Year: 1885

page_text: I, HERBERT JOHN HADDAN, of 67 Strand in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, a communication to me
from abroad by Frederick W. Tuerk, Junior, Manufacturer, of Chicago, United
States, and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
It it is my object to provide a meter of simple construction which shall operate
accurately to measure the quantity of water or other liquid passed through it at
any perceptible degree of pressure, and in which the parts may be readily removed
for repair and replaced with the loss of but little time, by unskilled or inexperienced
It is
hands, thus avoiding the necessity of removing the device from its position.
further my object to make the movable parts self packing by causing them to fit
tightly, without producing material loss of power and avoiding a pinching or
cramping motion; and it is still further my object to cause the registering
mechanism to be acted upon by the meter directly and positively to insure
accurate registration of the quantity of liquid passed through the meter.
To these ends the invention consists in providing a suitable shell having an inlet
and an outlet and containing a piston arranged to be rotated by the pressure of the
water introduced, and suitable registering mechanism connected in a peculiar
manner with the piston to indicate the quantity of water passed through the
device,
The invention further consists in providing hinged partitious to engage with the
piston, and, with the piston, divide the shell of the device into adjustable compart-
ments; and the invention still further consists in certain details of construction
and combinations of parts, all as hereinafter particularly set forth.
Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is an end elevation of the improved meter,
having the end-plate removed to display the construction of the internal parts;

page_text: Figure 2, a vertical cross-section of the device, showing the piston in a different
position from that shown in Figure 1 and representing the registering mechanism
in elevation; Figure 3, a longitudinal section taken on the line 3–3 of Figure 1
and viewed in the direction of the arrow-heads; Figure 4, a similar view to that
shown in Figure 3 with the piston, hinged partitions and registering mechanisin
removed to show the internal construction of the shell, and representing a worm on
the journal upon a broken piece of the piston by means of which worm the registering
mechanism is actuated to indicate the number of revolutions of the piston;
Figure 5, an end elevation, showing the side opposite to that represented in
Figure 1, and showing, in section, the connection between the piston and registering
mechanism; Figure 6, a similar view to that shown in Figure 2, but representing
the piston in a different position; Figure 7, a perspective view of the piston ;
Figure 8, a perspective view of a hinged swinging partition; and Figure 9, a
sectional view on the line 9-9 of Figure 1, showing a recess, or pocket, to receive
sand and other sediment contained in the water, and means for opening and closing
the pocket.
A is the shell of the device having a partly circular interior and supported upon
suitable legs t. B is the water-inlet formed on the upper side of the shell and
culminating within the latter beyond a point above its centre; and B' is the water-
outlet, extending from one of the inner sides of the shell, diagonally opposite the
inner opening of the inlet B, out beyond the opposite side. C is a rotary hollow
piston, closed at each end and provided with journals 8 and 81, and resembling in
form a cylinder, having wedge-shaped lateral projections or flanges, r and r¹, on
opposite sides of the cylindrical portion of the piston. The lateral diameter of the
piston C is such as to cause the outer surfaces of the wedge-shaped flanges r and 71
to extend against opposite sides of the internal circular portion of the shell A.
The flange is provided with transverse rectangular recesses, q¹, which extend from
its extreme edge for a short distance into the surface of the circular portion of the
shell, and directly opposite each recess, ql, and in line with it upon the flanger, a
shorter recess, p, is formed, extending backward upon the surface of the flange (see
Fig. 7). The opposite side of the flange r¹ is provided with recesses similar in form
and appearance to the recesses p on the flange r, but made to occupy a position
opposite the spaces between the recesses q¹; and the opposite side of the flange ris
provided with recesses similar in form and appearance to the recesses q¹ in the
Hanger, but in line with the shorter recesses formed upon the opposite side of the
flange r¹.
The purpose of this particular arrangement is hereinafter described. D and
D' are binged partitions comprising each the part o, curved in form, as shown, and
the part o, similar to the knuckle of a hinge, but solid, and fitting into a longitu-
dinal recess formed to receive it in the enlarged portion of the shell A.
The free edges of the partitions are maintained in contact with the surface of
the piston C by the employment of a suitable spring, n for each, or by weighting
the parts o, as shown, or, if desired, by both incans. If in the revolution of
the piston C, the recesses q' on both sides thereof were formed in line with each
other and the recesses p similarly formed, the frictional wear upon the edges of the
leaves o would be uneven. This is obviated by the arrangement of the recesses q¹
and herein before set forth.
The operation of the parts of the device thus far described is as follows:
Suppose, for the sake of illustration, that the piston C, in starting the device by
connecting the inlet B with a hydrant or other water-supply, occupies the position
shown in Figure 1 of the drawings, when the piston will have divided the interior
of the shell A into chambers E and F, the latter of which is subdivided by the
partitions D and D into chambers x, x¹ and x², all of which chambers are closed
except the chamber x, from which latter the water-outlet B₁ leads. Water intro-
duced into the chamber will pack the partition D tightly against the surface of
the piston, which will be rotated by the pressure of the stream against the flange r

