The Mechanical Handling and Storing of Material

7o8 THE MECHANICAL HANDLING OF MATERIAL The setting of the scale appears to be a very simple operation. By a turn of a small lever the mechanical parts of the weigher and the beam scale are entirely dis- connected. The beam will then swing loose like the beam of an ordinary scale, while the pointer will play freely whether the board be weighted or not. It is thus easy at any moment to test the weigher by means of its own scale, and this operation can be effected in a few seconds without in any way interrupting the work. If any discrepancies should be manifest in the weighing, they can be corrected by the adjustment of a small weight, and when once this weight has been set in its proper position, the machine will weigh accurately and continue to do so. If desired, the whole apparatus can be covered by a sheet-iron casing, which will leave no part exposed except the glass face of the dial register. The casing can then be locked, thus effectually removing the possibility of any tampering. This machine is built in eighteen sizes, for charges from 12 to 3,300 lb. of grain, and with a corresponding capacity of from 32 to 3,240 cwt. of grain per hour. Figs. 1011 and 1012. '“Nomis” Automatic Beam Scale. The “ Nomis ” Automatic Beam Scale.—This machine is built by Richard Simon & Sons, Ltd., Nottingham. It is of very simple construction, and is illustrated in Figs. 1011 and 1012, which show front and side elevations of the machine with the inlet and delivery skip. The side elevation shows the grain hopper both in its normal position and when empty, and also in dotted lines the position it takes during discharge. This machine is a beam scale, having equal arms ab, with a standard weight c suspended from the end b of the beam, and the receptacle D hanging from a at the opposite end. Above is a valve arrangement e, which admits grain and other similar substances, and also cuts off the flow when the correct weight has been admitted. The mechanism used to obtain this result is very simple. A side weight acts, together with the skip d and the inflowing weight of grain, to overcome the inertia of the dead weight on the other arm, and to shut the first of the two valves, so that the inflowing grain is reduced to two small streams when the correct weight has been nearly reached. I he adjustable side weight compensates for the stream of grain in the act of falling at the