IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS METERS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS METERS."— A communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton.
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th July 1858.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS METERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention of improvements in gas meters consists in so constructing a
measuring drum which operates with an oscillating movement, that the water
or other liquid which seals the measuring chambers and also the valve by
which the direction of the gas is changed from one chamber to the other are
contained within the drum itself.
The Invention further consists in providing such drum with a weighted
lever properly applied to operate the valves by the oscillation of the drum.
The drum is composed of two cylinders placed one within the other. The
space between them is supplied with water until the level of the water touches
the bottom of the inner cylinder. The space above forms the gas space, and
is divided into two compartments by a small chamber which contains the
valves, and as the drum oscillates on its centre, gas is alternately filling one"
compartment and leaving the other. The valves are worked by means of a'
pendulum or weighted lever, which is suspended therefrom outside the drum.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 25th January 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of July, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said
William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said William
Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
J, the said William Edward Newton, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS METERS," being a communication, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Edward Newton, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 William Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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 Drawing (that is to say):-
This Invention of improvements in gas meters consists in so construct-
ing a measuring drum which operates with an oscillating movement, that
the water or other liquid which seals the measuring chambers and also the
valve by which the direction of the gas is changed from one chamber to the
other are contained within the drum itself.
The Invention further consists in providing such drum with a weighted
lever properly applied to operate the valves by the oscillation of the drum.
The drum is composed of two cylinders placed one within the other. The
space between them is supplied with water until the level of the water touches
the bottom of the inner cylinder. The space above forms the gas space, and

page_text: is divided into two compartments by a small chamber which contains the
valves, and as the drum oscillates on its centre, gas is alternately filling one
compartment and leaving the other. The valves are worked by means of a
pendulum or weighted lever, which is suspended therefrom outside the drum.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 is a vertical section of a meter con-
structed according to the present improvements, the plane of section passing
directly through the axis of the oscillating drum; Fig. 2 is a vertical section
of the oscillating drum in a plane perpendicular to its axis; Fig. 3 is a
horizontal section of the valve and its passages; Fig. 4 is a view of the
interior of the meter from the back end; Fig. 5 is a front view of the meter.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several Figures.
A is the outside case of the meter containing all the working parts; the
oscillating drum is seen at B, C, and is secured to a shaft S, which is mounted
horizontally between two centre screws P, Q. This drum consists of an outer
cylinder B and an inner cylinder C, both concentric with the shaft S, and
having their ends closed, except as herein-after specified, and having two
partitions a', a', shown in Fig. 2, provided in the space between them to form
a valve chamber D, separate from the other portion of the space, as shewn in
Figs. 1 and 2. This other portion of the space between the two cylinders is
intended always to be filled with water or other liquid, indicated by W in
Fig. 2, to a little higher than the bottom of the inner cylinder; and by this
water the space is divided into two chambers, B1 and B2, Fig. 2, which com-
municate with the valve chamber D by separate ports H³, H2, (Figs. 2
and 3,) which terminate in a vertical valve seat at the back of the valve
chamber, and having arranged between them a third port I, which is capable
of being made to communicate with either of them by sliding the valve G, and
which communicates with the space between the oscillating drum and the
outer casing A. The valve G, represented in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, is of a kind
commonly used in fluid meters, and is known as the short D-valve. Y (Figs.
1 and 5) is the inlet to the meter, communicating with a stationary box E
within the casing. From this box a communication, which is always open, is.
established to the inner cylinder C of the drum by means of an opening F
(Fig. 1) around the shaft S. This opening is made with a conical mouth,
which fits into an opening in the back of the box E. is a leather packing
ring, which makes a tight joint round the exterior of the conical mouth of the
opening F; F is an opening from the cylinder C to the valve chamber D ;
T is an opening in the lower part of the drum to permit the introduction of
the liquid W. This opening is fitted with a screw cap, which is always
secured after the liquid is put in. is the outlet from the meter.

