AN IMPROVED WATER METER OR APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE FLOW OF LIQUIDS
Year: 1873

page_text: ICTTERS PATENT to Charles Michel and Alphonse Frager, of Boule-
vard de Strasbourg, 23, Paris, Manufacturers, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVED WATER METER OR APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE FLOW OF
LIQUIDS."
Sealed the 21st November 1873, and dated the 23rd September 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Michel and
Alphonse Frager at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 23rd September 1873.
We, CHARLES MICHEL and ALPHONSE FRAGER, of Boulevard de
Strasbourg, 23, Paris, Manufacturers; do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED WATER METER OR APPARATUS FOR
MEASURING THE FLOW OF LIQUIDS," to be as follows:-
The arrangement of meter which forms the object of our Invention
consists, like all apparatus of its kind, of two parts, a motor or measurer
and a register.
The measurer is founded upon the principle of the water pressure
machine, and is composed of two parallel cylinders, each forming pumps,
bodies, or separate measures,

page_text: rod which carries and directs a slide. This slide distributes the water
into the neighboring cylinder so that each cylinder commands the
distribution to the other.
The mechanism and method of action which we have invented in
order to realize our object will be well understood from the following
description :-
Description of the Measurer. -We construct the cylinders from two
equal tubes of drawn sheet metal, we divide them into three parts, we
solder to the ends the bottoms, each carrying a ringed union piece, and
we form in the central portion of each tube a hole for the introduction
of the mechanism. This mechanism is composed of two pistons mounted
upon the same rod. This rod is formed of two pieces screwed together
which permits of this mechanism being withdrawn through the hole to.
repair injuries without the necessity of unsoldering the bottom. Each
piston is formed from a disc of india-rubber, which is embossed by
squeezing it between two discs of brass, the one hollow and the other
flat, embedded in the first. The edges of the india-rubber therefore
apply themselves to the inside of the tube, forming a joint similar to
that used in hydraulic presses, and prevent the water from passing to
the central part of the tube into capacities limited by their pistons, and
which each measure about half a litre or a pint of water. Each piston
receives an alternating motion, about 62 millemetres long, produced solely
by the pressure of the water convenienly distributed.
The distributing apparatus is composed of two slides similar to those
of steam engines. Each cylinder carries and directs a slide, which
distributes the water in the neighboring cylinder, so that each cylinder
commands the distribution of the other. The first cylinder carries the
sliding surface for the slide of the other cylinder, which is formed of a
plate of bronze pierced with three holes. This plate is supported at its
ends by two rings of sheet metal, which hold the circumference of the
tube to which they are fixed by three equidistant screws. Upon this
surface moves a brass slide provided with overlapping edges. In the
two positions at the ends of the course the extreme orifices become
respectively opened fully, the one at the outside, the other in the interior
of the slides, whilst the orifice at the middle rests constantly open under
the slide.

page_text: The motion of the slide is produced by the direct action of the pistons,
the common rod of which carries a frame armed with four hooks, which
are placed in pairs upon two perpendiculars to the rod; they hook into
two lateral eyes upon the slide, which thus participates in the movement
of the piston for the 15 latter millemetres of its course. The slide and
the frame are guided by the same guide piece which presses the first
gently against its plate, holding it laterally, and which prevents the
second from turning. The second cylinder and the other slide are
similarly arranged. The central orifices of the slides communicate with
the two branches of a tube of a T form, which serves as an exit tube;
each of the extreme orifices communicate by a tube conveniently united
with one of the capacities of the neighboring cylinder. The whole
apparatus is enclosed in a watertight envelope, which receives the water
or liquid directly from the entrance conduit.
Action of the Measurer.-The pistons successively strike the corre-.
sponding bottoms in the order of their number; the first piston strikes,
drawing with it the corresponding slide, then the second piston moves
towards the corresponding botton in order to strike in its turn; it chases
the water from the capacity which should communicate with the exit, that
is to say, with the end orifice actually covered by the first slide; it
draws the opposite piston, the capacity of which fills, drawing the liquid
from the envelope; the opposite capacity ought then to communicate.
with the other orifice of the same slide. In this position the double
piston is drawn by the difference of the pressures existing between the.
two capacities, the pressure which exists in the envelope being left out
of account since it is exerted against opposite faces.
One of these
pressures being greater than the other since one of the capacities com-
municates actually with the envelope wherein pressure exists, whilst the
other capacity communicates with the exit, the double piston will
advance towards the base corresponding with the latter as we at first
supposed; the piston No. 2 strikes in its turn prevoking the movement
of the piston No. 3, which determines that of piston No. 4, followed by
piston No. 1, and so on again. Thus in its stroke each piston opens
upon the exit of the orifice to which it is nearest, and each orifice com-
municates with the capacity limited by the following piston. The
listribution tubes are thus determined since the corresponding orifices
are respectively near to the pistons, and these tubes join the capacities to
orifices of the same order.

