AN IMPROVED BALANCE, WITH INDEX, FOR WEIGHING RAILWAY PASSENGERS' LUGGAGE
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Abraham Cohn Herrmann, of Berlin, in the Kingdom
of Prussia, Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED BALANCE, WITH
INDEX, FOR WEIGHING RAILWAY PASSENGERS' LUGGAGE."
Sealed the 20th October 1865, and dated the 21st April 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Abraham Cohn Herrmann
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st April 1865.
I, ABRAHAM COHN HERRMANN, of Berlin, in the Kingdom of Prussia,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IN-
PROVED BALANCE, WITH INDEX, FOR WEIGHING RAILWAY PASSENGERS' LUGGAGE," to
be as follows:-
This Invention relates to an improved construction of balance, with index,
for weighing passengers' luggage, dispensing with the use of weights. The
apparatus consists of a vertical beam resting by means of wedge-shaped
bearings or knife edges on two horizontal steel bearings. An arm projects
perpendicularly from the beam at a point just below its bearings, and is
provided with a similar knife-edged rest, from which a rod descends with a
hook for carrying the scale board or tray and article to be weighed. A counter-
weight is set at the lower end of the vertical beam, and thus the centre of
gravity of the whole moving part of the apparatus is just above the counter-
weight. A slot is formed in the upper part of the beam, in which a pulley or
roller is arranged and fastened to a travelling carriage supported on a horizontal
rail, the upper part of which is formed of a rack, into which a pinion gears

page_text: carrying a pointer or hand on the face of an index. When the horizontal
arm is weighted the vertical beam assumes an angle in proportion to such
weight, and the traveller is moved accordingly, thus moving the index pointer
to the divisions of the indicator and shewing the weight of the article in
the scale.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Abraham Cohn Herrmann in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 21st October 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ABRAHAM
COHN HERRMANN, of Berlin, in the Kingdom of Prussia, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Abraham Cohn Herrmann, Her special licence that I, the said
Abraham Cohn Herrmann, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Abraham Colin Herrmann, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED BALANCE, WITH INDEX, FOR WEIGHING
RAILWAY PASSENGERS' LUGGAGE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Abraham Cohn Herrmann, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to
be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Abraham Cohn Herrmann, do hereby
declare the nature of my said 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 an improved construction of balance, with index,
for weighing railway passengers' luggage, dispensing with the use of weights.

page_text: The apparatus consists of a vertical beam resting by means of wedge-shaped
bearings or knife edges on two horizontal steel bearings. An arm projects
perpendicularly from the beam at a point just below its bearings, and is
provided with a similar knife-edged rest, from which a rod descends with a
hook for carrying the scale board or tray and article to be weighed. A counter-
weight is set at the lower end of the vertical beam, and thus the centre of
gravity of the whole moving part of the apparatus is just above the counter-
weight. A slot is formed in the upper part of the beam, in which a pulley
or roller is arranged and fastened to a travelling carriage supported on a
horizontal rail, the upper part of which is formed of a rack, into which a
pinion gears carrying a pointer or hand on the face of an index. When the
horizontal arm is weighted the vertical beam assumes an angle in proportion
to such weight, and the traveller is moved accordingly, thus moving the index
pointer to the divisions of the indicator, and shewing the weight of the article
in the scale.
Fig. 1 of the annexed Drawings represents an elevation of the apparatus,
Fig. 2 being a longitudinal section of the same; and Fig. 3 a ground plan;
Fig. 4 is an elevation of a portion of the balance, drawn full size; and Fig. 5
is a ground plan of the same. By reference to the annexed Drawings the
foregoing description will be readily understood, and the action of the apparatus
will be evident.
I do not limit myself to the precise detail and configuration of parts I bave
expressed and shewn, as the same may obviously be varied or modified without
in any degree departing from the principles on which the Invention is based;
but what I claim and desire to be secured to me by the herein in part recited
Letters Patent are, the general arrangement and combination of parts consti-
tuting the improved balance with index for weighing railway passengers'
luggage, substantially as herein specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Abraham Cohn Herrmann, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
J. H. F. PRILLWITZ,
ABRAHAM COHN HERRMANN. (L.S.)
Berlin, 145, Linden Street.