IMPROVEMENTS IN WEIGHING MACHINES AND WEIGHTS USED WITH THE SAME, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS APPLY PRINCIPALLY TO WEIGH-BRIDGES, WEIGHING CRANES, AND THE CLASS OF WEIGHING MACHINES ACTING UPON LEVERS, STEELYARDS, &C
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jolin Stanley, Mechanical Engineer, of 244, White-
chapel Road, in the Parish of Saint Mary, Whitechapel, in the County
of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WEIGHING MACHINES
AND WEIGHTS USED WITH THE SAME, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS APPLY PRINCIPALLY
TO WEIGH-BRIDGES, WEIGHING CRANES, AND THE CLASS OF WEIGHING MACHINES
ACTING UPON LEVERS, STEELYARDS, &C."
Sealed the 1st February 1856, and dated the 2nd August 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Stanley at the Office.
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 2nd August
1855.
I, JOHN STANLEY (Mechanical Engineer), of 244, Whitechapel Road, in
the Parish of Saint Mary, Whitechapel, in the County of Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
WEIGHING MACHINES AND WEIGHTS USED WITH THE SAME, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS
APPLY PRINCIPALLY TO WEIGH-BRIDGES WEIGHING CRANES AND THE CLASS OF
WEIGHING MACHINES ACTING UPON LEVERS, &c.," to be as follows:-
First, as it applies to weighing machines that act upon the principal of
single and compounded leverage,steelyards,and proportionalweights accom-
[Price 8d.]

page_text: panied by auxiliary steelyards, it divides such machines into classes, such
classification having refference to the ratio of leverage, and takes such pro-
portions that admit of a unit of one denomination of weight to counterbalance
a unit of another denomination, which two units form the standard of a class,
(as I lb.and 1 cwt., class 1; 1 oz.and 1 lb., class 2,&c. &c. ;)such denominations
of weights thatare inconveniently small for proportional weights are counter-
poised by the said auxiliary steelyards, (that is, a modification of a steelyard
graduated upon the long arm of the lever, that carries proportional weights,)
and provides that entire steelyards, (that is, such that form the entire counter-
poise,) are each fitted with a steel arris bearing (such as ordinary balances act
upon) at the end of the long arm, to carry a weight for the purpose of
testing the correctness of the same, such weight and leverage being brought
under the same arrangement as that of proportional weights and ratio of
leverage, as before stated. That graduated scales of steelyards are divided to
measurement compared with weight, and arranged for their poises to be of
given weights: (thus, poise 1 lb., scale 1/2 in. to 1 lb., that is to say, 1 lb.
moved either way ½ in. would make 1 lb. difference in weighing. The said
Invention provides that the end of the long arm of each entire or auxiliary
steelyard, or the weight carrier (if any) bearing upon the same, have inscribed
thereon the proportions of leverage and the class it belongs to: (thus, class 1,
proportions 1 lb. to 1 cwt.; class 2, proportions 1 oz. to 1 lb., &c.&c.); that is
to say, one pound bearing on such steelyard end will balance one Lundred-
weight upon the goods scale or platform of class one machine); that the; gra-
duated sc'e of such steelyards have also inscribed on them the the measure-
ment they are graduated to and the required weight of their poises: (thus,
scale in. to 1 lb. poisc 1 ½ lb., &c. &c. The said Invention also provides
that weights be made of metal,smooth and galvanized,enameled, or otherwise
covored throughout their surface, adjusted through the medium of a cell in
cach weight, and a softer metal plug firmly screwed or otherwise fastened
therein, afterwards stamped with an impression discriptive of the imperial
standard of each weight and the class of machine it belongs to; also what
weight it represents on such machine: (thus, 1 lb. standard counterbalances
1 cwt. ou class 1 machine, &c. &c.) The said Invention also provides that
proportional weight carrying scales acting upon and in conjunction with steel-
yards are supported and stayed on their under side in lieu of being suspended
by their top side; and it also provides that weigh-bridges, goods platforms, or
scale plates are supported on their under side with novel suspension pieces,
arranged to allow such bridge, platform, or plate to swing freely either way

