IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR ASCERTAINING THE WEIGHT OF THE LOAD SUPPORTED BY THE SPRINGS OF RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVES AND CARRIAGES, FOR THE PURPOSE OF REGULATING OR EQUALISING SUCH LOAD
Year: 1863

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Moritz Meisel at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th October
1863. A communication from abroad by Ludwig Starck, of Darmstadt.
in the Duchy of Hesse Darmstadt.
J, MORITZ MEISEL, of Park Walk, Brompton, in the County of Middlesex,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR ASCERTAINING THE WEIGHT OF THE LOAD SUPPORTED BY THE SPRINGS OF
RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVES AND CARRIAGES, FOR THE PURPOSE OF REGULATING OR
EQUALISING SUCH LOAD," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus suitably
arranged for ascertaining the weight or pressure of the load borne by each of
the springs of a locomotive or other railway carriage, in order that the weight
or load carried may be equally distributed over the series of springs upon
which a locomotive or railway carriage is mounted. For this purpose the appa-
ratus is so portable that it may be readily applied on any part of a railway in
order to ascertain the correct loading or otherwise of a railway carriage or
locomotive, so that each supporting spring may receive its proper or equal
burthen. By this means the weight or load may be so equally distributed as
to prevent in a great measure the swinging motion of locomotives and
carriages, thus effecting a great saving in wear and tear and affording greater
security whilst running. The apparatus consists of a double-acting screw jack
mounted on a broad foot plate, by preference, of cast iron. The upward

page_text: thrust of the screw jack acts against a compound spring, which it is preferred
should be similar in character to a bearing spring of a railway locomotive
engine, such spring being calculated to bear a weight or pressure equal or
At each end of the
superior to that of the springs it is required to test.
spring an arm or hanger is suspended, and the lower ends of such hanging
arms project outwards, and are of suitable form for receiving and supporting
the rim or periphery of one of the wheels of a locomotive or of a railway
carriage when placed underneath the same. The hanging arms are connected
by a jointed rod near their upper ends, and below by a rod (by preference
made of cast steel) having guide rollers mounted thereon, which bear against
the side of the screw jack acting so as to guide the hanging arms in their up-
and-down movement. A dial marked with suitable divisions and having a
hand or pointer is mounted on a cross bar supported by arms carried by the
spring, the dial and apparatus being so arranged as to indicate the weight or
pressure placed on the hanging arms when the screw jack is actuated to cause
an upward thrust against the under side of the spring to raise it and the
apparatus upwards with the wheel of the locomotive or of a railway carriage
bearing thereon. Arms or props are jointed or otherwise connected to the
apparatus which are brought to bear against the wheel to retain the apparatus
in a vertical position.