AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF WEIGHING MACHINE
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Adolfo Cozza, of Orvietto, in the Kingdom of Italy, but
now residing at Queen Street Place, in the City of London, for the Invention
of "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF WEIGHING MACHINE."
Sealed the 8th September 1877, and dated the 26th June 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Adolfo Cozza at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 26th June 1877.
ADOLFO COZZA, of Orvietto, in the Kingdom of Italy, but now residing at Queen
Street Place, in the City of London. "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF WEIGHING
MACHINE."
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of apparatus for weighing goods,
the chief object being to produce, at a comparatively small cost, a machine which
shall be applicable to railway goods' stations, docks, and warehouses.
In carrying out my Invention I mount a platform, which is to receive the load,
upon a pair of inclined V edged rockers set parallel to each other on suitable
bearings, and which will be sustained in their normal position by means of hydraulic
apparatus attached to or abutting against the frame of the platform; or in lieu of
these V edged rockers vertical sections of rollers may be used, the same being placed
upon supporting inclined planes, and receiving upon their upper surfaces inclined
bearing pieces fitted to the platform frame. In either case the load placed upon the
platform will cause these supports to rock, and thus allow the platform to move
endwise in proportion to its load, and act upon the hydraulic apparatus.
This apparatus, which admits of various modifications, may conveniently consist
of a closed water chamber composed of two dish-shaped flanged plates bolted
together. One half of this chamber will be rigid and fitted to a rod carried by a
fixed bearing, and adjustable endwise therein, and the other half will be slightly
flexible to receive the pressure of a bearing piece, which projects from the platform
frame and rests against the chamber. A pipe leading from the chamber connects with
a vertical column of mercury or other fluid, or with an indicating apparatus arranged
When therefore a load
to shew the varying pressures of the water in the chamber.
is placed upon the platform, and the hydraulic apparatus is properly adjusted, the

page_text: amount of compression of the liquid in the chamber, resulting from the depression
of the platform, will be indicated by the column of mercury or other fluid or by the
index hand of the indicating apparatus. Thus the amount of the load put upon the
platform may be ascertained with the greatest accuracy.
In lieu of an indicator or of a column of mercury, a steelyard with an adjustable
weight or weights may be used to indicate the weight of the load. This steelyard
will bear on the under side of a fixed support, and rest through the intervention of
a rocking support on the flexible cover of a closed chamber, which will contain a
portion of the fluid that is compressed by the load on the platform. The capacity
of this chamber will be adjustable to insure the terminal point of the steelyard
standing in its normal position directly opposite a fixed gauge point.
The end of the steelyard may.be provided with a hook for carrying weights in
addition to the shifting weight or the bar when heavy loads are required to be
weighed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Adolfo Cozza in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th December
1877.
ADOLFO Cozza, of Orvietto, in the Kingdom of Italy, but now residing at Queen
, Street Place, in the City of London. "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF WEIGHING
MACHINE:"
This Invention relates to a novel construction of apparatus for weighing goods,
the chief object being to produce, at a comparatively small cost, a machine which
'shall be applicable to railway goods' stations, docks, and warehouses.
The principle of construction embodied in my improved weighing machine consists
in mounting the platform which is to receive the load upon a pair of inclined
V edged rockers set parallel to each other on suitable bearings, and which will be
sustained in their normal position by means of hydraulic apparatus or an equivalent
yielding support for the platform. The load placed upon the platform will depress
these rockers, and thus allow the platform to move endwise in proportion to its
load, and act upon the hydraulic apparatus.
In Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 shews in side elevation one
form of my improved weighing machine; Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the same;
and Figures 3 and 4 are front and longitudinal sectional views of the hydraulic
apparatus employed to maintain the platform in its normal position.
A is the bed of the machine fitted with bearing pieces a, a, to receive the V edged
rockers B, B, which support the platform C, fitted with bearing pieces c, which rest
upon the upper edges of the rockers B. These rockers are in their normal position
slightly inclined from the vertical, and they are retained in this position by the
platform resting against the hydraulic apparatus.
This hydraulic apparatus admits of various modifications, its object being to yield
to any additional endway pressure put upon the platform in the form of a load to be
weighed, and by thus yielding to indicate the pressure of that load.
Referring to Fig. 4, which shews the hydraulic apparatus on an enlarged scale
and detached from the machine, D is a cup-shaped piece with a screwed horizontal
extension fitting into the socket of a bracket E, Fig. 1, attached to the bed plate of

