AN IMPROVED REGISTERING WATER METER
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Barlow, of 89, Chancery Lane, London,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED REGISTERING WATER METER." -A
communication.
Sealed the 13th July 1858, and dated the 13th January 1858.
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Barlow, at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 13th
January 1858.
I, CHARLES BARLOW, of 89, Chancery Lane, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED REGISTERING WATER METER,"
a communication from a foreigner residing abroad, to be as follows:-
The annexed Drawing is a vertical section of the improved registering
water and gas meter made through its centre. It is composed of two metallic
tight chambers E and H, the first one, made of cast iron, is merely for the
passage of the fluid ingressing at a, and egressing through the stop-cock F.
The upper air-tight chamber His made of copper, stout enough to resist the
pressure of the upper column of water. A small tight turbine G is lodged
between the bottoms of two cylinders J and K, fitted in the cylindrical
chamber E. The cylinders J and K are opened on one side, and their
bottoms are perforated with small holes d, d, d, d, for the passage of the fluid,
which as it passes causes the turbine G to revolve. The shaft J of the said
lightly in the bearing f, carried by stands t, t; an arm g fixed
on the turbine shaft drives a small cranked arm i, the axle of which carries
[Price 8d.]

page_text: a pinion J¹ gearing with a wheel K¹; the pinion of the latter impels another
wheel for retarding the motion. The axle of the latter wheel carries a
magnet m just under the top part of the chamber H; a similar magnet I is
fixed on a small shaft which rests on the top of the said chamber H. This
second magnet is impelled by the attraction of the first one, its shaft carries
a pinion n, which gears with a wheel V, and a set of wheels and pinions
o, p, q, carry hands which register on dials d¹, d", d, divided as usual, the
quantity of water flowing through the stop-cock F. M is a soft iron sur-
rounding chamber for purposes of safety.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Barlow in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th July 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
BARLOW, of 89, Chancery Lane, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign,, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Charles Barlow, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
Barlow, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Charles Barlow, 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 "AN IMPROVED
REGISTERING WATER METER," a communication, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Charles Barlow, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument 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 Charles Barlow, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-

page_text: The improved registering water meter, communicated to me by Antoine
Michel Loup and Auguste François Koch, of Lyons, will be found more
efficient than any apparatus hitherto used for measuring and registering
fluids. It is composed of a small light turbine fitted in the middle of a
closed chamber, through which the fluid has to run when flowing out; this
turbine is rotated by the water as it runs, and its rotary motion is com-
municated to a magnet situated within the water chamber, which maguet
actuates by its attractive power another one situated outside the said chamber,
which one gives motion to clockwork for registering as usual on suitable
dials the quantity of water or any other fluid that flows through it. The
improved water meter of Messeuirs Loup and Koch is represented in the
next Drawing, in which all the figures and letters refer to the same parts.
Fig. 1 is an outside view of the apparatus; Fig. 2, a top plan of it; Fig: 3
is a vertical section through the line A, B, of the plan shewing all the me-
chauism inside. Fig. 4, an under view of the turbine; Fig. 5, vertical
section of the said turbine through the, line C, D. Fig. 6, plan of a fixed
drum containing a set of diverging blades. Fig. 7 shews a portion of the
periphery of the turbine's paddles, between the upper and lower blades. The
whole apparatus is divided into two distinct parts, namely, the inward or
passage chamber or channel and the external or registering chamber. The,
passage chamber is made of a strong metallic case E capable of resisting the
higher pressure of the flowing liquid on the upper part. The covering F of
the case is made of copper, so thin as not to weaken the magnetic action,
which will be described hereafter, but strong enough to resist the pressure of
the water; its shape is concuve downwards. In order to, have a water-tight
joint between the top or covering piece F and the case E, the edge of the
former, properly shaped, is let in a groove turned for the purpose on the
upper flange of the case, and a leather joint ring r being laid over, the whole
is pressed together by a set ring G, held by bolt screws a. Thus, there is
no other aperture left but the water ingress and egress pipes H and I.
The apparatus is fixed. on a delivery pipe as usual, the flanges of which,
are bolted tight against the corresponding flanges of the ingress aperture
at H, and the egress aperture I being bolted in the same manner on the
other end of the same delivery pipe. This arrangement allows the water
to run through the apparatus without being impeded.
A ring 6 is placed inside of the case E for supporting the lower drum J,
and a thin brass cylinder c, c, within which runs the turbine K; the cylinder
c,.c, carries the upper, directing drum L. The turbine K lodged between
the two directing drums aforesaid is carried by a spindle sharp pointed at

