IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS AND OTHER FLUID METERS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Job Goulson, of Ponsonby Terrace, Vauxhall Bridge
Road, Westminster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS AND
OTHER FLUID METERS."
Sealed the 21st December 1860, and dated the 17th July 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Job Goulson at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th July
1860.
I, JOB GOULSON, of Ponsonby Terrace, Vauxhall Bridge Road, West-
minster, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN GAS AND OTHER FLUID METERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in gas and other fluid
meters, and relates to the construction of the index dials of meters, which dials
as at present constructed being made of opaque material do not, when the
meter is ready for use, admit of the wheelwork of the counting apparatus
being examined to see that the wheels have each the proper number of teeth,
and are properly placed to register the measurement of the meter correctly.
Now this Invention has for its object to remedy this defect. For this
purpose I apply a transparent dial of pressed glass, with the necessary letters
and figures raised upon its face, the letters and figures being colored or not, as

page_text: may be preferred. The glass dial serves as front plate of the index as well as
dial plate, and the arbors of the wheels and pinions pass through and take
their bearing in holes made for their reception in the glass dial.
The Invention also relates to a method of maintaining a constant water
level in wet gas meters. For this purpose I use an endless chain of cups,
which I pass through a tube of suitable form and dimensions, and round two
rollers, the lower one of which is placed at the bottom of the tube and in the
water reservoir. The upper roller is placed at the top of the tube, and in the
measuring compartment of the meter, or in a chamber in communication
therewith. The upper roller gives motion to the chain of cups, being driven
by a bevil wheel placed upon its axis, which bevil wheel receives its motion
from another bevil wheel fixed upon the index spindle, which is set in motion
by the action of the meter. The tube through which the chain of cups passes
and work is soldered or otherways made sound in the partition plate between
the measuring compartment and reservoir, and being closed at its lower end by
the water, it serves to prevent gas passing from one compartment to the other.
The chain cups are made by pressing up small cups in metal, and passing
through and soldering small links of chain in the bottom of the cups, and
connecting them one with the other. The cups as they ascend out of the
reservoir come up full of water, which when at their highest position they
discharge upon the roller, in which is a groove, down which it runs into a
spout for its reception into the upper or measuring compartment of the
meter.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Job Goulson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th January 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOB
GOULSON, of Ponsonby Terrace, Vauxhall Bridge Road, Westminster, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Job Goulson, Her special licence that I, the said Job Goulson,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said

page_text: Job Goulson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN GAS AND OTHER FLUID METERS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Job Goulson, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same
to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Job Goulson, 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 thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in gas and other fluid
meters, and relates to the construction of the index dials of meters, which dials
as at present constructed, being made of opaque material, do not when the
meter is ready for use admit of the wheelwork of the counting apparatus
being examined to see that the wheels have each the proper number of teeth,
and are properly placed to register the measurement of the meter correctly.
Now this Invention has for its object to remedy this defect. For this
purpose I apply a transparent dial of pressed glass, with the necessary letters
and figures raised upon its face, the letters and figures being colored or not, as
may be preferred. The glass dial serves as front plate of the index as well as
dial plate, and the arbors of the wheels and pinions pass through and take
their bearing in holes made for their reception in the glass dial.
The Invention also relates to a method of maintaining a constant water
level in wet gas meters. For this purpose I use an endless chain of cups,
which I pass through a tube of suitable form and dimensions, and round two
rollers, the lower one of which is placed at the bottom of the tube and in the
water reservoir. The upper roller is placed at the top of the tube and in the
measuring compartiment of the meter, or in a chamber in communication
therewith. The upper roller gives motion to the chain of cups, being driven
by a bevil wheel placed upon its axis, which bevil wheel receives its motion
from another bevil wheel fixed upon the index spindle, which is set in motion
by the action of the meter. The tube through which the chain of cups passes

page_text: and works is soldered or otherwise made sound in the partition plate between
the measuring compartment and reservoir, and being closed at its lower end by
the water, serves to prevent gas passing from one compartment to the other.
The chain cups are made by pressing up small cups in metal, and passing
through and soldering small links of chain in the bottom of the cups, and
connecting them one with the other. The cups as they ascend out of the
reservoir come up full of water, which when at their highest position they
discharge upon the roller, in which is a groove, down which it runs into a
spout for its reception into the upper or measuring compartment of the
meter.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1, a front view of a gas meter constructed according to my Invention,
with the front plates removed to show the interior; Figure 2, a section of the
same taken at the line X, X, Figure 1; Figure 3, a glass dial plate made
according to the first part of my Invention, with the necessary letters and
figures thereon; Figures 4 and 5 show the endless chain of cups for maintain-
ing a constant water level in the measuring compartment of the meter. The
same letters refer to the same parts in all the Figures.
a, Figure 1, is the cylindrical portion of the outer case, containing the
measuring drum b; a¹, a square frame or box on the front of the cylindrical
portion of the outer case; c, a water box or reservoir placed beneath the
square frame a¹; o is a float for opening the valve e', and is screwed on to
the wire at n; the wire passes through a tube m, and at its lower end is
attached at k to a lever h, which works on its fulcrum at i, and is counter-
balanced by the weight ; to enable the float to raise the valve easily; to the
lever at k is also attached the metal ball p, for the purpose of closing the
valve e' when a deficiency of water occurs in the reservoir c, the ball has about
the specific gravity of water, and acts by pulling down the float when left
unsupported by the water in the reservoir; d is the gas inlet pipe opening into
the valve box e, the end of which is removed to show the valve e¹ by which the
gas passes to the reservoir c, and from thence up the bent pipe f into the
measuring drum b, which it causes to revolve on its shaft or axis b¹, and
escapes, measured, from the measuring drum into the cylindrical portion of
the outer case, and passes from the meter at the outlet pipe g. The measuring

