IMPROVEMENTS IN APPA- wwwww Dan on Men
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Le Mesurier, of Pau, Basses
Pyrenees, France, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPA-
wwwww Dan on Men"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Le
Mesurier at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 7th April 1853.
I, FREDERICK DE MESURIER, of Pau, Basses Pyrenees, France, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR MEASURING AND INDICATING A GIVEN PERIOD OF TIME" to be
as follows:-
This Invention consists of combining the use of two tubes on an
axis, the one being inclined, and having a bulb at each end, to contain
sand; the other contains a ball; and the parts are so balanced that the
ball retains the apparatus from movement till the sand has run into the
lower bulb, when the extra weight at that end of the apparatus causes
the tube containing the ball to incline; the ball will then move, and the
whole apparatus also.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Frederick Le Mesurier, in the Great Seal Patent
Office, on the 7th October 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
FREDERICK LE MESURIER, of Pau, Basses Pyrenees, France, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Frederick Le Mesurier, Her special licence
that I, the said Frederick Le Mesurier, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Frederick Le Mesurier, 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
" IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING AND INDICATING A GIVEN
PERIOD OF TIME," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Frederick Le Mesurier, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, 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 Frederick Le Mesurier, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof (that is to say):
This Invention consists of combining the use of two tubes on
an axis; the one being inclined, and having a bulb at each end, to
contain sand; the other contains a ball; and the parts are so balanced
that the ball retains the apparatus from movement till the sand has run

page_text: into the lower bulb, when the extra weight at that end of the apparatus
causes the tube containing the ball to incline; the ball will then move,
and the whole apparatus also.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same.
The Invention is applicable, amongst other uses, to the giving notice
by the striking of an alarum, of the expiration of a given period of
time; and the drawing shows my Invention in combination with such
an apparatus.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
A, A, is a stand made of metal or wood, supporting two uprights
B, B. C, is a tube, made of tin plate, or any other metal, containing
a metallic ball. D, is an arched cross piece of steel, with straight ends,
which bear on holes in the uprights B, B; this cross piece is firmly fixed
to the centre of the tube C. E, E, are glass bulbs, containing a quan-
tity of metallic or other sand, and connected together by a glass tube,
so that the sand may run from one bulb to the other; this glass tube,
for about an inch, is covered by a metallic tube F, which at its centre
is firmly affixed to the centre of the tube C. G, is an upright flat
spring, on which rests one end of the tube C. H, is a bell, fixed on
the nearest upright B. I, is a spring hammer, and K, is a lever fixed
to the nearest end of the cross bearing D.
The action of the instrument is as follows:-The incline of the
tube C, being in a direction from a, to y, the ball contained therein will
be found at the end y, resting on the upright spring G. The sand will
be flowing from the upper to the lower bulb, and, as soon as the lower
bulb becomes heavier than the ball at y, it will overbalance, and cause
the plane of the tube C, to be from y, to a; the ball will then move
with velocity from y, to a, the weight of which, together with the
weight of the sand then having run into the lower bulb, will cause a
rotation of several degrees, by which the lever K, will raise and
liberate the spring hammer I, which, striking the bell H, will indicate
that a given period of time has elapsed. The instrument is again set

page_text: by bringing the end of the tube to rest upon the spring G, which it will
pass with ease; the sand will then again commence flowing, and the
same results will be obtained as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Le Mesurier, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of October, in 5
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-.
three.
Witness, GEORGE PITT.
FREDERICK LE MESURIER. (L.S.)