page_text: without disturbing any other part of the machine, thereby securing great
freedom of action and guarding greatly against wear.
Secondly, the said Invention applies to scale beams and weighing machines
generally, and provides a novel mode of performing what is termed striking
or releiving, for which purpose a modification of an hydraulic press is made
use of, to lift the necessary parts from a dormant state into a state for
weighing, holding the same during that opperation, and afterwards striking
or letting the same down into their dormant state again.
Thirdly, the said Invention supplies every description of weighing
machines that act upon steel arris bearings (as their axis of action), with
means of keeping such bearings in constant contact with oil or other such
matter; such means consist of boxes or cells being formed round about such
bearings in a manner that they contain oil, &c. to such a height that the
acting parts will be prevented from rusting in damp situations, or where
exposed to the action of salt or acid.
Fourthly, the said Invention supplies a novel self-acting and indicating
equipoise, composed of a rod of glass, iron, or other suitable material, sus-
pended by one of its ends to a balance, beam, or lever, the other end immersed
into a glass vessel of mercury, poised so as to find its equilebrium with its
lower end near the bottom of the mercury. The said rod has a graduated
scale upon it, to show the quantity of weight applied to the opposite end
of said balance, beam, or lever, by the top surface of the mercury upon the
said scale. The said rod and the inside of the glass vessel are nearly of
one size, leaving but little space for the mercury, thereby causing a con-
siderable deal more rise of the mercury than the rod is depressed (and vice
versa), thereby giving greater length to the said scale than it would other-
wise have. The same effect may be produced by the power required to
immerse a more bouyant mass into mercury.
Fifthly, the said Invention applies to weighing cranes. For self-supporting
and such cranes that carry their lifting gear upon that part which turns upon
a vertical axis, an extra jib is provided, to which the lifting gear-work is
attached, in lieu of it being attached to the ordinary jib and main stock; the
said extra jib,together with the lifting geer work,is supported and weighed at
its two ends by a series of levers, the fulcrum for one end being upon the main
stock, and the other upon the outer end of the ordinary jib; such levers are so
arranged that they act in the same manner upon the counterpoise whichever
part of the said extra jib is bearing weight, thereby preventing any difference
being caused by the quantity of chain hanging down from the jib head For

page_text: such cranes that have a jib swinging outside a warehouse or other building
(to which it is attached) upon a vertical axis and the winch gear placed
inside, the said Invention provides a sort of framework, one part of which
is erected on the outside of the wall of the said building, and supports the
said swinging jib; the other part of the said framework is placed inside the
said wall, passes through the same, and connects to the outside part, forming
one mass; the inside part supports the lifting winch gear. The whole of
the framework and that which it carries are suspended to a series of levers,
in a manner that they carry and weigh the whole mass, together with any
article required to be weighed upon the said crane, preventing any
difference by the chain hanging down, as before stated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Stanley in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 2nd February 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
STANLEY, Mechanical Engineer, of 244, Whitechapel Road, in the Parish of
St. Mary, Whitechapel, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting,
WHEREAS Her most Excellent. Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Stanley, Her special license that I, the said John Stanley, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Stanley, 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 Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WEIGHING
MACHINES AND WEIGHTS USED WITH THE SAME, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS APPLY PRIN
CIPALLY TO WEIGH-BRIDGES. WEIGHING CRANES, AND THE CLASS OF WEIGHING
MACHINES ACTING UPON LEVERS, STEELYARDS, &C.," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Stanley, my executors or administrators, by en
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 performed, and cause the same to