page_text: the lower end, which runs in a suitable agate socket d; the upper journal
of the spindle runs also in an agate collar, so as to reduce the friction when
the turbine revolves at its greatest speed.
In order to prevent the action of the water on the spindle of the turbine,
the latter is surrounded by a tube e covered by a half spherical funnel, which
preserves a portion of the movement from the obstruction of floating bodies
that might enter the apparatus. The tube and funnel maintain fast the upper
drum L by propping up the horizontal partition f, so that the apparatus may
be carried about without getting out of order.
:
The horizontal partition f fits into a groove cut round the upper flange of
the case, where it is held fast by the covering F; several apertures made
through the partition fare covered with fine wire cloth to keep the hetero-
genious bodies out from the movement. The action of the water on the
turbine is thus -Every time the inlet stop-cock is open a stream of water
runs through the apparatus; this stream, that might be irregular in some
parts of the case, is made even by the fixed directing plades g, g, g¹, gl, of the
drums J and L, which impel it in a rotating downward or screw motion, and
this rotating motion prevents any tendency of the water to eddy or whirl,
and the turbine yields to the speed of the current which runs through it
downwards, because it is quite free to move, and the movements which it
drives cannot make any resistance to its motion, as will be explained.
Now, if the turbine did not perform any duty, it is evident that its velocity
in rotating would be in proportion to the power of the current of water,
which runs downwards with a light rotating motion, so that if the outlet
stop-cock is more or less opened, the running velocity of the stream will be
quicker or slower, and the turbine will revolve more or less accordingly in
the same time, or else the outlet aperture being the same, if the pressure in
the delivery pipe is modified, the spouting out of the fluid would follow, and
of course with it the speed of the turbine. Accordingly, as the speed of the
turbine is registered, so the quantity of water delivered is ascertained.
the upper part of the spindle of the turbine, there is a screw worm h, which
actuates a wheel i; another wheel fixed on the same shaft as the former
gears with a third one j, the axle of which carries a screw worm k, which
actuates a horizontal wheel ; on the top of the spindle of the wheel la
small magnet M is fixed, which revolves with the said wheel, and passes
quite near the copper top piece F without touching it.
A
The screw worms and wheels just mentioned are for the purpose of lessening
the relative velocity between the turbine and magnet. It will be easily under-
stood that the difference between the velocities can be varied at pleasure by

page_text: modifying the diameter of the wheels. A second magnét N is placed directly
above the first one on the other side of the copper covering F; it is fixed on
a thin spindle which bears a pinion m; this pinion actuates the first dial on
the right hand registering the units; the pinionn of the units spindle actuates
the wheel o; the dial of the tens revolves with this wheel, and in a similar
manner dials for registering hundreds and thousands are actuated by suitable
pinions and wheels; the said dials are shewn in the plan, Figure 2. Other
multiplying dials might be added if required. Of course the proportion of
the number of the teeth of the pinions and wheels must be one to ten. Now, it
will be easily understood that the actual rotative motion of the turbine will be
transmitted outside of the apparatus without any appreciable friction, the
magnets M and N being near enough to each other for exerting their attractive
action, although the copper cupola F is between them; it follows that when-
ever the turbine moves on account of the outlet aperture being opened, it
gives motion to the internal magnet M, the external one N follows, and
actuates all the registering movements, and the whole mechanism works as if
there was a direct connection between the inside and outside movements.
The dials being made to revolve with the spindles of the wheels, the
registered numbers will be shewn on each one by small hands (Figure 2).
The whole registering mechanism is enclosed in an iron box O,covered with
a glass plate; the said box may be composed either of a single frame or of
several concentric iron rings for preserving the external magnet N from any
perturbation that might arise if another magnet was brought near the
apparatus for the purpose of stopping it.
This arrangement is sufficient, but for greater caution the whole apparatus
may be closed in another external box.
The great desideratum in water meters used under a high pressure is to
register with exactness the flowing out of a very small stream of liquid; this
has been attained in the following manner by the Inventors:-Theinlet aperture
of the apparatus is stopped by a short pipe P, closed by a hinged valve s,
loaded with a lead weight t; now the valve being closed, what will be the
case whenever the outlet stop-cock is but lightly open; the liquid can flow into
the apparatus only through the small tube u, where it is forced so as to spout
out with some force; this fluid stream strikes at right angles the blades of the
turbine, which moves instantly, registering the water that is flowing out.
Without this arrangement it would be possible to defraud the water com-
panies, because the small stream flowing out by the outlet stop-cock, when it is
opened only for a small quantity, would not have a full action upon the turbine.
When the stop-cock is turned nearly full open, the valve raises up by degree,

