The Mechanical Handling and Storing of Material

THE AUTOMATIC WEIGHING OF MATERIAL 717 The “ Simplex ” weighing machine is built in six sizes, the respective machines being for charges weighing from 20 to 100 lb., and the machine occupies a height of only 18 in. to 2 ft. CONTINUOUS WEIGHING MACHINES “Blake-Denison” Con- tinuous Weigher. — This machine is so constructed that it will weigh material in the course of being conveyed. Thus a sec- tion of the conveyor is also made a portion of theweighing machine. The principle upon which it is constructed is that of weighing the contents of a given length of conveyor at intervals of time corresponding with the travel of such length, and automatically recording such weight. Thus, if the machine is made to weigh 10 ft. of conveyor at a time, it will weigh and record every time 10 ft. has passed, and so every section will be weighed consecu- tively, with, it is claimed, a maxi mum error of | per cent., and the continuous totalised record can be read as frequently as necessary. The special features of the weigher are:— 1. A steelyard balanced to suit the unloaded conveyor and arranged to rise accurately in pro- portion to the load. 2. A gripping device to hold the steelyard fast at suitable intervals. 3. A measuring gauge or quadrant to ascertain the weight indicated by the steelyard when so held. 4. A recording mechanism to show the result. The section of the conveyor to be weighed is supported on a roller or other suitable device which is suspended from the vertical rod of an ordinary multiple lever platform weighing machine, j To balance the load upon the conveyor as it passes over a roller, the mercurial dash- pot is used, the hollow piston of which is suspended from a fixed point on the lever, in place of the usual sliding weights on a graduated lever (see Fig. 1031). The dashpot consists of a carefully turned vertical piston, its lower part dipping