New or Improved Apparatus for Registering Automatically the Number of Articles Weighed by a Weighing Machine or Passed over a Plank, Gangway, or other similar Appliance.
Year: 1887

page_text: ):e of Application, 29th Aug., 1887
Complete Left, 29th May, 1888
Complete Accepted, 27th July, 1888
New or Improved Apparatus for Registering Automatically the
Number of Articles Weighed by a Weighing Machine or Passed
over a Plank, Gangway, or other similar Appliance.
1, PERCY GEORGE SHADBOLT, of Harefield, in the County of Middlesex, Portland
Cement Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention relates to machinery or apparatus for registering automatically the
number of barrows, packages, or other articles, weighed on the scale or platform of a
weighing machine, or the number of barrows, or other articles, wheeled, or otherwise
passed over a loading plank, gangway, or other similar appliance; and the object of
the said invention is to afford means whereby the numbers of articles delivered, or the
amount of work done or delivered in a manufacturing business for example, or the
number of packages of certain prearranged weights loaded into, or unloaded out of,
boats, wagons, and so forth, can be automatically registered so as to check the numbers
of such articles as given in by tallymen or others.
The invention consists of the following arrangements :-For registering the number
of barrows, for example, passed over and weighed on the scale or platform of a
weighing machine, I arrange the scale or platform plate so, that when a barrow is
wheeled on to it, the said plate shall move slightly forward along with the barrow.
The weighing machine is then thrown into gear for weighing in the usual way, the
weight is taken, the machine thrown out of gear again, and the barrow wheeled off,
and the aforesaid scale or platform plate then moves backwards into its normal position.
By means of a suitable arrangement of mechanical devices such as levers, pawls,
ratchet wheels, and so forth, operated by the forward and backward and up and down
movements of the scale plate, a suitable registering device is moved each time a barrow
is placed on the scale plate, weighed, and removed therefrom. This registering device
may be an index or pointer, moving over a dial face; a small shot or other article
dropped into a receptacle; a pencil marking on a moving paper, or any other known
registering mechanism operated at the weighing apparatus or at a distance from it. by
mechanical, electrical, or other appropriate means.

page_text: In order to prevent falsification of the registering apparatus by operating it without
passing a barrow over the weighing machine, I so arrange the mechanism acting on
the registering apparatus, that it only acts on the latter when the combined opera-
tions of wheeling the barrow, or other article, on to the scale plate, weighing it, and
wheeling it off from the scale plate, are performed, so that neither moving the scale
plate forward and backward, nor throwing the weighing machine in or out of gear, alone,
can effect a registration.
When it is desired that any barrow of less than a certain prearranged weight shall
not be registered, I apply one or more springs beneath the scale plate so adjusted to a
definite tension, or otherwise arranged, that it or they will not be acted upon unless a
weight exceeding some definite limit is placed on the scale plate. Should a lighter weight
be placed thereon, the spring or springs will prevent the scale plate from descending
when the weighing machine is thrown out of gear, and one of the movements necessary
for effecting a registration will be prevented from taking place.
When it is desired to register the number of- ordinary packages (not on wheels
as in the case of barrows) the scale plate may be arranged to rise and fall only, in the
usual way,
the aforesaid backward and forward motions being omitted; in this case
the registering mechanism is operated by such rising and falling motions of the scale
plate.
When applying my invention to the registration of goods passing over a plank,
gangway, or other such like appliance, I place springs similar to those above described
in reference to cranes, hoists, and so forth, between the plank, gangway, or other such
like appliance, and one of the points on which it rests, and connect such springs to
suitable registering apparatus.
P. G. SHADBOLT.
Per W. H. Beck,
115, Cannon Street, London, E.C.,
Agent.