page_text: the machine. This horizontal extension of the piece D has a central passage in it
communicating with a pipe F, which leads to a barometer tube or other pressure
indicator. The cup piece D is closed by a flexible diaphragm d, and thereby rendered
air and water tight. Secured to this diaphragm is a boss G, which is intended to
receive the endway pressure of the platforni, either directly or through the inter-
vention of a pressing plate G³, and to transmit that pressure to the gauge or
indicator. For this purpose the cup-shaped piece D is filled with water or other
fluid, and it is so adjusted in its socket that the indicator will stand at nought when
there is no load on the platform. When however a load is placed upon the platform
(the hydraulic apparatus being properly adjusted) the amount of compression of the
liquid in the chamber, resulting from the depression of the platform, will be indicated
by the column of mercury or other fluid, or by the index hand of the indicating
apparatus. Thus the amount of the load put upon the platform may be ascertained
with accuracy.
In Sheet II. of the Drawings I have shewn a modification of my improved
weighing machine, the endway thrust of the platform being used to lift a weighted
arm, which, moving over a graduated sector, will indicate the weight of the load
placed upon the platform. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of the machine;
Fig. 6 is an end elevation; and Fig. 7 is a transverse section taken in the line 1, 2,
of Fig. 5. The base A of the machine is in this instance cast with brackets for
carrying the bearings a, which sustain the downward pressure of the load. Instead
of the rockers standing upon these bearings I provide suspending rockers B, which
are formed with pairs of knifed-edged hooks at their extreinities. The upper hooks
rest upon the bracket bearing a, and the lower hooks, with their knife edges turned
upwards, are intended to receive the bearings c, which are the terminations of
brackets cast on the under side of the platform C. Attached to a bracket c¹ is a
[metal strap or band I, which is led over a segment-shaped loose rocker i, that guides
it upwards to a horizontal spindle K mounted in a bracket L attached to the base A
of the machine. The band 1 is laid around this spindle, and secured thereto for the
purpose of giving it an axial motion when the platform moves end wise under the
weight of the load placed on the platform. Secured to this spindle is the weighted
pendant arm M, which hangs behind the graduated fixed segment N and carries a
pointer m. When therefore the spindle K is rocked, it will move the index over
the graduated segment and indicate the weight of the load.
In Sheet III. of the accompanying Drawings Fig. 8 is a longitudinal section of a
modified form of weighing machine; Fig. 9 is a transverse section of the same taken
in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 8; and Fig. 10 is an end elevation of the machine. In this
example two pairs of pendant links B, B', are used instead of the rockers before
mentioned to carry the platform C. The links B hang upon knife edges projecting
internally from the sides of the hollow base A of the machine, and at their lower
ends both the links B and B are made with eyes to receive the knife edges, which
project from brackets c cast on the under side of the platform C. The links B¹ are
connected together by a cross bar, from the ends of which project knife edges that
rest on bearings on the base A. Projecting from the centre of this cross bar is a
hooked arın O, from which depends a rod that carries a scale P for receiving the
weights used to weigh the load placed upon the platform. In this example there-
fore the endway thrust of the platform is encountered by the loaded scale P, and
thus the contrivances of a pressure gauge or index are rendered unnecessary.
If however it is required to use an indicator in place of weights with the pendant
link arrangement, I do away with the hooked arin O and pendant scale, and adopt
the arrangement shewn at Figures 11 and 12. In this instance I provide a central
transverse shaft Q, which is fitted with knife edges that rest on bearings carried by
the base A. Keyed to this shaft is a weighted bell-crank lever Q₁, the shorter arm
of which is connected by a forked coupling rod q to the brackets at one end of the
platform. The placing of a load upon the platform will cause the bell-crank lever
to rock, and with it the shaft Q. On this shaft is mounted a segment rack Q², into
the teeth of which gears a pinion Q³, carrying on its arbor an index or pointer.

page_text: This pointer stands in front of a graduated dial Q, and in proportion as the shaft Q
is rocked by the weight of the load upon the platform C, so will the index be moved
round and indicate on the dial the weight of the load.
By reference to Fig. 13 it will be seen how a steelyard may be substituted for
the index and dial. In this arrangement one of the links B is fitted with a knife
edge, which rests in a bearing carried by the base A. of the machine. This knife
edge projects through the casting, and on its outer end is fitted the steelyard, the
rise and fall of which will shew the varying weights carried by the platform.
In Sheet IV. of the Drawings I have shewn in longitudinal sectional elevation
at Fig. 14, and in plan view at Fig. 15 (the platform being removed), a combination
of rockers and of suspending links for taking the weight of the platform C. This
platform is cast with a central pendant bracket R, which is fitted with a horizontal
knife edge to receive the hooked end of a forked rod. This rod at its opposite end
carries two eyes or rings, which embrace a horizontal knife edge fitted to a steelyard
crank lever S, pendant by means of a second knife edges from a forked bracket
projecting inwards from the hollow base A. By connecting this lever S with a
steelyard of any ordinary construction, the weight of the load placed on the platform
will be readily ascertained.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "An Improved Construction
of Weighing Machine," and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect,
I wish it to be understood. that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I
claim, supporting the platform of weighing machines on inclined rockers, and main-
taining the platform in its normal position by means of a support, which will yield
to the weight of a load placed on the platform, and through a suitable indicator, as
above described, shew the weight of the load.
In witness whereof, I, the said Adolfo Cozza, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, the Twenty-fourth day of December, in the year of our Lord One thou-
sand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
•
ADOLFO COZZA. (L.S.)