FRANCE.
1179
Fig. 1.
having between their extremities, and the bottom of thehopper only the thickness of a single coin, support theupper coins in order to allow the lowest coin to slide, byits own weight, on to the inclined plane: thus, one byone, they all reach the escapement of the bearer, whichpermits only one piece to fall, and which, until it is en-tirely displaced, Btops, by its escapement, the whole ofthose above. In this manner, the coins reach the scale ofthe balance, when they are next separated into the threedifferent kinds.
The beam, like that of all balances, is furnished with aneedle which carries a pallet on its extremity. Aboveie upright of the balance are placed two small platestrivOT ° a « y ea °b a ver y fi ne small steel wire: this wireof the 68 , su PP°rf of the beam. On the one extremityernss-ho , n ?, es > re st handles which communicate withextremih! are fetched by springs; while the other^ ! Gse handles rest on projecting pieces,on a level le -?T' 10 ^ e I s the normal state, the cross-bars arein tlio.s. „ inclined planes which convey the coins
the n,, P ,n r0 ^ Je , r c ^ rec tions. If a coin be of the legal weight,two small 6 , a . 0ve balance-beam passes between thethe mirlrii P a t® s above mentioned, and the coin falls intoIf a coin u aasm > because it has taken the true direction,raises tlm 6 ^ VGr ‘ we ight, the needle inclines to the right,handles in an d the attached wires with it; the
en not meeting the wire, the cross-bar on the
right performs its office, stops the passage, and givesanother direction to the coin, which then falls into thebasin on the right. If tho coin is deficient, the plate onthe left is raised, the wire which stops the handle per-forms its office, and the cross-bar on the left stops thepassage ; the coin then falls into the basin on the left.This operation is performed with such regularity and pre-cision, that a coin can be accurately weighed to the sixty-fifth part of a grain; and the machine can be put inmotion by any power, and made to perform with regu-larity. It can weigh in each scale 50 coins per minute.The machine, represented in the cut, is composed of twobalances, and can furnish 100 coins per minute; a resultvery superior in quantity and in accuracy to that of thebest ordinary balance.
The balance, for philosophical purposes, representedin fig. 2, is so delicate that when loaded with about9 lbs., it detects the sixty-fifth part of a grain, i. e.,it turns with the forty-millionth part of the weightwhich it will bear. II is constructed on the sameprinciple as the great balance which the French Go-vernment purchased for the “ Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, ” and which, loaded with 22 lbs., detects thesame quantity, or ascertains the true weight to the samedegree of accuracy. This balance is exhibited for sim-plicity and workmanship; it stands on a solid cast-metalbase, which resists the various changes of temperature.
4 r
[OFFICIAL ILLUSTIIATED CATALOGUE.]