IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR ADJUSTING THE WEIGHT OF RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND ENGINES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Otto Gossell, of Moorgate Street, in the City of
London, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
ADJUSTING THE WEIGHT OF RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND ENGINES."-A Com-
munication from abroad by Johann Heinrich Ehrhardt, of Dresden, in
the Kingdom of Saxony.
Sealed the 11th July 1865, and dated the 25th January 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Otto Gossell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th January 1865.
I, OTTO GOSSELL, of Moorgate Street, in the City of London, Merchant,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR ADJUSTING THE WEIGHT OF RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND ENGINES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of weighing apparatus to be
applied to the wheels of railway engines and carriages for the purpose of
ascertaining the proportion which each of the supporting springs sustains of
the gross load.
The apparatus consists of a modification of the common steelyard; it is
carried by an angular casting which forms at once a base plate and a standard.
The base terminates in a claw, which when the apparatus is applied to a
carriage on a railway rests upon the under rail head (or foot as the case may
be) while a curved lever with a claw of steeled iron grasps the under side of
the wheel tyre, and has its fulcrum on the base plate.

page_text: marked upon the arm. By
suspended therefrom and ter-
To adapt the machine to different heights of rails a sliding wedge is
employed, which by means of the screw working through a lug in the base
plate is pushed forward to adjust the position of the claw of the lever. In
like manner the elevation of the base plate above the ground is regulated by
a screw jack arrangement, the object being to bring a plummet attached to
the standard to coincide with a vertical gauge point. The claw lever is
coupled with the steelyard arm by a vertical connecting rod, and the knife
edge of this lever finds suitable bearings for it in the standard. The moveable
weight on the steelyard arm is to be shifted so far as is necessary to raise the
wheel to be weighed from 1 to 2 millimetres off the rails, and the exact
weight may be seen by referring to the scale
means of a rock lever below the platform, and
minating in a claw which is intended to be inserted below the rail, the
apparatus may be held securely to the under rail head, a pressing screw which
passes through the platform, and bears on the end of the rock lever serving
to force the claw into contact with the rail; when flat-bottomed rails are used,
this moveable claw will not be required. At each weighing operation two of
these apparatus will be necessary, one being applied to each of the opposite
wheels of an axle; and in order that the lifting of the wheels may be simul-
taneously effected, the wedges are to be pushed forward until markers on the
steelyard arms point to like graduations on a curved scale on the top of the
standards; when this is done the weights on the steelyard arms are to be
moved forward until the wheels of the carriage are raised, when the weights
borne by the wheels respectively will be found by referring to the scale marked
upon the arms, and the springs may be regulated accordingly.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Otto Gossell in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 25th
July 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, OTTO
GOSSELL, of Moorgate Street, in the City of London, Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
. Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said. Otto Gossell, Her special license that I, the said Otto Gossell, my
"

page_text: executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Otto
Gossell, 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, exercisé,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR ADJUSTING THE WEIGHT OF RAILWAY CARRIAGES AND ENGINES," being a
communication from Johann Heinrich Ehrhardt, of Dresden, in the Kingdom
of Saxony, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Otto Gossell,
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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Otto Gossell, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same: is to be. per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the 'following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed; and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of weighing. apparatus to be
applied to the wheels of railway engines and carriages for the purpose of
ascertaining the proportion which each of the supporting springs sustains of
the gross load carried by the wheels and axles.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 shews in side elevation the
improved apparatus applied to a railway carriage wheel for the purpose of
raising it from the double-headed rail on which it rests, and Fig. 2 shews
the apparatus in plan view; Fig. 3 shews the apparatus slightly modified
suitable for use on a railway furnished with flat-bottomed in place of double-
headed rails.
J
The apparatus may be described as a modified arrangement of steelyard.
It consists of a rectangular casting, which forms at once a base plate and--a
standard for the weigh beam and steelyard arm: The horizontal portion A
of this casting terminates in a claw a, which when the apparatus is applied to
a carriage on a railway rests upon the under head of the rail; or upon the
foot, as the case be, as shown at Figures 1 and 3. The vertical portion of
the rectangular casting or standard A' is fitted near, its upper end: with a
graduated steelyard arm B, along which a weight b is capable of sliding. Jointed
to this arm and pendent therefrom is a connecting rod C, which is jointed to

