IMPROVEMENTS IN METERS FOR MEASURING WATER AND OTHER LIQUIDS
Year: 1885

page_text: Liquids.
We ROLAND ISAAC BARNES and HUBERT SAMUEL HEATH both of Rocliffe
Street Islington in the county of Middlesex Engineers do hereby declare the
nature of our invention for " IMPROVEMENTS IN METERS FOR MEASURING WATER
AND OTHER LIQUIDS" to be as follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in Meters for measuring and registering
the volume of water or other liquids passing through them, and the improvements
are applicable to that class of meter in which a closed vessel is divided into two
measuring compartments by a vertical partition fitted with a rocking arm having
floats for actuating the weight for operating the valve, the pressure being regulated
by a governing float valve in a separate chamber and acting in a reciprocating
manner. The principal objects of the invention are to obtain greater simplicity,
accuracy, and durability.
The invention consists in the employment of counterbalancing or compensating
tumbling weights, a projecting arm working between two spring adjusters serving
to regulate the throw of the weights. The floats are constructed with two or more
chambers one float being situated over each measuring compartment for the purpose
of giving a lifting power of longer duration to the arm operating the compensating
balance. Air is passed to and from the governing chamber by means of a vent
tube extending from the governing compartment downwards into the body of the
meter so that should any liquid pass into the air vent it is passed into the meter
and is measured, thereby avoiding any possible waste. The guide for the governor
of the regulating chamber consists of a tube hermetically sealed inside the regulating
float and working over a rod attached or fixed to the governor box.
The pressure is regulated at the inlet of the meter by means of a tube placed by
preference parallel with the inlet pipe, the said tube being fitted internally with
a tangent screw to throttle the supply which allows the meter to be regulated
(when the same is being fixed) to suit any pressure; when the screw has been
properly regulated there will be an interval of about one second of time between
the discharge of each chamber.

page_text: Burns.
We ROLAND ISAAC BARNES and HUBERT SAMUEL HEATH, both of Rocliffe
Street, Islington in the county of Middlesex, Engineers do hereby declare the
nature of our invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:―
This invention relates to improvements in meters for measuring and registering
the volume of water or other liquids passing through them and the improvements
are applicable to that class of meter in which a closed vessel is divided into two
measuring compartments by a vertical partition fitted with a rocking arm having
floats for actuating the weight for operating the valve, the pressure being regulated
by a governing float valve in a separate chamber and acting in a reciprocating
The principal objects of the invention are to obtain greater simplicity,
accuracy and durability.
manner.
The invention consists in the employment of counterbalancing or compensating
tumbling weights, a projecting arm working between two spring adjusters serving
to regulate the throw of the weights and thereby the depth of the floats in the
chambers. The floats are constructed with two or more chambers one float being
situated over each measuring compartment for the purpose of giving a lifting
power of longer duration to the arm operating the compensating balance. Air is
passed to and from the governing chamber by means of a vent tube extending
from the governing compartment downwards into the body of the meter so that
should any liquid pass into the air vent it is passed into the meter and is measured,
thereby avoiding any possible waste. The guide for the governor of the regulating
chamber consists of a tube hermetically sealed inside the regulating float and
working over a guide rod attached or affixed to the governor box.
In meters which are used to measure water having a known maximum pressure
and which are not provided with a governing chamber, the pressure is regulated at
the inlet of the meter by means of a tube placed by preference parallel with the
inlet pipe, the said tube being fitted internally with an adjusting screw to throttle
the supply which allows the meter to be regulated (when the same is being fixed)
to suit any known pressure; when the screw has been properly regulated there
will be an interval of about one second of time between the discharge of each
chamber.
In order to enable our invention to be fully understood we will now describe the
same by reference to the accompanying drawing in which figure 1 represents a
central longitudinal section of a water meter constructed according to our invention.
Figure 2 represents a transverse vertical section on the line A B of figure 1.
Figure 3, represents a front elevation of the counterbalancing or compensating
tumbling weights, shewn detached from the rest of the apparatus. Figure 4, is a
somewhat similar view to figure 3 but shewing a modified arrangement of the
tumbling weights. Figure 5 is a part sectional elevation of the inlet of a water
meter, shewing the arrangement for regulating the pressure of the inlet water
when there is a known maximum pressure.
Similar reference letters refer to similar or corresponding parts throughout the
drawing.

