US1254574A - Leveling device. - Google Patents

Description

E. A. BUTLER & vv. A. NICHOLS.

` LEVELLNG DEVICE.

APPLICATION. HLED A PR.14. 1916.

Patented Jan. 22, 1918.l

narnnr ernten :ERNEST .AUBREY BUTLER AND WILLIAM ANGELO NICHOLS, OF TORONTO, ONTARIO,

l CANADA.

LEVELING DEVICE.

Specification' of Letters Patent.

Patented dan. 22, 191%.,

Application filed April 14, 1916. Serial No. 91,217.

To all whom z't may concern.

Be it known that we, ERNEST A. BUTLER and liVlLLIAM A. NICHOLS, subjects of the King of Great Britain, residing at'Toronto, in the Province of Ontario and Dominion oit' Canada, have invented new and use't'ul Improvements in Leveling Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to leveling devices, and one object of the invention is to produce a device of simple and improved construction whereby a spirit level may be arranged at various predetermined angles with respect to its support, enabling such level to be used not only for ascertaining the angles of inclination, but also for enabling a predetermined angle to be maintained during the progress of work, such as grading and the like.

A further object of the invention is to produce a simple and improved attachment which may be readily applied to a straight edge or templet to coperate with the same in ascertaining angles of inclination during the progress of work..

lVith these and other ends in View which will readily appear as the nature of the inu vention is better understood, the same consists in the improved construction and novel arrangement and combination ofv parts which will be hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawing has been illustrated a simple and preferred form of the invention, it being, however, understood that no limitation is necessarily made to the precise structural details therein exhibited, but that changes, alterations and moditications within the scope of the claims may be resorted to when desired.

ln the drawing- Figure 1 is a side elevation showing a portion of a straight edge to which the device ias been applied.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same.

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken. on the line 3 3 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 11 is a sectional view partly in elevation ot' a spirit level to which the principles of the invention have been applied.

Corresponding parts in the several figures are denoted by like characters of reference.

IThe improved device, as seen in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, embodies a casing or housing formed et sheet metal or other material suciently stili" and durable for the purposes of the invention, said housing comprising a top wall 15, side walls 16 and braces 17 terminally connected with said side walls which are thereby stiiiened and reinforced, said braces also constituting supports whereby the housing' may be mounted on a straight edge or templet, shown at 18. The side walls 16 are provided with bosses 19 through which clamping screws 20 are threaded. said screws serving to engage the side faces of the straight edge for the purpose of mount# ing the housing in position securely and yet detachably so that said housing may be readily disassembled from the straight edge for convenience in packing and transporting the same. v

The top wall 15 of the housing has a longitudinal slot 21, and the side walls 16 are provided with bearings for a transverse shaft 22 carrying at one end a thumb piece 23 which is threadedly connected therewith and whereby it may be turned about its axis. 1the other end of the shaft 22 carries a hand or pointer 2lb which may be secured thereon by means of a thumb screw 25, it being obvious that by loosening the thumb screw the pointer may be adjusted about the axis of the shaft 22. rlihe shaft 22 carries intermediate the ends thereof a slotted casing 26 containing a spirit level 27, said casing be ing capable oi being partly projected through the slot 21, as indicated in dotted lines in lFigs. 1 and 3.

It will be readily seen that when the improved device is mounted on a straight edge, the casing containing a spirit level, as well as the hand or pointer 24, is capable of being independently adjusted. Thus the spirit level may be positioned in parallel relation to the straight edge or at any desired angle with respect thereto. One side wall 16 of the device carries one or more scales for cooperation with the hand or pointer 24; thus there may be a scale of degrees, a scale of inch fall to the toot, a scale of feet fall in fifty feet, a. scale adapted to railroad grades, or any other scales for special purposes. By the construction described, after the adjustment of the spirit level with respect to the straight edge, the hand or pointer may be adjusted with respect to any one of the scales, at zero or at any other desired point, although the pointer will usually be set at zero after proper adjustment of the spirit lll@ level. In using the device it is obvious that any deviation from the desired inclination cated on the scale with respect to which the f pointer vhas been set".Y

In the form of the invention illustrated.

in Fig. 4, theV body member 30 designates the body of an Ordinary. spirit level in which a casing 3l of approximately semifeylindrical form has been fixed ina suitable recess orniorti'se, saideasing having an axial bearing for ashaft 32. carrying a spirit level 33 contained in a suitable easing 34, said shaft carrying also at one end thereof ak hand or pointer 3,5 which is adjustable about the axis of the shaft,l being` hel'din position by means of a. thumb nut 36. One endiwall of the housing 31 carries a scale 37 for coperation with thel hand or pointer, said.V scale having been, devised with special reference to the requirements Lofsonie particular trade for the special use of which the implement is; manufactured. The top portion of the housing 31 has aslot 38 through which the casing of the spirit level may be l partly projecteda The; operation of this device is identical with that previously described, except that being of smaller. dimensions only a single scale is provided for cooperation with the hand or pointer 35.

Having thus described' the invention, what is claimed as new, is

1. The combination with a straight edge, of a housing` having a longitudinally' slotted top Wall and side Walls, one of which has a lscale marked on its outer face, a transverse shaft, a casing carried by the transverse shaft and containing a spirit level, said casing being adapted to be projected through the longitudinal slot in the top Wall of the housing, and a pointer fixed adjustably on the shaft for cooperation with the scale.

2. ln a device of the class described, a housing having side Walls, a longitudinali)v .slotted top Wall and transverse braces terminally connected with the side walls, means for securing said housing on a. straight edge, a scale on the outer face of one of the sid(` Walls, a shaft supported for rotation in the side Walls, a. casing carried by said shaft and containing a spirit level, said casing being adapted to be projected through the longitudinal slot in the top wall of the housing. and a pointer fixed adjustably on the shaft for cooperation with the scale.

ln testimony whereof We aliix our signatures.

ERNEST AUBREY BUTLER. WILLIAM ANGELO NICHOLS.

Copies of'this patent may beobtainer for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washingtoxn. C.

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