Improvements in Weighing Scales or Balances.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Jan., 1888
Complete Left, 31st Jan., 1888
Complete Accepted, 2nd Mar., 1888
Improvements in Weighing Scales or Balances.
I, GEORGE FREDERICK REDFERN, of the firm of G. F. Redfern & Co., the General
Patent Office, No. 4, South Street, Finsbury, in the County of Middlesex, Patent
Agents, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (a communication from abroad
by Waddy C. Thomson of Lancaster, County of Lancaster, South Carolina, United
States of America) to be as follows
-
This invention relates to improvements in weighing scales or balances.
The lever beam slides in a balancing box suspended on hangers to change the
fulcrum and has a fixed weight at one end and a stop piece at the other end.
A buffer above the box prevents undue tilting, a lower one arrests sliding at the zero
point. The whole may be arranged to swivel on upper hanger, knife edges on box, or
on bars dovetailed therein.
L aul
ז'ר
1000
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: Improvements in Weighing Scales or Balances.
1, GEORGE FREDERICK REDFERN, of the firm of G. F. Redfern & Co., the General
Patent Office, No. 4, South Street, Finsbury, in the County of Middlesex, Patent
Agents, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (a communication from abroad
by Waddy C. Thomson of Lancaster, County of Lancaster, South Carolina, United
States of America) 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 weighing scales or balances and has for its object to
furnish a weighing apparatus of great efficiency and capacity with but few parts and
of economical construction.
Unlike most scales or steelyards, the scale-beam in my improved construction has
no fixed or unchanging fulcrum-point; but, on the contrary, it is arranged to slide or
shift in an appropriate suspended piece or box, so that at every sliding or shifting of
the same one end of the beam shall project more while the other end shall project
correspondingly less beyond the point of suspension; and another peculiarity is that
the weight by which is to be ascertained the weight of the article being weighed is
not only a constant, but is permanently fastened to one end of the sliding beam.
Thus no removeable weights or set of weights are required or used, and there is no
possibility therefore of the single weight employed becoming either lost or mislaid.
In the accompanying drawing
Figure 1 shows an apparatus in elevation embodying the principles of my invention
and serving to illustrate it, and
Figures 2 and 3 are views illustrating details.
A represents a box open at both ends, and in which snugly fits a slide beam
or bar C.
B is a buffer or stop-piece on top of the box, D is a hanger by which the whole
apparatus is suspended when being used, and E a similar hanger pendent from the
box and serving to hold the articles to be weighed.
F is a fixed and predetermined weight permanently fastened to one extremity of the
sliding beam C, and G is a light weight fastened on its other extremity. Each of
these weights also performs another duty of preventing the beam from accidentally
sliding entirely out of the supporting-box. Cross-pieces h connect together the side
pieces, d¹ and e¹ of the hangers D and E.
I and J respectively are bars for sustaining the hangers and for affording edges by
which the apparatus can be properly balanced while weighing.
K is a fixed stop or buffer on the under side of the slide-beam and near the larger
weight. F, and a is a projecting portion of the bottom of the box extending in a
direction toward the buffer K, and serving to limit the sliding movement of the beam C
when moved to the left, so that when K and a¹ are in contact the scale-beam shall be
in equilibrio, or hang at a level, when no object is being weighed. This projection a
also affords a means for attaching thereto one or more fixed indices or pointers / and

page_text: which, when the parts a¹ and K are in contact will indicate the zero-point of the
graduated scale on the beam; and it also affords ample room for convenient handling
and pushing in or pulling out the beam without cramping the fingers, and without
risk of disturbing the pointer or pointers, while at the same time distinctly exposing
the zero-point to view."
The bars I, J, excepting at their projecting extremities, are made dovetailed or
triangular in cross section, as shown, and are inserted lengthwise—that is, are pushed
in end wise into correspondingly-shaped grooves made, respectively, in the top and
bottom of the box at appropriate places therein. Their form thus prevents their being
pulled out by any downward strain or stress of the articles being weighed, inasmuch
as the width of the groove is materially less at its mouth than at its opposite side or
base. These bars I prefer to make of steel or hardened steel, while the box itself may
be made of any suitable metal or other material. In some cases if desired, the
bars I. J and their corresponding grooves in the box may be dispensed with, and
instead the projecting extremities for the hangers may be made integral with the
box or cast in one with it.