page_text: and the water runs partly through the tube and partly through the valve..
But when the outlet stop-cock is entirely or half opened the apparatus works
with a great regularity; in both instances the valve is entirely raised up, and
the action of the small tube is no longer felt. It is found, by experience,
that the apparatus just described works with a great regularity from the
entire opening of the outlet stop-cock down to the sole action of the small
tube u; then some light difference arises, which may be corrected by. practice;
but this is not needed, as the apparatus is intended to work with the outlet
stop-cock wide open.
1. i
The valve P, is kept in its place by a ring Q, which rests on one side in the
case by a set screw
and on the other side on pegs suitably disposd on
the sides of the valve. It is most important that the turbine, be of the lightest
make, and of a very small diameter, so as to prevent rotation occurring after.
the stop-cock is closed, which would give wrong records. The magnets must
be covered with red lead paint; the internal one may be silvered over before,
being magnetized, and then painted afterwards.
The advantage of the registering movement being actuated by magnetic
power, are, 1st, doing away with the friction in communicating the motion;
2nd, regularising the small friction that remains, and of course the actionof
the apparatus; 3d, leakage is nearly impossible, either in or outside, whatever
may be the pressure of the water inside of the apparatus; 4th, stuffing boxes
or joints are not required; 5th and lastly, the outside working pieces are no
longer subject to oxidation. The outside case is made of cast iron, but its
cupola and all the internal pieces must be made of brass or any. other metal
that cannot be damaged by water. Now, when the apparatus is ready to work,
it is easy to ascertain the quantity of flowing liquid it will be capable of
registering by measuring the quantity delivered out by the outlet stop-cock,
while the dial of the units will move to mark one full unit; then the quantity,
of gallons found represents the unit of measure of the apparatus, that will
be marked as the standard. It will be found easy, by a series of trials, to get
a precise measure, for instance, 100 or 1,000 gallons for the standard unit.
Although the apparatus herein-before described has been represented by a
Drawing, it will be understood that the Inventors do not limit themselves to
the precise forms, shapes, and contrivances or arrangements shewn on the said
Drawing, so long as the general features and characteristics of the said, In-
vention are preserved, for the details may be varied. For instance, the lower
drum,in lieu of having fixed, directing blades, might have a reverted conical
shape,soas to bring the water issuing from the turbine down to the centre of the
case, so as to avoid eddying motion. The upper drum might be furnished with

page_text: as many small flattened tubes for the passage of the water as there are directing
blades, so as to establish as near as possible the same proportion between all
the apparatus. The number of blades both of the turbine and drums is not
limited; it can be increased or lessened, and Il be indicated by the practical
use of the apparatus.
The registering dials, instead of being moveable, may be fixed; these
small points would revolve on their spindles to the centre of such dials.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention communicated to
me,I do not claim the mechanism for registering, but I claim the apparatus
herein-before described and shewn by the Drawings for measuring water
and other fluids, and for actuating the registering mechanism.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Barlow, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
CHARLES BARLOW. (L.s.)