page_text: New or Improved Apparatus for Registering Automatically the
* Number of Articles Weighed by a Weighing Machine or Passed
over a Plank, Gangway, or other similar Appliance.
I, PERCY GEORGE SHADBOLT, of Harefield, in the County of Middlesex, Portland
Cement Manufacturer 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, reference being had to the accompanying two
sheets of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked, thereon, that is
to say:
This invention relates to machinery or apparatus for registering automatically the
number of barrows, packages or other articles weighed on the scalo or platform of a
weighing machine, or the number of barrows or other articles wheeled or otherwise
passed over a loading plank, gangway or other similar appliance, and the object of
the said invention is to afford means whereby the number of articles delivered, or the
amount of work done or delivered, in a manufacturing business for example, or the
number of packages of certain prearranged weights loaded into or unloaded out of
boats, wagons, and so forth, can be automatically registered so as to check the number's
of such articles as given by tallymen or others.
The invention consists as follows:-
:
For registering the number of barrows for example passed over and weighed on the
scale or platform of a weighing machine :-
.:
I arrange the scale or platform plate so, that when a barrow is wheeled on to it, the
said plate shall move slightly forward along with the barrow. The weighing machine
is then thrown into gear for weighing in the usual way, the weight is taken,. the
machine thrown out of gear again and the barrow wheeled off, and the aforesaid scale
or platform plate then moves backwards into its normal position. By means of n
suitable arrangement of mechanical devices such as levers, pawls, ratchet wheels and
so forth, operated by the forward and backward and up and down movements of the
scale plate, a suitable registering device is moved each time a barrow is placed on the
scale plate, weighed, and removed therefrom.
And in order that this part of my invention may be fully understood, I will now
proceed to describe, with the aid of Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying Drawings,
one method of carrying the same into effect. Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of so
much of the box or case and the scale or platform plate of a weighing machine as is
necessary to illustrate the application of the invention thereto, and Figure 2 is a trans-
verse section of same taken at right angles to Figure 1.
A is the usual box or case of the weighing machine, B is the scale or platform plate
supported on a frame C the legs D of which rest and slide on knife-edge ways E
carried by the ordinary weighing frame of the machine. This weighing frame and its
levers and knife-edges are not shown in the Drawings, because they are of the ordinary

page_text: well known construction and will be well understood by anyone conversant with weighing
machinery. F is a frame bolted to and depending from the under side of the frame C.
This frame F carries four pawls G¹ G² G³ and G+ pin-jointed thereto and urged
towards a ratchet wheel G by springs HH2 H3 and H4 acting on tail pieces formed
on the backs of the pawls. The ratchet wheel G is secured on a shaft I turning in
bearings J fixed to the bottom of the box or case A. K is a ratchet wheel also fixed
on the shaft I and having four times as many teeth on its periphery as the ratchet
wheel G. L is a spring retaining pawl taking into the teeth of the ratchet wheel K
to prevent the shaft I and ratchet wheel G from turning backwards. It will be observed
that the pawls G G G³ and Gare so spaced round the frame F that, in the position
shown in Figure 1, each pawl occupies a particular position with reference to the
tooth of the ratchet wheel G against which it rests. When a barrow is wheeled on to
the plate B in the direction of the arrow in Figure 1, the wheel of the said barrow
strikes against the edge B₁ of the plate B, the upper surface of which stands, for that
purpose, somewhat higher than the surrounding floor. This causes the plate B to
slide slightly forward on the ways E. The frame F being connected to the frame C
moves with it and the plate B, and the forward movement of the latter therefore causes
the pawl G to move the ratchet wheel G by the tooth 1 a part of a revolution equal to
one fourth of such tooth, that is until the pawl G2 drops behind the tooth 3. Tho
barrow being now deposited on the plate B, the weighing appliances are thrown into
gear in the usual way; this raises the plate B, frame and frame F vertically to a
certain extent, causing the pawl G2 to turn the ratchet wheel Ganother similar portion
of a revolution by the tooth 3. This will bring the front of tooth 9 below the point
of pawl G³. The weight of the barrow being ascertained, the weighing appliances
are thrown out of gear in the usual way; this lowers the plate B, frame C and
frame F vertically to the same position as before, the pawl G³ acting on tooth 9 to turn
the ratchet wheel G another similar portion of a revolution, bringing the front of
tooth 7 just opposite the end of pawl G. The barrow is now wheeled off the plate B,
and in passing off, the barrow wheel strikes the bar M connected with two levers N
(placed one at each side of the machine, and which, when the plate B has been
moved to the right by the wheeling on of the barrow, will stand in the position
shown by dotted lines in Figure 1) turning such levers on their fulera N¹ so that their
lower ends push the pins O, and thereby the frame (and plate B, back in the direc-
tion opposite to the arrow in Figure 1, causing the pawl G to turn the ratchet
wheel G another similar portion of a revolution by means of the tooth 7, restoring all
the parts into the position shown in Figure 1 except the ratchet wheel G which
will have been turned to the extent of one tooth. Each time the ratchet wheel G
makes a part of a revolution equal to one quarter of one of its teeth, the retaining pawl L
takes into one of the teeth on the ratchet wheel K and thereby prevents the ratchet
wheel G from moving backward. The shaft I is connected with any suitable counter P
(Figure 2) furnished with a dial face and index, or any other suitable indicating or
registering apparatus adapted to indicate the number of times the ratchet wheel G
has rotated to the extent of a tooth, that is to say the number of times the above
described cycle of operations has been performed, or in other words, the number of
times a barrow has been wheeled on to the machine, weighed, and wheeled
off again.
It will be seen that the registering apparatus only acts when the combined operations
of wheeling the barrow or other article on to the scale plate, weighing it, and wheeling
it off from the scale plate, are performed.
If preferred, a bar and levers similar to those shown at M N in Figures 1
and 2 may be applied at the other end of the weighing machine for the barrow wheel
to act against to effect the movement of the scale plate or platform in the direction of
the arrow, the relative positions of the fulcra N¹ and pins O being reversed as com-
pared with those shown in the Figures, to enable the forward movement of the barrow
to effect the forward movement of the scale plate or platform.
Figure 3 of the Drawings illustrates an arrangement of registering apparatus for
registering the number of trucks passing over a tram or railway, specially applicable