page_text: The
I' is a rod attached to the valve G, and passing right through it, having its
lower extremity attached rigidly to a horizontal rock shaft O, which works in
bearings on the bottom of the valve chamber D, and supports the valve.
upper portion of the valve rod I, which projects up through the port I into
the space between the oscillating drum and casing A, is received within a
fork K at the top of a lever L, which works outside the drum on a fulcrum y,
secured in the back of the drum, and has a weight M secured to its lower end.
This lever L serves to operate the valve G, and it has attached to it a spring 1,
which in the operation of the meter engages alternately into each of two
notches formed in the plates w³, w2, (see Figs. 1 and 4,) attached to the
back of the drum. A spring S¹ is attached to the rock shaft O for holding the
valve G to its seat. In Figs. 1 & 4, t, t, are projections on opposite sides
of the interior of the case A, to cause the disengagement of the spring 1 from
the notches of the plates w¹.and w³, as the drum in its oscillation arrives at a
certain position; 2 is a spring secured to the drum, and operating, in com-
bination with the projections t, t, to check the movement of the drum as it
approaches the end of the oscillating movement in either direction.
U (Figs. 1 and 5) is a box or recess in the upper part of the front of the
casing, to contain the mechanism by which the oscillations of the drum are
counted, and the quantity of gas passing through the meter is registered.
a is a cam on the shaft S to operate the registering apparatus. This cam
working in a yoke b, attached to the lower part of an upright rock shaft c,
which passes up from the inlet box E into the box U, and carries near its
upper end an arm d, connected by a rod g with a lever i, to which is attached
a spring pawl e that engages with a ratchet wheel f, by whose rotary motion
the system of wheelwork and indices constituting the registering apparatus is
set in motion. This apparatus may be of the usual construction.
In the operation of the meter the gas admitted at the inlet Y passes, as
indicated by arrows in Fig. 1, through the box E and through the mouth F
into the inner cylinder C of the drum, and thence through the opening F¹ into
the valve chamber D, and thence through one of the ports H1, H2, (say, for
example, the port H¹) thence into the measuring chamber B', the spring
catch of the lever L being at this time fast in the plate w¹ opposite the
port H2, which is covered by the valve. The gas, as it fills the chamber B
which is sealed by the liquid W, causes the drum to oscillate in the direction
of the red arrow, shown in Fig. 2, as the chamber fills. The oscillation in the
above-mentioned direction continues till the spring 1 is disengaged from the
plate w¹ by coming in contact with one of the projections t, t, when by means
of the weight M the lever L is caused to fall, and the spring to catch in the

page_text: other plate w, and by that motion the fork K will be caused to shift the
valve, and open the port H, through which the gas will then enter to
the measuring chamber B, and by its pressure in filling this chamber it will
cause the drum to oscillate in the opposite direction to that indicated by the
arrow, until the spring 7 is disengaged from the plate w², by the other projection
t, when the weight M. and lever L again fall and change the position of the
valve to that first specified. As the gas enters either port H or H, and fills
either measuring chamber B¹ or B2, and causes the oscillation of the drum,
that which has previously entered the other chamber is discharged through the
other port, and through I into the outer case A, whence it passes to the
burners by the outlet Z. The change of position of the valve to cut off the gas
from one and admit it to the other chamber is made instantaneously.
As the drum oscillates in one direction, the cam a on the front part of the
shaft S, working in the yoke b, operates on the rock shaft c, which moves
the arm d, rod g, lever i, pawl e, and ratchet wheel f, and thus gives motion
to the registering or recording mechanism.
Having now described this Invention of improvements in gas meters,
and having explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, as con-
municated to me by my foreign correspondent, I claim the construction of the
oscillating drum in such a manner as to contain within it the liquid by which
the measuring chambers are sealed, and also the valve by which the direction
of the gas is changed from one of the said chambers to the other, and with
a weighted lever attached to operate the said valve by the oscillation of the
drum, substantially as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON.
(L.S.)