Improvements in Gas Meters.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Jan., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 4th Oct.. 1839-Accepted, 9th Nov., 1889
.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Gas Meters.
I WILLIAM EDWARD PRICE of Bushey View Hampton Wick, in the County of
Middlesex, Gas Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS METERS" to be as follows:-
::
This invention relates to further improvements in and on the gas meters the subject
matter of my invention described in Specification No. 15410 dated November 11th 1887,
by which said further improvements the mechanism is simplified and rendered more
certain in its action and the utility of the invention extended by the said mechanism
being rendered applicable to certain classes of meters not contemplated in the said
former Specification.
Instead of cutting off the supply of gas, when the quantity paid for has been
consumed, by means of a valve, I now, according to this invention, stop the further
supply by stopping the movement or revolution of the mechanism of the meter, and
this I prefer to do by causing a stop piece, catch or the like to be brought into the
path of some one of the moving parts, preferably that of the horizontal arm which is
mounted on and drives the vertical shaft carrying the endless screw which in dry
meters gives motion to the counting mechanism. Such stop piece or catch may
conveniently be placed on the horizontal spindle which carries the arm which is
operated by the coin, and I prefer to attach to such spindle a weighted arm instead of
the coiled spring described in my former Specification. By so adjusting the arrange-
ment and movement of the stop piece or catch before mentioned that it may at first
come only slightly into the path of the horizontal arm, and may retard without
stopping it as it passes, preferably for several revolutions before it actually stops it,
the gas lights may be made to, sink for a few seconds at each revolution of the
mechanism and thus give unmistakable notice of the approaching exhaustion of the
quantity of gas which has been paid for.
In wet meters the arrangement of the stop piece or catch must be modified so as to
come into contact with an arm fixed to the axle of the drum or to a part moving
therewith. Instead of a disc with a pin passing through a hole in it for controlling
the position of the levers an arm may be substituted so arranged as to revolve in the
same manner and perform substantially the same functions.
It will be obvious that that this arrangement admits of easy adaptation to meters
which are not intended to be operated by the insertion of coins, but which may
be set to supply a given quantity of gas which may have been paid for, say to a
Collector.
Dated the Fourth day of January 1889.
NEWNHAM BROWNE,
Agent for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Gas Meters.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD PRICE, of Bushey View, Hampton Wick, in the County of
Middlesex, Gas Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my said invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS METERS" 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 further improvements in and on the Gas Meters the
subject of my invention described in Specification No. 15410 dated November 11th 1887
by which said further improvements the mechanism is simplified and rendered more
TD 07

page_text: certain in its action and the utility of the invention extended by the said mechanism
being rendered applicable to certain classes of meters not contemplated in the said
former Specification.
Instead of cutting off the supply of Gas, when the quantity paid for has been
consumed, by means of a valve, I now, according to this invention, stop, the further
supply by stopping the movement or revolution of the mechanism of the meter, and
this I prefer to do by causing a stop-piece, catch, or the like, to be brought into the
path of some one of the moving parts, preferably that of the horizontal arm which is
mounted on and drives the vertical shaft carrying the tangent screw which in dry
meters gives motion to the counting mechanism, such stop-piece, or catch, may
conveniently he placed on the horizontal spindle which carries the arm which is
operated by the coin, and I prefer to attach to such spindle a weighted arm instead
of the coiled spring described in my said former specification. By so adjusting the
arrangement and movement of the stop-piece or catch before mentioned that it inay
at first come only partially into the path of the horizontal arm, and may retard
without stopping it as it passes, preferably for several revolutions before it actually
stops it, the gas lights may be made to sink for a few seconds at each revolution of
the mechanism, and thus give unmistakable notice of the approaching exhaustion of
the quantity of gas which has been paid for.
In wet meters the arrangement of the stop-piece, or catch, must be modified so as
to come into contact with an arm fixed to the axle of the drum or to a part moving
therewith.
