US660794A - Automatic weighing-scale. - Google Patents

Description

N o. 660,794. Patented ocflso, 190m E. HANAK & a, HOEPNER. AUTOMATIC WEIGHING SCALE.

(Application filed N07. 13, 1899.)

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No. 660,794. Patented Oct. 30, I900.

E. HANAK 8L6. HOEPNER. AUTOMATIC WEIGHING SCALE.

(Application met! Nov. 13, 1899.)

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No. 660,794? Patentd on. 30, I900.

E. HANAK & a. HOEPNER.

AUTOMATIC WEIGHING SCALE.

(Application filed. Nov. 13, 1899.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ASSIGNORS TO THE UNION SCALE SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA.

AUTOMATIC WE AND MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF

lGHlNG-SCALE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 660,794, dated October 30, 1900.

Application filed November 13, 1899 T0 (ZZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, EDWARD HANAK and GEORGE HOEPNER, citizens of the United States, residing in the city and county of San Francisco, State of California, have invented an Improvement in Automatic Weighing- Scales; and we hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

Our invention relates to automatic weighing-scales and improvements therein; and it consists in a novel arrangement of an oscillating tilting compartment weighing-bucket with relation to a fixed discharge, so that the compartments are alternately filled and discharged, latches for holding the bucket in either position to which it may be tilted, means for disengaging after the bucket is filled, and a novel arrangement of feed or supply hopper.

It also comprises details of construction which will be more fully explained by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the apparatus. Fig. 2 is a transverse section showing a bucket of modified form. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a modified form of bucket. Fig. 4 isadetail of a latch mechanism. Fig. 5 is a transverse section of the feed-hopper, and Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the same. Fig.7 is a view from the side of the machine opposite to that shown in Figs. 5 and 6 and showing the automatic cut-off mechanism.

As shown in the present drawings, A is a scale-beam fulcrumed at B, and C is a compartment weighing-bucket cent rally supported upon the scale-beam, as shown at D.

As we have illustrated our invention, two different forms of bucket are shown having the same general principle of operation, neither of which has any movable valve, gate, or shutter, and both are so poised with relation to the fulcrum about which they tilt that they are turned by the weight of the load in one compartment [0 place that compartment in position to discharge and the other one simultaneously in position to be filled from the source of supply.

In Fig. l the diverging bottoms are always inclined downward and outward and alterserial No. 736,769. (No model.)

nately close against fixed abutments, while, as shown in Fig. 2, these bottoms are alternately tilted downwardly to discharge and upwardly when the compartment is to be filled.

The bucket has a vertical partition through its center dividingit into two compartments, and it is adapted to tilt about the pivot-point D, so that the upper ends of these compartments are alternately brought into line with the feed or supply hopper E and so that material from this hopper will fall into one compartment until a sufficient amount has been received therein to cause the scale-beam to turn about its fulcrum and sink when the latching devices to be hereinafter described are disengaged, so that the weight of the bucket will tilt it into position to discharge, at the same time presenting the other compartment of the bucket to receive material from the source of supply. The opposite compartments of the weighing-bucket diverge from the central partition in each direction, as shown at c, and form the two discharges for the compartments.

As illustrated in Fig. l, the lower part of the bucket oscillates below the point of suspension and between two hangers F, fixed to and dependent from the scale-beam and carrying at the lower ends fixed shutters or abutments G. These abutments are so placed that when the bucket tilts in one direction, so as to present the empty compartment to the source of supply, the discharge-mouth upon that side will be in contact with the stationary abutment G, and will thus be closed. At the same time the tilting of the bucket will have withdrawn the discharge-mouth upon the opposite side from its stationary closure G, and it will thus be opened, so as to allow the material to flow out from this compartment, while the other is being filled. This enables us to dispense with movable gates, shutters, or valves of any description.

In order to hold the bucket at either angle when tilted, we have shown latches II, fulcrumed, as shown at I, and having Vertical shoulders or catches h. It is intended to operate these latches either by gravitation, by spring, or other pressure, and without further mention of any particular means we desire it to be understood in all fut urc mention of these latches that they will be so operated.

J are rollers or stops fixed upon the side oi the tilting bucket. and so disposed that when the bucket has been tilted to its farthest limit in one direction one cf the latches H will drop, so that its shoulder 71 falls behind the roller or stop J, and thus holds the bucket in this position until it has been filled snfliciently to cause it to counterbalance the scale-beam and sink. As it thus sinks with relation to the latcltlevers, these latter being tulcrumed to the stationary outer case K and having their movable ends resting upon supports, the downward movement of the loaded bucket will carry the stops J below the latch h, when the weight of the material in the bueket will immediately tilt it to the opposite side. The latches 71 have their lower edges curved or inclined, so as to move easily over the stops J J, and when one has been disengaged, so that the bucket tilts in that direction, the other will move over its stop J until the latter has passed the end of the latch h, when the latch will drop and lock the bucket in that position, this being possible because as soon as the bucket commences to discharge it becomes enough lighter than the weight on the scale-beam to allow the latter to again tilt and raise the bucket, so that it will be in position to again engage the latch and catch.

