IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING AND REGISTERING THE FLOW OF WATER AND OTHER LIQUIDS, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS APPLICABLE TO MEASURING AND REGISTERING THE FLOW OF GASES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jan Anthony Muller, of Amsterdam, in the
Kingdom of Holland, at present of 123, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR MEASURING AND REGISTERING THE FLOW OF WATER AND
OTHER LIQUIDS, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS APPLICABLE TO MEASURING
AND REGISTERING THE FLOW OF GASES,"
Sealed the 4th March 1870, and dated the 8th September 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jan Anthony Muller
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 8th September 1869.
I, JAN ANTHONY MULLER, of Amsterdam, in the Kingdom of Holland,
at present of 125, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR MEASURING AND REGISTERING THE FLOW CF WATER AND OTHER LIQUIDS, PART
OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS APPLICABLE TO MEASURING AND REGISTERING THE FLOW
OF GASES," to be as follows:-
"
My improved apparatus for measuring and registering the flow of
water and other liquids consists of a main pipe, the bore of which is

page_text: conical. To this main pipe I fix another vertical pipe in which is a
valve opening downwards. In the part of the main pipe where
the greatest contraction exists is an opening communicating with a
hollow air-tight chamber fixed on the said vertical pipe. In this hollow
chamber is a vertical tube turning freely on pivots and mounted with
two small horizontal branches, each of which branches having an
aperture in opposite directions to each other; this combination forms
a sort of turbine, which is in connection with the air by means of the
upper end of the vertical tube; any suitable means can be employed for
shutting off the air from the hollow chamber. The flow of the water or
other liquid through the main pipe draws the air from the hollow
chamber, the air to this chamber being supplied or replaced by means
of the vertical tube. The reaction of the air flowing out of the hori-
zantal branches causes the vertical tube and its branches to revolve, and
this revolving motion is communicated by means of a pinion mounted
on the vertical tube to a wheel or set of wheels, and thus the quantity of
air passed is measured and indicated, and this quantity of air being in
proportion to the quantity of water or other liquid passed the said water
is also measured and indicated at the same time. In the indicator I
employ the hand is formed of two parts, one sliding on the other, and
on the under side of the sliding part is a projection turning freely on its
axis, and in a spiral groove made in the dial plate so that on each revo-
lution of the hand the projection catches in the groove and causes the
sliding part of the hand to move outwards and indicate or mark the
different numbers placed between the spiral grooves. By this indicator
multiples of one revolution can be indicated with one set of pinions and
wheels on one dial.
The arrangement of hollow chamber with its tube and branches,
pinion wheel, and dial can be employed for measuring and indicating the
flow of gases.

page_text: present of 123, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Jan Anthony Muller, Her special
licence that I, the said Jan Anthony Muller, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Jan Anthony Muller,
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 "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING AND REGISTERING THE FLOW OF
WATER AND OTHER LIQUIDS, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS APPLICABLE TO
MEASURING AND REGISTERING THE FLOW OF GASES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Jan Anthony Muller, my executors or ad-
ministrators, 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 1, the said Jan Anthony Muller, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, and accompanying Sheet of Drawings (that is
to say):-
My improved apparatus for measuring and registering the flow of
liquids and gases consists of a pipe a, having two inverted hollow
cones b, c, meeting at an apex a¹, from which a small opening d passes
to a valve chamber e, wherein is an india-rubber valve f acting as
hereafter explained. Above the valve chamber e is a hollow air-tight
chamber g,
wherein is a tube h perforated at either end, the perforations
pointing in opposite directions to each other after the manner of a
turbine. An opening for the passage of air into the turbine his
provided at the top of a vertical pipe j affixed to the horizontal tube.h,

