Improvements in Apparatus for Testing and Automatically Indi- cating the Weight or Strength of the Person Using it After a Suitable Coin has been First Inserted.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd Dec., 1887
Complete Specification Left, 24th Sept., 1888
Complete Specification Accepted, 16th Nov., 1888
Improvements in Apparatus for Testing and Automatically Indi-
cating the Weight or Strength of the Person Using it After a
Suitable Coin has been First Inserted.
A communication to me from abroad by CONRAD BACH, of St. Gallen, Switzerland.
I EDMUND EDWARDS, of the firm of Edwards and Co., Patent Agents and
Engineers, of 35, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention has for its object an improved apparatus by which, after a suitable
determined coin has been first inserted in an opening provided for the purpose, the
weight or the strength of the person using it is tested and automatically indicated.
The apparatus consists of two parts, namely, that to which the weight or strength
of the operator is applied, and that by which such strength or weight is measured and
indicated.
A platform is provided upon which the person using the apparatus stands, this
platform being supported upon a series of levers turning upon centres in the ordinary
well known way, one of the levers (which is provided with an adjustable balance
weight) being connected to a suitably situated rod or chain by which the force is
communicated to the indicating apparatus.
al
A rod is also provided rising through an opening in the platform, and having
suitable handle at its upper end upon which the strength of the person using it is
exerted, whilst its lower end below the platform communicates with levers operating
upon the rod or chain already described which communicates with the indicating
apparatus.
The platform rests upon fixed supports when the strength is to be tested, but when
the weight is to be measured, the handle or lever to which the strength is applied as
already described is pushed back and moves the platform off its supports until it rests
upon the levers only.
The connecting bar or chain is attached at its upper end to a cranked bar having
teeth upon its inner edge which gear with and drive a toothed pinion upon the axis of
an indicating hand or needle.

page_text: The end of the bar above the cranked part carries a transverse pin fitted with two
rollers which are therefore drawn downward when the lever below the platform is
forced down by the exertion of weight or strength.
The rollers are arranged above the horizontal arms of two corresponding bell crank
levers turning upon fixed centres carried by the frame of the apparatus, and the lower
ends of the vertical arms of the bell crank levers are jointed to two nearly vertical rods
the lower ends of which are jointed to a properly adjusted weight which rises and falls
perfectly freely upon the connecting rod below the toothed crank. When therefore
the connecting rod is drawn down, the bell crank raise the weight the leverage of
which upon them increases as it rises. At the same time the hand or index points out
the force exerted upon a dial suitably marked.
In order to prevent a fraudulent use of the apparatus without payment, a ratchet
wheel is fixed upon the axle of the index hand. A slit or opening for the insertion of
a penny or other determined coin is made in the upper part of the frame of the
apparatus at one side. This slit communicates with a flat tube of proper size for the
coin which is suspended upon centres at its upper end, and the lower open end of this
tube or shoot is cut away and embraced freely by a fork upon the end of a horizontal
lever turning upon a pivot, and having an adjustable balance weight at its outer end,
so that the weight of the coin dropped down the tube upon the forked end of the lever
raises the counterweight. From the side of the counterweight projects a stud or pin
arranged below a weighted arm carrying a pall engaging with the teeth of the ratchet
wheel already described, so that the latter cannot revolve. When however the coin
is inserted, the forked lever is depressed, and its other end rising the stud upon the
balance weight raises the pall from the ratchet wheel which can then revolve when by
the force exerted the main connecting rod is drawn down.
The removal of the coin is effected by means of hooks pivoted to the side of the
ratchet wheel, one of which when the latter turns is brought against a projection
at the side of the suspended coin tube and forces the lower end of the latter off the
forked lever so that the coin drops into a box or receptacle provided for the purpose.
Instead of the bell cranked levers described, two flexible bands may be used fastened
at one end to the upper end of the cranked rod described, and at the other end to the
periphery of rollers formed upon or attached to the vertical arms which are connected
to the measuring weight as described.
Dated this 22nd day of December 1887.