It will be obvious that this arrangement admits of easy adaptation to meters
which are not intended to be operated by the insertion of coins, but which may be
set to supply a given quantity of gas which may have been paid for, say to a
collector.
In the drawings hereunto annexed and forming part of this my Specification:
Fig. 1, is a front elevation of the upper part of a dry meter constructed according
to my invention. Fig. 2, is a plan of the same, the top of the meter case being
removed to show the mechanism within. Fig. 3, is a sectional view of the same and
Fig. 4, is an enlarged sectional view showing the parts forming the essential features
of this invention. Fig. 4 is an elevation of the spindle and arms forming part
of the same and Fig. 4b is a plan of the disc or table and a section of the same
on the line a. y. Fig. 5; is a front elevation of a wet meter. Fig. 6, is a plan
view of the same, the top of the meter case being removed to show the mechanism.
Fig. 7, is a cross section showing the mechanism in elevation.
It will be seen that the general construction and arrangement is essentially the
same as that of the meters described in my Specification No. 15410 of 1887 and
illustrated in Figs. 1 to 14 thereof, with the exception of the valve for controlling
the passage of the gas and the parts having relation or reference thereto; that is
to say the slide D for the reception of the coin together with its accessories, the
rotating dise or table B, and the arm p and the pin p' are the same and have the same
action as described in my said former patent.
Referring now to the accompanying drawings Figs. 1 to 4; A, is a horizontal shaft
or spindle carrying the pointer e of the upper dial, the wheel d, and table B.
The counting wheels of the meter are connected to and driven by the ordinary
moving parts in the usual manner, and are connected with the wheel d either by the
arrangement shown in Figs. 11 and 12 of my said former patent or by any train of
wheels by which rate of rotation of the shaft A and consequently the table B is made
to correspond with the passage of one unit quantity of gas, say for example 300 feet
or such other quantity as corresponds with the coin the meter is made to receive.
1) is the slide for the insertion of the coin i the knob by which the same may be
drawn out is a slot in the slide for the reception of the coin. is a stud which
limits the distance to which the slide can be drawn out and thus limits the size of the
coin that can be inserted. Under the slide D is the drawer K into which the coins
drop when they are liberated from the slide 1 by the moving backwards of the arm m
presently described.
.

page_text: E is a shaft or spindle carrying the arms m, n, o, p; 9 by means of which the
motions of various parts are operated or controlled.
The arm carries a weight q².
When a coin of the proper size is inserted in the slot and the slide D pushed
home, the coin is carried against the tail-piece in, which it pushes backwards, and is
itself pressed downward by the obliquely cut ending of the slot shown by a dotted
line in Fig. 4, until it assumes the position shown in the figure, where it is retained
by the pressure of the tail-piece m holding it against the end of the slot / in the
partition, until it is released as hereafter described.
When the tail-piece m is thus pushed back by the coin, the arm
which moves with
it, is brought downwards so as to engage with the notch thereby preventing the
slide D being drawn out so long as the coin remains in the position indicated.
The arm carries at it's end a pin-like projection p'.
The disc B has a hole through it, into which the pin p' drops when the gas which
has been paid for is consumed.
The surface of the disc towards one side of the hole may be inclined so that the
pin p' as the hole approaches it may at first sink gradually, thus bringing the arm or
stop-piece at first partially, and afterwards when the pin passes through the hole
completely, into the path of the moving part it is intended to stop.
S, is an arm which is mounted on and revolves with the vertical spindle carrying
the tangent screw and which is connected with and driven by the bellows of the
meter by the arms s¹ and links in the manner usual in dry meters.
When gas is being consumed the disc B in the course of it's rotation brings the
hole in front of the pin p; when this happens the latter, being pressed forward by
the action of the weight q', passes through the hole b allowing the arm p to advance
by the length of the pin, carrying with it the stop or arm o which thereby comes in
the path of the arm S and prevents it's further onward motion and stops the meter and
therewith the flow of gas.