page_text: 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 John Stanley, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following state-
ment thereof (that is to say):-
The first improvement provide that the goods platforms M, Figs. 6, 7,
and 8, of weighing machines, be carried by novel jointed suspension picces,
in a manner that they may swing freely in any way without wearing the
steel arris bearings (a, a, a, on Figs. 6, 7, and 8 these bearings are shown),
from which they are suspended, or disturbing any other part of the machine.
This is accomplished by the hooks c, c, connecting two bearings of action,
having a joint, which allows the concave surface to adjust itself to the arris
upon which it acts. The concave bearing may also adjust itself by being
fitted loosely into a cup, in a manner to leave a rocking motion to the
concave bearing; concave bearings b, b; arrises a, a. The novelty consists
in the bearings being jointed in such a manner that they keep in action in
perfect contact, and allow the parts they are connected with to swing freely
while this contact of bearing is still preserved.
The second improvement consists in constructing the bearings of action,
fulcrums, &c. of any weighing machine in vessels capable of holding fluid,
as oil, mercury, &c., to protect and cover the acting surfaces and edges
from oxidation. The whole of this improvement is a novelty.
The third improvement provides that the ratio of leverage of weighing
machines be so arranged that they require all weights used with them to be of
some standard of weight. As more ratios of leverage than one are required,
they are by this Invention divided into five classes, such classification having
reference to the ratios of leverage and the required weight of the weights to
be used, and are as follows:-Class 1, ratio of leverage, 1 to 112; weights
required, 1 pound to 1 hundredweight: class 2, ratio, 1 to 16; weights, 1 ounce
to 1 pound: class 3, ratio, 1 to 56; weights, 2 pounds to 1 hundredweight:
class 4, ratio, 1 to 224; weights, half a pound to 1 hundredweight: class 5,
ratio, 1 lb. to 100 pounds, that is to say, with I weighing machine, one pound
upon the weight scale equals one hundredweight upon the goods platform, and
so on for other classes. It also provides that each machine bears an impression
descriptive of the class of machine that it is a part of, and the proportion the
weights to be used upon it are required to bear to that which they represent:
thus, class 1, 1 lb. to 1 cwt.: class 2, 1 oz. to 1 lb.; and so on for the other

page_text: classes. The novelty of this improvement is that of arranging the ratios
of leverage, and classing them, and impressing on each machine, by
stamping, engraving, casting, or otherwise, its class and ratio of leverage,
as before stated.
The fourth improvement provides that the leverage of steelyards, and such
weighing machines as indicate weight by means of steelyards, be arranged to
require the moveable poises of some standard of weight, and the divisions
thereon, graduated to that of standard measure. It also provides that the
graduated scales bear an impression descriptive of the standard of measure
as compared with the weight to which they are graduated, and the required
weight of moveable poise to act therewith: thus, scale 1 in. to 7 pounds; that
is to say, 1 pound moved one inch on the steelyard arm would alter the balance
equal to 7 pounds bearing upon the opposite end; scale inch to 1 cwt.,
poise 20 lbs; that is to say, twenty pounds moved three quarters of an inch
would alter the balance equal to one hundredweight bearing upon the opposite
end, and so on for other proportions. It also provides for the facility of testing
machines that have more than one scale and poise on one steelyard (as shown,
Figs. 7 and 10,) that the whole length of such scales be equal, and the poises
differing in ratio of weight equal to that of the greatest weight they represent,
thereby rendering the correctness of the whole testable by the smallest
poise only, d, Figs. 7 and 10, which arrangement answers the same purpose
as the separate weight, provisionally specified. And it also provides thai a
large steelyard poises occasionally have an arm projecting and bearing upon
the steelyard beyond the vertical line of any part of it for steadiness, as
shown at 1, Figs. 7 and 10. The novelty of this improvement consists in
the general arrangement of poises, and the scales to standards of weight and
measure, and of inscribing the scales with the same, the capability of testing
with one poise only, and the occasional projecting arm of large poises that
are not intended to swing to and fro.
The fifth improvement applies to detached weights generally, but most par-
ticularly to such as are required to be used with weighing machines under the
third and fourth improvements, herein stated; and provides that they be made
smooth, galvanized, or otherwise coated, having in each weight a hole or cavity,
into which a plug is fixed, for the purpose of adjusting, which plug is made
even with the surface of the weight, and stamped or otherwise inscribed with
its standard weight, and the class of machine for which it is intended, and the
weight it represents upon such machine, such impression to cover the plug.
It also provides that the steelyard poises be impressed or inscribed with their

