A New Method of Teaching Weights and Measures.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Dec., 1887
Complete Left, 29th Dec., 1887
Complete Accepted, 3rd Feb., 1888
A New Method of Teaching Weights and Measures.
GEORGE EVANS, 113 Cannon Street, London, Publisher, and FREDERICK WILLIAM
LEVANDER, 30 North Villas, Camden Square, London, Gentleman do hereby declare
the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
To enable children more clearly to understand the actual weights and measures
used in trade in this country, and consists in the substitution of Models and
Apparatus for the "Tables of Weights and Measures" ordinarily employed.
By the use of Models and Apparatus, brought together under this system, the
actual and relative values of measures of length, volume, capacity and weight. are
made intelligible to the pupil who is afforded the means of practical demonstration.
The system is capable of meeting the requirements of daily life as well as those of
scientific subjects. In treating of the latter separate Models explanatory of the Metric
System are introduced.
GEORGE EVANS, 113 Cannon Street, London, Publisher, and FREDERICK WILLIAM
LEVANDER, 30 North Villas, Camden Square, London, Gentleman do hereby declare
the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
To enable children more clearly to understand the actual weights and measures
used in trade in this country, and consists in the substitution of Models and
Apparatus for the "Tables of Weights and Measures" ordinarily employed.
By the use of Models and Apparatus, brought together under this system, the
actual and relative values of measures of length, volume, capacity and weight are
made intelligible to the pupil who is afforded the means of practical demonstration.
The system is capable of meeting the requirements of daily life as well as those of
scientific subjects. In treating of the latter separate Models explanatory of the Metric
System are introduced.

page_text: GEORGE EVANS, 113 Cannon Street, London, Publisher and FREDERICK WILLIAM
LEVANDER 30 North Villas, Camden Square, London, Gentleman, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :—
:--
:-
This new method and the apparatus by means of which it is illustrated are more
particularly intended to enable children to understand the actual weights and measures
used in trade in the United Kingdom, and the method consists in the substitution of
certain specified apparatus for the "Tables of Weights and Measures ordinarily
employed but by its means also students may be educated in scientific subjects.
For ordinary purposes the following Collection of Apparatus is employed :-
Measures Yard Measure; Yard Measure with addendum and bob to form a
seconds pendulum, with bracket; Tape measure to show poles, links, yards, &c. ;
Block of Wood to show square foot, square inch, cubic inch Measures used in trade
for liquids Gallon, Half Gallon, Quart, Pint, &c.; Measures used in trade for dry
goods, Half Peck, Quart, Pint, &c.; Measures used by Chemists and Druggists;
Pair of
Weights: Avoirdupois weights used in trade; Troy weights used in trade;
Scales; Steelyard; Models for testing and verifying-Model to displace one cubic
foot Model to displace one imperial gallon &c.; Model to contain one cubic inch;
Sphere, Rectangular Prism, Cylinder, Conc, Quadrilateral Pyramid, each displacing
one tenth of a gallon; Charts:-Diagrams illustrating the actual measures and
weights used in trade in real size; Chart of certain Facts concerning the Earth, &c.;
Miscellaneous-Clock Face, Mariners' Compass-card, Figure of the Earth, Ther-
mometer, Hydrometer, Levelling-frame containing Plumb-line, Spirit-level. and
Vernier Pair of compasses with pen and pencil points.
When students are to be educated in scientific subjects separate Models of the
metre, kilogram, cubic decimetre, &c., are introduced.
"
All legal weights and measures used in the United Kingdom, and in all our
Colonies and Dependencies, are either copies of certain "Standards or Units, or
multiples or subdivisions of those Standards. The Units are the Yard, the Pound,
the Gallon, the Cubic Foot, the Cubic Inch, and the Square Inch, for Length,
Weight, Capacity, Cubic Measure, Volume and Superficies respectively.
The Yard is the distance at 62° F. between two lines on a certain bronze bar
deposited with the Standards Department of the Board of Trade. The pound is the
weight, at the same temperature, of a certain piece of platinum similarly deposited.
From these two Standards all our weights and measures are deduced.
The following connection is to be noted:-The Unit of Length 1 Yard, which is
sub-divided into 3 feet or 36 inches.
The Unit of Volume =
The Unit of Capacity
=
=
1 cubic inch, e.g.; a block measuring one inch each way.
1 gallon, which is a vessel of any shape containing exactly
10 lbs. weight of pure water at a temperature of 62° F. or 277 cubic inches.

page_text: =
1 lb. or
The Unit of Weight
of the weight of a gallon of pure water at the
temperature of 62° F.