page_text: I, EDMUND EDWARDS, of the firm of Edwards and Co., Patent Agents and Engineers,
of 35, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement, and accompanying drawings, that
is to say-
This invention has for its object an improved apparatus by which, after a suit-
able determined coin has been first inserted in an opening provided for the purpose,
the weight or the muscular strength of the person using it is automatically indicated,
whilst after each operation the mechanism is returned automatically to its original
position in readiness to be again used after a fresh coin has been inserted.
The apparatus consists of two principal parts, that is to say the mechanism
which the muscular strength or the weight of the person using it sets in operation,
and that by which such strength or weight is indicated.
The accompanying drawings are in illustration of the invention, Figure 1 being
a vertical section and figure 2 a plan of the first mentioned part of the apparatus,
and figure 5 a front view, figure 6 a plan, and figure 7 a vertical section, of the
indicating part of the apparatus.
The two separate parts are connected together by means of a rod S, or instead
thereof a chain or steel wire or band.
The lower end of this rod S is connected to the end of the lever f (figures 1
and 2) by a knife edge or hook, and the rod near its upper end is cranked out
and toothed so as to form a rack as shewn in figure 5. At the upper end of the
rod S is fitted a transverse pin upon which turn freely two friction rollers. The
lever turns upon a knife edges, and at its outer end is fitted a balance weight G
the position of which can be adjusted and fixed by a screw.
The person who wishes to test his muscular strength grasps the handle H (shewn
in figures 3 and 4) which is fixed upon the corresponding rod H (figure 1), and
exerts his force by pulling it upward, this force being transmitted to the lever f by
means of the several intermediate levers f¹, ff, and the knife edge s', whilst the
lever in turn transmits the movement to the indicating apparatus by means of the
rod S the toothed rack Z upon the latter gearing with and turning the corresponding
pinion Zupon the axis of an indicating needle F.
In order to measure accurately the tractive force exerted, a weight is used
(figures 5, 6, and 7) by raising which the amount of tractive force is determined. The
force which draws down the friction rollers 1, 2, at the upper end of the rod S presses

page_text: them upon the bellcranked levers A, A,.which turn upon centres u, u, which are carried
by cross bars U, U, fixed across the frame or case C of the indicating apparatus.
The arms a of the bellcranked levers A are jointed at v, v, to rods w, w, the lower
ends of which are jointed to the weight g. This weight has a central hole through
which the rod S passes freely. Any upward tractive force therefore exerted upon the
handle H transmits through the levers and rod S a downward pressure to the friction
rollers, r,, and the rod S therefore in descending causes the weight g to rise and the
toothed pinion Z and indicating needle F to turn to a corresponding extent.
A circular scale, properly divided, is fitted to the case C and shows the movement
of the needle F.
The number of teeth in the rack Z and the pinion Z are so proportioned that a
maximum force exerted upon the handle H causes one complete revolution of the
pinion and needle.
In order to prevent any person from using the apparatus until the proper coin has
been first inserted, the revolution of the pinion and needle is prevented by means of a
ratchet wheel W fixed upon the same axis.
At the top of the case C but somewhat on one side, is made the slit or opening for
the insertion of the coin, and below this slit is suspended a corresponding flat tube or
shoot n suspended upon a pivot at its upper end and open at its lower end which is
provided with a suitably shaped lateral projecting piece n¹. The lower open end of
the tube or shoot n is cut away and embraced freely by a fork o upon the end of a
horizontal lever o¹ turning upon a pivot o², and having at its outer end a balance
weight p, proportioned to the particular coin which is to be used, so that the weight
of the coin dropped down the tube n and resting upon the sides of the fork o, raises
the weight p.
A stud or pin projects from the side of the weight p as shewn at q³ in
figure 6, and acts from below against the arm q¹ of a pall q which engages with the
teeth of the ratchet wheel W.
This arm is itself provided with a weight tending to keep the pall p which
turns upon a centre o², in gear with the teeth of the ratchet wheel W.
When a proper coin introduced down the tube n rests upon the fork o, its weight
depresses the latter and the weight prises, and the pall is withdrawn sufficiently from
the ratchet wheel W, so that the latter as well as the pinion 2 are free to turn, and when
the handle His pulled up the lever f and rod S are drawn down as already described,
the arms a, a, of the bell cranks A, A, force down the friction rollers », », and the
weight g, is raised. The removal of the coin from the fork o is effected by means of a
moveable hook carried by the wheel W. When the wheel turns, the hook h,
supported by the pin h¹, strikes the lateral projection n² of the suspended tube n which
is forced out in the direction of the arrow (figure 5) until it leaves the fork o and
allows the coin to drop into a drawer or receptacle provided for it in the lower part of
the apparatus, the drawer being locked so that the coins can only be removed from
time to time by an authorized person.
The suspended tube or shoot n afterwards returns to its position by its own weight
and by the pressure of a light spring.
Instead of the two friction rollers r, r, and the arms a, a, of the bell cranked levers,
cords or band of sufficiently flexible material may be used attached at one end to the
rod S and at their other end to pullies R, R, which turn upon the centres u, u, and
have the arms a¹, a', rigidly fixed to them.
When the apparatus is used to try the weight instead of strength, the platform E
(figure 1) of the apparatus is adjusted so that it can move sufficiently in a vertical
direction.
For this purpose supporting rails t, t, are used, upon which, when the strength is
being tested by means of the handle H, the platform is supported. By pushing over
the lever H to which the handle is attached the platform is disengaged from the
supports t t and remains suspended freely upon the knife edges s2, 3, which act upon
the lever by the intervention of the intermediate levers, m³, m², m³, m², so that the
weight upon the platform is indicated by the needle F.
The iudication upon the disc, will however include the weight of the platform.itself,