As previously stated, the part of the disc which passes under the pin, immediately
in advance of the hole 6, is inade to incline towards the hole, so that as this part of
the disc passes, the pin is allowed to advance slowly for a distance equal to about two
thirds of the thickness of the disc, thereby advancing the stop o to a corresponding
extent This advance of the stop o is just sufficient to allow the arm S to come in
contact with it's surface of which is presented somewhat obliquely in reference to the
direction of motion of the arm S as shown in Fig. 2, so that the end of the arm S
rubs against the said surface o' of the stop o, and pushes it back far enough to enable
the arm S to pass, but in doing this the motion of the arm S is retarded so much that
the flow of gas is lessened and the flames at the burners sink, slightly on the first
occasion, but to an increasing extent with each succeeding revolution of the arm,
until the pin drops into the hole and the stop o passes so far forward that the arm S
on its next revolution strikes the side of the stop o fully, and is stopped.
On an appropriate coin being inserted in the slot in the slide D and the slide
pushed home the arms m and n are operated as before described, the pin p drawn
back out of the hole band the stop o removed out of the path of the arm S, the latter
being thereby allowed to pass, and gas is thus allowed to How through the meter.
The meter thus started, the passage of the gas as it is consumed causes the
rotation of the disc B, on the surface of which is a projection or came one part of
which rises at a gentle incline from the surface of the disc and the other end of
which may terminate abruptly so that as the revolution of the disc proceeds the
incline surface of the cam soon comes in contact with the pin pl and pushes back
the same further than it was carried by the action of the coin, thereby removing the
arm m from contact with the coin 2 and allowing the latter to fall through into the
drawer K beneath. As the dise continues to revolve the cam passes from under
the pin, and the pin advances so as to be in contact with the surface of the disc,
the other arms moving similarly, the arm n is raised out of the notch, leaving the
slide free to be drawn out and the arm m in position to be operated by the next
inserted coin.

page_text: If now another coin is inserted, the arm p is thereby moved back just far enough
to lift the pin off the surface of the disc, so that when the hole & passes in front of it
the pin remains held back by the coin, but when the hole has passed-by and the cam c
passes in front of the pin, it again pushes it back and releases the coin.
Turning now to Figs. 5, 6 and 7 which show the application of my invention to a
wet meter it will be seen that the stopping of the meter is effected by the stop o
passing into the path of an arm & projecting from and at right angles to the ordinary
spindle V which is driven by worm-gearing from the drum of the meter and as is
usual in wet meters gives motion to the counting mechanism. The stop o passes into
the path of the arme and stops revolution of the drum, and thereby the flow of gas,
in exactly the same manner as was described in respect of the corresponding parts in
a dry meter.
Sometimes I may use bevel gearing instead of worm-gearing between the drum and
the shaft V, in which case a necessary reduction of speed may be obtained at the upper
end of the shaft V, or in the counting mechanism.
Having now fully described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed I claim
(1) In gas meters for supplying a definite quantity of gas in exchange for a coin
the construction and use of the mechanism for cutting off the supply substantially as
set forth.
(2) In a gas meter for the automatic supply of gas in exchange for coins the
method of stopping the supply of gas when that which has been paid for is consumed
by bringing a stop into the path of one of the moving parts of the meter substantially
as described.
(3) In gas meters for the automatic supply of gas in exchange for coins the
combination with the disc B having a hole band projection or
came and the
levers m, n, p, of the parts o, g, and the weight q' arranged and operating substantially
as described.
(4) In meters for the automatic supply of gas in exchange for coin the com-
bination with the spindle E and arms m. n and p of the stop o substantially as
described.
(5) In dry meters for the automatic supply of gas in exchange for coin the
arrangement and use of the stop o acting upon the arm S substantially as and for the
purpose described.
(6) In wet meters for the automatic supply of gas in exchange for coins
the arrangement and use of an arm attached to the spindle V with a stop-piece
substantially as and for the purpose described.
(7) The arrangement for bringing the stop o gradually to the cutting off position
whereby fluctuations in the light of the burners are caused as described.
Dated the 4th day of October 1889