The Unit of Length (the Yard) is exemplified by (1) a folding measure, (2) a tape
measure, and (3) a measure of rather more than a yard.
(1) The folding measure is used to teach the yard, the foot and the inch, as well as
the subdivision of the latter into eighths, tenths, and twelfths. The children can be
taught to measure and can then measure for themselves-the desks, the length and
breadth of the room, &c. They are thus enabled to improve their powers of estimating
the dimensions of other things.
(2) By the use of the tape measure the pupils are enabled to find the exact length
and breadth in poles, links, feet, &c., of the playground, in the same way as land,
brickwork, &c., is measured.
(3) The yard measure with an addendum of 3.14 in. gives the length of a seconds
pendulum in the latitude of London, and shows how the length of the yard could be
approximately derived from the length of the seconds pendulum. The addition of a
bob converts it into a pendulum. It may then be supported on its bracket and set
swinging. The Clock-face may then opportunely be introduced and attention directed
to the table of time, the mode of reading the Clock-face being explained. When
further advanced, the attention of the pupils can be directed to Longitude and other
matters. The Model of the Globe is then introduced, explanation given of the lines
drawn thereon, and the pupils prepared for the Chart containing "Facts concerning
the Earth" &c. The proper understanding of this involves a knowledge of angles.
Facts concerning angles and circles will be found on "The Mariners' Compass."
movable hand placed on the Compass is used for showing how angles are measured,
by taking any of the radii drawn-say at 360°-as the fixed arm of the angle.
A
The Unit of Superficies is the Square Inch. With the folding yard the pupils
measure the distances scored on the block of wood marked "Square Measure."
Having found these lines to be one inch apart, and the block itself to be one foot
square, the transition to Square Measure is obvious and can be practically demonstrated
by the children finding the square measure of their desks, playground, &c.
The Unit of Volume is the Cubic Inch. The pupils measure each way the thickness
of the movable block marked "one cubic inch." Then the metal cubic inch and its
case, one of the glass measures and a saucer are used. The measure is put in the
saucer and the former filled with water, the solid inch carefully immersed, then with-
drawn, the measure removed from the saucer, and the water that overflowed poured
into the cubic inch case, which it just fills. It will be found that the solid inch
displaces a cubic inch of water and that the case contains a cubic inch.
The Unit of Capacity is the gallon which holds 10 lbs. of water. The vessel marked
"10 gallon" (or 1 lb. weight of water) is filled ten successive times and emptied into
the Gallon measure. If a similar experiment to the one previously described but on
a large scale were made, using say, a bucket of water and a considerable number of
the little cubes and 277 of them were successively dropped into the water and also
the one of one quarter the size, it would be found that the overflow water would
exactly fill the same Gallon Measure.
To show that the solid which displaces gallon need not be a cube with all its
sides equal, the overflow experiment may be tried with the pyramid, cone, sphere,
prism, and cylinder respectively, or the height to which the water rises when
each of them is immersed in a partially filled vessel may be noted. Each of these
displaces 15 gallon.
To show that the gallon need not have the regular shape of the metal case, it may
be filled with water and its contents emptied into the largest of the liquid measures
used in trade. This latter will thus be exactly filled and shown to be "One
Imperial Gallon.”
Similar experiments can be made with the other measures.
The Unit of Cubic Measure is the Cubic Foot with the model of which the cubic
contents of a room can be ascertained.
The Unit of Weight is the pound Avoirdupois. This is divided into 7000 grains,

page_text: 480 of which make one ounce troy which is the standard unit of troy weight. By
means of the pair of scales on the Steelyard some weight may be found which will
equal the weight of the model containing 1 gallon. The latter being filled with
water, the water contained in it will be found to weigh exactly one pound.
Similar experiments can be made in illustration of the actual and relative values of
the avoirdupois and troy weights.
Miscellaneous. The Thermometer, showing the Fahrenheit and Centigrade Scales,
is to point out how variations of heat are measured, as for instance, to test the
temperature of various liquids as well as to teach the comparison between the two
scales. The Hydrometer employed displaces one fluid ounce of water at the standard
temperature of 62° F. By its use with other liquids, the foundation of a knowledge
of Specific Gravities is laid.
The Levelling-frame is to show that the use of the Plumb-line is identical with
that of the spirit level inserted in the base of the instrument. The method of reading
small parts of a divided straight line or arc is exemplified by the Vernier by means
of which the scale at the side can be read to '01 inch.
The Compass-card is to teach the principal and subsidiary points of the Compass,
as well as the mode of measuring angles, as previously mentioned.
