CERTAIN APPARATUS FOR DISTINGUISHING GENUINE FROM COUNTERFEIT COIN
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Davis, of the City of London, for the
Invention of "CERTAIN APPARATUS FOR DISTINGUISHING GENUINE
FROM COUNTERFEIT COIN."
Sealed the 24th February 1854, and dated the 25th August 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Davis at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 25th August 1853.
I, GEORGE DAVIS, of the City of London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN APPARATUS FOR DISTINGUISHING
GENUINE FROM COUNTERFEIT COIN" to be as follows, that is to say:-
My said apparatus, which is especially adapted to be employed in con-
nection with counters, shopkeepers' tills, cash boxes, and other similar
receptacles of coin, is constructed as follows:-I suspend over such
receptacle of coin a guage plate, which I cause to receive a number of
oblong perforations in such manner that one perforation may correspond
to every kind or denomination of common current coin of the realm, or
as many kinds as is convenient; that is to say, I cause, for example,
one perforation to correspond to sovereigns, and such perforation to be

page_text: of such length & breadth as may readily allow a sovereign to pass
through it, but no larger coin; and from the under surface of the guage
plate I suspend in a suitable position a bearing, in which bearing works
a lever bent nearly at right angles; one arm of which lever passes
under the perforation in my apparatus corresponding to sovereigns, and
is held up against the said perforation by the weight of the other arm,
which weight is so adjusted that it may not counterbalance a genuine
sovereign upon the first-mentioned arm, but may counterbalance a
spurious sovereign; and the said lever is so placed that the arm under
the perforation receiving the coin may detain the said coin, if its weight
be less than that of a genuine sovereign; but in case the weight be
equal to that of a genuine sovereign may be borne downwards until it
have brought the coin wholly within the receptacle, when the coin will
roll off the end of the lever, and the lever resume its place. And in like
manner I form the perforations corresponding to the other denomi-
nations of coin, and connect then with bearings & bent levers similarly
adjusted and weighted. And the operation of my said apparatus is as
follows: Whereas it is found by experience that counterfeit coins are
universally made of metals or compounds of metals of less specific
gravity than those composing the genuine corresponding coins, the said
counterfeit coins must either be made larger than the said genuine
coins, or must weigh less. In the former case (which, however, is
rare,) the counterfeits will be detected in my apparatus by not passing
into the perforations assigned to them; and in the latter case by being
detained in the said perforations by the action of the levers, and thus
not entering the receptacle.
I claim the perforated guage plate in combination with the bearings
and weighted levers above described for the purpose of forming an
apparatus applicable to counters, tills, and other similar receptacles of
money to distinguish genuine from counterfeit coins by their size and
weight simultaneously, and in such manner that all offensive display-of
the process and appliances may be avoided...

page_text: .
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Davis in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 25th February 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
GEORGE DAVIS, of the City of London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of .August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said George Davis, Her special licence
that I, the said George Davis, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said George Davis, my executors, administra-
tors, 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 "CERTAIN APPA-
RATUS FOR DISTINGUISHING GENUINE FROM COUNTERFEIT COIN," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Davis, by an
instrument 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 George Davis, 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, that is to say:
My said Invention has reference to the construction of an apparatus
especially adapted to be employed in connection with counters, shop-
keepers' tills, and other similar receptacles, for the purpose of distin-
guishing the genuine from the counterfeit coins which are therein
attempted to be introduced. And whereas it is found by experience
that counterfeit coins are universally made of such metals or compounds

