IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR REGISTERING THE DELIVERY OF GooDs
Year: 1850

page_text: HIFFEND
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
WHIFFEN, of Pigs Quay, Bridewell Precinct, Accountant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-first day of
February, One thousand eight hundred and fifty, in the thirteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas Whiffen, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas
the said
Whiffen, my exors, admors, and assigns, and such others as
Thomas Whiffen, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR REGISTERING THE DELIVERY OF
GooDs;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said
Thomas Whiffen, should cause a particular description of the nature of my said.
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,.
reference. being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Whiffen, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
Gas is the only article in common use the delivery of which is registered
by itself. Of late some attempts have been made to apply the principle to
liquids; but no mechanical means have hitherto been used to count dry goods,
many of which, from their being sold in regular quantities, offer facilities
for being so registered. Coal and corn may be considered as the most
important articles in common use, and they are sold or measured always in
certain quantities. Coals from the ships are weighed in two and a half cwts.,
or eighths of a ton; from the barges, in tenths of a ton, or two cwts.; corn, in
sacks of four bushels. The machine consists of a metal box, containing a
train of wheels and pinions, which are driven by a ratchet and ratchet wheels,
which ratchet is, by means of a weighted lever, acted upon by the passage of
the goods. The top of the box has a series of dials, from the centres of
which the wheel shafts carry pointers. In the delivery of coal from the
ships, the coal is weighed in a box or vat hung to one end of the scale beam
in quantities of two and a half cwts., as above stated; the weigher opens a
door in front of the vat, and the coals are then shot into the barge. In this
case the register is attached to the side of the box containing the coals, and
is acted upon by the door, which on opening allows the weighted lever to
drop, and on closing lifts it up to its original position; thus the opening and
shutting of the vat door, necessary to the allowing the weigh of coals to pass,
is made the means of effecting the registry of that quantity. The method
hitherto used is for the weigher to make a chalk mark for each weigh of
coals. In the register used for this purpose, the ratchet wheel is divided
into eight teeth, and as the wheel is moved round to the extent of one tooth
by each weigh of coal, which is the eighth part of a ton, one entire revolution
is given to the wheel and its pointer by the passing of one ton, the dial
corresponding to this by being divided into eighths, the other wheels and
pinions having the proportion of ten to one; the reading of the dials is parts
of a ton, tons, tens of tons, &c. When the ship is cleared the pointers are
released from their position and again placed at zero.
In the register at use at coal wharves, where the quantities measured are
tenths of a ton, the ratchet wheel and its dial are divided into ten. The
necessary motion is given to the weighted lever attached to the ratchet by
such means as may be found best adapted to the circumstances of each wharf,
some of which are as follows: -A piece of wood or plate of iron is hung,

page_text: vertically in such manner that it will freely assume a horizontal position in
one direction only, and as freely return by its own weight. This vertical
board is suspended over the plank or place by which the men carrying the
coals pass, and is struck by the top of the sack itself in the direction in which
the board will move; the upward motion thus given to the board, and the
downward one caused by the fall of the board, on being released by the sack
passing from under it, is made by means of a series of levers, to give the
necessary motion to the weighted lever of the register, which may be fixed in
an adjoining counting house or other convenient place. Or a horizontal bar
may be so placed, that the man when carrying the sack strikes it with his
breast in passing, and which returns by means of a spring when released. Or.
the plank up which it is necessary for the man to pass may be made to rest
on a spring, which will only assume a certain position when pressed by the
weight of a man laden with a sack; the motion in either of these cases is
conveyed by levers to the register. The methods here described will apply
equally to sacks of corn.
Any other kind of goods may be made to communicate motion to the
register by means as described, or some other more suitable to the exigences
of each case, and the ratchet wheel and dials may be divided as most propor.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Whiffen, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty.
THOMAS (L.S.) WHIFFEN.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Nineteenth day of August, in
the year of our Lord 1850, the aforesaid Thomas Whiffen came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Nineteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One