When made separately and inserted in the grooves, the bars I, J are secured in
position by screws or any other suitable fastenings.
The buffer B may, if desired, be made separately from and then fastened on top of
the box, or it may be cast or made integral with it and with the bottom projection a¹.
It is formed with a recess or open space in its top as shown, of such depth that its
parts 61 and 62 at the sides of this recess will arrest and limit the downward swing or
tilting of the beam and box by bringing one of these parts 61 and 62 into contact with
the cross-piece of the upper hanger D.
In the normal position of the parts, the slide-beam being pushed to the left as far as
it can go, the pointer indicates zero, the beam hangs horizontally, and the tips of the
parts 6 and 62 are equidistant from the cross-piece h of the hanger D.
I prefer to make the hangers D and E each of three pieces, namely: of two side
pieces (marked in figure as d', those of E being marked e¹) and of the already-
named cross-piece h, and each of these side pieces has at its free end a slot or
opening, d² or e², respectively, to receive the bearing ends of the cross-pieces I and J,
and the bearing parts of these slots should be curved or rounded, that the apparatus
may always hang correctly with respect to these hangers. These side pieces d¹ and el
respectively, are preferably provided with small holes d* to receive a shouldered rod p
screw-threaded at each end for connecting together these three pieces, nuts being
applied to the threads of the rod, and they are also preferably made with slots or
mortices d³ and e³ into which the ends of the cross-piece / enter.
The poise F is designedly so shaped as to project both above and below or at
opposite sides of the slide-beam to which it is affixed. It thus affords a handle easily
grasped whereby the beam may be pushed in or pulled out of its box or support.
The projection a' on the box besides serving as a stop and as a means for attaching an
index hand or pointer, also performs another important duty, to wit: it forms a con-
tinuation of the lower bed or support on which the sliding beam rests and moves, and
consequently materially contributes to keeping the beam in its proper normal position
parallel with the bore of the box, and thus preventing its being tilted relatively
thereto, and thereby binding against the upper edge of the left-hand mouth of the
bore or opening of the box, and correspondingly against the lower edge of the
right-hand mouth.
Each hanger D and E has an appropriate hook, m or m², the one for upholding the
apparatus when in use and the other for hanging thereon the articles to be weighed.
I prefer to attach the hook to the upper hanger, so that the whole apparatus may
swing around on it; and to do this a simple and effective way is to make a vertical
hole through the part h large enough to insert the shank of the hook loosely therein,
and provide this shank with screw thread or threads and with nuts m², one above and
one below this cross piece or part h.
;
It will now be seen that the beam is not fulcrumed or pivotted, but the box is
that no detached or removeable weights are employed, a single and fixed weight being

page_text: used instead; that a short beam, even with this single weight is efficient, because
upon sliding one end of the beam and its weight F farther out from the box the
leverage at that end of the beam is proportionately lengthened or increased; while the
leverage and weight of that part of the beam at the opposite side of the box are
proportionately shortened or diminished. Every shifting of the beam therefore
produces a double effect-that is, the effect which would result from merely
lengthening practically one arm of the beam-lever by the shifting of the same is
proportionately added to or doubled by the corresponding shortening of the other
arm of this lever-beam.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is
1. In combination with the beam C and the box in which the same slides and the
hanger D, a buffer, B, surmounting the said box and provided with the upward
projections 1, 2 serving with the hanger as stops to limit the swing of the beam,
substantially as and for the purposes setforth.
2. In combination, the box, the buffer B, having the stops 61, 62, and a¹, and the
sliding beam having the fixed weights F and G at its respective ends, all substantially
as and for the purposes setforth.
3. In combination with the hangers D and E, the box A, provided with dovetailed
grooves, the cross-pieces I, J made dovetailed as described and fitting in the said
grooves and provided at their ends with edges serving as bearings for the said
hangers, all substantially as shown and described.
4. In combination with the box having the stops 61, 62 at its top and the pro-
jection a¹ at its bottom and a pointer on projection a¹, a beam having the fixed stop K
serving to limit the sliding movement of the beam and to insure the bringing of the
pointer to the zero-point.
5. In combination, the box with its stops 1, 2 and projection a', the hangers D
and E, the sliding non-fulcrumed scale-beam weighted, as setforth, and provided with
the stop K and the pointer 1, all substantially as setforth.
Dated the 31st day of January 1888.
G. F. REDFERN, & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London,
Agents for the Applicant.