Year: 1886

page_text: . Date of Application, 20th Mar., 1886,
Complete Left, 18th Dec., 1886.
Complete Accepted, 18th Jan., 1887
We, HENRY CONRAD AHRBECKER, of 117 Stamford Street in the County of Surrey,
Engineer, and NATHANIEL GREW, of Clarence House, Belmont Park in the County of
Kent, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention relates to a simple construction of water meter of the kind in which
a piston reciprocating in a cylinder of known capacity works the gearing of a counter
which by registering the number of strokes indicates the quantity of water passing
through the apparatus. According to this invention the cylinder has ports governed
by a D slide which works within a slide case supplied from the main or service pipe.
Within the same case is the slide of a small subsidiary cylinder which has its piston
connected to the slide of the main cylinder. The slide of the subsidiary cylinder is
connected to the short arm of a lever, the long arm of which is acted on by tappets on
As the main
the main piston rod, so that the meter works in the following manner.
piston approaches the end of its stroke, its tappet acting on the lever moves the slide
of the subsidiary cylinder. The piston of this cylinder thereupon makes its stroke
moving the slide of the main cylinder and thereby reversing the supply and discharge
of that cylinder. The main piston now makes its return stroke, and in a similar
manner the slide is shifted back to its original position, and the cycle of strokes is
repeated.
ABEL & IMRAY,
28, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.

page_text: We, HENRY CONRAD AHRBECKER, of 117 Stamford Street in the County of Surrey,
Engineer, and NATHANIEL GREW, of Clarence House, Belmont Park in the County of
Kent, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention 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 a simple construction of water meter of the kind in which
a piston reciprocating in a cylinder of known capacity works the gearing of a counter
which by registering the number of strokes indicates the quantity of water passing
through the apparatus.
According to this invention the cylinder has ports governed by a D slide which
works within a slide case supplied from the main or service pipe. Within the same
case is the slide of a small subsidiary cylinder which has its piston connected to the
slide of the main cylinder. The slide of the subsidiary cylinder is connected to the
short arm of a lever, the long arm of which is acted on by tappets on the main piston
rod, so that the meter works in the following manner. As the main piston approaches
the end of its stroke, its tappet acting on the lever moves the slide of the subsidiary
cylinder. The piston of this cylinder thereupon makes its stroke moving the slide of
the main cylinder and thereby reversing the supply and discharge of that cylinder.
The main piston now makes its return stroke, and in a similar manner the slide is
shifted back to its original position and the cycle of strokes is repeated.
The accompanying drawings represents a meter according to this invention.
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section, Fig. 2 is a transverse section on the line X X of
Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a sectional plan on the line YY. A cylinder A fitted with a
packed piston B has ports a a¹ to each end of it and an outlet port C, governed by a
slide valve D, which, as in a steam engine, alternates by its movement the supply and
discharge for each end of the cylinder A. The slide D is directly connected to a piston E
in a small subsidiary cylinder F, which, in like manner has ports governed by a
slide valve G. The cylinder F and its slide valve G as well as the main slide valve D
are situated within the slide case H to which the liquid is supplied by the pipe h.
Within one compartment K of a dome above the cylinder A (which dome is divided:
into two compartments K and K' by a partition k) a lever L'is mounted on a pivot /
that can be shifted in slotted holes of the lever Land of the standard which carries
it. To the one end of the lever L is linked the slide valve G, the other end of L is
jointed to a vertically guided slide bar M in a slot of which moves a pin m projecting
laterally from the rod 6 of the piston B. The slot in M being of less length than the
full stroke of the piston B, as that piston approaches each end of its stroke, its pin m
moves the slide bar M and this movement, transmitted through the lever L, shifts the
slide valve G. The auxiliary piston E thereupon moves shifting the main slide valve D,
and the pressure on the piston B being thus reversed, that piston is made to move
through its return stroke. An arm N projecting laterally from M moves a pawl lever

page_text: arranged in any convenient manner to act on a ratchet wheel geared to counter
mechanism which is enclosed in the upper part O of the 'dome, but as this is no part of
this invention, but an ordinary and well known arrangement whereby the reciprocation
of some moving part of an engine or meter is made to register by indices on dials or
otherwise the number of strokes, we do not shew it in the drawings nor found any
claim upon it. The compartment K of the dome communicates by a passage c with
the discharge passage C, and the compartment K' communicates by a passage h¹ with
the interior of the slide case H. Each compartment of the dome acts as an air vessel
to relieve shock, K acting thus on the discharge and K¹ on the supply. By shifting
the pin / along the slots of L and the stroke of the subsidiary slide G can be increased
or diminished, the effect of which is to shorten or lengthen the stroke of the main
piston B. Thus, for instance, if the stroke of G be increased by shifting the pin / back
towards the left, then as the piston B is approaching the end of its stroke its pin m
having reached the end of the slot in M, sooner shifts the slide valve G, and the
piston E is the sooner acted on to shift the main slide valve D, causing reversal of the
movement of the main piston B at a greater distance from the end of the cylinder A.
And, conversely, if the stroke of G be lessened the piston B has to go nearer to the end
of the cylinder A before its movement undergoes reversal. Thus, by shifting the pin l,
the stroke or displacement of the piston B can be varied, and in this manner the
quantity of liquid delivered at each stroke can be accurately adjusted to suit the
mechanism of the counter in O and the graduation of the dials employed to indicate the
delivery.
.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we claim is:-
The construction of water meter wherein a piston is caused to reciprocate in a
cylinder by the water pressure, the reciprocation being controlled by a slide valve
worked by the piston of a subsidiary cylinder, the slide valve of which is shifted by a
lever moved by the main piston as it approaches each end of its stroke, substantially
as and for the purposes herein set forth.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicants.