A NEW SYSTEM OF SCALES TO BE USED PRINCIPALLY IN THE FABRICATION OF COINS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Louis Joseph Dierickx, Director of the
Mint, residing at the Mint, in the City of Paris, for the Invention of
"A NEW SYSTEM OF SCALES TO BE USED PRINCIPALLY IN THE FABRICATION
OF COINS."
Sealed the 7th February 1860, and dated the 9th August 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Louis Joseph
Dierickx at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 9th August 1859.
I, CHARLES LOUIS JOSEPH DIERICKX, Director of the Mint, residing at the
Mint, in the City of Paris, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "A NEW SYSTEM OF SCALES TO BE USED PRINCIPALLY IN THE FABRICATION OF
Corns," to be as follows:-
I purpose placing upon one of the arms of a money scale a piece of metal
or crystal of about four inches long by somewhat less than an inch wide, and
on this plate a sort of rule or inclined horizontal plane, and at the end of this
rule or plane I form a notch or mortice which will permit the movement of
the rule an or an inch (more or less) to or from the centre. The use
of this rule fixes the precise category to which each planchet belongs, because
when the planchet has balanced the scale it will determine its own weight.
The plate will carry lines indicating those planchets which are of the proper
weight, those which are too light or too heavy, and their different degrees of
lightness or heaviness. It will be understood that this system of weighing

page_text: may be modified and applied to other weights than the scales usually used in
mints, but in these latter its determining the exact excess of weight in each
planchet will render it particularly valuable, as it will indicate the exact
quantity to be filed off the planchet or unstamped coin, and it may be applied
to existing mint scales with little difficulty or expense.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Louis Joseph Dierickx in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 8th February 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
LOUIS JOSEPH DIERICKX, Director of the Mint, residing at the Mint, in the
City of Paris, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Charles Louis Joseph Dierickx, Her special licence that I, the
said Charles Louis Joseph Dierickx, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Louis Joseph Dierickx, 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 "A NEW SYSTEM OF SCALES TO BE USED
PRINCIPALLY IN THE FABRICATION OF COINS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Charles Louis Joseph Dierickx, by an instru-
'ment in writing under my hand and seal, 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 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 Charles Louis Joseph Dierickx, 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 and annexed Drawing, in which A denotes the
pillar of the scale; B, the arm thereof carrying the plate C; C¹ and C",
different views of the plate and lines; E, D, are metal rings serving as
.
'
2.
ד יו.

page_text: balancers. In the manufacture of coins the guaging of the planchets has
hitherto been effected by scales and weights worked by men or by mechanical
means, in order to classify the planchets into thin, heavy, or planchets of legal
standard. This classification (principally as regards heavy planchets) was
impefect because no means existed of placing them by categories determined
by weight, and the only classification obtained was an approximation dis-
tinguished by the terms, first heavy, second heavy, third heavy, and so on.
After this rough indication the workman charged with the guaging filed the
planchet more or less according to its classification, and it frequently resulted
from this defective classification that a piece classed erroneously as No. 3
instead of No. 1 received too strong a touch of the file, thus being rendered
too light, was obliged to be re-melted. By my improved system classification
is effected with regularity and precision, and my scales may be used for the
classification of small or large size planchets by the mere substitution of a
disc or standard as may best suit. It is important to observe that the use of
my improved scale will determine rapidly and exactly to what number of the
cutter the plates which were either too thick or not thick enough should be
referred. My scale may have only one knife in the centre and without knives
at tho extremity of the beam, or it may have three like ordinary scales; it
may work with or without a needle, and may consequently be placed in small
compass. My improvements can be applied at trifling expence to old scales
in use where coins are manufactured; one of the arms of my scale has a piece
in metal or glass about four inches long by about one inch wide; this plate
which forms a kind of rule, is placed at the extremity of the arm, which is
fastened to it perpendicularly. This rule or plate may be brought more or
less close to the centre; for this purpose a groove is made in the arm B;
by means of this plate or rule (the scale being level) it is determined to
which category each planchet belongs, and then each planchet determines
itself (if made to move on the rule) the weight which it bears or the category
to which it belongs; C¹, C, are different views of the plate C. The plate
bears lines which indicate which are the planchets of the required weight,
those which are too light, and those which are too heavy. By the position of
the rule the planchet on being made to slide along the rule is brought nearer
to or removed further from the centre. The length of the rule and its
divisions must be according as it may be desired that the distance between the
planchets should be greater or less. It is essential that the planchet placed
first on the rule should touch the edge or shoulder of it.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner or
means by which I carry it into effect, I desire it to be understood that I do

page_text: not confine myself to the precise details 'herein given, but that I claim the
exclusive use of the system of scales (described and shewn) to be used
principally in the manufacture of coins.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Louis Joseph Dierickx, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Second day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness;
G. GUESQUIÈRE,
Hotel des Monnaies,
à Paris.
C. L. J. DIERICKX. (L.S.)