An Improved Instrument for Sampling or Gauging the Depth of Liquids in Tanks, Vats, or other Vessels.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 31st Oct., 1889-Accepted, 7th Dec., 1889
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Instrument for Sampling or Gauging the Depth of
Liquids in Tanks, Vats, or other Vessels.
We, EDWARD ETHELBERT HORLEY and FRANK SEDGLEY, both of 3 Bury Court,
Saint Mary Axe, in the City of London, Inspectors and Gaugers of Petroleum
cargoes, do hereby declare the nature of the said invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying sheet of Drawings and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
This invention relates to an improved instrument for obtaining samples, or for
ascertaining the nature and depth of the liquid contained in the lower part of
a tank or other receptacle such as a petroleum tank for example.
It is well known in the petroleum trade that tanks for transporting or storing
that liquid often contain more or less water or sediment which, being heavier than the
petroleum, "settles out" or separates therefrom and remains at the bottom of the
vessel, and it is often required to ascertain what is the exact depth of the water or
sediment at the bottom of such a tank in order that the superincumbent quantity of
petroleum may be accurately measured or calculated.
Instruments for this or analogous purposes have already been devised, consisting of
a glass tube having a valve at the bottom opening upwards. This glass tube is let
down in the liquid to any point from which it is desired to take a sample, the valve
opens as the instrument descends, or as soon as it reaches the bottom, so as to
allow the liquid to pass up into the glass tube, and when the latter is drawn up, the
valve closes so as to retain the sample of liquid therein. When this instrument,' as
heretofore constructed, is used for ascertaining the nature and depth of the lower
stratum of liquid in a given tank or other vessel, its indication is not always reliable,
and when the depth of the lower stratum is comparatively small, it is sometimes not
indicated at all, because the valve, being arranged to open upwards, must necessarily
be placed at some little distance above the lower end of the tube, and consequently if
the depth of the lower stratum of liquid is less than that from the top of the valve
to the lower end of the tube, no portion of that liquid enters the latter and no
indication of its presence is given.
The object of our invention is to produce an instrument of this class which shall be
capable of indicating the nature and depth of the lower stratum of liquid in a tank
or other vessel, even when the depth of that stratum is very small indeed, which is a
matter of considerable importance in the case of large receptacles such as petroleum
tanks for example, where every. quarter of an inch of depth may amount to a
considerable number of gallons, or even tons, of liquid.
Our improved instrument consists of a glass tube open at top and bottom, but
provided with a valve adapted to close against the lower end of the said tube. This
valve is so arranged that it depends below the lower end of the glass tube and remains
open while the instrument is descending through the liquid, until it (the valve) reaches
the bottom of the tank or other receptacle when its progress is arrested and the glass
tube, which is suitably weighted, continues its downward movement until its lower
end comes in contact with the valve, a spring catch retains the latter closed against
the end of the tube, and the instrument inay then be drawn up and the depth of the
lower stratuin of liquid contained in it (which liquid will be visible through the glass
tube) can be measured or read off by means of a suitable scale. We prefer to mount
the glass tube in a metallic frame easily adjusted as to length so that a longer or
shorter glass tube can be placed and secured therein as may be required.

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By arranging the valve in the manner above described, it may be made very thin,
so that the presence of a stratum of liquid, of comparatively small depth, can be
indicated by the-instrument, and the indications of the latter, for all depths of liquid
within its range, are more accurate than in instruments of this class as usually
constructed.
And in order that the invention may be fully understood, we will now proceed to
describe the same with the aid of the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is
a front elevation partly in section of one of our improved instruments with the valve
shown open as it would be during the descent of the instrument through the liquid of
which two, levels are shewn, the upper one being the petroleum level and the lower
one the water level for example. Figure 2 is a side elevation of the instrument,
and Figure 3 a front elevation showing the valve closed as it would be when the
instrument reaches the bottom of the tank or other vessel.
A is the glass tube open at top and bottom and secured in the metallic frame B D F M,
the upper end being held in the perforated cap C, carried by the cross bar D which
can be adjusted at various heights on the screwed side rods B by means of the nuts E
to suit the length of tube A employed. The lower end of the tube A is guided by
the cross bar F secured to the side rods B, while the tube is held in position and
prevented from slipping downwards in the frame B D F M by the spring clip G
carried by the cross bar H also secured to the side rods B. This arrangement enables
the glass tube A to be removed and replaced or removed with great facility. I is
the valve mounted on a cross bar J the ends of which are guided and slide on the
lower ends of the side rods B. The surface of the valve I, which closes against
the lower end of the tube A, may be formed of leather or other suitable soft material
that will make a liquid tight joint with such tube. K is a spring catch which holds
the valve in position when closed and prevents it from being opened by the weight
of the column of liquid in the tube A when the instrument is drawn up out of the
tank or other vessel.
It will now be understood that when the instrument, with the valve I open as shown
in Figure 1, is lowered into a tank or other vessel containing liquid, by means of
a cord attached to the eye L of the upper cross bar M, the valve being pendant
below the tube A reaches the bottom P of the tank or other vessel first, and the
tube A is then carried down by the frame B D F M and the weight N attached
thereto so that the lower end of the said tube A is brought into contact with the surface
of the valve I and the spring catch K takes behind the stop or lug O and holds the
valve in the closed position as shown in Figure 3. The instrument can then be drawn
up enclosing and retaining in the glass tube A a sample of so much of the stratum
or strata of liquid or sediment at the bottoni of the tank or other vessel as
corresponds in depth to the height of the glass tube A.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said. inven-
tion, and in what manner the. same is to be performed; we desire to have it
understood that we make no claim generally to instruments for the purpose of
sampling or gauging the depth of. liquids. consisting of a glass tube with a valve
at or near the bottom thereof opening. upwards and closing downwards, as we
are aware that..such device is not novel; but we declare that, what we do
claim is
First The improved instrument for sampling or gauging the depth of liquids,
consisting of a glass 'tube open at top and bottom, a 'valve opening downwards away
from and closing upwards against the lower end of such tube, and means for holding
or retaining the said valve in its closed position; all combined, arranged and
operating substantially as herein before described, and illustrated in the drawings
hereto annexed.
Second-In instruments for sampling or gauging the depth of liquid, the means for
holding the glass tube in position and for guiding the valve at the lower end thereof,

page_text: consisting of the adjustable metallic frame B D F M and the spring clip G as herein-
before described, and illustrated in the Drawings hereto annexed.
Dated this 30th day of October 1889.
Per W. H. Beck,
E. E. HORLEI
F. SEDGLEY.
115, Cannon Street, London, E.C., Agent.