84 Automatic Weighing at the Royal Mint. 



precise weight of the legal difference or remedy allowed 

 between sovereigns as a compensation for imperfection 

 of workmanship — namely, the 514th part of a grain. Sup- 

 posing, now, the machine to be started, the first action is 

 that caused by a cam attached to the main spindle, .and it 

 consists in a small slide, slightly thinner than a sovereign, 

 being pushed below the hopper, and forcing forward a planchet 

 to the scale-pan or disc. There it rests for about three seconds, 

 and its exact weight is, during the brief interval, noted by the 

 automaton. If that weight exceeds the legal maximum, it 

 depresses the end of the beam upon which it rests, and, as a 

 consequence, raises the opposite end with its stirrup and remedy 

 wire. The planchet is thus proved to be too heavy, and as a 

 flattened tube vibrates below, it is pushed into this by its suc- 

 cessor on the scale-pan — another planchet. The lower orifice 

 of the tube passes in its vibrations over the spaces, or slots, and 

 these lead into three compartments, known as " light," 

 " medium," and " heavy" boxes. At the instant the too 

 heavy planchet was dismissed into the tube, the lower mouth 

 of the latter was held by a mechanical finger, governed by the 

 movement of the beam, over the inner or too heavy box, and 

 into this the rejected claimant for sovereignty falls. The next 

 planchet may be imagined to err on the other side of the 

 standard, and to bo too light. In this case the beam will be 

 raised by the glass counterpoise, and the tube, by the agency 

 referred to, will conduct the condemned piece of gold into the 

 too light box. When a medium or acceptable planchet arrives 

 on the scale-pan, the beam will maintain a rigid equilibrium, 

 and the succeeding planchet will push it into the tube, which 

 having its mouth held over the central or medium slot, will 

 conduct the accepted suitor into the medium box. In this way 

 the automaton judges try and acquit or pass sentence of con-r 

 demnation upon all the planchets submitted to their notice. 

 They are thus constituted mute arbiters of the other mechanical 

 operations of the Mint, and they take; can' at onco of the public 

 ;:inl the Mint's interests. It is not possible, so long as their 

 intervention is secured, for light sovereigns to pass into circu- 

 it ion, nor for the Master of tho Mint to waste the precious 

 materia] of which they arc composed, by issuing heavy ones. 

 The automatons hit the bappy medium, and "hold the balance 

 fairly" between manufacturer and consumer. Parsimony ami 

 ive liberality ard alike unknown to them; they are just, 

 but nut o'er generous. 



Finally, it may bo observed of tho system of automatic 

 weighing at the Mint, bhat it is as near perfection as possible. 

 It is also economical in the highest degree j for though each 

 machine employed cost a fraction over £200, they have — to use 



