A New or Improved Level, also for use in Measuring Angles.
Year: 1893

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Level, also for use in Measuring Angles.
I, LEOPOLD AGAR DENYS MONTAGUE, of Penton, Crediton, Devon, Dramatist,
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 invention relates to a device to be used as a level and also for measuring the
angle to which any article on which it is placed may have been tilted.
The device consists of a small flat bottomed box, circular or rectangular in plan,
having its inside formed as a half or a segment of a sphere.
The box can be made of wood, glass, china, or other suitable material and is
furnished with a cover of glass.
From the centre of the glass is suspended by a fine thread, preferably of silk, a
weight having a pointed end. A spot is placed on the bottom of the box at such
a point that when the box is placed on a level, the weight will hang directly
above it.
Lines are also ruled, if the device is to be used as an angle measurer, at such
heights that they divide the semicircle into an equal number of degrees, one line
being drawn for every ten, five or less number.
Thus when the box is placed upon any slanting surface the weight will hang
immediately above the point corresponding to the angle at which the surface
slants.
The device will thus show exactly in what direction the surface tilts, so that if
used as a level it will show the level in all directions instead of only in one, as in
the ordinary spirit level.
Instead of employing a suspended weight, I may use a small smooth ball, which
can roll freely in any direction and will come to rest at the proper spot. Instead of
a ball, a globule of quicksilver may be employed in the same manner. In such an
arrangement the hemispherical bottom must be made as smooth as possible in order
that the ball may come to rest exactly at the proper point.
I prefer, however, to use the arrangement first described, as the hanging weight
will adjust itself more delicately.
In order that the invention may be more clearly understood, reference is had to
the accompanying sheet of illustrative drawings, in which
Fig. 1 is a vertical section of the device,
Fig. 2 a plan of the box with the cover removed,
Fig. 3 showing the same device tilted at an angle, and
Fig. 4 is a section of the modification above mentioned.
A is the box, the interior B of which is of hemispherical form. A cover a of
glass is provided, fastened by any suitable means, to the centre of which in the
arrangement shown in Figs. 1. 2. & 3. is attached the fine thread C having the small
pointed weight c at its end, hanging, when the box is placed on a level surface,
immediately over the spot b at the centre of the interior.
A number of lines are drawn around the hemispherical recess, dividing it into
parts preferably of equal depth, so that the angle subtended from the centre by
each will be equal. Thus on the weight resting at any point other than the central
spot, the line over or near which it is suspended will indicate the angle as shown in
Fig. 3. These lines may be dispensed with if only required as a level. According
to the arrangement shown in Fig. 4 a small ball or globule of quicksilver
employed in place of the suspended weight c which rolls into the indicating position
when the box is adjusted.
is

page_text: Having now particularly described & ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, & in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
(1). A level consisting of a box having its interior of hemispherical form, and
provided with a cover, from the centre of which a weight is suspended, and means
for indicating when the weight is hanging vertically to the bottom of the box,
substantially as described.
(2). A level and angle measuring device, consisting of a box, having its interior
of hemispherical form, and furnished with a central spot and horizontal lines
indicating known angles from the centre, and provided with a glass cover from the
centre of which a small weight is suspended, substantially as and for the purposes
specified.
(3). The modified form of level or angle measuring device consisting of a box
with hemispherical or approximately hemispherical interior, having a central spot,
and a smooth ball or globule of quicksilver as an indicator, substantially as described
and shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings.
Dated this 10th day of March 1893
GEO. H. RAYNER,
37, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agent for the Applicant.