page_text: drum 6, in the gas meter from which the present Drawings were made (on a
reduced scale), measured at every revolution cubic foot of gas, and carried
on its shaft or axis 6' a worm or screw 6 working in and driving the wheel 40;
this wheel is fixed upon the index spindle r, and has 40 teeth, one of which is
moved forward at every revolution of the measuring drum; the wheel con-
sequently makes one entire revolution with its spindle r for every 40 revolutions
of the measuring drum, and for every 10 feet of gas measured, and the index
spindle r, which passes through a tube and stuffing box, carries on its upper
end a small drum with divisions, on which 10 feet are marked; and when the
metre is ready for use, I can, at any time, by testing the meter, see by the
small drum whether the meter measures correctly or not; but it is equally
necessary that both buyer and seller should be able to see (after the index is
boxed up and no longer capable of being altered or exchanged) that the
wheelwork of the index is proper to show the measurement of the meter
accurately upon the dial of the index, as a wrong wheel or pinion in the index
would, of course, show a wrong quantity on the dial of the index, and as
numbers of the indexes adapted for different sized meters fit, and will work
with each other's spindles, it simply requires two indexes (both properly made
and adapted for their own meters) to be accidentally exchanged by the work-
man to cause one index to show twice the quantity, and the other only half
the quantity measured by their respective meters. To remedy this defect, I
apply a pressed glass dial plate, through which a sufficient portion of each wheel
and pinion may be seen, to see that they are properly adapted for showing the
measurement of the metre to which they are attached correctly, and that the
letters and figures may not be effaced they are pressed upon, or may be pressed
in the dial plate; the dial plates may be cut and polished, and the letters and
figures colored, and if desired, certain portions behind the letters and figures
made opaque, as shewn in Figure 8; care must be taken to arrange the wheels
and pinions, so that at least the half of each wheel and pinion can be seen;
the teeth of the half wheel or half pinion may then be counted by laying a
straight edged rule over the centre of the axis, and the number of teeth in tho
wheel ascertained.
A, Figure 1, represents an index with a pressed glass dial plate applied
according to my Invention, with the letters and figures coloured. The dial
plate is screwed or pinned fast to the pillars B, B, which have pins passing
through with screws cut upon them, for nuts and shoulders for the dial plate
to bear against; the pillars are rivited fast to the back plate of the index in
which the pivots of the wheels and pinions take their bearing, the glass dial

page_text: plate serving the same purpose in front of the index, the arbors of the wheels
and pinions passing through and working in holes made for that purpose;
through the dial plate is seen the spindle with a screw near the top working
in the small wheel with 20 teeth, which the spindle advances one tooth
(equal to 10 cubic feet measured) at each revolution, and causes the small
wheel to make one entire revolution for every 200 cubic feet measured; the
axis on which the wheel 20 is fixed is a pinion with six leaves or teeth
revolving with the wheel 20, and driving the wheel 30, which, of course,
revolves once for every 5 revolutions of the pinion by which it is driven, or
once every thousand cubic feet measured; on the axis of the wheel 30 is a
pointer or hand, which shows upon the dial plate every 100 cubic feet
measured up to 1,000, which will then be shown by the next hand on the
next circle of the dial plate, which will be moved one-tenth round (or to the
figure 1) by the pinion of 6 leaves on the axis of the wheel 30, driving the
wheel 60 one-tenth round at every revolution; the wheel 60 has also a
6-leaved pinion, causing the next wheel 60 to revolve at one-tenth the speed,
and its hand or pointer to show tens of thousands up to one hundred thousand
cubic feet.
The dial plates may be made of any form, but for indexes of the above
description I prefer the form shown in the Drawing. S is a tube partly
covered at top, through which work the endless chain of cups t, t, for raising
water to the measuring compartment of the meter; U, Figure 1, is a bevil
wheel cast upon a socket or tube, which is fixed upon and revolves with the
index spindler; the bevil wheel u drives the bevil wheel u with the hollow
wheel or roller s', which is fixed upon the same axis as u¹, and which carries
the endless chain of cups round with it by the friction of their own weight;
when the cups arrive at the top of the roller s, the water discharges on the
roller and runs down and falls off at the lowest part of the roller into a gutter
made on the top of the tube s, and then falls into the measuring compartment
of the meter; the roller s at the bottom of the tube is to prevent the chain of
cups from getting out of their place when the meter is turned upside down,
but the chain must be long enough to pass quite freely round it when in
action, and the tubes must be long enough to dip into the water in the
reservoir c until the gas is shut off by the ball p. The chain may be applied
to meters differently constructed and worked in different manners, but I prefer
the
way shown in the Drawing. is the pipe by which the meter is filled;
w is the pipe by which it overflows from the measured gas compartment to the
water reservoir; x is the overflow pipe of the meter.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself
to the exact details which I have described; but what I claim is,-
First, the application of glass dial plates with the necessary letters and
figures pressed on or in the dial plate to the indexes or counting apparatus of
gas or other fluid meters.
And, secondly, the application of an endless chain of cups for raising water
to maintain a constant water level in the measuring compartment of wet gas
meters.
In witness whereof, I, the said Job Goulson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
J. GOULSON. (L.S.)