IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRING SCALES
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Carl Pieper, Civil Engineer and Patent Agent resident
at 109-110 Gneisenaustrasse, Berlin, S.W., Prussia, for an Invention of
IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRING SCALES a communication to him from Emil Ubrig, of
Moabit-Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Carl Pieper at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 30th March 1883.
CARL PIEPER, Civil Engineer and Patent Agent resident at 109/110
Gneisenaustrasse, Berlin S.W, Prussia, IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRING SCALES,
a communication to me from Emil Ubrig, of Moabit-Berlin, kingdom of Prussia,
This invention relates to spring scales or balances and the improvement consists
in providing the balance with two or more springs which are so arranged that they
will come successively into action; that is to say: the first spring alone serves to
weigh small loads up to a certain fixed limit; for loads between this limit and
another higher one, the second spring operates together with the first one; after-
wards a third spring may come into action together with the first and second one,
and so on.
Instead of each single spring a pair of springs or a set of more than
two may be used.
The frame or other part carrying the pan for the article to be weighed, is per-
manently suspended to the first spring as usual. The second spring, or each of
them, when a pair is used, is provided at its lower end with a pin having a head
and passing through a hole in the frame, the said head being at a certain distance
from the part of the frame immediately above it. With this arrangement the
second spring will come into operation when the weight of the load on the pan is
greater than the weight required to make the frame descend by the distance
originally left between the frame and the said pin heads. Any additional springs
may be arranged in a like manner.
If preferred, the disposition may be inverted by attaching the pins to the
frame and fixing to the springs a part having holes in it through which the pins
pass.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Carl Pieper in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th September
1883.
"
CARL PIEPER, Civil Engineer and Patent - Agent, resident at 109-110
Gneisenau-Strasse Berlin S.W; Prussia; "IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRING-SCALES,"
a communication to me from Emil Ubrig of Moabit-Berlin, kingdom of Prussia
and so on.
here-
This invention relates to spring-scales or balances, and the improvement consists
in providing the balance with two or more springs which are so arranged that they
will come into action successively; that is to say:-the first spring alone serves to
weigh small loads up to a certain fixed limit; for loads between this limit and
another higher one the second spring operates together with the first one;
after a third spring may come into action, together with the first and second one,
This arrangement allows the divisions on the index-plate to be made
large for small weights, so that these may be determined with greater accuracy
than is possible on other spring balances adapted to weigh a like maximum load.
On the other hand the weights of large as well as of small loads are indicated on
the same graduated arc; so that, in comparison to balances having two parallel
Instead of each
series of divisions, the reading of the indications is facilitated.
single spring of the said combination, a pair of springs, or a set of more than two
may be used.
The invention is represented on the annexed sheet of drawings. Fig: 1 is a
front elevation of a balance involving the said improvements. (In this figure the
index-plate has been divided for kilograms and grams; it is however evident that
the same may as well be adapted for pounds and ounces, or other units and
fractions thereof.) Fig: 2 is an elevation representing the balance without index-
plate and pointer, in order to show the interior mechanism. Fig: 3 is a transverse
sectional clevation of the balance-case and side view of the mechanism. Fig: 4
represents a modified arrangement in sectional elevation seen from the back.
As in other spring-balances, the pan d, on which is to be placed the load to be
weighed, or the receptacle e, containing the same, is carried by a stem springing
forth from a frame c. This frame guided in the usual manner by two pairs of
radius-rods a, b and a', b' and it is permanently suspended by an arm f to the
spring 9, which may be attached with its upper end to any fixed part of the
balance-case, or, as is shown in the drawing, to a screw i adapted to be raised or
lowered by a nut h, the latter arrangement serving to adjust the pointer to zero
after the receptacle e, or other vessel for the load to be weighed, has been
put on the pan d. From the frame c motion is transmitted to the pointer in
known manner by a rack k and a pinion m; fixed on the axis of the pointer,
the said rack being pivoted to the frame and pressed against the pinion by the
spring l
The strength of the spring g is such that, under the influence of a small weight,
it will expand sufficiently to make the pointer turn by a considerable angle, so as
to allow the weight to be determined with accuracy in small fractions of a pound
or kilogram, &c. (According to the drawing the motion of the pointer for 1
kilogram is supposed to be from 0 to 1.).
When the weight of the load fixed upon as the maximum weight to be borne
by the spring g alone, is exceeded, the two springs G G come into action. These
springs are suspended to the fixed studs n n, and they carry at their lower end the
pins o, o, having the heads o¹, o'. The said pins pass through holes in the lugs q q
forming part of the frame c, and the distance of the heads o' o¹ from the lugs q q
is such, that the latter will touch the said heads when the load has attained the

page_text: limit up to which the spring g, is to act alone; that is when, in the special case
supposed above, the pointer is at 1. Any additional load will then cause the
entire load to bear on the three springs together. In consequence thereof the
amount by which the frame c is now depressed and the pointer moved forward by
every unit of weight, will be less than before in proportion as the strength of the
three springs combined is greater than the strength of the spring g alone, and in
the same proportion the corresponding divisions of the index-plate have to be
arranged. The part of the graduated arc on which are marked the greater
weights, thus forms a continuation of the other part, so that the pointer will
always be opposite to one point of division only. This is an advantage which
the balance presents over certain other spring-balances having two series of
divisions, one within the other, as these always constitute a source of errors.
In order to prevent the springs G from becoming detached from the studs n,
when the balance is packed for conveyance, or by any accident whatever, light
spiral springs r, by preference of conical form, may be placed on the pins o between
the lugs q and the pin-heads o¹, and in the said heads recesses may be provided
to contain the springs when the lugs bear against the heads. It is advantageous
to make the heads o¹ adjustable on the pins o, so that their distance from the lugs
may be regulated.
In the modified arrangement shown by Fig: 4, a single spring G¹ is employed
instead of the two springs G G of the balance described first. The spring G¹
surrounds the spring g, which is arranged as before, and it is, or may be suspended,
in a like manner as the latter, to the adjusting screw i. The disposition of the
parts by which the load, when it exceeds a certain weight, is brought to bear on
the spring G', is, in this case, an inversion of the foregoing. The pins o are fixed
to the frame c,. and they pass upwards through holes in the lugs p' forming part
of a sleeve p attached to the lower end of the spring G. The heads o' of the pins o
will thus bear from above on the lugs p¹ when the frame c has descended by a
certain amount, and the spring G¹ is required to cooperate with the spring g.
It is evident that other springs, or pairs, or sets of springs may be arranged to
cooperate successively with the springs g and G G, or G', and in a similar manner
as has been explained in respect to the latter.
Having thus described the nature and object of this invention and the manner
in which it is to be carried out in practice, I hereby claim as new and important
features of the same:
In a spring balance the combination with the frame or part c, and the spring or
springs g permanently carrying the same, of one or more other springs, or pairs or
sets of springs so arranged that, at certain fixed stages of increase of the load, they
will enter one after the other into cooperation with the spring g and with such of
the other springs as already cooperate therewith, substantially as and for the
purpose specified.
In Witness whereof I the said Carl Pieper have hereunto set my hand and
seal this twentieth day of September in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and eighty three.
¸CARL PIETEK (L.S.)