page_text: :
Measurer. Each piston effecting the length of stroke calls from the
entrance conduit a pint of water, which it passes to the exit conduit.
The pistons will always accomplish their total course, since each of them,
after having uncovered the orifices of the neighboring one, remain
charged during all the time that the latter makes a simple stroke, and in
any case the course lost cannot exceed a fraction of the breadth of the
orifice, which itself is a fraction less than a twelth of the course, and is
therefore one of those minute errors which experience teaches us to
disregard. It follows, therefore, that after four strokes, that is to say,
after a complete evolution two pints or one litre have left the envelope,
passing by the measurer, and the flow is continued without intermission
since each piston communicates its movement before the other has
terminated its own. It will suffice to register the strokes of one of the
pistons in order to measure the volume of water delivered.
.
Description of the Registering Apparatus.-Towards the centre of the
apparatus is a horizontal star wheel with ten teeth. The rod of the
pistons Nos. 1 and 3 carries a finger mounted upon a pivot, the tail of
which strikes two tippers carried by the support rings of the slide; one of
these tippers causes the finger to project, and in doing so to advance the
star wheel one tooth, while the other tipper causes the finger to return,
passing before the star wheel without reaching it. Thus at each complete
revolution there pass two litres of water when the star wheel has
advanced a tooth. This star wheel is keyed on a shaft which proceeds
from an envelope through a stuffing box. This shaft is the origin of an
arrangement of toothed wheels indicated by following table:—
The shafts Nos. 4, 5, 6, and 7, carry movable needles upon dials with
ten equal divisions marked from 1 to 10, the sides of these needles give
the units, tens, hundreds, and thousands of the number which represents
the volume consumed in cubic metres or feet. In fact, for each
volume of two litres or four pints of water delivered the wheel of
six teeth advances one tooth; the pinion of 20 teeth, and afterwards the

page_text: wheel of 100 advance two; this wheel will then make one turn per
hectolitre, the following one turn per cubic meter, and so on, following
from 10 to 10.
Regulation. The apparatus once constructed it is tried by making it
fill a vessel measured for a hectolitre; the wheel of 100 teeth, which we
call the trial wheel, carries a dial divided into 100 parts movable before
a fixed index. The number marked upon this dial read when the hecto-
litre has been filled, and the wheel of 100 is replaced by a wheel
carrying as many teeth as this number contains units; the apparatus
is then regulated. The arrangement adopted permits the change of this
wheel called the regulator and the regulation of he counting apparatus
upon the spot.
Accessory Arrangements.-The envelope is of cast iron or sheet iron
calculated to resist a pressure of ten atmospheres, the water is introduced
therein by a filtering connection, and proceeds out through a tube.
of T form, which traverses a box, to which the entrance conduit serves
as a stuffing box.
Observations. A change of 50 centimetres of water is sufficient to
work the apparatus. The delivery takes place at the rate of a cubic
meter per hour under à charge of ten metres. Besides the counter for
10 millemetres we may construct counters of 15, 20, 30, 40, and more
millemetres intended to measure the delivery of conduits of these
diameters.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Michel and Alphonse Frager in the Great.
Seal Patent Office on the 21st March 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, CHARLES
MICHEL and ALPHONSE FRAGER, of Boulevard de Strasbourg, 23, Paris,
Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Charles Michel and Alphonse Frager
Her special licence that we, the said Charles Michel and Alphonse Frager

page_text: our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said Charles Michel and Alphonse Frager, our 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 "AN IMPROVED WATER METER OR
APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE FLOW OF LIQUIDS," upon the condition,
(amongst others), that we, the said Charles Michel and Alphonse Frager
or one of us, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our, or one of our, 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 we, the said Charles Michel and Alphonse
Frager, do hereby declare the nature of our 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, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
The arrangement of meter which forms the object of our Invention
consists, like all apparatus of its kind, of two principal parts, a motor
or measurer, and a register.
The measurer is founded upon the principle of the water-pressure
machine, and is composed of two parallel cylinders, each forming two
pump bodies or measurers.
The two pistons which actuate in each cylinder are united to the
same rod which carries and directs a slide. This slide distributes the
water into the neighbouring cylinder, so that each cylinder commands &
the distribution to the other.
The mechanism and method of action which we have invented in
order to realize our object will be well understood from the following
description, and by reference to the accompanying Drawings, which
show, at a scale of about half the actual size, a meter serving to 3
measure under all pressures the water flowing from a pipe or conduit
of about 10 millemetres in dimeter.