In order to insure the disengagement of the latch when the bucket has been filled, we have shown in Fig. i a supplemental lever O, fulcrumed at O and connected by a rod P with a lever Q, so fulcrumed that one end is in position to be struck by the bucket when the latter sinks after being tilled. This contact is made by a contact point or device at. R, which is so adjusted as to strike the end of the lever Q when the bucket is loaded and descends by counterbalan cing the scale-beam. The lever Q then acts through the rod P to tilt the lever O, the point of which strikes the projecting end of the latch-lever H and insures the disengagement of the catch h from the stop J.

In Figs. 2 and 3 we have shown a modification of the weighingbucket, which in this case is in the form of a semicylinder having a central partition dividing it into two quadran t-shaped compartments. These com partrnents are fulcrumed, so as to tilt, as in the first-described bucket, about the pivot-point I). As shown in Fig. 2, the bucket is tilted so that one of the compartments stands beneath the supply device and in the form of a V-shaped hopper, while the other one at right angles therewith is so tilted that the material can discharge over its lower edge and pass down through the conducting-passage in the outer casing. When the compartment has been tilted around its support D until the first-named one is in position to discharge upon the opposite side of the center, the one which has just discharged will be returned to an upright position beneath the. source of supply. The latch mechanism ll, 72., anlj opcr ates in essentially the same manner as previously described. In this case the tilting compartmcut-bucket C is supported upon the end of the scale-beam A, which extends axially with relation to the bucket, as shown in Fig. 3. In order to insure the tilting of the bucket constructed in this manner, the center of support D is at a short distance above the bottom c of the compartment, so that whenever either of the COll'lpal'l/mPlllS is in position and has received its load there will be a sufficient overbalancing to that side of the central line to insure the tilting ol the bucket soon as released.

The supply or feed hopper E is constructed with convergent directing boards or wings S near the top, and rods extending in line with this converging support the dircction-boards T at essentially right angles with the boards S and interior thereto, so that material talling upon the boards S will be directed against the boards T, the current agaii'i broken by these boards throwing the materialoutwardly against the inner sides oi the hopper and eventually allowing it to fall through into the weighing-bucket.

In supplying some kinds of material it may be found desirable to have the directingboards T separated, so that a portion of the material will fall between them, in addition to that which has its direction changed by the boards S and T. In other cases it is desiiable to close the boards T together, which is done by sliding the wings S downwardly upon the swinging sides E until they meet at the apex, as shown in dotted lines, Fig. 5, and then all the material can be directed outwardly against the sides of the hopper. W'heu separated from each other, diverging directionboards U are iixed in line beneath the space between the boards T, so that material which falls through this open space will strike upon these direction boards U and be diverted against the sides of the hopper, thus break-- ing up the current of the material and preventing it falling with such an impact will tend to choke or clog the delivery-passage.

Between the source of supply and the weighing-bucket is a notched gate 10, which is connected with one arm of a fulcrumed lever 11. The other arm is connected by a rod 12 with a hinged tilting discharge-chute 13, so disposed that the material leaving the weighing-bucket is directed to flow through this chute. The outer end of the chute has an arm 14 and an adjustable weight 15, which serves to counterbalance the dischargechute and normally hold its receiving end up beneath the discharge-opening through which the material passes from the weighing-bucket. The angle of the chute 13 is such that the material flowing through it normally will not alter its position; but it the chute should become clogged or overloaded the increased weight would overcome that of the counterlCO IIO

balance 15 and cause the chute to tilt about its pivot-point, and acting through the connection l2 and lever 11 it will temporarily close the gate 10 untilthe discharge-chute is relieved of the surplus weight and returns to its normal position. \Ve have here described this regulating device as applied to weighing apparal us; but we do not limit it to such use, since it will be manifest that this automatic regulation of passing material is equally important under all conditions in which a reg ular flow and discharge are desirable.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a weighing apparatus, a fulcrumed scale-beam, hangers and transversely-fixed abutments suspended therefrom and a compartment weighing-bucket pivoted and tiltable from side to side whereby the dischargeopenings are alternately brought into contact with the corresponding abutments, ormoved away from them.