The following which form part of the Collection of Apparatus and are mentioned
above in describing the Method of Teaching are now described at length-Yard
Measure with addendum and bob to form a seconds pendulum, with bracket. This is
a rod of steel or other material of the length of a seconds pendulum, the rod being
composed of two or more lengths rigidly united, having at one of its extremities a
bob of metal, which can be reinoved at pleasure, the weight of which is so adjusted
that the pendulum oscillates once in a second, when suspended from a bearing by
means of a metal cross-wire or of a knife-edge placed at the other extremity. At the
distance of exactly 36 inches from the point of suspension there is marked the true
length of the Standard Imperial Yard at the standard temperature of 62° F. and at
the distance of 39.14 inches from the point of suspension (or an extra length of
3.14 inches) there is marked the truo length of the seconds pendulum at the standard
temperature of 62° F.
The block of wood referred to under the head of Measures is a block or slab of
ground (or other material) one inch thick and twelve inches square. One side of it
is divided by means of cut lines into 144 parts representing "144 square inches," and
one of these parts is made to be removable so as to show and "determine" one cubic
inch or the unit of volume. By this means the relation between the square and
cubic measures is demonstrated. This block or slab is made to fit at pleasure to one
of the sides of a model containing one cubic foot.
The Model of the Cubic foot (referred to under the head of Models for testing
and verifying) has marked on it the various multiples of the square inch and the
cubic inch.
Into the Model containing a cubic foot a second model of a cubic foot is made
to fit by which the displacement of a volume equivalent to one cubic foot is
demonstrated.
These Models are made of metal, glass, wood, or other suitable material as are also
the following: A cubical model to contain of an Imperial Gallon as well as a
cubical model to displace a volume or measure equal to 1 of a gallon or one pound
weight of water at the standard temperature of 62° F. and five other solid models of
different shapes representing respectively a sphere, a rectangular prism, a cylinder, a
cone, a quadrilateral prism, cach of which also displaces 10 of a gallon or one pound
weight of water at the standard temperature of 62° F., showing that an equal volume
or measure is displaced whatever the shape of the model for displacement may be.
In addition to these and made of any of the substances previously mentioned are two
cubical models to displace respectively one cubic inch and 1 cubic inch.
"
The Clock-face referred to under "Miscellaneous" has the words "The Hour
"5 minutes past" "5 minutes to "&c. on an inner circle and the hands are of such a
shape as to conceal the words so that, after the pupils have been told and shown by

page_text: the words on the clock face what the time is when the hands are in certain positions,
they may be unable to see these words when the hands are thus placed. In the
corners are certain facts about time and longitude. The Mariners' Compass comprised
in the Collection has a movable hand for the purpose of showing how angles are
measured and is marked with certain information concerning angles and circles.
The Levelling-frame consists of a straight edge made of wood carrying a spirit-
level. To the straight edge are affixed two upright pieces grooved on their inner
sides. One of these upright pieces has marked on the front of it a linear scale of
inches and parts of inches. Between these upright pieces slide (a) a piece of wood
one inch in width, on the front of one end of which a subdivided inch is marked,
which subdivisions may be brought in the manner of a vernier opposite to the various
divisions marked on the above-described upright piano so as to teach the use of the
vernier; and (b) a second larger piece of wood carrying a plumb-line or bob, by
means of which the vertical position of the whole frame with respect to the spirit-
level in the base of the instrument may be determined. The separate uses of the
plumb-line and the Spirit-level are thus demonstrated.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is
The
Firstly Improvements in the method of teaching weights and measures.
said improvements consist in using for the purpose of instruction a Collection of
Models and other Appliances as hereinbefore described, in substitution for the ordinary
"Tables of Weights and Measures" and capable of application to ordinary as well as
to scientific subjects.
Secondly Improvements in the Apparatus used for the purpose of instruction in
relation to weights and measures. Such improvements consist in the invention of the
various appliances more particularly described in the foregoing: namely the Yard
Measure with addendum and bob to form a seconds pendulum; the block of wood (or
other material) to show square foot, square inch, cubic inch; the model of the cubic
foot as described hereinbefore, with its accompanying model to show displacement;
the cubical model to contain of an imperial gallon, the cubical model to dis-
place gallon, the five solid models representing respectively a sphere, a rectangular
prism, a cylinder, a cone, a quadrilateral prism to displace gallon respectively, the
two cubical models to displace respectively one cubic inch and cubic inch, the Clock
Face, as hereinbefore described and the Mariners' Compass, with movable hand, and
the Levelling frame, as also hereinbefore described.
Dated this 20th day of December 1887