, or a tube projecting at right angle from an annular
plate, may be permanently supported in it, by the outer edge of the said plate being
made fast to that of the hole. The shape of the latter may be varied, that of the plate
being varied likewise..
In cases where the wear and tear on the part or machine to which the plug is
applied, is likely to be so much as to require adjustment of the weight of the plug, by
addition thereto, previous to a restamping, the hole or cavity is made sufficiently large
An annular or
to provide for eventual requirements in the way of such addition.
other shaped plate is prepared, of the proper size to cover the cavity and having a
hole large enough to receive a tube of the proper size to receive the stamping punch.
The length of this tube is a little less than the depth of the hole. This tube is tinned
so that the metal of the plug may adhere to it. The plate and tube may be fixed in
position either before or after the metal is poured into the hole.
The present invention is applicable to the holes of weights now in use by making
the plate of the same shape as the hole. The tube above mentioned may be modified
so as to be a stopping piece adapted to diminish the hole to the size of the stamping
plug, a port being formed in the said stopping piece for the passage through it, into
the stopped off portion of the hole, the molten plug metal. The stopping piece is
tinned for the same reason as the tube above mentioned.
Dated this 23rd day of September 1895.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: Improvements in and connected with the Adjusting and Stamping
Plugs of Weighing Machines and Weights.
I, FREDERICK THOMAS WENBORN of No. 99 York Road, Westminster Bridge Road,
in the County of Surrey, Weighing Machine Manufacturer, 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 improvements in and connected with the adjusting and
stamping plugs of weighing machines, weights, and measures. The object of it is
twofold, being (a.) to facilitate the adjustment of a weight and (b.) to prevent the
stamping plug being tampered with or used dishonestly.
The adjustment of a weight may be necessary in the direction of either diminishing
the weight of it by removing some of the metal, or of increasing the weight of it by
adding metal. The adjustment of a new weight fresh from the maker's hands may
require removal of some of the metal, but the adjustment of an old weight that has
suffered much from wear, requires the addition of metal. It has hitherto been the
practice in the case of weights above a certain size, to provide for this alternative
adjustment, by making a comparatively large cavity in the bottom of the weight and
filling it about half full of lead. This plug of lead has served two purposes: (a.) it
was soft enough to be cut or scraped easily, if there was too much of it, and (b.) it
was soft enough to receive a legible and permanent stamp from the inspector's punch.
But the size of the cavity above mentioned limited the application of the above
mentioned provision for alternative adjustment to weights that are large enough to
have such a cavity formed in them. In the case of weights that are too small for the
cavity aforesaid, it is the practice to make provision for their receiving the stamp by
fixing a small plate to the surface. This plate is soft enough to receive the inspector's
stamp and may possess sufficient bulk to permit of adjustment in the direction of
reduction but it does not permit of any in the direction of addition. The first part of
the present invention provides for the easy adjustment of any size of weight in either
direction.
The second part of the invention provides for the prevention of a stamping plug
being either tampered with or used dishonestly. The applicability of this second part
is not restricted to weights but extends to weighing machines and measures.
The accompanying drawings are to be taken as part of this specification and read
therewith. They illustrate the preferred methods of carrying the invention into
effect.
Figure 1 is a plan of the bottom of the weight illustrated in Figures 2 and 3 after
the inspector has stamped it.
Figure 2 is a sectional elevation illustrating the application of the present invention
to a cylindrical or knob weight.
Figure 3 is a sectional elevation illustrating a modified application of the same
invention to the same kind of weight.
Figure is a plan of the bottom plate and tube for a square weight.
Figure 5 is a plan of the bottom plate and tube for a hexagon weight.
Figure 6 is a section along the lines 6-6 of Figures 4 and 5.
Figure 7 is a sectional elevation of a flat weight and its tube before the latter is
inserted.
Figure 8 is a sectional elevation of the same weight and tube finished off and ready
for stamping.
Figure 9 is a plan of the bottom of the same weight stamped.
Figure 10 is a perspective view of the stopping plate for the cavity in an old
weight

page_text: Figure 11 is a section illustrating the application of the same stopping piece and
s tube to an old weight.
Figure 12 is a side elevation illustrating the application of the invention to the
eam of a weighing machine.
Figure 13 is a section taken along the line 13-13 of the preceding figure.
Figure 14 is a side elevation, partly in section, illustrating two methods of applying
he invention to a pot.
In carrying the invention into effect, a new weight is made hollow, as illustrated in
Figures 2, 3, 7 and 8. A bottom plate a is provided for it. This may be either a
separate piece as illustrated in Figures 1 to 6, or incorporated with the shell of the
c is a tube of the same cross section
hollow weight as illustrated in Figures 7 to 9.
as the inspector's punch and just large enough to admit of it reaching the soft metal
filling d within it. This filling is a permanent one in the sense that it forms a part
of the weight. In calculating the proportions of a new weight, the presence of a
vacant space el within the tube c between the filling d and the bottom face of the
weight, is provided for, to permit of adjustment as hereafter described.
The plate a and the tube c may be incorporated, or be separate pieces, as may be
convenient. If they are separate pieces, the plate has a hole cut through it. This
hole is not larger than suffices to receive the tube in the manner indicated in
Figures 7 and 8.
