IMPROVEMENTS IN WEIGHING APPARATUS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Nathaniel Richard Hall, of Rosherville, in the
County of Kent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WEIGHING
APPARATUS."
Sealed the 17th August 1866, and dated the 21st February 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Nathaniel Richard Hall
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 21st February 1866.
I, NATHANIEL RICHARD HALL, of Rosherville, in the County of Kent,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
WEIGHING APPARATUS," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to weighing apparatus in which the principle of
construction is analogous to that of the steelyard, with this difference that
the arm or beam itself forms the weight and has a dial or curved scale
marked thereon, at the centre of which scale a gravitating hand or pointer
is mounted upon a dead pin, and the point of which hand indicates the
weight upon the said dial or scale as the arm is pulled up.
In apparatus thus formed, as hitherto constructed and described in my
Patent Specification, N° 791, A.D. 1863, dated 25th September, the dial
or scale is limited to a quarter of a circle, and consequently where the
diameter is small, as in the case of the letter weigher, the divisions must
be few in number, or the spaces between the said divisions be too narrow
to admit of distinctly legible figures being marked between them.

page_text: The improvements which constitute the present Invention consist, first,
in forming the gravitating hand with two, three, or more radiating pointers,
and, secondly, in enlarging the scale to any required extent up to a com-
plete circle, round which the required number of divisions can be distri-
buted, and upon which enlarged scale larger figures can be marked, the
apparatus being so arranged that the lowest number between the different
divisions indicated by any one of the pointers shows the weight, and in the
case of the letter weigher the amount of postage required. Each pointer
traverses a quadrant of the dial, but no single pointer will indicate the
weight the apparatus thus formed is capable of registering.
Apparatus formed with these improvements may be employed for
indicating either weight or pressure generally.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Nathaniel Richard Hall in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 21st August 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, NATHANIEL
RICHARD HALL, of Rosherville, in the County of Kent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Nathaniel Richard Hall, Her special licence that I, the said
Nathaniel Richard Hall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Nathaniel Richard Hall, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WEIGHING APPARATUS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Nathaniel Richard Hall, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, and, cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Nathaniel Richard Hall, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and, in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
The improvements which constitute this Invention relate to the weighing
apparatus as described in my Specification dated the 25th September 1863,
filed in pursuance of Letters Patent No. 791, A.D. 1863, and consist, first,
in forming the gravitating hand with two, three, or more radiating fingers
or pointers, and, secondly, in increasing the range and number of scales, so
that wide spaces can be left between the graduations thereon and larger
and more distinct figures marked in the intermediate spaces, by which
combined improvements greater accuracy in and facility for reading the
indicated weights or figures is obtained, and the apparatus is rendered.
better available for indicating weight or pressure generally.
In the apparatus constructed according to my Specification and Patent
above mentioned the range of the single pointer and scale, to be of utility,
are limited to about a quarter of a circle, and consequently where the
diameter is small, as in the case of the "letter weigher," the graduations
must be few in number or the spaces between them so narrow that small
figures only can be marked therein.
To remedy this defect is the object of the improvements above men-
tioned, the mode of effecting which in the construction of the new weigher
or apparatus I will now proceed more particularly to describe, reference
being made to the accompanying Drawing, to which the following explana-

page_text: extended over more than half the circumference of the circular limb of the
beam; and in which illustration the weight of the letter indicated by the
figures is in pence. The principle upon which the respective scales or
fields are graduated is that the whole of the fractional parts of the weight
are not shown by one and the same pointer as the beam moves, but are
divided between them, so that both pointers indicate alternately; that
division of the scales having the smaller number and pointer therein being
always the one to be taken. On reference to Fig. 2 it will be seen that
according to this principle the weight of the letter indicated is one and a
half ounces, and the required postage 3 pence. The mode of graduating
the scales is by suspending at e the required weights to be indicated and
marking the positions of the pointers c and c¹ alternately or otherwise at d
and d. Fig. 4 shows an apparatus having a three-pointer hand, by which
about three-fourths of the circle is made available for the scales (this
pointer is shown detached at Fig. 5); in this case the mode of graduating
the fields d, d¹, and d", is by suspending weights at f and marking the
divisions or spaces 1, 4, 7, 10, 2, 5, 8, 11, and 3, 6, 9, 12, by the positions
of the pointers c¹, c", and c, respectively. The figures between the divi-
sional marks indicate the rate of postage from one penny to twelve pence,
the apparatus being designed for weighing letters or other postal matter up
to six ounces. By increasing the size of the apparatus the graduations
may be made and marked to indicate ounces for indicating the weight and
postage of periodicals.
An apparatus with multiple pointers, as herein described, may be con-
structed and used for weighing any other light articles or matter, and may
also be employed for indicating pressure.
I claim the improved mode of forming the pointers, graduating the
scales, and combining the same in the apparatus, as and for the several
purposes herein described, the form, size, and capacity of the said apparatus
being varied as its intended use may require.
In witness whereof, I, the said Nathaniel Richard Hall, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
NATH RICH. HALL. (L.S.)