page_text: (the convex side of the partition D acting at the same time in the manner of a
cylinder-bead in connection with a reciprocating piston head) until it shall have
reached nearly the position shown in Figure 6 (where the chamber will have
coalesced with the chamber E) when the rear edges of the recesses q' will
have become exposed to the chamber a, permitting water from this chamber to
enter through them into the chamber ¹, filling the latter.
The pressure of water within the chamber E (Fig. 6) against the flanger will
continue to rotate the piston C, since the pressure within the chamber x¹ will have
become equal to that in the chamber x, and will thus be counterbalanced on both
sides of the flange . In the relative positions of the parts just described, the
convex surface of the partition D' will, like that of the partition D in the position
herein before described, act like a cylinder head in connection with a reciprocating
piston-head, while the partition D will have become an idler, raised by following
the surface of the piston C. By the time the flange of the piston shall have
reached beyond the point y, the water in the chamber E will discharge through
the outlet B, and the flange 1 will have cleared the partition D, again forming the
compartment' into a closed chamber, in which the water it contains is stationary
between the partitions D and D', which then adjust themselves around the circular
portion of the piston, as shown in Fig. 1, the former of which again acts like a
cylinder-head in connection with a reciprocating piston, and whereby the force
of the water is exerted against the flange to continue the revolution of the
piston.
When the piston shall have reached the position shown in Fig. 2, the rear
extremities of the recesses q¹ in the flange ri will have become exposed to the
chamber x, permitting a portion of the water contained therein, equal to the
decrease of the area of the chamber ¹ produced by the rise of the partition D¹ in
following the surface of the piston projection ¹, to discharge over the edge of the
latter into the chamber 2, the shell A being recessed, as shown at z, to permit
the passage of water between it and the piston. The discharge over the edge of
the flange is checked by the contact of its edge with the partition D¹, at which
point the decreasing of the area of the chamber ¹ will have ceased and its increase
will take place by the falling of the partition D¹ upon the bulging portion of the
cylinder, during which full of the partition D' the amount of water which will
have escaped from the chamber a¹ into the chamber x will return from the latter
through the recesses 2 into the chamber ¹, owing to the increase of the area of the
latter to its former dimensions. Continued rotation of the piston will expose the
rear edges of the recesses q' in the flange ¹ to the chamber x, when the operations
above described will be continued as long as water is withdrawn through the
meter, which is thenceforward continually filled.
It will be seen that the piston and partitions are
shell A, and that the wear which takes place evenly
swinging partitions will cause them to act lower down
changing the measuring capacity.
self-packing within the
upon the edges of the
upon the piston without
A chamber, G, concave in form, as shown in Figure 9, is provided in the enlarged
portion of the shell to receive sand and other sediment contained in the water,
which substances may, from time to time, be removed on withdrawing the
screw-plug m.
To actuate the registering mechanism to measure and register the quantity
of water passed through the meter, mechanism is provided of which the following
is a description.
H (Fig. 3) is a hollow extension projecting upward from the bearing of the
piston-journal 8¹, to which it is firmly secured upon the edges of an opening
formed therein, which opening is closed by an annular plate, l, by means of screws
passing through a lateral flange formed upon the lower edge of the extension H
through the plate and into the seat upon which the plate / rests. A vertical
rod,, stands centrally within the extension E, projecting at its lower end into a
.