The tube may be either parallel or tapered, the former for
preference. If it is tapered, the smaller diameter is placed next to the plate a.
surfaces of the plate a, shell and tube c are tinned as far as may be advisable for the
molten filling d to adhere to them and to serve as a solder to hold them together.
The
The molten filling d is poured into the inverted shell up to the proper level, the
plate a and the tube c being held in their respective positions during the act. As the
metal cools, it solders them down in the said positions to itself and to the shell b.
It is a matter of indifference whether the tube c is long enough to reach the bottom
of the inverted shell b. If it is intended that it should, one or more notches c¹ in its
leading edge are necessary to allow of the displacement of the filling d by the said
tube during its passage down through it. The excess length c³ of the tube, if any,
cut off flush with the bottom plate a.
is
The proper level above mentioned to which the filling d is poured, leaves a vacant
When a weight constructed
space e outside the tube c and a second one e¹ within it.
as above described requires adjustment by removal of metal, the necessary quantity
can be scraped away from the surface shewing at the bottom of the vacant space e².
After it has been in use for some time, the necessary adjustment will be one of
addition. This is effected by adding cold plugs to the surface at the bottom of the
vacant space e. Cold plugs and the means by which they are added to a soft metal
surface are well known. This addition is repeated from time to time, as diminution
by wear and tear requires. In course of time the aggregation d' of cold plugs comes
flush with the outer surface of the plate a as illustrated in Figure 3. The next time
that adjustment is required, space to receive the cold plug in question within the
tube c is made by melting all the old filling, which thereupon partly falls and partly
rises to the same level on both sides of the said tube.
The application of my invention to the manufacture of new weights, does not
compel me to make a shell band fill it with filling d. The body of the weight may
be solid with the exception of a space sufficiently large to receive the tube c and
enongh filling to receive the stamp g, and also to provide the vacant spaces e and el.
The foregoing description deals with the application of the invention to a
new weight specially designed to embody it. The application of it to an old
weight is substantially identical. By "old weight" is meant one made according to
the well known practice, with a cavity to receive soft metal for adjustment and
stamping. The usual cavity in them is filled with a stopping platef of the same shape
and area.
This stopping plate is, for the purpose of the present invention, the
equivalent of the bottom plate a already described. It is of the same shape as the area
of the cavity aforesaid and is provided, when the size of the cavity renders such
provision advisable, with supporting devices, such as legs f', f, adapted to rest upon

page_text: the bottom of the cavity when the outer face of the stopping plate f is flush with the
bottom of the weight, as illustrated in Figure 11. The tube c, the filling d and the
vacant spaces e, e¹ are substantially the same as those already described, and therefore
possess the same advantages in respect of both security and adjustment subsequent to
manufacture or to the first stamping.
It has already been pointed out that 1 prefer that the tube c should be parallel to
its being taper. The object of the internal diameter of the tube c being not more than
suffices to admit the inspector's punch is, to make certain that the stamp g shall occupy
all the area of the filling d which is exposed, as illustrated in Figures 1 and 9; so
that there shall not be any plain surface from which metal can be removed without
obliterating the said stamp, to a more or less noticeable extent. Consequently, a
parallel tube realises this object better than a taper one.
With reference to the beams of weighing machines, the present practice is to make
the stamping plug something like a rivet, the face of the head being the stamping
surface, and to fasten the said plug to the beam by rivetting. It is therefore possible
to remove such a plug from an old beam and to fix it, together with the stamp on its
face, to the beam of a new machine. According to the present invention, I form two
concentric holes in the beam i, one larger than the other, the former on that side of
the beam on which the inspector's stamp is to shew. A short tube having an
internal cross section not less than the area of the stamp g, is made fast in this larger
hole, so as to project from it, as shewn in Figure 13, and both holes are filled in with
soft metal filling k flush with the beam i on the one side and with the edge of the
tube j on the other. The process by which the tube is held to the beam i must be
one such as brazing in respect of its necessitating the use of a higher temperature
than the melting point of the filling k, so that the stamp 9 cannot be detached from
the beam in respect of which it was made.
The two applications of the present invention to a pot, which are illustrated in
Figure 14, differ from each other only in respect of their position on the pot, one
being to the bottom and the other to the side, above the handle and close to the rim.
Substantially either application is identical in all respects with that described with
reference to the Figures 12 and 13. In the one application, the bottom of the pot,
and in the other, the side of it, is treated, for the purpose of the present invention, as
is the beam of the weighing machine.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. The combination of shell, filling, plate, and tube, as and for the purposes set
forth.
2. The combination of solid weight, filling, and tube, as and for the purposes set
forth.
3. The combination of weight, cavity, stopping plate and tube, as and for the
purposes set forth.
4. The combination with a machine beam or equivalent surface, of tube and filling,
as and for the purposes set forth.
5. The hereinbefore described provision for facilitating the adjustment of a weight.
6. The hereinbefore described provision for preventing tampering with an inspector's
stamp.
Dated this 23rd day of June 1896.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
No. 22 Scuthampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.,.
Agents for the Applicant.