IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR WEIGHING AND FOR MEASURING LIQUIDS
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Frederick Bolton at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th
December 1875.
I, FREDERICK BOLTON, of Weaste, in the County of Lancaster, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR WEIGHING AND FOR MEASURING LIQUIDS," to be as follows:-
.
My Invention consists, firstly, in constructing a steelyard or beam,
or a spring balance or counterpoise balance in a special manner for
weighing liquids, such as treacle, paint, and oil, which have to be put
in a vessel brought by the purchaser, which vessel has itself to be first
weighed or balanced before the article to be sold can be put in it and
weighed. The process of weighing treacle for instance is at present a
troublesome one, the vesssl brought by the purchaser for the conveyance
of the treacle has to be balanced on an ordinary scale at the expense of
an inconvenient amount of time and trouble, and the vessel has then to
be taken to the can in which the treacle is stored and brought back to
the scales, often having to be taken backwards and forwards several
times to have more put in or some taken out, and generally ending in
overweight and consequent loss to the seller..

page_text: I am
I will now describe one or two ways in which I propose to simplify
the process of weighing treacle and other liquids, and will suppose
dealing with treacle only.
In one arrangement I use an ordinary spring balance, but the index
plate I make to slide instead of being rigid as at present made, so that
its zero end can be moved up to the point of the finger when the latter
has been moved forward by the action of balancing the empty vessel;
the treacle can then be allowed to flow into the vessel until the finger
approaches the mark of 1lb. on the index plate (supposing that to be
the weight of treacle required) when the treacle is cut off at the right
mark, thus admitting of great accuracy with the least possible
amount of time and trouble. A clamp with lug corresponding to
the shape of the casing of spring is secured to the tap of the treacle can,
and the balance is dropped on to the lug and thus held in position. A
suitable weigh plate or scale pan is fitted to the balance, so that it will
hang directly under the tap of the treacle can. This weigh plate or
scale pan may be made plain as ordinarily, but I prefer to make it with
a hole in the centre, into which is fitted a little can to receive the
droppings of treacle which fall from the tap when the latter is not
in use.
In a second arrangement a steelyard or beam is employed; both ends
of which are fitted with a suitable weighing pan or plate, so that one
weigh plate will be under the tap of the can containing the syrup treacle,
and the other plate will be under the tap of the can containing the
black treacle. A slide weight is arranged to traverse the whole length
of the beam, so that when á jar or other vessel is placed upon either of the
weigh plates the sliding weight is moved along the beam until the jar
is balanced, when a weight corresponding to the amount of treacle
required is placed on the opposite plate to that on which the jar rests
and the tap over the jar being opened the treacle falls into the jar and
the tap is closed at the proper time.
In a third arrangement I construct a spring balance or a counterpoise
balance without any marks on the front plate indicating the different
weights. I attach a finger or pin to the spring, which finger or pin
moves in a slot in the front plate, and in the same slot or in a separate
slot I place a sliding finger or indicator fitted with a spring, so that the
finger or indicator will remain at any part of the slot to, which it is

page_text: moved. In weighing, say, 1lb. of treacle on a balance so constructed
both the jar and a 1lb. weight are placed on the weigh plate, when the
finger or pin in the spring will descend until both the jar and the weight
are balanced, the sliding finger or indicator is then moved up to the
finger in the spring, the weight is removed when the spring rises &
treacle is allowed to flow into the jar until the finger or pin in the spring
descends to the sliding finger or indicator. Thus no matter how often
the spring is used or what dust or dirt collects on the spring or on the
weigh plate the correct weight is always arrived at, the balance being
actually adjusted at every operation of weighing. I use a tube of any
suitable material with two or three slots in same for the encasing of the
spring, thus dispensing with the expense of a separate front plate and
back plate, which have to be rivetted or screwed together, or I may use
a separate front plate and back plate instead of a tube. A clamp and
weigh plate with can are used as described in No. 1 arrangement.
The second part of my Invention consists in making a cylindrical or
other shaped vessel of glass for measuring hair oil or other oil (which
latter when sold in very small quantities is not weighed but measured),
which glass is fitted with a spout at the bottom for the exit of the oil,
and with a valve, so that oil can be made to flow from the spout by a
pressure of the finger. I attach a perpendicular rod to the outside of
the glass, and fit on this rod a small sliding block with spring so that
the block can be moved up and down on the rod. The block has one,
two, or more pointers secured to it, which pointers may be either rigidly
secured a certain distance apart or made so that they can be brought
closer or further away from each other. The distance between the
pointers indicates how far the oil is to flow for a halfpenny worth or
penny worth. When, say, a halfpenny worth of hair oil or other is
required the top finger or pointer is brought on a level with the top of
the oil, the valve is opened until the oil has run down to the second
pointer, when the valve is closed.