Automatic Coin-freed Weighing and Goods-vending Machine.
Year: 1892

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Automatic Coin-freed Weighing and Goods-vending Machine.
I, LUDWIG STOLLWERCK, of the firm of Gebrüder Stollwerck, Chocolate
Manufacturers, of Korneliusstrasse, 2, Cologne, in the German Empire, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
This weighing machine is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, of which:
Fig. 1 is a front elevation,
Fig. 2 a section along line of Fig. 1, and
Fig. 3 a section along line of Fig. 1.
The platform, which has been omitted from the drawings, and upon which stands
the person, or is placed the parcel or box requiring to be weighed, is fixed to the
upright rod a. The latter carries at its upper end a bearing a' resting upon a knife
edge b. The fixed arm c arranged above the rod a prevents the latter from being
lifted too far and causing the knife edge to leave the bearing a'. This knife
edge b rests upon the arm d' of a disc d arranged by means of a knife edge upon
a bearing, this disc being further provided with another arm d³ carrying a
counterweight d². A rod e is attached to the front end of the arm d¹, and is
connected by the rod e' with a piston moving within the cylinder e filled with
any suitable uncongealable liquid, such as glycerine, petroleum and the like, for
the purpose of minimizing the effects of the shocks produced, when the machine
is in use.
Against the pin d', carried by the counterweight d², bears the lower arm of
a double lever h, which is acted upon by this counterweight, and the upper
arm of which is connected with a rod q' extending within the till or receiving
slot g, in such a manner, that a coin inserted in the latter is prevented from
falling into the shoot r, so long as the weighing machine is not in use or
loaded. The pin i prevents the lever from turning too far to the left hand
side. Within the shoot extends in the lower end thereof the arm of a
weighted lever 1, the other arm 12 of which carries a rod m; this rod being
suitably guided, and resting with its upper end upon a lever n pivoted at n' and
provided with a counterweight. This lever n, which in Fig. 1 is shown in
dotted lines, has at its front end a tooth n° (Fig. 3) which, in the position
indicated by Fig. 1, is placed over the toothed wheels. The other end n² of
this lever n carries, by means of the rod n³, a piston moving in the cylinder n
filled with suitable uncongealable liquid. This piston is so arranged, that it
can readily sink, but when it ascends, the liquid passes between the wall of the
cylinder and the piston and causes this ascent to be effected gradually. The
piston is furnished with three guide rollers, two of which bear always against
the walls of the cylinder, so as to properly guide the said piston.
2
The axle s', upon which is mounted the toothed wheels, carries a smaller
wheels, Fig. 3, and an index or pointer z moving upon a dial in front of the
latter wheel. The wheel gears with a toothed wheel t keyed upon an axle t',
upon which is loosely mounted a sleeve or casing provided with a projection
and carrying a spring t². While one end of the latter spring is connected with

