Abstract:
A water meter housing assembly ( 10 ) comprises a cylindrical, plastic housing body ( 11 ), a non-cast housing bottom ( 13 ) of hydroformable or stamped brass, a single-piece strainer and sealing member ( 40 ) that is disposed in the housing bottom ( 13 ) and portions of non-cast hydroformable or stamped brass tubing ( 15 ) with spud ends ( 16, 17 ) for connection in a water supply line. The brass consists essentially of lead-free material. The assembly ( 10 ) is designed to provide a lower cost alternative to foundry cast meter housings. The assembly ( 10 ) also provides advantages in a method of vertical assembly that saves manufacturing cost.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
   This invention relates to fluid meters and in particular to improvements in meters for measuring the flow of water in residential and industrial utility applications. 
   DESCRIPTION OF THE BACKGROUND ART 
   Water meter housings have traditionally been made of brass or bronze alloys, either cast or wrought. Such housings have a cylindrical body with a threaded inlet port coupling and a threaded outlet port coupling for connecting the housing in a water supply line. A bottom cover may close an access opening to the body cavity, and is often made of the same metal as the main housing part. The metering element is disposed in the housing in the flow stream to provide metering movements in response to flow. These movements drive a magnet. A meter register is mounted on top of the housing and pickup the revolutions of the magnet and includes a numerical display to indicate the volumetric usage by a utility customer. 
   The castings for the water meter housings are made in a foundry and are a relatively expensive component of the overall meter assembly. There is a constant demand in the marketplace for a reduction in the costs of metering units, which are also needed in high volumes. 
   In addition, materials used for such castings have included lead. 
   It would therefore be desirable in many applications to find an alternative to the traditional cast meter housing to reduce the cost of manufacture. Another goal is to provide an alternative material that is substantially lead-free. 
   Another way of reducing manufacturing cost would be to reduce the number of parts and make the parts easier to manufacture. 
   Another way would be to design the components for easier assembly. 
   The present invention was made in response to these needs. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The invention provides a water meter housing assembly that replaces the traditional brass casting for a water meter housing. The invention provides a non-cast housing body and a non-cast metal housing bottom which can be assembled to the housing body, and portions of non-cast metal tubing which can be assembled to the housing bottom and to the supply line to provide a non-leaking housing assembly of reasonable durability for water meter applications. 
   In a preferred embodiment, the metal used for the housing bottom and the tubing consists essentially of lead-free material. 
   The invention also provides a single-piece strainer and sealing member for separating the inlet flow and outlet flow of the metering chamber, for sealing the outlet and for providing a screen for blocking debris in the inlet flow. 
   The invention provides a metering assembly that can be vertically aligned and assembled which reduces manufacturing costs in comparison with prior art methods. 
   The invention can be used with a lower cost of manufacture metering element that is disclosed in a co-pending application of the present assignee filed on even date herewith and entitled “Disc Meter for Resisting Rotational Forces,” the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. 
   Other objects and advantages of the invention, besides those discussed above, will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art from the description of the preferred embodiments which follows. In the description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and which illustrate examples of the invention. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a meter housing assembly that incorporates the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  is a partly exploded perspective view of the assembly of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 3  is fully exploded perspective view of the assembly of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 4  is a bottom plan view of the assembly of  FIG. 1 ; and 
       FIG. 5  is a sectional view taken in the plane indicated by line  5 — 5  in  FIG. 4 . 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   Referring to  FIG. 1 , a meter housing assembly  10  of the present invention has three main components. The first component is an integrally formed, cylindrical, plastic housing body  11  with a molded, patterned embossment  12  for connecting to a meter register (not shown). The embossment  12  includes four lugs  12   a ,  12   b ,  12   c  and  12   d , which are spaced ninety degrees apart around a ring, each lug forming a V-shaped slot  12   e , each slot  12   e  receiving a screw (not shown) to allow securing of a meter register (not shown) on top of the plastic body  11 . 
   The plastic housing body  11  is received in a second main component, which is a hydroformed or stamped brass housing bottom  13 . The housing bottom can be made of copper or a copper alloy provided that it is essentially lead-free. The housing bottom  13  has a lip  14  that runs around a lower edge of the plastic body  11 . The bottom is held in place by a stamped and formed clamp (not shown) or by rolling the lip  14  over the bottom ridge  11   a  of the plastic housing body  11 . 
   The third main component is provided by portions  15   a ,  15   b  of hydroformable or stamped brass tubing  15 . The tubing can be made of copper or a copper alloy provided that it is essentially lead-free. The brass tubing  15  is also formed with an inlet exit  18  and an outlet entry  19  for reception in an inlet spout  20  and outlet spout  21  of the housing bottom  13 , which open downward seen in  FIGS. 3 and 5 . The brass tubing  15  also has a joint  22  along its length which serves as a partition to separate the inlet flow from the outlet flow as seen in  FIGS. 4 and 5 . In an alternative, the portions of brass tubing  15  for the inlet and outlet could be two portions separated by an air space replacing joint  22 . 