page_text: and the scale upon the dial must therefore be corrected, in relation to the one for the
strength indicator.
This correction is made by altering the position of the zero upon the scale; if, for
example the weight of the platform is twenty pounds, the scale indicating weight.
should only start at the point where the strength scale points to twenty pounds.
of
I am aware of Everitt's Patent No. 1643384, of Page's patent No. 1257685
Salter's Patent No. 698388 and of Ubrig's Patent No. 197987 and do not claim the
mechanism therein described and claimed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
:-
1. The apparatus for measuring and indicating the muscular force applied to the
handle H by means of the lever connected to a rod S, which forces down by means
of friction rollers », r, the arms a, a, of bellcranked levers A, A, so that the weight g
is raised by the rods w, w, the movement of the rod S simultaneously turning the
pinion Z and indicating needle F by the toothed rack Z, the pinion Z' being prevented
from turning until a proper coin has by its weight caused the fork o to descend and
to disengage the pally from the ratchet wheel W, the coin being released from the
fork o by means of the hook h carried by the ratchet wheel W and acting upon the
suspended tube or shoot n, all substantially as described and shewn in the drawings.
2. The modified form of apparatus, in which flexible cords or bands k, k, connecting
the rod S to pullies R, R, rigidly fixed to the levers a¹ a are substituted for the friction
rollers, and the arms a, a, of the hell cranks, substantially as described and shewn
in figure 5.
3. In the apparatus described, the arrangement of the moveable platform, so that it can
be either rigidly supported upon supports t, t, when used for measuring strength, or
suspended upon knife edges s2, s, which operate the lever by means of the intermediate
levers m³, m³, m³, m, when used for measuring weight, the position of the platform
being varied as desired by means of the lever H, substantially as described and shewn
in figure 1.
Dotal thin 30 day of Santamhan 1000

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd Dec., 1887
Complete Specification Left, 24th Sept., 1888
Complete Specification Accepted, 16th Nov., 1888
cating the Weight or Strength of the Person Using it After a
Suitable Coin has been First Inserted.
A communication to me from abroad by CONRAD BACH, of St. Gallen, Switzerland.
I EDMUND EDWARDS, of the firm of Edwards and Co., Patent Agents and
Engineers, of 35, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention has for its object an improved apparatus by which, after a suitable
determined coin has been first inserted in an opening provided for the purpose, the
weight or the strength of the person using it is tested and automatically indicated.
The apparatus consists of two parts, namely, that to which the weight or strength
of the operator is applied, and that by which such strength or weight is measured and
indicated.
A platform is provided upon which the person using the apparatus stands, this
platform being supported upon a series of levers turning upon centres in the ordinary
well known way, one of the levers (which is provided with an adjustable balance
weight) being connected to a suitably situated rod or chain by which the force is
communicated to the indicating apparatus.
A rod is also provided rising through an opening in the platform, and having a
suitable handle at its upper end upon which the strength of the person using it is
exerted, whilst its lower end below the platform communicates with levers operating
upon the rod or chain already described which communicates with the indicating
apparatus.
The platform rests upon fixed supports when the strength is to be tested, but when
the weight is to be measured, the handle or lever to which the strength is applied as
already described is pushed back and moves the platform off its supports until it rests
upon the levers only.
The connecting bar or chain is attached at its upper end to a cranked bar having
teeth upon its inner edge which gear with and drive a toothed pinion upon the axis of
indicating hand or needle