page_text: Figure 1 is a longitudinal elevation in section; Figure 2 is a hori-
zontal section; and Figure 3, a vertical section through the line x, y,
of Figure 1.
Figures 4 and 5 show in sectional side elevation and in plan the
5 arrangement of slides at their actual size.
Description of the Measurer.-We construct the cylinders C₁, C₂,
Cs, and C, from two equal tubes of drawn metal, we divide them: into
three parts, we solder to their ends the bases F, F, in the one case,
and F, F, in the other case, each carrying a ringed union piece,
and we form in the central portion of each tube a hole for the in-
troduction of the mechanism. This mechanism in the case of the
cylinder C, C, is composed of two pistons P₁, P₁, mounted upon.
the same rod d; this rod is formed of two pieces screwed together,.
which permits of the mechanism being withdrawn through the hole-
for the repair of injuries without the necessity of unsoldering the
bases. Each piston is formed from a disc of india-rubber which is
cupped by squeezing it between two discs of brass, the one hollow
and the other solid, embedded in the first. The edges of the india-
rubber therefore apply themselves to the insides of the tube forming
a joint similar to that used in hydraulic presses, and prevent the
water from passing from the central part of the tube into the receptacle
C₁, C, C₂, C4, which are limited by their pistons, and which each
measure a certain capacity, say, half a litre, or a pint of fluid. Each
piston receives an alternating motion of about 62 millemetres long,
produced solely by the pressure of the water conveniently distributed.
The distributing apparatus is composed of two slides similar to those
of steam engines. Each cylinder carries and directs a slide which
distributes the water in the neighboring cylinder, so that each cylinder
commands the distribution of the other. The cylinder C₁, Cs, carries
the sliding surface for the slide T2,4, which, as is shown at Figures 4.
and 5, is formed of a plate of bronze A pierced with three holes
a, a¹, a. This plate is supported at its ends by two rings b, b, of
sheet metal, shown at Figures 1 and 2, which hold the circumference
of the tube to which they are each attached by three equidistant
screws. Upon this surface moves the brass slide T2,4, provided with
overlapping edges. In the two positions at the ends of the course
the extreme orifices a, a¹¹, become respectively opened fully, the one..
་

page_text: at the outside the other in the interior of the slides, whilst the orifice a¹
at the middle rests constantly open under the slide.
The motion of the slide is produced by the direct action of the
pistons P₁, P3, the common rod d₁ of which carries tappets g, g,
which butt against the sides of the slide, and the latter then par-
ticipates in the movement of the piston for the 15 latter millemetres
of its course. The slide and the frame are governed by a system
of guides H which maintain the first gently against its plate, holding
it laterally and prevent the second from turning. The second cylinder
C2, C, and the other slide T₁, T., are similarly arranged. The orifices
a, a, of the slides communicate with the two branches of a tubo S
of a T form which serves as an exit tube, each of the extreme orifices
a, a¹¹, communcate by a tube t₁, t₁, t, t₁, conveniently united with one
of the capacities of the neighbouring cylinder. The whole apparatus
is enclosed in a water-tight envelope K which receives the water or
liquid directly from the entrance conduit.
1
2
Action of the Measurer.-The pistons P₁, P2, P3, P4, successively
strike the corresponding bottom in the order of their number. The
first piston P₁ strikes, drawing with it the corresponding slide T₂, T,
then the second piston P, moves towards the corresponding bottom
in order to strike in its turn; it chases the water from the capacity C₂,
which should then communicate with the exit S, that is to say, with
the end orifice actually covered by the first slide T. It draws the
opposite piston P, the capacity of which fills, drawing the liquid
from the envelope, the opposite capacity C. ought then to communicate 1
with the other orifice of the same slide. In this position the double
piston P₂, P, is drawn by the difference of the pressures p, and p
existing between the two capacities C, C, the pressure p which
exists in the envelope being left out of account, since it is exerted
against opposite faces p, being greater than p₂, since the capacity Ca
communicates actually with the envelope wherein pressure exists, whilst
the capacity C₂ communicates with the exit the double piston will
advance towards the base F, corresponding with the latter; as we at
first supposed the piston P₂ strikes in its turn, provoking the movement
of the piston P,, which determine that of piston P, followed by a
piston P₁, and so on again. Thus in its stroke each piston opens
upon the exit of the orifice to which it is nearest, and each orifice
communicates with the capacity limited by the following piston. The