page_text: to collieries, cement works and such like and designed to obviate fraud on the part of
workmen or others whose interest it is to deliver trucks containing less than a
particular weight or to make believe that they have delivered trucks which they
have not.
B B B and B are short sections of rails over which the trucks have to pass. The
section B2 may be permanently fixed in the ordinary way, but the sections B, B' and B³
are supported on levers or arms such as those shown at CC for example. These
arms are pivotted at their lower ends at C¹ and are provided with friction
rollers C² at their upper ends on which the sections of rails rest. The arms are
held up in the position shown by springs not shown in the Drawing. The tension of
these springs is regulated by screws or otherwise in such manner that they will not
allow the full downward motion of the rails to take place if the load placed on them
is less than a definite minimum weight. D is a bracket fixed to the underside of
the rail B. E is a link pin-jointed at one end to the bracket D and at the other end
to one arm of a bell crank lever E¹ pivotted to a fixed point at E2. E³ is a link, pin-
jointed to the other arm of the lever E', and adapted to slide in a fixed guide F*.
The outer end of the link E³ carries a pawl G¹ pivotted thereto at E. G is a ratchet
wheel fixed to the shaft I revolving in suitable bearings and connected to any
appropriate indicating or registering mechanism placed in an adjoining house or other
convenient place where it cannot be tampered with. His a projection depending
from the underside of the rail B' and made adjustable as to length so that when the
rail B is pressed down by the weight of the truck, the said projection presses down
the tail end of the pawl G¹ so as to lift the latter out of gear with the ratchet wheel G
against the action of the spring J fixed to the sliding bar K held in position by the
spring pawl L. The lower end of the sliding bar K is guided by a pin K' passing
through a hole in the end of the lever M pivotted at N. G2 is a pawl pivotted at N
on the lever M and pressed against the ratchet wheel G by a spring O. The outer
end of the lever M is connected by a link P with the rail B³.
It will now be understood that when a truck passes in the direction of the arrow,
on to the rail B, it will, if the weight exceed the prescribed minimum but not
otherwise, depress the latter against the action of the aforesaid springs. This
depression of the rail B turns the lever E', pushing the link E3 and the pawl G¹ to
the right whereby the ratchet wheel G is turned to the extent of half a tooth so as
to bring the face of the tooth 4 just above the end of the pawl G2. When the truck
has moved on to the rail B¹ the latter is depressed in turn, pushes down the tail end
of the pawl G raising the latter out of gear with the ratchet wheel G, and at same
time pressing.down the sliding bar K until its shoulder K2 comes against the end of
the lever M or nearly so. The truck then passes over the fixed rail B² and on to the
rail B³ pressing it down and with it the outer end of the lever M, raising the other
end and with it the pawl G2 which thereby turns the ratchet wheel G to the extent
of another half tooth. It at the same time raises the sliding bar K which pushes up
the tail end of pawl G¹, restoring the latter into the position shown in the Figure.
As the truck quits each rail, the springs raise the latter to their normal positions as
in the Figure, together with the attached parts. The revolution of the ratchet
wheel G to the extent of one tooth will show, by means of the indicating or regis-
tering apparatus, that one truck of the required weight has passed over the apparatus.
But now supposing an attempt be made to cheat by passing the truck backwards over
the rails B3 B2 B B and then forward again with the idea of obtaining another
registration, the following effects take place the truck first depresses rail B³,
operating lever M, but pawl G2 merely slides along tooth 4, and does not move the
ratchet wheel G. The truck then passes on to rail B₁, depresses it, raises pawl G¹
out of gear with ratchet wheel G, and pushes down sliding bar K, producing no
action on ratchet wheel G. The truck then passes on to rail B, depresses it, operating
lever E', pushing forward link E³ and pawl G¹, but the latter being elevated above
the ratchet G does not act on the latter. If now the truck be returned in the
direction of the arrow, no registration will be effected, because all the parts are