page_text: The end of the bar above the cranked part carries a transverse pin fitted with two
rollers which are therefore drawn downward when the lever below the platform is
forced down by the exertion of weight or strength.
The rollers are arranged above the horizontal arms of two corresponding bell crank
levers turning upon fixed centres carried by the frame of the apparatus, and the lower
ends of the vertical arms of the bell crank levers are jointed to two nearly vertical rods
the lower ends of which are jointed to a properly adjusted weight which rises and falls
perfectly freely upon the connecting rod below the toothed crank. When therefore
the connecting rod is drawn down, the bell cranks raise the weight the leverage of
which upon them increases as it rises. At the same time the hand or index points out
the force exerted upon a dial suitably marked.
In order to prevent a fraudulent use of the apparatus without payment, a ratchet
wheel is fixed upon the axle of the index hand. A slit or opening for the insertion of
a penny or other determined coin is made in the upper part of the frame of the
apparatus at one side. This slit communicates with a flat tube of proper size for the
coin which is suspended upon centres at its upper end, and the lower open end of this
tube or shoot is cut away and embraced freely by a fork upon the end of a horizontal
lever turning upon a pivot, and having an adjustable balance weight at its outer end,
so that the weight of the coin dropped down the tube upon the forked end of the lever
raises the counterweight. From the side of the counterweight projects a stud or pin
arranged below a weighted arm carrying a pall engaging with the teeth of the ratchet
wheel already described, so that the latter cannot revolve. When however the coin
is inserted, the forked lever is depressed, and its other end rising the stud upon the
balance weight raises the pall from the ratchet wheel which can then revolve when by
the force exerted the main connecting rod is drawn down.
The removal of the coin is effected by means of hooks pivoted to the side of the
ratchet wheel, one of which when the latter turns is brought against a projection
at the side of the suspended coin tube and forces the lower end of the latter off the
forked lever so that the coin drops into a box or receptacle provided for the purpose.
Instead of the bell cranked levers described, two flexible bands may be used fastened
at one end to the upper end of the cranked rod described, and at the other end to the
periphery of rollers formed upon or attached to the vertical arms which are connected
to the measuring weight as described.
Dated this 22nd day of December 1887

page_text: Improvements in Apparatus for Testing and Automatically Indi-
cating the Weight or Strength of the Person Using it After a
Suitable Coin has been First Inserted.
I, EDMUND EDWARDS, of the firm of Edwards and Co., Patent Agents and Engineers,
of 35, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement, and accompanying drawings, that
is to say
This invention has for its object an improved apparatus by which, after a suit-
able determined coin has been first inserted in an opening provided for the purpose,
the weight or the muscular strength of the person using it is automatically indicated,
whilst after each operation the mechanism is returned automatically to its original
position in readiness to be again used after a fresh coin has been inserted.
The apparatus consists of two principal parts, that is to say the mechanism
which the muscular strength or the weight of the person using it sets in operation,
and that by which such strength or weight is indicated.
The accompanying drawings are in illustration of the invention, Figure 1 being
a vertical section and figure 2 a plan of the first mentioned part of the apparatus,
and figure 5 a front view, figure 6 a plan, and figure 7 a vertical section, of the
indicating part of the apparatus.
The two separate parts are connected together by means of a rod S, or instead
thereof a chain or steel wire or band.
The lower end of this rod S is connected to the end of the lever (figures 1
and 2) by a knife edge or hook, and the rod near its upper end is cranked out
and toothed so as to form a rack as shewn in figure 5. At the upper end of the
The
rod S is fitted a transverse pin upon which turn freely two friction rollers r, r.
lever turns upon a knife edges, and at its outer end is fitted a balance weight G
the position of which can be adjusted and fixed by a screw.
The person who wishes to test his muscular strength grasps the handle H (shewn
in figures 3 and 4) which is fixed upon the corresponding rod H (figure 1), and
exerts his force by pulling it upward, this force being transmitted to the lever f by
means of the several intermediate levers f¹, 2, 3, and the knife edge s', whilst the
lever in turn transmits the movement to the indicating apparatus by means of the
rod S the toothed rack Z upon the latter gearing with and turning the corresponding
pinion Z upon the axis of an indicating needle F.
In order to measure accurately the tractive force exerted, a weight g is used
(figures 5, 6, and 7) by raising which the amount of tractive force is determined. The
force which draws down the friction rollers 1, " at the upper end of the rod S presses

