IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER GAS METERS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Roper Mead, of 176, Great Dover Street,
in the Borough of Southwark, Gas Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER GAS METERS."
Scaled the 12th May 1859, and dated the 4th March 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Roper Mead
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 4th March 1859.
I, CHARLES ROPER MEAD, of 176, Great Dover Street, in the Borough of
Southwark, Gas Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER GAS METERS," to be as follows:-
The object is 'to ensure the more accurate measurement of gas passed
through wet meters than has heretofore been obtained. This I propose to
effect, first, by maintaining the water in the measuring part of the meter at a
constant level, and extending the surface of the water, so that the pressure of
the gas shall cause the smallest possible displacement of the water in the front
of the meter; and, secondly, by shutting off the supply of gas to the meter
when the water level in the reservoir is unduly depressed. For maintaining
the water level in the measuring chamber, I use a vibrating scoop, which
dips into the reservoir and discharges a small quantity of water at each ascent.
This scoop receives its motion from the index spindle by means of a worm

page_text: wheel and crank or their equivalent, the motion of the scoop being regulated
to as slow a speed as is requisite to produce a discharge of water therefrom,
somewhat in excess of the rate of evaporation in the elevated water chamber,
the surface of which I increase in order to distribute the pressure of the gas
under measurement. The float wire that carries the inlet valve, I continue
down through the upper box, in order that it may form a guide for a second
float in the reservoir, which float is capable of moving freely thereon. When
the water in the reservoir is not sufficient to lift the float, it acts as a weight
and keeps the inlet valve closed, and consequently no gas passes into the
meter. But when the meter is properly charged with water the lower float
rises and liberates the upper float, which, rising by its buoyancy, lifts the valve
and allows the gas to enter the meter. Instead of mounting the lower float
on the valve rod, the floats may be connected by hinged levers to the case,
and the levers connected together by a rigid rod, when the same result is
obtained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Roper Mead in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 3rd September 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
ROPER MEAD, of Great Dover Street, in the Borough of Southwark, Gas
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Charles Roper Mead, Her special license that I, the said Charles
Roper Mead, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Charles Roper Mead, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter 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 "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN WATER GAS METERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
1, the said Charles Roper Mead, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, should particularly describe- and ascertain the nature of

page_text: 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 Roper Mead, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):―
The object of this Invention is to ensure more accurate measurement of
the gas passed through wet meters than has heretofore been obtained. This I
propose to effect, first, by the use of a mechanical arrangement for maintaining
the water in the measuring chamber at a constantly uniform level; and,
second, by a novel adaptation of floats for shutting off the supply of gas to the
meter when the water level in the reservoir is unduly depressed.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 represents in vertical section the
front part of a wet gas meter with my improvements applied thereto; and
Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the same, taken in the line 1. . . 2 of Fig. 1.
A is the ordinary meter case, and B the axle of the measuring drum or wheel.
Motion derived from this axle B is employed to operate a vibrating scoop, hy
which water is raised from a reservoir to make good the deficiency in the
measuring chamber caused by evaporation. C is the water box, shewn partly
broken away in Fig. 1 to exhibit the gearing for working the vibrating scoop;
this scoop, which is shewn at D, is made somewhat like a trough with an
open and a closed end; it is mounted on a fulcru:n pin carried by a
standard D', so as to be capable of rocking thereon and assuming the dotted
position of Fig. 1, and it is so arranged with respect to the reservoir or waste
box C¹ and the water box C (which is in communication with the measuring
chamber as usual), that it will when depressed dip into the water in the
reservoir C, and when elevated its upper or open end will dip over the edge of
the water box C, for the purpose of discharging therein the water which it
has raised. Affixed to the back of the scoop is a crank arm E, which, by
ineans of a rod and crank F, connects it with a horizontal shaft G, that. has a
bearing in the standard D'; this shaft G carries a worm wheel II, which gears
into a worm I, on the spindle K of the counting apparatus. As, therefore,.the
measuring wheel is caused to rotate by the passage of the gas through the
meter, its axle B will, through the ordinary arrangement of worm and worm
wheel, drive the spindle K, and through the mechanism just described impart

page_text: a slow vibratory motion to the scoop D, which at every vibration will raise a
small quantity of water from the reservoir C, and discharge it into the water
box C, thus preserving the water level in that box at the height of the lip of
the overflow pipe. As evaporation takes place in the meter, and the water
becomes, exhausted in the supply reservoir C¹,-it is requisite to indicate this
exhaustion to the consumer; for this purpose I employ the float L, which, as
it falls, will act on the gas inlet valve, and cause à diminution or suspension of
the supply. This float L, I mount loosely on the lower end of the float wire M,
which carries the inlet valve O, and also the ordinary float N, and is in this
'instance continued down through the upper box C to receive the second float L
in the reservoir C. This float rod terminates at its lower extremity in a
button which serves to retain the float L on the rod. .It will now be under-
stood that when the amount of water in the reservoir is not sufficient.to bear
up the float L, it will act as a weight and keep the inlet valve closed, and
consequently no gas will pass into the meter. But as soon as the meter is
properly charged with water the lower float will rise, and leaving the upper
float free to rise by its buoyancy, it will lift the valve O and open a passage
for the gas into the meter. It will now be understood that the meter if.pro-
perly adjusted in the first instance must always give a correct indication of the
gas passed through it, as the water line by which the capacity of the 'mea-
suring compartments of the drum or wheel is determined never varies. In
charging the meter with water, the water is poured in at the plug P in the
usual way, whence its flows into the measuring chamber until it rises to the
water level 3 . . . 4, the surplus water flows down the pipe R into the
reservoir C³, and when sufficient water is poured in; the reservoir will be full
up to the line 5 . . . 6. Any further supply of water will flow out of the
overflow pipe T. Should the meter be overcharged with water the pipe R
would be filled, and the passage of the gas into the measuring drum pré-
vented, and should the water be drawn off beyond what is required for working
' the meter, the float would fall and produce the same effect. The pipe R is
fitted with a sliding ring at its upper end for adjusting the height of the water
level in the water box C.
J
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements in
: Water Gas Meters," and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect,
I would remark that I lay no claim to the exclusive use of a vibrating scoop
for throwing water into the water box, or of a float for cutting off the
gas from the meter; but what I claim under the above in part recited
Letters Patent is, the arrangement of parts herein-before described..for

page_text: maintaining the level of the water in the water box, and for cutting off the
passage of the gas through the meter when the source of the water supply
is failing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Roper Mead, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Second day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFAtt,
66, Chancery Lanc.
CHARLES ROPER MEAD. (L.S.)