page_text: inoperative to turn the ratchet wheel G, but when the truck again comes on the
rail B³, the latter is depressed as before, and the lever M presses up the sliding bar K
and tail end of pawl G, restoring the latter into gear with the ratchet wheel G, and
the apparatus is then ready for the passage of another truck in the direction of the
arrow, and it is only by passing trucks in that direction that the apparatus will act.
If the trucks are of light weight, the rails B B' and B³ are not depressed, and no
registration is effected.
Figures 4, 5, 6 and 7 illustrate arrangements for registering the number of trucks
passing a given point in either direction. Figure 4 is a-sectional elevation, Figure 5
a plan with treadle removed, Figure 6 a partial section at line 1-1 of Figures 4
and 5, and Figure 7 sectional elevation at line 2-2 of Figures 4 and 5.
A is a box or case containing the apparatus, B is a treadle which is depressed by
the flanges of the truck wheels as they pass over it. The treadle B is pin-jointed to
the box A at B*. C is a fixed cylinder containing a spiral spring D and a disc E
sliding in such cylinder and connected by links F with the free end of the treadle B.
G is a pawl pin-jointed to the treadle B and pressed by a spring H against the teeth
of the ratchet wheel G fixed on the shaft I as before. J is a retaining pawl to prevent
backward motion of the ratchet wheel G. As each wheel on one side of a truck
passes over the treadle B it depresses the latter, causing the pawl G¹ to pass one tooth
of the ratchet wheel G, the spring D returning the treadle B to its normal position
after the passage of each truck wheel over it. The indicating or registering
mechanism is arranged to indicate one for every two teeth of the ratchet wheel Gif
the trucks have, as is usually the case, two wheels only on each side. If the trucks
have a greater number of wheels, the indicating or registering mechanism must be
arranged accordingly. This last apparatus, or a modification thereof, is also applicable
to the registration of goods passing over a plank, gangway, or other such like
appliance, by arranging the end of the plank or gangway to bear upon the treadle B
or its equivalent, and to depress the same every time a parcel or load of any kind is
passed over it.
When it is desired to register the number of ordinary packages (not on wheels as
in the case of harrows) passing over the scale plate of a weighing machine, the said
scale plate may be arranged to rise and fall only in the usual way, the to and fro
movements described in reference to Figures 1 and 2 being omitted; in this case the
pawls G2 and G³ would alone be employed, and the ratchet wheel G would be
arranged to pass half a tooth for each up and each down motion of the scale plate
instead of a quarter tooth as in Figures 1 and 2. In cases where the weighing
machine is not provided with gear for raising and lowering the scale plate or platform,
or where, for some reason, it is preferred to leave the same in the weighing position,
the to and fro movements thereof may alone be employed, the pawls G and G* acting
in that case to turn the ratchet wheel G to the extent of half a tooth.
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:
:-
First Apparatus for registering the number of articles passed over and weighed
by a weighing machine, in which a definite or complete indication of the registering
device is effected by mechanism operated by a cycle of four movements namely,
forward, upward, downward and backward of the scale plate or platform of such
weighing machine substantially as hereinbefore described, and illustrated in Figures.1
and 2 of the Drawings hereto annexed.
Second Apparatus for registering the number of articles weighed by a weighing
machine in which a definite or complete indication of the registering device is
effected by mechanism operated either by the up and down movements or by the to
and fro movements of the scale plate or platform of such weighing machine
substantially as herein before described, and illustrated in Figure 1 of the Drawings.
Third Apparatus for registering the number of trucks passing over a given point,

page_text: consisting of spring supported rails connected with pawls actuating the ratchet wheel
of a registering device, arranged, combined and operating substantially as hereinbefore
described, and illustrated in Figure 3 of the Drawings hereto annexed.
Fourth The apparatus for registering the number of trucks passed over a given
point, or the number of articles passed over a plank, gangway or other such like
appliance, consisting of a treadle B, a spiral spring D contained in a cylinder C,
a pawl G and the ratchet wheel G of a registering device, combined, arranged,
and operating as hereinbefore described, and illustrated in Figures 4 to 7 of the
Drawings hereto annexed.