IMPROVEMENTS MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR WEIGHING SMALL COAL, LIQUID, OR OTHER MATTER AT COLLIERIES AND ELSEWHERE, AND FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES
Year: 1876

page_text: IN
LETTERS PATENT to Jeremiah Thomas, of Aberdare, in the County of Glamorgan
Practical Working Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR WEIGHING SMALL COAL, LIQUID, OR OTHER
MATTER AT COLLIERIES AND ELSEWHERE, AND FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES."
ealed the 7th July 1876, and dated the 4th February 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jeremiah Thomas at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 4th February 1876.
JEREMIAH THOMAS, of Aberdare, in the County of Glamorgan, Practical Working
Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR WEIGHING SMALL
COAL, LIQUID, OR OTHER MATTER AT COLLIERIES AND ELSEWHERE, AND FOR OTHER
LIKE PURPOSES."
My Invention consists of the construction and combination of the parts herein-
after described of machinery or apparatus, principally useful for weighing small coal
at collieries, in place of the weighing apparatus commonly called the "Billy Fair-
Play now employed in the steam coal collieries of South Wales and the North of
England.
23
In the said ordinary weighing apparatus a steelyard with a sliding weight is
used, the weight of the coal being indicated by a spring balance hooked to the
upper side of the short arm of the said steelyard. This apparatus weighs inaccu-
rately, and there is always tension on the spring balance whether the apparatus is
weighing or not, and the apparatus readily gets out of order. My Invention has
for its object to remedy these defects.
In constructing a weighing machine or apparatus according to my Invention I
use a beam having arms of unequal lengths, the said beam being provided with a
knife edge working on steel bearings, supported in a bracket carried by an overhead
or other support or cross piece. To the end of the short armn of the beam the box
in which the screened small coal or other liquid or matter is weighed is hung, and
to the end of the long arm of the said beam, a balance box or weight is hooked for
balancing the weight of the said box. The long arm of the beam works in a guard
or guide, consisting of a vertical bar or bracket, having at its bottom a loop in
which the beam moves and by which its motion is limited. Below the long arin of
the beam and near the guard described the spring balance for indicating the weight
is suspended. The head of the spring balance is hooked by means of an adjusting
screw to the said long arm of the beam, and the case of the spring balance is hooked
to a cross piece below it.

page_text: By means of the adjusting screw described the spring balance is so suspended
between the beam and cross piece, that the finger of the balance indicates zero when
the parts of the apparatus are in their normal position, when the screened small coal
or other liquid or matter, falls into the box hung on the short arm of the beam, the
said short arm descends, and the long arm rises. The spring of the balance is
thereby acted upon by an upward motion, and by means of the finger of the said
spring balance traversing the graduated dial the weight of the small coal or other
liquid or matter in the box is indicated with accuracy. On emptying the box the
parts of the weighing apparatus return to their normal positions, and so long as the
box is balanced by the weight on the long arm of the beam, the spring balance is
not brought into action.
By arranging the spring balance in this way it wears longer than when used in
the ordinary way, and the arrangement described of the weighing apparatus ensures
a more accurate weighing of the coal liquid or other matter, than can be obtained
by the use of the apparatus ordinarily used.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Lettors Patent filed by the
said Jeremiah Thomas in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 25th. July 1870.
JEREMIAH THOMAS, of Aberdare, in tlie County of Glamorgan, Practical Working
Engineer, IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR WEIGHING SMALL.
COAL, LIQUID, OR OTHER MATTER AT COLLIERIES AND ELSEWHERE, AND FOR OTHER
LIKE PURPOSES."
4:
My Invention cosists of the construction and combination of the parts herein-
after described of machinery or apparatus principally useful for weighing small coal
at collieries, in place of the weighing apparatus commonly called the Billy Fair
Play now employed in the steam coal collieries of South Wales and the North of
England.
"
In the said ordinary weighing apparatus a steelyard with a sliding weight is
used, the weight of the coal being indicated by a spring balance hooked to the
upper side of the short arm of the said steelyard. This apparatus weighs inaccu-
rately, and there is always tension on the spring balance, whether the apparatus is
weighing or not, and the apparatus readily gets out of order. My Invention has
for its object to remedy these defects.
In constructing a weighing machine or apparatus according to my Invention I
use a beam having arms of unequal lengthis, the said beam being provided with a
knife edge working on steel bearings, supported in a bracket carried by an overhead
or other support or cross piece. To the end of the short arm of the beam the box
in which the screened small coal, liquid, or other matter is weighed is hung, and to
the end of the long arm of the said beam a balance box or weight is hooked for
balancing the weight of the said box. The long arm of the beam works in a guard
or guide consisting of a vertical bar or bracket, having at its bottom a loop in which
the beam moves, and by which its motion is limited. Below the long arm of the
beam and near the guard described the spring balance for indicating the weight is
suspended. The head of the spring balance is hooked by means of an adjusting
screw to the said long arm of the beam, and the case of the spring balance is hooked
to a cross piece below it.
By means of the adjusting screw described the spring balance is so suspended
between the beam and cross piece, that the finger of the balance indicates zero when
the parts of the apparatus are in their normal position. When the screened small
coal, liquid, or other matter falls into the box hung on the short arin of the beam,
the said short arm descends and the long arm rises. The spring of the balance is
thereby acted upon by an upward motion, and by means of the finger of the spring
balance traversing the graduated dial, the weight of the small coal, liquid, or other
matter in the box is indicated with accuracy. On emptying the box the parts of
the weighing apparatus return to their normal positions, and so long as the box is