page_text: .
chamber on one side of the journal-bearing i, where it is provided with a pinion, h,
in mesh with the worm, 83, upon the journal s¹. The upper extremity of the rod k
is provided with a pin, g, inserted transversely through it, to be received within
slots formed in the lower extremity of the hollow extension H³ of the rod h, a
common contrivance in meters to cause the two parts of the rod to rotate together
and permit ready removal and adjustment of the registering mechanism covered
by a case, I, supported upon the shell A and containing the registering mechanism
hereinafter described, and through the bottom of which the extension H¹ of the
rod k projects.
The registering mechanism above referred to is one of cominon construction for
the same and analogous purposes to which the present invention is applied, and
does not, therefore, require accurate description. The dial-fingers f point to figures.
upon dials viewed through a glass covering over the case I; and the mechanism"
operating the index-fingers is arranged to cause them to indicate, in the smaller
devices, from units upward in decimal order to any desired figure; and in larger
devices from a larger number than units to start with.
In the apparatus illustrated in the drawings, of which Fig. 3 most clearly
displays the registering mechanism, if the capacity of the shell, with the piston
and partition therein, shall be, say, one-thirtieth of a cubic foot, the pinion h will
be provided with thirty leaves, whereby thirty revolutions of the piston will rotate
the rod k once, and cause the first dial-finger f to register one revolution and
indicate one cubic foot.
The advantage over the pawl and ratchet mechanisms found in other meters,
obtained by causing the worin s to act directly upon the registering-gear is, that,
owing to the direct connection and consequent positive action, the number of
revolutions of the piston must be correctly registered.
A meter of the construction above set forth will permit the passage through it
of a regularly even stream, which will afford but comparatively little obstruction
to the outlet, and thus almost entirely avoid the loss of pressure.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. A meter, comprising, in combination, a suitable shell having an inlet and an
outlet, a cylindrical piston within the said shell having two wedge-shaped lateral
flanges and, opposite each other and arranged to be rotated by the pressure of
liquid introduced through the said inlet, and suitable registering mechanism
connected with the said piston to indicate the number of its revolutions, substan-
tially as described.
2. A meter comprising, in combination, a suitable shell having an inlet and an
outlet, a piston within the said shell to be rotated by the pressure of water
introduced through the said inlet, hinged partitions within the said shell engaging
with the said piston and forming with the latter in its rotation closed and
inter communicating chambers, and suitable registering mechanism connected
with the said piston to register the number of its revolutions, substantially as
described.
3. A meter comprising, in combination, the following elements, viz: a shell, A,
having an inlet, B, and an outlet, B', a recessed piston, C, supported to rotate within
journal bearings at opposite ends of the said shell, hinged partitions, D and D¹,
within the said shell and having a tendency to be in continual contact at their
free edges with the surface of the said piston, and registering mechanism con-
nected with the said piston to register the number of its revolutions, the whole
being constructed and arranged to operate substantially as and for the purpose
set forth.
4. In a meter, the rotary piston C, provided on opposite sides with recessed
flanges, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
•

page_text: 5. A water-meter comprising, in combination, the following elements, viz: a
shell, A, having an inlet, B, and an outlet, B', and provided with a pocket, G, to
receive sand and other sediment and capable of being opened and closed, a recessed
piston, C, supported to rotate within journal-bearings at opposite ends of the said
shell, hinged partitions, D and D¹, within the said shell and having a tendency to
be in continual contact at the free edges with the surface of the said piston, and
registering mechanism connected with the said piston to register the number of
its revolutions, the whole being constructed and arranged to operate substantially
as described.