page_text: the forked end of a lever D. This lever D is fitted at its opposite end with a
claw of steeled iron d, which when the apparatus is in use is intended to bear
against the under side of the wheel tyre and lift it clear of the rail. The
lever D is provided with a transverse knife edge ¹, which bears upon a
divided saddle picce e secured in dovetailed vertical recesses in the sides of
the base plate A, but capable of sliding therein. This knife edge d¹ forms the
fulcrum on which the lever D rocks when its longer limb is depressed by the
action of the steelyard weight b...
To adapt the machine to different heights of rails a sliding wedge F is
employed. This wedge is forked for the same reason that the saddle piece e
is divided, videlicet, to allow the claw end of the lever D to drop sufficiently low
for its knife edge to bear upon the face of the saddle piece. The forked end of
the wedge F passes under the saddle piece or between it and the bed plate A,
so that as the wedge is advanced or drawn back the elevation of the saddle e,
and consequently of the claw end of the lever D, is adjusted. The wedge F
is operated by a screw f, which is connected to its rear end so as to be free to
turn. The screw f passes through a tapped lug cast on the bed plate A.
When, therefore, the screw is turned it will drive forward or withdraw the
wedge as required, and thus adjust the elevation of the claw of the lever to
the requirements of the case. In like manner the elevation of the base plate
above the ground is regulated by a screw-jack arrangement G. By means of
this adjustment a plummet g attached to the upper end of the standard A¹ is
made to coincide with a fixed gauge point g¹, and thus the proper vertical
adjustment of the standard is determined. The steelyard arm has a knife-
edge fulcrum as usual, and it is provided with an index b', which moves over
a graduated segment face on the top of the standard. The connecting rod C
is forked at its upper end to receive the steelyard arm, and a knife-edge pin
(the knife edge being downwards) serves to couple them together.
In order to ascertain the strain upon the springs for the purpose of
equalizing the load upon the axles of a locomotive or carriage, one such
apparatus as has been described is to be placed under each wheel in such a
manner that the claw of the base plate A rests upon the foot of the rail, and the
claw of the lever D grasps the under side of the wheel tyre, having its fulcrum
on the adjustable saddle piece e of the base plate. The apparatus being now
so adjusted by means of the screw-jack arrangement G that the plummet g
attached to the standard coincides with the gauge point, the wedge F is to
be pushed forward until the steelyard arm B attains its normal position, which
can be determined by the position taken by the index b with respect to the
figures on the curved scale on the top of the standard. A weighing apparatus

page_text: having been placed under each wheel of the locomotive engine or carriage
whose weight is required to be ascertained, and the steelyard arms of each
having been brought into a corresponding position, the weights bare to be
placed upon the steelyard arms and brought severally to such a position
thereon that the marker of each apparatus will stand at 0. Each wheel
must then be raised just clear of the rails, and the load of each separate wheel
may be ascertained by referring to the scale marked upon the upper face of
the steelyard arm. The greater or less difference in the results given by the
different apparatus will show in the clearest manner the greater or less
inequality of the load, and of the strain of the springs of the different wheels,
which strain can then be regulated with ease and certainty. The sum of
these several weights will be the gross weight of the whole engine or carriage.
In order to secure the apparatus in position when used in connection with
a double-headed rail, as shown at Fig. 1, a rock lever H is fitted to the under
side of the platform. This rock lever terminates in a claw, which is inserted
below the rail, and is caused to bind tightly against the under rail head by
means of a pressing screw, which passes through the platform, and bears on
the rear end of the rock lever. When, however, the weighing apparatus is
applied to flat-bottomed rails, as shown at Fig. 3, this moveable claw will not
be required.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improved Apparatus
for Adjusting the Weight of Railway Carriages and Engines," 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, the arrangement of
apparatus above described, whereby I am enabled to ascertain the proportion
of weight which each supporting spring of an engine or carriage sustains, and
thus to adjust the gross weight upon the springs with ease and certainty.
In witness whereof, I, the said Otto Gossell, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Twenty-fourth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
H. K. WHITE,
• 66, Chancery Lane.
OTTO GOSSELL. (L.S.)