page_text: the said vertical pipe being free to revolve on pivots through an opening
in the cover of the air-tight chamber g.
The action of the apparatus (which is shewn in the Drawing in a
quiescent state) is as follows:-When water or other liquid passes rapidly
through the conical pipe a, a vacuum is formed in the valve chamber e,
by reason of the contracted form of the said pipe (or a solid inverted
cone or any other similar device for contracting the pipe a and causing
the vacuum as above explained may be used, and a seive may be
placed over the entrance end of the pipe a, to prevent dirt or other
injurious substances from clogging the contracted part thereof). On a
vacuum being formed as above stated the india-rubber valve f is forced
down by the entrance of air through the openings a², from the air
chamber g, and the only communication with the atmosphere being
through the turbine h from the passage i, the air escapes from the per-
forations, causing pressure to be exerted against the opposite face of the
turbine h, and thereby imparting a rotary motion to the said turbine, the
revolutions being communicated through the pinion 7, (or worm wheel
with suitably formed teeth,) to the gear wheel m, and thence to a
second gear wheel n fixed on a spindle o carrying a finger p, which is
caused to revolve over a dial plate 2 having a spiral groove cut therein
in the form shewn in Fig. 2, or any greater number of spiral grooves
may be used if desired. Sliding on the said finger p is a block r having
a loose slide engaging in the said grooves, which is pulled back to the
centre of the dial plate 2 along the straight groove 1 by means of a
springs of any suitable form (either spiral or volute, or a plane curved
spring). In its rotary passage the said block comes in contact with the
spokes of a pinion t in gear with a wheel u beneath the dial q having
inside teeth as shewn in Fig. 1. This said wheel carries an index plate v
and an opening w in the dial plate enables the number of revolutions
made by the finger p and the wheel u to be observed, and as one revo-
lution of the said finger p is known to be equivalent to a certain measure
of water or other liquid, thus the exact amount of such liquid passing
through the pipe a can be ascertained; or the figures on the dial
plate may be marked on the glass z if desired. Attached to the
valve are two or more pins × which when pressure is formed in the
pipe a by the stoppage of the current of water are forced up against
the base of the turbine h, as shewn in Fig. 1, thereby automatically and
instantaneously stopping its further revolutions so that no more than the
exact amount of liquid passed will be registered on the dial plate q; or the

page_text: india-rubber valve f may be placed beneath the plate el, if desired, to
effect the same result. The whole apparatus is covered in with a brass
or other box y, a glass plate z being fixed therein for observing the state
of the meter and suitable apertures supplied for the admission of air.
prefer however the form of aperture shewn in Fig. 1, where c¹, c², are
pieces of metal or other material overlapping each other, the space
between them being filled with cotton, wool, or other filtering material
to prevent dust from entering to the working mechanism, and to guard
against the said aperture being tampered with by dishonest persons
to cause the ineter to register a less quantity of water than that
actually used. I place a very thin glass plate d' or other suitable material
in any convenient part of the case y so that on a partial vacuum being
formed within the case by the exclusion of air, the pressure of the air
on the outside being greater than the pressure within will break the
said glass or other material, and thus shew that the apparatus has been
unfairly used with a view to fraud.
In order to measure gas or other vapour the pipe a is not required,
but the gas is admitted to the turbine h by any suitable aperture in the
casing and escapes through the opening d to the supply pipe, the revo-
lutions of the said turbine caused by the pressure of the gas, and
therefore the amount of gas passed being registered as before, but in
this case a spring is required under the valve f to keep it up when the
pressure is equal on both sides.
This apparatus may also be used for measuring the velocity of streams
by causing the stream to flow through the pipe a, all other operations
of the apparatus being the same as in the meter described for measuring
liquids, except that the wheel u and pinion t may be dispensed with, a
catch being applied to any convenient part of the revolving mechanism
or not when
so that the water may be allowed to act thereon
desired.
This apparatus may be used as a ship's log by placing the con-
tracted pipe in the water, and conveying a tube therefrom to any
convenient part of the vessel where the indicating gear is placed so that
the speed of the vessel and the distance it has travelled in a certain space
of time may be accurately ascertained.
Having thus fully described my Invention, I claim,-
First. Measuring and registering water and other liquids by means of
the current of air induced by a contracted jet of such liquid and

page_text: apparatus employed therefor as herein described and illustrated in the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
Second. Measuring and registering gases by means of the apparatus
herein described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jan Anthony Muller, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
J. A. MULLER. (L.B.)