page_text: the projection of the sleeve, the other end of the spring is fixed to the wheel t.
An arm, furnished with a weight t', is fixed to the said projection of the
sleeve and bears, in the position shown by Fig. 1, upon a guide bar f, which is
fixed, by means of a pin a², upon a sleeve capable of adjustment upon the rod a, and
which arm is supported also by the pin to secured to the wheel t. When the rod a
is depressed, the pin a³ is likewise lowered, and the projection n° of the arm n
engages with the wheels and stops its motion, as well as that of the wheel t.
depression of the rod a causes likewise the sleeve, the rod a² and the guide bar f
upon which the arm 3 rests, to descend, so that the arm 3 is only held in its
position by the pin to of the wheel t, which, as above explained, is as yet unable
to move.
The
An automatic sale apparatus is sometimes combined with this weighing machine,
for which purpose one arm of a crank lever p is fixed upon the axis of the lever 1,
its other arm being moved to and fro by the oscillation of the lever, and thus
engaging with or becoming disconnected from a roller p', above which may be
placed the articles for sale. Upon the latter is placed a weight which is connected
by a chain with one arm of a lever g, whose other arm actuates a slide, in the coin
receiver, so as to close the latter, when the last article for sale has been delivered.
When the machine is in use, i.e. loaded, the rod a with its two pins a² and a³ and
guide is lowered, causing the arm n to sink and its projection n° to engage with the
wheels, while the arm bears still upon the pin to of the wheel t. The arm d',
however, follows likewise the downstroke of the rod a, and hence the disc d is
turned and the weighted arm ³ is raised. The pin of the latter consequently
releases one arm of the lever h, which turns, under the action of its counterweight h¹,
upon its axis and thus withdraws the rod y¹ from the till sufficiently to allow of
the coin which had been previously inserted to drop into the shoot r. Should no
coin be inserted after the machine is loaded, the weighing mechanism will, as before
described, be alone acted upon, the index being locked. The latter cannot be
actuated, whatever motion is imparted to the weighing machine, as it is entirely
separate from the weighing mechanism, which arrangement has the advantage of
protecting the dial train or indicator from injury. But if, after loading the machine,
a coin is inserted into the till, the latter falls through the shoot r upon the arm
of the lever extending therein. The arm is consequently depressed, the lever /
turns upon its axis, and the second arm 12 is raised with the rod m causing the
lever to ascend, so that its projection is withdrawn from the wheels, which is
now free to turn, as well as the wheel t. The arm acting on this wheel with the
weight will now impart to the wheel ta rotary motion and with it to the wheel s²
and its axis s' and hence to the index, the latter indicating the weight on the
dial furnished with suitable divisions. This motion of the index or pointer is
limited owing to, the rod t³, with the weight coming to bear, during its descent,
upon the guide bar f
Meanwhile, the arm has so far descended, that the coin resting thereon has
slid on one side and fallen into the receptacle placed thereunder, whereby this arm
is unloaded and raised again into the position shown in Fig. 1, in consequence of
the counterweight acting on the arm 2 of the lever and of the load bearing on
this arm.
In consequence of this motion of the lever 1, the rod m is lowered again, and the
projection n° of the arm n engages anew with the wheel s, so that the index =
continues to indicate the weight of the object, so long as the machine remains
loaded. To prevent the same from being locked too soon by the arm n, which
might cause an incorrect weight indication, the arm n³ is connected to a piston
moving in the cylinder n', which is filled with liquid. The locking of the wheel s
prevents the machine from being gratuitously used by another person, as the
index does not change its position, until a second coin is thrown into the till y.
When the machine is unloaded, the rod a is brought back into its original position
by the counterweight 2, whereupon the guide bar fraises the rod t and- stretches
the spring fixed to the sleeve, upon which the said rod t³ rests, while at the same

page_text: 2
time the arm n is raised by the pin a', the wheel s is unlocked and the index = is
brought back to its normal position by the spring t². When the machine is being
relieved of its load, the lever his at the same time turned by the pin d', until its
When the lever and its
rod g closes the passage from the till g to the shoot r.
axis turn back again, after the coin has left the arm 1, the horizontal arm of the
crank lever p mounted on the axis of the lever is withdrawn, the roller pl
arranged below the articles for sale turn, and one of these articles is delivered
through the side of the machine. The weight placed upon these piled up articles,
drops down correspondingly at each removal of an article, so that, when the
receptacle is emptied, the opening for the insertion of the coin is closed by the aid
of the double lever q. The arm rests upon the screw fixed to the cross
rods, whereby its downward stroke is limited or regulated.
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 I am
aware of the Specification of Letters Patent No. 16433 of 1884 granted to Percival
Everitt, and I wish it to be understood that I do not claim anything described and
claimed therein; but what I claim is :-
An automatic coin-freed weighing machine, in which:
1, the coin can only drop from the receiving slot 9 into the shoot and act
therein, after the arm d has been lowered by the rod a, when the machine is
loaded, and the arm d³ has been raised, so that the lever h may turn under
the action of its counterweight h¹ and the arm g' may open the said slot receiver;
2, when the machine is loaded, the downward stroke of the rod a and pin a³
locks the wheels and axis s¹ together with the index or pointer, such locking
action being suspended, after the insertion of a coin, by the lever and the
rod m, for the purpose of indicating the weight, and immediately re-established,
after the coin has left the arm of the lever 1, and the latter has returned to its
original position, so that only one weight indication can be furnished for each single
coin inserted;
3, the connection of the indicating with the weighing mechanism is formed
merely by a spring & arranged upon the loose sleeve and fixed to the latter and
to the wheel t, in consequence of which arrangement the indicating mechanism is
influenced by the weighing mechanism only after the spring 2 has been stretched
and the wheels or has been unlocked ;
4, the insertion of the locking arm is effected by a piston moving in a cylinder
filled with suitable liquid and secured to the arm ³ of the lever n, in such a gradual
manner, that the indicating mechanism has sufficient time to properly adjust the
index on the dial.
LUDWIG STOLLWERCK,
By Fairfax & Wetter,
433, Strand, London, Agents.