AN IMPROVED PLAN OF MAKING, ADJUSTING, AND STAMPING SCALE WEIGHTS
Year: 1801

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WILSON, of the City of Edinburgh, in the County of Mid-Lothian, Smith,
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 Thirtieth day of April, in the
forty-first year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said William Wilson,
His especial licence that I, the said William Wilson, during the term of years'
therein mentioned, should and lawfully might use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN
IMPROVED PLAN OF MAKING, ADJUSTING, AND STAMPING SCALE WEIGHTS;" in which
said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said William
Wilson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to cause a
particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within one calendar month after the date of the said recited Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Wilson, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described
by the Drawings hereunder, and the following description thereof, that is.
to say:-

page_text: My high scale weights, such us have always been used with handles, of one
pound and upwards, are made solely of hard and durable metals without any
addition of lead. They are adjusted and stamped by means of a small piece
of indestructible metal inserted into or fixed upon the cast-iron body of the
weight. Their form is peculiar in several respects, and they are finished
without the assistance of any metal softer than wrought-iron. My flat pile
weights, of four ounces and upwards, are likewise adjusted and stamped by
attaching to them a piece of metal harder than lead, yet capable of receiving
the impression made by the stamps. When a high weight of the kind here
described is cast in sand or in a metallic mould, an opening, which appears in
Figure 1, is left in it, of any form that will suit its position, of a sufficient
deepness, for the purpose of adjusting, and its surface large enough to contain
the stamps, which opening is afterwards exactly filled with a piece of metal,
represented by Figure 2, heavier or lighter as may be necessary, to render the
weight perfectly conformable to the standard; when the adjusting metal is too
heavy, its weight is diminished by filing off part of its bottom, or giving it feet,
as in Figure 3, in order to lessen its size without reducing its height, or by
placing below it, for the same purpose, a bit of rolled iron, more or less turned
up or down at both ends, as in Figures 4 and 5; upon the first-mentioned piece
of metal, either cold or hot, the stamps are impressed which ascertain the
number of pounds, and shew the maker's name or initials. The metal used
for adjusting and stamping is fixed by two iron pins put into the body of the
weight when it is cast. These pins, which are distinctly seen in Figure 1, go
through the piece of metal, and are rivetted on the outer side or fixed in any
other sufficient manner; when a piece of metal is placed upon the surface of the
weight, the method of fixing it is precisely the same, only it is attached to a flat
weight, by making the rivetts go intirely through the weight itself, and it may
be fixed to a high weight in the same manner. It is not improbable, however,
that with respect to the latter, the following method may be adopted :-The
weight to be cast with a dove-tailed aperture in its top and side, as represented
by Figure 6, a piece of metal represented by Figure 7, to be fitted to the aper-
ture and put it from the top, and in order to prevent its moving upwards a
screw nail to be fixed in the upper part of the piece of metal, with its point
inserted into the body of the weight. In this case the stamps are partly on
the top and partly on the side, and the weight of this piece-of adjusting metal
is varied by hollowing or filing off a part of it behind, as in Figure 8. A
weight cast with such an opening as I have described may be adjusted and
stamped by means of lead, brass, and various other metals, and perhaps even

page_text: substances which are not metallic, or compounded substances might be
found to answer those purposes. The opening may be situated in any
part of the weight. The piece of metal with which the opening is
filled may be fixed by nuts and screws, and by other methods, or a piece
of another form may be attached to the surface of the weight in any way
that may be thought proper. The weight, moreover, may be adjusted
by reducing its wrought-iron handle, upon which also the stamps may be
mmpressed, the ring being properly formed for that purpose. But the metals
which I prefer are wrought iron or steel, the substitution of an indestructible-
substance in place of lead being intended to prevent any deviation from the
standard by common wear, while everything else is so contrived as to render it
impossible to mutilate the weight without putting it in the power of any oue
who examines it merely by ocular inspection to detect the fraud. For the
cast-iron part of the weight admits of no diminution without having its
surface and its form visibly marred, and the wrought-iron cannot be filed or
lessened in any way without defacing the stamps; even the heads of the rivets
and screw nails are secured by being stamped after the weight is finished, and
a stamp is likewise put upon each handle. I rivet the adjusting metal flush
with the surface of. a high weight, but raised somewhat above that of a flat
one, and I put it into the upper part of the body of the weight where the
stamps are most advantageously situated. With respect to the form of my.high
weights, the round shape in common use is adopted with the following altera-
tions and improvements:-Their tops are considerably elevated, (as repre-
sented by Figure 1,) that the dust may casily fall off, for hollow tops seem as if
they had been contrived for the purpose of retaining it, and must either make
the weights heavier than the standard, or. by occasioning frequent cleaning
reduce them below it. The edges are likewise rounded off in order to prevent
then from being chipped; for the same reasons, beads and mouldings are
excluded, as are all other ornaments except an elegant simplicity of form.
A variety of figure is nevertheless made subservient to another useful
purpose. The avoirdupois are distinguished from the Dutch weights by a
remarkable difference of form, the tops of the one being conical, and those of
the other convex, while the degree of elevation is the same in both. My
Invention, however, as it respects the manner of adjusting and stamping,
extends to every form in which scale weights can be made. I likewise prefer
the above method of adjusting weights by means of a piece of hard and
durable metal susceptible of stamps, to that of reducing a mere cast-iron
weight by turning, or filing, or grinding, till it be made conformable to the

page_text: standard. But the only cast-iron scale weights which have hitherto been
adjusted without lead are flat pile weights. High scale weights, the bodies of
which consist solely of cast-iron, are therefore included in my improvement.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Wilson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-second day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and one.
presence of
JAMES MERCER,) of the City of Edinburgh, Writers.
WM SCOTT,
James Mercer, of the City of Edinburgh, Writer, maketh oath and saith,
that he did sec William Wilson, in the Deed Poll hereunto annexed named,
sign, seal, and as his act and deed in due form of law deliver, the said Deed
Poll in the presence of William Scott, of the said City of Edinburgh, Writer,.
and this deponent; and that the name William Wilson, appearing to be set
and subscribed at the foot, and on the margin of the said Deed Poll, as the
party executing the same, and the names of the said William Scott and the
deponent, subscribed to the said Deed Poll as witnesses attesting the due
execution of the same, are of the respective proper handswriting of the said
William Wilson, William Scott, and this deponent.
JANES MERCED
Sworn at Edinburgh, the Twenty-third day of May 1801.
W FETTES, Chief Magistrate.