page_text: balanced by the weight on the long arm of the beam, the spring balance is not
brought into action.
I will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying Drawing the
manner in which my Invention may be performed.
$
Figure 1 represents in side elevation a weighing machine or apparatus constructed
according to my Invention, and Figure 2 represents a cross section of a portion of
the same; a, b, is the beam of the weighing machine, the knife edge c of which
turns on the steel bearings & carried by the box or support c. The box in which
the steel bearings of the beam are fixed is represented in Figure 2. The arın b of
the beam is nearly double the length of the other arm a; is the box or receptacle
for containing the small screened coal or other matter to be weighed, the said box
being hung to the short arm a of the beam by the adjusting screw g. The weight
of the box or receptacle is balanced by the box or weight hung on the end of
the long arm of the beam. The said long arm b works in a loop or guard in the
vertical bar i by means of the said loop or guard, the movement of the long arm b
of the beam is limited, is the spring balance for indicating the weight, the said
balance being suspended between the long arm b of the beam, and the cross support
Z below the said bean. The spring of the spring balance is hooked by means of the
adjusting screw m to the said long arm of the beam near the guard i and the case
of the balance k is hooked by the eye rod and hook at p to the cross support 1, when
the parts of the weighing apparatus are in their normal positions as represented in
the Drawing, the spring balance k is so supported by the adjusting screw m that the
finger of the said balance indicates zero on the dial plate, when the screened coal or
other matter to be weighed fails into the box or receptacle the short arm a of the
bean is depressed, and the long arm brises; the latter arm carrying with it the
adjusting screw m and the spring of the balance is thereby acted upon by an
upward motion. The index finger of the balance is thereby made to traverse the
dial plate, and indicate thereon the weight in the box or receptacle. On removing
the matter from the box the parts again occupy the respective positions repre-
sented in Figure 1, the spring balance & being unacted upon so long as the two arms
of the beam are balanced.
By arranging the spring balance of the weighing machine in the way described
and represented, the said spring balance wears longer than when combined in the
ordinary manner, and the arrangement described and represented of the weighing
apparatus ensures a more accurate weighing of the coal, liquid, or or other matter
than can be obtained by the use of the apparatus ordinarily used.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which the
same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit myself to the
precise details herein described and illustrated, as the same may be varied without
departing from the nature of my Invention, but I claim as my Invention the
improvements in machinery or apparatus for weighing small coal, liquid, or other
matter at collieries and elsewhere, and for other like purposes herein-before described
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, the combination with
a balanced beam having arms of unequal lengths, of a spring balance, suspended to
and situated below the long arm of the beam, for indicating the weight in the box
or receptacle hung to the short arm of the beam, the several parts being arranged
and working substantially as described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jeremiah Thomas, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand
Witness,
EVAN THOMAS,
Aberdare.
JEREMIAH THOMAS. (L.S.)