IMPROVED APPARATUS, INSTRUMENT, OR MEANS FOR ASCERTAINING OR SETTING OFF THE SLOPE OR LEVEL OF DRAINS, BANKS, INCLINES, OR WORKS OF ANY DESCRIPTION, WHETHER NATURAL OR ARTIFICIAL, OR UNDER LAND OR WATER
Year: 1852

page_text: GILLESPIE'S
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
GILLESPIE, of Torbane Hill, Linlithgow, Scotland; send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Royal
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eight day of May, in the sixteenth year of Her reign,
and in the year of our Lord Eighteen hundred and fifty-two, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Gillespie, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence,.
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Gillespie,
my exors, admors, & assigns, and such others as I, the said William
Gillespie, my exors, admors, and assigns, should from time to time or
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years (to wit, 14 years, pursuant to the Statute in that
case made and provided) therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within Her said Majesty's Kingdom of England, Her
Dominion of Wales, in the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Islands of
Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all Her Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS,
INSTRUMENT, OR MEANS FOR ASCERTAINING OR SETTING OFF THE SLOPE OR LEVEL
OF DRAINS, BANKS, INCLINES, OR WORKS OF ANY DESCRIPTION, WHETHER NATURAL OR
ARTIFICIAL, OR UNDER LAND OR WATER;" and whereas, in the Royal Letters
Patent herein-before mentioned is contained a clause providing that I, the

page_text: said William Gillespie shall, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, cause a particular description of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, made, or carried into practical effect, to be
enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said herein part recited
Letters Patent, as in and by, reference being had thereto, will more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Gillespie, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention of
"Improved Apparatus, Instrument, or Means for Ascertaining or Setting off
the Slope or Level of Drains, Banks, Inclines, or Works of any Description,
whether Natural or Artificial, or under Land or Water;" and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the illustrative Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters of
reference marked thereon. My Invention consists in the novel form and
construction of an instrument or implement for measuring and levelling, which
I term the "patent inclinometer," as explained by the accompanying Drawing
and description,
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
A, A, A, A, Figure 1, represent a frame of wood, or other material, the
upper and lower bars of which must be parallel to each other; B, B, is a
piece or bar of wood or other material, hinged on the upper part of the frame
A at C, the use of which will be explained below. E is a T square or level,
which passes through and rests upon the piece B. On one side of the T square
there is a scale F; and G, G, is a plumb line and plummet or pendulum,
attached to the T square; H is a sector or quadrant fixed on the piece B,
passing through the frame A, and it is held in any required position by means
of the screw or button I. Instead of a T square or level, a common level may
be used and placed upon the top of the bar B, a separate scale being in that
case attached to the loose end of the bar B. The following is an example of
the mode of using an instrument shuch as shewn in the Figures:-The incli-
nometer being placed with its bottom bar upon a sloping ground or place, and
the sector side uppermost, as shewn in Figure 2, the upper parallel B will
represent the amount of the slope of the ground or place upon which the
instrument is placed. I then unscrew the button or screw, I raise the piece
B, and with it the T square until the plumb line or pendulum G attached
thereto hangs true, and fasten the sector H by the screw J. The space inter-

page_text: vening between the ends of the two top bars A and B, next to the T square,
will then be measured or indicated by the scale F, which will then show the
amount of the slope or variation from a level or horizontal line, not only of the
upper bar and the lower bar (which are parallel to each other), but also of the
ground or place upon which the instrument rests. And supposing the scale to
show a space of 2 inches between the ends of the two upper bars, and supposing
the length of the upper bar A to be 2 feet, it is evident the amount or rate of
slope as measured or indicated by the instrument, will be 2 inches in 2 feet.
When the instrument is used under water the plumb line may be covered with
glass to preserve it from the action of the water.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same may be used, I would here remark that I do not confine myself
to the precise form or size shewn in the Drawing, nor do I confine my
Invention to any particular shape or description of parallel bars, square
pendulum, or plummet; nor do I restrict the application thereof to any
particular classes of operations; but what I do claim is, the construction
of an instrument or apparatus with two parallel bars, to the upper of which a
moveable bar is hinged or applied so that one end of it may be elevated into a
level position, and the space between the open ends of the bars measured, for
the purpose of ascertaining or setting off slopes or levels, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Gillespie, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of November, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty twe