page_text: distribution tubes are thus determined since the corresponding orifices
are respectively near to pistons P1, P2, P, P, and these tubes join the
capa cities to orifices of the same order.
Measurer. Each piston effecting its length of stroke calls from the
entrance conduit certain capacity of water, say a pint, which it passes
to the exit conduit. The pistons will always accomplish their total
course, since each of them, after having uncovered the orifices of the
neighbouring one, remains charged during all the time that the latter
makes a simple stroke, and in any case the course lost cannot exceed a
fraction of the breadth of the orifice, which itself is a fraction less than
a twelfth of the course, and is therefore one of those minute errors
which experience teaches us to disregard. It follows therefore that after
five strokes, that is to say, after a complete evolution, two pints or one
litre have left the envelope, passing by the measurer, and the flow is
continued without interminsion, since each piston commences its move-
ment before the other has terminated its own, it will suffice to register
the strokes of one of the pistons in order to measure the volume of water
delivered.
Description of the Registering Apparatus.-Towards the centre of the
apparatus is a horizontal star wheel I, with ten teeth i. The rod d₁, s.
carries a finger or cam L, mounted upon a pivot, the tail of which
strikes two tippers m³, m", carried by the support rings b, b, of the slide.
One of these tippers causes the finger to project, and in doing so to
advance the star wheel one tooth, while the other tipper causes the
finger to return, passing before the star wheel without reaching it; thus
at each complete revolution there pass two litres of water when the star
wheel has advanced a tooth. This star wheel is keyed on a shaft o,
which proceeds from an envelope through a stuffing box. This shaft is
the origin of an arrangement of toothed wheels, indicated by the
following table :-
.

page_text: The shafts 4, 5, 6, and 7 carry movable needles upon dials, with ten
equal divisions marked from 1 to 10. The sides of these needles give
the units, tens, hundreds, and thousands of the number which represent
the volume consumed in cubic metres or feet. In fact, for each volume
of two litres or four pints of water delivered, the wheel of ten teeth
advances one tooth, the pinion of 20 teeth and afterwards the wheel
of 100 advance two; this wheel will then make one turn per hectolitre,
the following one turn per cubic meter, and so on, following from 10
to 10.
Regulation. The apparatus once constructed it is tried by making it.
fill a vessel measured for a hectolitre. The wheel of 100 teeth, which
we call the trial wheel, carries a dial divided into 100 parts, movable
before a fixed index. The number marked upon this dial is read when
the hectolitre has been filled, and this wheel of 100 is replaced by a
wheel carrying as many teeth as this number contains units. The appa-
ratus is then regulated. The arrangement adopted permits the change
of this wheel, called the regulator, and the regulation of the counting
apparatus upon the spot.
Accessory Arrangements.-The envelope is of cast iron or sheet iron,
calculated to resist a pressure of ten atmospheres. The water is intro-
duced therein by a filtering connection, and proceeds out through a tube
of T form, which traverses a box, to which the entrance conduit serves
as a stuffing box.
Observations. A charge of 50 centemetres of water is sufficient to
work the apparatus. The delivery takes place at the rate of a cubic
meter per hour under a charge of ten metres. Besides the counter for
10 millemetres we may construct countres of 15, 20, 30, 40, and more
millemetres, intended to measure the delivery of conduit of these
diameters.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim,-
First. The automatic and reciprocal method of distributing the liquid
into the cylinders, substantially as described and shown in the accom-
panying Drawings.
Secondly. The arrangement of distributing slides mounted directly:
upon the rod of the pistons, and their method of action in the guides

page_text: in order to successively uncover the orifices of the conduits leading
into the cylinders in the required order, substantially as described and
shown.
And, Thirdly. The arrangement for the transmission of the movement
of one of the double pistons of the registering apparatus, composed of a
star wheel and a movable finger with the rod, substantially as described
and shown.
In witness whereof, we, the said Charles Michel and Alphonse
Frager, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-
second day of December One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-three.
Witness,
CH. ARMENGAUD,
Civil Engineer,
No. 23, Boulevard de Strasbourg,
at Paris.
CH. MICHEL. (L.S.)
A. FRAGER.
(L.S.)