2. The combination with a weighing apparatus of a t'nlcrumed scale'beam, a compartment weighing-bucket pivoted and tiltable upon one end of the beam and adapted to rise and fall therewith, said bucket having dischargeopenings at opposite sides, and transversely-fixed abutments carried by the scalebeam and movable up and down in unison therewith and with the bucket, whereby the tilting of the bucket alternately closes the discharge-mouths against the abutments.

3. The combination in a weighing apparatus of a pivoted tilting weighing-bucket having a fixed central partition and a discharge-oped ing at the outer side of each compartment, a fulerumed scale beam upon which the bucket. is carried and with which it is movable, a source of supply beneath which the receiving-mouths of the compartments are alternately placed by the tilting of the bucket, and transversely-fixed abutments carried by the scale-beam and movable up and down in unison with the beam and against which the discharge-mouths of the buckets are alternately closed.

4:. The combination in a weighing apparatus of a tilting weighing-bucket having a central partition, a fulcrumed scale-beam upon which the bucket is carried, and with which it is movable, a stationary source of supply beneath which the mouth of one compartment is brought while the other is placed in position to discharge after being filled, abutments carried by the scale'beam against which the discharge-mouths are alternately closed by the tilting of the bucket, a latch mechanism by which the bucket is held in position until the compartment is filled and the scale-beam depressed, said mechanism comprising latchlatch levers alternately engage when the bucket tilts.

5. 'lhecombination in a weighingapparatus of a tilting compartment bucket, a fu lcru med rising and falling scale-beam upon which the bucket is lillably supported, movable latchlevers having stationary fulcrum-points and latches at the movableends, stationarystops by w iich the vertical movement of the latches is li mi 1 eda'atln r stops carried upon the bucket, one of which engages one of the latches when the bucket is tilted in one direction, and means to disengage the latches from the bucket-stops when the weight of the bucket causes it to sink whereby it is allowed to tilt to the opposite side.

6. 'lhecombination in a weighingapparatus of a fulcrumed tilting scale-beam, a compartment weighing-bucket carried by and tiltable upon the end of said beam, a source of supply beneath which the compartments are alternately brought to be filled, latch-levers having their outer ends fulcrumed upon stationary supports, and their inner ends adapted to engage stops upon the bucket whereby it is held in either position to which it may be tilted, said stops being disengaged by the sinking of the scale-beam and bucket when the latter has been filled, and supplemental levers so fulcrumed as to be engaged when the bucket sinks, said levers acting positively upon the latch-levers to disengage them from the bucket-stops.

7. In a weighingmachine, a fulcrumed tilting scalebeam, at compartment weighingbucket carried upon one end and tiltable to present either compartment alternately to be filled, latch-levers by which the bucket is retained in position until the filling of the compartment is completed, a source of supply,

and a hopper intermediate between saidsource and the weighingbucket, said hopper having diagonally-disposed direction-boards slidably mounted therein to break the current and change the direction of the passing material.

8. The combination in a weighing-machine of a tilting compartment-bucket, mechanism by which it is locked in either position, a feed-hopper through which material is delivered into the bucket-compartments as they are presented beneath it, direction-boards diagonally disposed with the hopper and by which the current of material passing through the hopper is changed, and means for slidably adjusting said boards to or from each other to vary the direction of the current.

9. The combination in a Weighing-machine of a scale-beam, a compartment weighingbucket tiltahly carried upon one end of said beam, a source of supply beneath which the mouth of the buckets are alternately presented, a feed-hopper intermediate between the source of supply and the weighing-bucket, having diagonally-disposed direction-boards, and guides upon which they are slidable to and from each other whereby the material passing through the hopper is interrupted and its direction of motion changed.

10. The combination in a weighing-machine of a pivoted tilting scale-beam, a tilting compartment-bucket carried upon one end thereof, hangers rigid'with the scale-beam and depending therefrom, and abutments carried by the hangers so as to be moved up and down with the scale-beam, to and from which abutments the discharge-mouths of the compartments are alternately moved, a source of supply beneath which the mouths of the bucket-eompartments are alternately brought, and a slidable controlling-gate therefor,a horizontally-disposed receiver into which the coinpartments are emptied, said receiver being fulcruined at one side, and a rod connecting said receiver with the discharge-gate, whereby a check in the flow of material through the receiver depresses it and acts to close the gate.

11. The combination in a \veighingmachine of a fulerunled scale beam, a weighingbuoket pivoted and tiltable thereon, locking and disengaging mechanism whereby the bucket is alternately held with either compartment beneath the source of supply until filled, the said locking device being disengaged by the sinking of the bucket, and a percussive mechanism by which the holding latch or pawl is positively disengaged.

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands.

EDWARD HANAK. GEORGE HOEPNER.

Witnesses:

S. H. NOURSE, JESSIE O. BRODIE.

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