page_text: them upon the bellcranked levers A, A, which turn upon centres u, u, which are carried
by cross bars U, U, fixed across the frame or case of the indicating apparatus.
The arms a of the bellcranked levers A are jointed at u, v, to rods w, w, the lower
ends of which are jointed to the weight g. This weight has a central hole through
which the rod S passes freely. Any upward tractive force therefore exerted upon the
handle E transmits through the levers f and rod S a downward pressure to the friction
rollers, r, and the rod S therefore in descending causes the weight g to rise and the
toothed pinion 2 and indicating needle F to turn to a corresponding extent.
A circular scale, properly divided, is fitted to the case C and shows the movement
of the needle F.
The number of teeth in the rack Z and the pinion are so proportioned that a
maximum force exerted upon the handle H causes one complete revolution of the
pinion and needle.
In order to prevent any person from using the apparatus until the proper coin has
been first inserted, the revolution of the pinion and needle is prevented by means of a
ratchet wheel W fixed upon the same axis.
At the top of the case C but somewhat on one side, is made the slit or opening for
the insertion of the coin, and below this slit is suspended a corresponding flat tube or
shoot n suspended upon a pivot at its upper end and open at its lower end which is
provided with a suitably shaped lateral projecting piece n'. The lower open end of
the tube or shoot n is cut away and embraced freely by a fork o upon the end of a
horizontal lever of turning upon a pivot of, and having at its outer end a balance
weight p, proportioned to the particular coin which is to be used, so that the weight
of the coin dropped down the tube n and resting upon the sides of the fork o, raises
the weight p. A stud or pin projects from the side of the weight p as shewn at ³ in
figure 6, and acts from below against the arm q' of a pall which engages with the
teeth of the ratchet wheel W.
P
This arm is itself provided with a weight q tending to keep the pall which
turns upon a centre o³, in gear with the teeth of the ratchet wheel W.
When a proper coin introduced down the tube n rests upon the fork o, its weight
depresses the latter and the weight prises, and the pally is withdrawn sufficiently from
the ratchet wheel W, so that the latter as well as the pinion Zare free to turn, and when.
the handle H is pulled up the lever fand rod S are drawn down as already described,
the arms a, a, of the bell cranks A, A, force down the friction rollers, , and the
weight g, is raised. The removal of the coin from the fork o is effected by means of a
moveable hook carried by the wheel W. When the wheel turns, the hook h,
supported by the pin ', strikes the lateral projection of the suspended tube which
is forced out in the direction of the arrow (figure 5) until it leaves the fork o and
allows the coin to drop into a drawer or receptacle provided for it in the lower part of
the apparatus, the drawer being locked so that the coins can only be removed from
time to time by an authorized person.
The suspended tube or shoot afterwards returns to its position by its own weight
and by the pressure of a light spring.
Instead of the two friction rollers, r, and the arms a, a, of the hell cranked levers,
cords or band of sufficiently flexible material may be used attached at one end to the
rod S and at their other end to pullies R, R, which turn upon the centres u, u, and
have the arms a¹, a', rigidly fixed to them.
When the apparatus is used to try the weight instead of strength, the platform F
(figure 1) of the apparatus is adjusted so that it can move sufficiently in a vertical
direction.
For this purpose supporting rails t, t, are used, upon which, when the strength is
being tested by means of the handle H, the platform is supported. By pushing over
the lever H to which the handle is attached the platform is disengaged from the
supports and remains suspended freely upon the knife edges s3, 53, which act upon
the lever by the intervention of the intermediate levers m³, m², m³, m², so that the
weight upon the platform is indicated by the needle F.
The indication upon the disc will however include the weight of the platform itself;

page_text: and the scale upon the dial must therefore be corrected, in relation to the one for the
strength indicator.
This correction is made by altering the position of the zero upon the scale; if, for
example the weight of the platform is twenty pounds, the scale indicating weight
should only start at the point where the strength scale points to twenty pounds.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The apparatus for measuring and indicating the muscular force applied to the
handle H by means of the lever connected to a rod S, which forces down by means
of friction rollers r, r, the arms a, a, of bellcranked levers A, A, so that the weight g
is raised by the rods w, w, the movement of the rod S simultaneously turning the
pinion and indicating needle F by the toothed rack Z, the pinion Z being prevented
from turning until a proper coin has by its weight caused the fork o to descend and
to disengage the pall from the ratchet wheel W, the coin being released from the
fork o by means of the looks h carried by the ratchet wheel W and acting upon the
suspended tube or shoot n, all substantially as described and shewn in the drawings.
2. The modified form of apparatus, in which flexible cords or bands k, k, connecting
the rod S to pullies R, R, rigidly fixed to the levers a' a' are substituted for the friction
rollers,, and the arms a, a, of the bell cranks, substantially as described and shewn
in figure 5.
3. In the apparatus described, the arrangement of the moveable platform, so that it can
be either rigidly supported upon supports t, t, when used for measuring strength, or
suspended upon knife edges 2, 3, which operate the lever by means of the intermediate
levers m¹, m², m³, m³, when used for measuring weight, the position of the platform
being varied as desired by means of the lever H, substantially as described and shewn
in figure 1.