page_text: standard weight. The novelty consists in encasing the weights, the mode of
adjusting, and the stamping or otherwise impressing the plug, and impressing
steelyard poises, with their weight; this stamping to form a seal to the
adjustment.
The sixth improvement supplies a novel mode in the arrangement and con-
struction of weight scales upon the long arm of steelyards, which arrangement
consists in placing the weight scale above the horizontal plane of the axes of
action and staying the same, in a manner as shown e, e, Fig. 7. This principle
isalso claimed for its application to weightscales under the said horizontal line,
and for its application to equal balance scales.
The seventh improvement supplies a novel mode of (what is called) reliev
ing or striking weighing machines, which consists in the application of fluid
pressure through the medium of modifications of the hydraulic press. Onc
uodification is shown at Fig. 7. P, cylinder; V, piston. The mode of operation
is to pump fluid into the cylinder until the piston is forced near to the top of
the cylinder, when the levers U, U, move from the dotted lines to the position
shown, and the goods platform M is lifted from the rests S, in which position
the machine is ready for weighing. The platform can be let down again to
its rests by letting the fluid out from under the piston by means of a cock or
valve for that purpose, the novelty being in the application of fluid pressure to
purpose described.
the
The eighth improvement supplies a novel self-acting and indicating equi-
poise, composed of a parallel rod or bar of glass or other suitable material,
suspended by one of its ends from a balance beam or lever, and the other end
immersed in mercury or other suitable fluid, contained in a vessel (the inside
of which is but little larger than to allow the rod or bar to pass down), and
poised so as the bottom end of the rod or bar finds its equilibrium at or near
the bottom of the vessel, having a graduated scale annexed to show the
quantity of weight brought to bear on the opposite end of such beam, balance,
or lever by the fall of the top surface of the fluid upon the scale; the novelty
being, that the bar or rod is nearly the same external diameter as the vessel is
internal diameter, thereby causing a much greater rise or fall in the fluid
than in the bar or rod.
The ninth improvement applies to wharf cranes, and all such cranes as
combiue lifting with weighing. By this improvement, the jib is constructed in
two parts,
the part K being fixed firmly to the moveable stock, somewhat in
the manner of a common crane, from which is supported and balanced by the
levers B, B, the part A, which is carried at each end by the said levers, and

page_text: which contains the gear-work and its connections. The levers are connected
by the rod D, and weight of articles suspended from the look C is taken by
At H and Gare
steelyard or any other known means from the said levers.
shown stops or rests, upon which the part A is rested when not used in weigh-
ing, and which relieves the weighing bearings when not in use. The novelty
consists in the part A being lifted at or near its two ends, and being made to
rest upon the resis, as described. This improvement also applies to cranes
fixed to the front of warehouses, with their jibs to move upon vertical axes
outside the building, with the winch gearing inside; for which it supplies
a framework or carriage, part of which is placed inside the building (to
which it is attached), passed through the wall, and is attached to another
part outside, which framework or carriage supports the whole crane, and is
suspended at or near its extremities W, W, Figs. III., IV., V., are made
to bear upon a series of levers E, E, which levers are arranged so as to
renderweight equally to the equipoise G, whichever position the jib A may be
tarned, and at whatever height the articles are to be lifted. One of the levers
is shown with a double fulcrum Y, supported by the post D, and arranged to
be double-acting, the object of it being to prevent weight on the jib tipping
that part up, but will not in all cases be required. It is also applicable to
ordinary steelyards, of which it will bring their axes in one plane. The
novelty of this part of the lnvention is that of placing the whole crane
upon a carriage similar to that shown, and lifting and weighing the saine
by means of suspensions at or near its extremities, and the double fulcrum
lever.
Generally the parts of weighing machines, weighing cranes, and weights
that are not herein claimed as novelties, are claimed to be constructed in
any practical manner. It is claimed that any one improvement constitute
the Invention separately, or that as many of them be combined as may be
required in any one machine. The improvements are constructed in metal,
or metal and wood combined, except such parts as are described to be in
other material.
Explanation of terms herein-before used:-By the term arris bearing is
meant the sharp-edged pieces of steel that form the axes of action of the
weighing parts. By the term concave bearing is meant the steel laces that
act against the arris bearings, such as books, fulcrums, supports, &c. &c. By
the term weight scale is meant the scale plate, pan, board, or platform, whereon
detached weights are put during the operation of weighing. By the term
goods platform is meant that scale plate, pan, board, or platform upon which

page_text: articles are supported to be weighed. By the term steelyard poise is meant
the weight that is made to move on the bar or long arm of the steelyard.
By the term graduated scale is meant the divisions on the steelyard bars.
By the term equipoise is meant any scale, weights, steelyards, or any other
appendage through the medium of which weight is ascertained. Where the
singular is used it also applies to the plural, and where the plural is used it
also applies to singular.
The two Sheets of Drawings annexed form a part of this Specification, and
the letters, figures, &c. herein-before mentioned apply to the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Stanley, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
W F. STANLEY,
JOHN STANLEY. (L.S.)