AN IMPROVED WEIGHING MACHINE
Year: 1819

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AUGUSTUS
SIEBE, of No. (6), Crown Street, Soho, County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fifth day of April, in
the fifty-ninth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said Augustus
Siebe, my exors, adiňors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Augustus Siebe, my exors, admors,
and assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED WEIGHING MACHINE;"
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the said
Augustus Siebe, shall not particularly describe and ascertain 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, and 'cause the same to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then.
the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby.
granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the.
same, relation being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Augustus Siebe, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,

page_text: and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in the following description thereof, and annexed
Drawings (that is to say)
My improved weighing machine consists of a box or frame, of any convenient
shape and size, and containing a spring or springs of an oval form, thick at the top
bottom, and gradually diminishing in substance towards the sides; or, instead
of an oval form, the spring or springs may be bent in various shapes, so as that
the effect of an endless spring be preserved (which is the leading principle of
my Invention). This spring is to be attached at the upper side to the handle
or pendant of the machine (having a joint or not at pleasure), which passes
through the rim of the box or frame, and also the spring must be attached on
the lower side to a pendant rod with a hook or ring at bottom for the purpose
of suspending a scale weight or power. At the upper end of the last-mentioned
pendant rod is an arm connecting with a lever which is fixed upon the centre
arbor, which arbor carries a hand or index moving upon a dial plate, and indi-
cating the weight or power exerted by the pull of the pendant rod, and the
consequent lateral extension of the spring. Or, instead of the aforesaid lever,
I can apply a tooth rack, to be attached to the pendant rod to work into a
pinion upon the centre arbor, and by the pull of the pendant rod this rack will
cause the hand or index to point out the weight which is applied. At the
bottom or heel of the rack is a small spring to keep the rack acting upon the
pinion. For the purpose of regulating or giving additional power to the main
spring or springs, which may under some circumstances be necessary, I place a
small spring acting against the main spring, so as to give strength or support
to it in the event of its elongating or altering its power of action; but I do not
confine myself to the peculiar form of spring set forth in my Drawings, as a
great variety of form may be adopted to effect the purpose of regulating the
power. The dial plate is to be attached to the box or frame by means of a
groove cut in the inside of the box, there being several opening to admit the
cocks upon the dial plate to drop into and turn round within the groove.
The machine is also applicable to ascertaining the speed of a ship or boat
on its passage, for which purpose I suspend it in a carriage that enables the
machine to move in every direction by means of two standards, with pivots, for
the vertical motion of the carriage, and a centre pin or axis attached to
the box, falling into a socket in the carriage, for the horizontal motion
of the machine. This being done a line is attached to the ring at the lower
end of a pendant rod, and a float (of a conical or any other desirable form) at
the other end of the said line falling into the water meets with a resistance in
passing through the water proportionate to the velocity of the vessel; this

page_text: resistance acting upon the spring or springs within the machine by the means
before described, the weight or force which is commensurate to the velocity of
the vessel's motion will be indicated by the hand upon the dial plate, which has
graduated divisions suited to this purpose. The dial plates used for weighing
or ascertaining power, as well as those for indicating the velocity of a ship's
motion, must be divided from actual experiment; as the elasticity and power.
vary in springs, as well as the weight and bouyancy of floats, no determinate
rule or scale can be laid down for making the divisions upon the dial plate..
Fig. 1 represents a horizontal view of the machine, the interior beeng
supposed to be seen through the dial plate; this is that construction intended
expressly for determining the velocity of a vessel's motion.
Fig. 2 represents the machine as intended for weighing; the dial plate being.
removed the internal construction is seen. A is the main spring or springs,
either oval, or of any other endless form, the same letters referring respectively
to the same parts in every Figure. (a) is the adjusting or compensation
spring. B, the snail which forces or raises the adjusting spring against the
main spring. C, the handle or pendant by which the machine is held
or suspended, with or without a joint at C. D, the pendant rod, to which the
scale weight or power is suspended. E, the arm attached to the pendant rod,
and connected with the lever F. F, the lever upon the arbor or axis G. G,.
the arbor or axis that carries the index or hand, supported by H, the cock.
I, the hand or index moving upon the dial plate. K, the dial plate, with its
graduations. L, the tooth rack, as applied in Fig. 2, with the beel spring.
M, the heel spring, to keep the rack up to the pinion. N, the pinion upon.
the axis or arbor G, that carries the index I instead of the lever F, Fig. 1, and
supported by the cock II.
Fig. 3 is a side view or section of part of the frame or box and dial plate,
in which Fig. (o) shews the edge of the dial plate; (P), the cock or catch for
fastening it to the case or rim of the box by these cocks falling into the
notches (q) of the rim or frame of the box or case R.
Fig. 4 is a front view of a dial plate, differing in form to that of Fig. 1, and
calculated for the plate of Fig. 2.
Fig. 5 is a view looking upon the top or bottom of the main spring, and
shewing that form which I prefer. S is the part above and below, at which
the pendants C and D are attached to the main spring. T denotes the thick
part of the spring.
,
Fig. 6 shews the pinion N and cock H detached, with part of the index I.
Fig. 7 is a side view of the pendant rod D, and rack L connected to it as
at Fig. 2.

page_text: Fig. 8 shews the pendant rod D as connected with the arm E and lever F
upon the arbor G, as seen. in Fig. 1, turning the index I.
Fig. 9 represents the lever F upon the axis or arbor G, supported by the
cock H and part of the box frame R.
Fig. 10 a section of the machine Fig. 1, shewing the standards V, V, the
carriage W, W, suspended and swinging upon the pivots at x, x, and the pin
Y fixed in the bottom of the box working in the socket of the carriage Z,
to enable the machine to vibrate horizontally.
Fig. 11, an end view of the standard frame V.
Fig. 12 is a representation of a float.
Fig. 13, a compensation spring, to keep the main spring at its proper degree
of tension in the event of its being affected by temperature, which compensa-
tion spring is to be made of two or more metals of dissimilar expansibility.
In witness whereof, I, the said Augustus Siebe, party hereto, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and nineteen.
AUGUSTUS (L.S.) SIEBE.
AND BE IT. REMEMBERED, that on the Fifth day of June, in the
year of our Lord 1819, the aforesaid Augustus Siebe came before our