   Two additional components are provided by a pair of threaded spud ends  16  and  17 . The spud ends  16 ,  17  provide a threaded inlet and a threaded outlet for connection in a water supply line (not shown). The spud ends  16 ,  17  are brazed on, welded to, or crimped on, the ends of the tubing  15  to provide sealed watertight connections. 
   As seen in  FIGS. 3 and 5 , the meter housing  11  encloses a disc metering assembly  23 . This metering assembly has upper and lower casing parts  24 ,  25 , which are assembled to provide a metering chamber  27  in which a disc  26  provides a nutating action that is translated to revolutions of a magnetic element  28 . The revolutions of the magnetic element  28  are detected by a magnetic detector in the meter register (not shown) and are converted to electrical signals or further mechanical movements for operating register wheels. 
   As seen in  FIGS. 3 and 5 , the disc  26  has a radial slot  29  that straddles a partition  25   a  in the casing parts  24 ,  25  for separating the inlet and outlet flows. The disc  26  is prevented from rotating by ridges  31  on the disc  26  which engage grooves  32  on the inside of the casing parts  24 ,  25 . As seen in  FIG. 3 , the ridges on the bottom of the disc (not shown, but similar to ridges  31  on the top of the disc  26 ) would engage the grooves  32  on the lower disc meter casing part  25  as disc  26  wobbles and nutates. The disc  26  has a spherical hub portion  30  also seen in  FIG. 6 , which is received in concave bearings  33 ,  34  formed in the upper and lower casing parts  24 ,  25 . 
   Referring to  FIGS. 3 and 5 , the lower casing part  13  forms a control cone  35  ( FIG. 5 ) on an interior bottom with an annular groove  36  around the control cone  35 , and the spherical portion  30  of the disc  26  has an integrally formed spindle  37 . The spindle  37  extends from a spherical portion  30  to the lower end contacting the control cone  33  and traveling around in the groove  36  around the control cone  35 , and to an upper end traveling in a circle to rotate the magnetic element  28 . An inverted T-shaped crossbar unit  38  couples rotations of the upper end of the spindle  37  to rotations of the magnetic element  28 . 
   Referring again to  FIG. 5 , as fluid is admitted into the metering chamber  27 , it flows underneath a first portion of the disc  26  and tends to lift the disc  26 . This lifting action travels around in a circle and when it reaches the other side of the chamber  27 , the first portion of the disc  26  will tilt downward. This produces the well known nutating movement or wobble action as fluid passes through the chamber  27 . 
   A further description of the disc metering assembly will be found in the co-pending application of the present assignee filed on even date herewith and entitled “Disc Meter for Resisting Rotational Forces,” the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. The meter housing assembly disclosed herein can also be used to house metering mechanisms other than the nutating disc type described herein. 
   Both a disc metering assembly  23  which eliminates the thrust roller of the prior art, and the meter housing assembly  10  described herein provide lower cost alternatives to utility customers than have heretofore been offered by meters using cast meter housings and other types of metering elements. 
   An additional enhancement is provided by the single-piece strainer and sealing member  40  which is a generally planar, disc-shaped member that is disposed in a bottom of the housing member  13  over the inlet  20  and the outlet  21 . The sealing member  40  has an arcuate array of holes  41  forming a filtering screen across the inlet  20  for blocking debris in the inlet flow. The housing bottom  13  forms a depression  13   a  in the area of the array of holes  41  to expand the cross section of the inlet  20  in the screening area. The sealing member  40  has a round aperture  42  for positioning over the outlet port  21  on the housing bottom  13 . The sealing member  40  can be made of natural or synthetic rubber to provide a seal between the inlet flow through the inlet  20  and outlet flow through the outlet  21 . The member  40  also provides a filtering element  41  for the inlet flow. 
   This single piece  40  replaces three parts used in an assembly of the prior art, namely: an inlet strainer, an outlet seal and a cover gasket. 
     FIG. 3  also illustrates that the assembly of the present invention can be assembled in along a single, substantially vertical axis (corresponding to a central axis through the plastic housing body  11  and the disc metering assembly  23 ) by stacking or vertically assembling components including the housing bottom  13 , the sealing member  40 , the disc meter assembly  23 , and the plastic meter housing  11 . These can all be stacked, or picked and placed, to provide a lower cost of assembly than for constructions of the prior art. 
   This has been a description of the preferred embodiments, but it will be apparent to those with skill in the art to which the invention pertains that various modifications may be made to these specific embodiments without departing from the spirit of the present invention, and that such modifications are intended to be encompassed by the following claims.