page_text: of metals as to be of less specific gravity than the corresponding genuine
coins, the said counterfeit coins have either to be made larger than the
genuine coins or to be of less weight. It is therefore with a view to
letecting the coins which exceed the dimensions of the genuine coins,
or which fall short of the standard weight, that I construct my said
apparatus, in which I cause a guage plate of convenient size to receive
a certain number of slots or oblong perforations in such manner that
one perforation may correspond to every common current coin of the
realm, or to as many as may be convenient, according to the established
system, or any which may hereafter take its place; that is to say, I
cause, for example, one perforation to correspond to sovereigns, and
the said perforation to be of such length and breadth as may readily
allow a sovereign to pass through it, but no larger coin; and from the
under surface of the guage plate I suspend in a suitable position near
the said perforation a bearing, in which works a balance or weighted
lever, one arm of which passes under the said perforation so as to
receive the coin placed edgeways therein, and is held up against the
said perforation by the weight of the other arm, which weight is so
adjusted that it shall not counterbalance a genuine sovereign placed on
the receiving arm, but shall allow it by the action of its weight to bear
down the said receiving arm, and roll off into the till or other receptacle
under the guage plate, the receiving arm resuming its position, while
a spurious coin shall be prevented from passing through and detained
above the guage plate by the counterpoising weight which keeps up
the said receiving arm. And in like manner I form perforations
corresponding to the other denominations of coin for which the
apparatus is employed. But in order that these my said improve-
ments may be more fully understood, and readily carried into effect, I
will now proceed to describe them by the aid of the annexed Drawings,
reference being had to the letters and figures thereon marked, that is
to say Fig. 1, represents a front elevation of my improved apparatus
for distinguishing genuine from counterfeit coin; Fig. 2, a sectional end
view; Fig. 3, top or plan view; Fig. 4, longitudinal section, showing
the node in which the coin enters, and the action of the balance
or weighted lever; and Fig. 5, underneath view. In each Figure

page_text: the same letters of reference denote similar corresponding parts.
A. A, box or case for receiving the coin; B, B, slope for discharging
the same into the hand or other receptacle; C, C, guage plate; D,
crown piece perforation; D', corresponding balance or weighted lever;
E, E', half-crown piece perforation and weighted lever respectively;
and F, F, perforation and balance for the florin or two-shilling picce;
G, G', for the shilling; H, H', for the sixpenny piece; I, 1', for the
fourpenny piece; K, K', for the threepenny piece; L, L', for the balf
sovereign; and M, M', for the sovereign. Fig. 6, represents one of
the balances or weighted levers D', E', &c., separately shown. N, N,
receiving arm of the balance; 0, 0, balance arın bearing; P, P, cylin-
drical weight; Q, Q, tap or screw for adjusting the same when
required. The action of the apparatus will be readily understood from
Fig. 4, which represents a sixpenny picce placed edgeways on the
corresponding perforation, which, being of the standard weight, bears
down the receiving arm of the weighted lever underneath it, and will
thereby be allowed to roll off and fall into the hand or other recep-
tacle, while a light coin would have been detained above the guage
plate by the action of the weighted lever, and a coin exceeding the due
size could not have entered the perforation. The edges of the per-
forations may be provided, if necessary, with small friction rollers to
prevent the detention of the coins having milled edges. It remains to
be noticed that the receiving arms and weighted arms of the levers,
which are here shown succeeding each other alternately on each side
of their bearings, may be otherwise, and that the perforations may
stand in a single row or in other positions, and that the guage plate
may be inserted in the lid of a till or counter so as to transmit the
money directly thereto without the intervention of the box A, and
case B; the great object of the apparatus being to test the soundness
of the coin without an offensive display of the guaging and weighing
processes.
Having now fully described the nature of this my said Invention,
and the mode in which I prefer to carry the same into effect, I would
have it clearly understood that I do not by any means confine myself to
the precise details herein-before mentioned, as the same are suscep-

page_text: tible of many modifications, both in the arrangement of the parts and
in their adaptation to a greater or less variety of coins, without departing
from the general principle of these my said improvements; but that
which I do claim as new and of my said Invention is, the construction
and employment of an apparatus for simultaneously guaging &
weighing coins in the manner and for the purposes herein-before
described and set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Davis, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of February, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
four.
GEORGE DAVIS. (L.S.)