page_text: Referring to figures 1 and 2, a represents the water meter which is divided into
two compartments b, and c, by the vertical partition d. Above the partition d, is
a rocking shaft e, having an arm and spring pawl for working the ratchet wheel
of a suitable registering mechanism d, and also having a rocking arm f, to which
are attached floats g, and g', at each end of the said arm, the said floats being
situated over and projecting into each measuring chamber. The floats g, g¹, by
means of the rocking shaft e, and the arm h, which is fixed to the said shaft,
serve to actuate the arm or lever i, which operates the valve j, by means of the
shaft, and projecting arm, the said valve serving to feed the water to and
exhaust it from each of the measuring compartments b, and c, the pressure of water
being regulated by a governing float valve k, acting in a reciprocating manner in
a chamber l, at the back of the meter a. All the foregoing parts are of known
construction and will therefore need no further description.
m, m', are the counterbalancing or compensating tumbling weights fixed by
arma m², m², to the shaft j¹.
The operation of the counterbalancing or compensating weights is as follows,
that is to say when the said compensating weights are arranged as in figure 3,
which shews their position relatively with that of the floats g, gl, in figure 2, the
valve j, will be open to the chamber c, which then commences to be filled with
water the other chamber b, being nearly empty. When the level of the water
reaches the float g', the said float will tend to rise but will be prevented by reason
of the weight m, counterbalancing it through the medium of the arm i, arm h,
and shaft e, until the water has risen sufficiently high to overbalance the said
weight m, when the float g¹, will rise causing the weight m, to instantly move in
the direction of the arrow shewn in Figure 3. The float g¹, still moving upwards
will cause the weight m¹, to overbalance the weight m, and tumble, thereby causing
the valve j, to move and exhaust the said water and at the same time admit water
into the chamber b, when the same operation will be performed by the other
float g; i, is the projecting arm the outer end of which works between two spring
adjusters n, n, the said springs being made adjustable by bending them more or
less thereby serving to regulate the throw of the weights m, m, and thereby the
depth of the floats g, and g¹, in the chambers b and c. The floats g, are constructed
with two (or more) chambers g³, g', as shewn for the purpose of giving a lifting
power of longer duration to the arm h, and also for the purpose of preventing the
stoppage of the meter in case one of the said chambers should leak, as the other
chamber will still continue to give buoyancy to the float; o, is the vent tube
through which air is passed from the governing chamber 1, into the body of the
meter a, so that in the event of any water being forced through the vent tube
from the governing chamber 7, when the governing float k, moves upwardly the
said water will be measured thereby avoiding any possible waste; p, is the guide
for the governing float valve k, consisting of a tube which passes upward inside the
said float and is hermetically sealed thereto. The said guide tube p, and float k,
work over or are guided by the upwardly projecting guide rod q, which is fixed to
the bottom of the governing chamber l. In figure 5, r is the tube which can with
advantage be employed when the maximum pressure of water is known; the said
tube is placed parallel with the inlet tube 8, and contains the regulating screw t,
for regulating the pressure of the inlet water to the meter a. Instead of employing
the arm h, shewn in figure 3 for actuating the tumbling weights they may be
connected to and operated by the floats g, and g¹, by means of levers m³, (as shewn
in figure 4) fixed on the shaft j¹, and connected to levers e', on the rocking shaft e,
by means of links e, the said links being slotted at their lower ends as shewn
at e, to allow of the tumbling action of the weights m, and m³, as will be obvious.
In figure 4 we have shewn the floats g, gl, as being capable of adjustment; for
this purpose the arm f, is made elastic and a rigid bar f¹, is placed above the said
arm f, bearing on the extremities of the same. By turning a thumb screw or
nut f³, working on a screw f³, the rigid bar f¹, will cause the arm f, to assume n
more or less curved form thereby altering the position or depth of the floats in

page_text: the chambers b, and c, which will allow of more or less water being measured
according to the said position of the floats g, and g¹, as will be obvious.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is
1 In a meter for measuring water and other liquids the compensating and
counterbalancing arrangement consisting of two weights in combination with a
projecting arm actuated by the floats and working between spring adjusters sub-
stantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore described and represented in figure 3
of the accompanying drawing.
2 The modification of the arrangement of the spring adjusters claimed in
claim 1 substantially as hereinbefore described and represented in figure 4 of the
accompanying drawing.
3 The improved arrangement of levers and links for connecting the floats
with the balance weights and valve substantially as herein before described and
represented in figure 4 of the accompanying drawing.
4 Constructing the floats with two or more compartments substantially in the
manner shewn in figures 1, 2 and 4, and for the purposes described.
5 In a meter for measuring water and other liquids the employment of a vent
tube passing from the governing chamber into the body of the ineter substantially
as and for the purposes described.
6 In a meter for measuring water and other liquids the herein described arrange-
ment for regulating the pressure at the inlet of the meter when the maximum of
such pressure is known substantially as hercinbefore described and represented in
figure 5 of the accompanying drawing.
7 The herein described arrangement of guide tube placed in the regulating float,
and guide rod working in the same substantially as and for the purposes herein-
before described and represented in the accompanying drawing.
8 The improved meter for measuring water and other liquids hereinbefore
described and represented in the various figures of the accompanying drawing.
Dated 100-d dan of Mouch 1000
G. F. REDFERN,
Agent for the Applicants.