IM- PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING WATER, GAS, AND OTHER. FLUIDS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, E.C., Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING WATER, GAS, AND OTHER. FLUIDS."
_A communication from E. A. Chamerov, iun.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald
Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis
Petition, on the 29th January 1858.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, E.C. Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS POR MEASURING WATER, GAS, AND OTHER
FLUIDS," (a communication from E. A. Chameroy, jun, a foreigner residing
abroad) to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the employment of a pendulum in or in con-
nection with apparatus for measuring water, gas, and other fluids, in such
manner that the vibrations of the pendulum shall be regulated in extent by
the rising and falling of a float, and shall be indicated upon suitable dials, the
hands of which are moved by clockwork under the control of the pendulum.
A convenient method of carrying. the Invention into effect for measuring
flowing water, for example, consists in employing, for the float to rest upon, a
denser fluid than water; such as mercury, within a casing containing com-
partments, and connecting the spindle of the float to, a lever, attached to a

page_text: shaft, to which is also attached a second lever carrying a connecting rod;
this rod leads to a cross-head, by means of which the height of the pendulum,
and therefore the length of its arc of vibration, are regulated. The time of
vibration, and therefore the motions of the hands upon the dials, are thus
caused to vary with the level of the mercury, which again depends upon the
pressure and amount of the water flowing through the apparatus. This
amount of water is consequently readily deducible from the positions of the
hands upon the dials.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 29th July 1858.
TO. ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, E.C.,
Patent Agent,, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence that I, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, ad-
ministrators, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING WATER, GAS,
AND OTHER FLUIDS," (a communication from E. A. Chameroy, jun", a foreigner
residing abroad,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard
"Archibald Brooman, my executors or administrators, 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 I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same

page_text: 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:-
This Invention consists in the employment of a pendulum in or in
connection with apparatus for measuring water, gas, and other fluids, in such
manner that the vibrations of the pendulum shall be regulated in extent by
the rising and falling of a float, and shall be indicated upon suitable dials,
the hands of which are moved by clockwork under the control of the
pendulum.
A convenient method of carrying the Invention into effect for measuring
flowing water, for example, consists in employing, for the float to rest upon, a
denser fluid than water, such as mercury, within a casing containing.compart-
mats and connecting the spindle of the float to a lever attached to a shaft, to
which is also attached a second lever carrying a connecting rod.. This rod
leads to a cross-head, by means of which the height of the pendulum, and
therefore the length of its arc of vibration, are regulated. The time of
vibration, and therefore the motions of the hands upon the dials, are thus
caused to vary with the level of the mercury, which again depends upon the
pressure and amount of the water flowing through the apparatus. This
amount of water is consequently readily deducible from the positions of the
hands upon the dials.
Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed shews in front elevation, and
Figure 2 in longitudinal section, an apparatus constructed according to this
Invention:
A is a vessel or case, to the upper plate B of which the pipe D for the
admission of fluid is connected by means of bolts; the upper end of the
vertical branch of the pipe D is kept closed by a screwed stopper O. Mercury
is admitted through the tube F until it comes on a level with the exit orifice P.
The pendulum T on the frame Q is then set in motion and maintained at a
regular speed by means of a watch spring in the interior of the barrel Y.
tap is turned and water or other fluid is admitted by the pipe D, filling the
whole of the apparatus. If then a tap or cock fitted to the exit passage E
be turned, the fluid as it escapes will produce the effects hereafter described.
A
In order that the fluid shall pass from the inlet pipe D to the outlet E,
since the sides of the central compartment C enter the mercury K, it will be
necessary to depress the mercury so as to allow the water to pass by at G, and
then rise and surround the central compartment C. The fluid being submitted
to a slight pressure causes the mass of mercury to descend evenly until it
leaves a passage at G large enough to allow the water to pass into the case A,

page_text: and out by the pipe E. The momentary descent of the mercury in the
interior of the reservoir C causes the float H to descend with it, which in its
course draws down the rod J, which is kept in the centre of the apparatus by
means of the perforated disc I. This depression of the rod J. alters the
position of the spindle, or cross-piece R, by the intervention of the arms or
levers L and M, and the rod N on, which the spindle R is mounted. Thus
the pendulum T is caused to vary in the speed at which it oscillates, for the.
spindle R being lowered the same distance as the float H, the centre of
oscillation of the pendulum becomes changed in the same proportion. But as
the float H only varies at the time fluid is admitted, the pendulum T,
regulated by the fork U, will only change its oscillations at the time fluid is
withdrawn. V is an escapement mounted on the axis of the fork U. The
relation existing between the outflow of the fluid and the movements of the.
pendulum will at once be seen, and from this the volume of fluid delivered
may readily be calculated. Z, Z. Z", Z, are the dial plates on which
the amount of fluid which passes: through the apparatus is registered, being
regulated by the number of oscillations made by the pendulum.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,―
First, the employment of a pendulum in or in connection with an apparatus
for measuring water, gas, or other fluid, the vibrations of which pendulum are
'regulated by the rising and falling of a float, as herein-before described and
illustrated in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
Second, the employment of mercury or a fluid denser than water, on which
the float rests, and with which it rises and falls, in the manner and for the
purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.