Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Apr., 1886.
Complete Left, 6th Jan., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 8th Feb., 1887.
RESE
I FELICIAN ROLA DE WOLSKI, of Abdonville, Kew Gardens Road, Kew, in the
County of Surrey, Captain in the Corps of Royal Engineers do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The apparatus consists of a flat drum the bottom of which is closed by a flexible
diaphragm. The interior of this drum is connected by means of a small bore tube
with a manometer or pressure gauge. The apparatus is filled with dry air or gas, and
the drum is immersed to any required depth below the surface of the liquid-The
pressure due to the head of liquid over the diaphragm compresses the air or gas in the
drum and tube, and this pressure is transmitted to the manometer or pressure-gauge.
In this manner the indication of the depth of liquid at any moment over the diaphragm
may be transmitted to any required distance. The apparatus may be applied for
indicating or registering the level or depth of water or other liquid in tanks,
reservoirs, ships holds or compartments, seas and rivers &c.
The object of the flexible diaphragm is to enable a certain quantity of dry air or gas
to be confined in a very flat drum, to prevent that air or gas being absorbed by the
liquid, or becoming saturated with moisture, which would tend to deposit in the tube
and interfere with the transmission of pressure. The diaphragm should have sufficient
play without stretching, or an india rubber bag or other suitable arrangement for
confining dry air or gas may be used according to circumstances.
If a mercury manometer he employed, the surface of the mercury in the open branch,
as well as in the cistern, should be protected from oxidation by a drop or two of purc
oil or glycerine or other similar material.
If a Bourdon or other pressure gauge be used, the interior of the gauge should he
filled with glycerine, or other suitable material, so as to remove the air space.
When the apparatus is employed to indicate the level of liquid in a closed vessel in
which the pressure differs from that of the external atmosphere, the open branch of
the mercury manometer, or the outside of the pressure gauge, is connected by a
second tube to the upper part of the closed vessel, and the end of this tube may be

page_text: open or it may terminate in a closed pressure drum. similar to that immersed in the
liquid.
Several gauges may be connected to one and the same pressure drum and tube so as
to enable the indications to be read simultaneously in several places.
By a suitable arrangement of wires and contacts, either in the manometer tube or
on the dial of the pressure gauge, the apparatus may be caused to sound an electric
alarum at stated intervals.
For soundings I employ a flexible bag contained in a heavy perforated vessel, and
connect the interior of the bag to a pressure gauge by a flexible armoured or other
suitable tube, and I employ, if necessary, an auxiliary rope or wire to raise and lower
the apparatus. By this arrangement the soundings can be indicated in any part of
ship without the apparatus being raised.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Pneumatic Apparatus for Indicating the Depth
of Liquids.
I, FELICIAN ROLA DE WOLSKI, of Abdonville, Kew Gardens, Surrey, Captain in
the Corps of Royal Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN PNEUMATIC APPARATUS FOR INDICATING THE DEPTH OF LIQUIDS 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 improvements in pneumatic apparatus for indicating or
registering the depth or varying level of water, or other liquid, in tanks, reservoirs,
wells, vats, mines, ships holds or compartments, seas, rivers, lakes, or harbours, canals,
docks &c., and also in boilers or other closed containers, and for transmitting such
indication to a gauge or gauges placed in any convenient position for observation.
The apparatus consists of a flexible or partly flexible closed air vessel the interior of
which communicates by means of a tube of small bore with a manometer or pressure
gauge. The apparatus being filled with air, preferably dry, the air vessel is immersed
to any required depth below the surface of the liquid. The head of liquid over the
air vessel, compresses the air in the apparatus, and the pressure due thereto is
transmitted through the tube to the manometer or gauge which is graduated to indicate
the corresponding depth or level of the liquid.
Fig. 1 illustrates the application of the improved apparatus for indicating the level
of water in an overhead tank. P is a flat air vessel, closed at the bottom by a flexible
india rubber diaphragm, the interior of the air vessel P being in communication with
a pressure gauge G by means of a small bore tube T. The air vessel may be supported
on the bottom of the tank so as to allow free play to the diaphragm, or it may be
otherwise suitably fixed. The tube is carried over a wheel fixed on the edge of the
tank. Fig. 2. shows the apparatus arranged for indicating the rise and fall of tide, the
air vessel being fixed sufficiently far below the lowest level of the tide as to be out
of the reach of wave action or other disturbance.
Several gauges may communicate with one and the same air vessel, as illustrated by
Fig. 2, so as to enable the indications to be read simultaneously in several places if
required, and any kind of pressure indicator may be used, such as a Bourdon gauge G,
or an open mercury manometer M, shown in fig. 2.
The air vessel may consist of a flat dished plate P, the underside of which is closed
by a flexible diaphragm, of any suitable material, D, as shown in section and plan in
Fig. 3, or it may consist of a flexible bag or ball, or of any other suitable arrangement
of a like nature which, while allowing the free compression or expansion of the air in
the apparatus under the varying head of liquid over the air vessel, will prevent actual
contact between the air and the liquid, or the vapour arising therefrom. By this
means a volume of dry air can be confined in a shallow flexible or partly flexible
vessel, thereby reducing to a minimum the changes of level of the air vessel under
varying heads of liquid; the air is prevented from being absorbed by the liquid, or
from becoming mixed or saturated with moisture or vapour, which would be liable to

page_text: condense or deposit in the tube, and ultimately to interfere with the transmission of
pressure and the interior of the apparatus is preserved from fouling, oxidation or
corrosion.
When the apparatus is employed to indicate the level of the liquid in a closed
container, such as a boiler, in which the pressure differs from that of the external
atmosphere, the open branch of the mercurial manometer or the outside of the pressure
gauge is connected by a second tube to the upper part of the container above the level
of the liquid inside it, and the end of this tube may be open, or it may terminate in a
closed air vessel similar to that immersed in the liquid. In this case the gauge or
manometer manifestly indicates the difference of pressure corresponding to the depth
of liquid over the air vessel immersed in it.
The invention may also be applied for the purpose of taking hydrographic or other
soundings in moderate depths of water, and the apparatus may then consist of a
suitable heavy air vessel similar to that already described, connected to an armoured or
other tube, and if necessary an auxiliary wire or rope may be employed for raising and
lowering the air vessel and its tube. The soundings can thus be transmitted to and
read in any convenient part of a ship or boat without necessarily raising the air vessel
from the bottom, and the readings will not be affected by wave action.
The apparatus may be combined with electrical apparatus by a suitable arrangement
of wires and contact either in the manometer tube or on the dial of the gauge for
operating an alarum when any particular level or levels of water or liquid is reached,
and the indicators may be provided with suitable mechanism for continuously recording
the varying heights attained at constant intervals of time.
It is obvious that in this apparatus dry air may be replaced by any other suitable
gaseous fluid.
The apparatus is independent of barometric variations, which equally affect both the
air vessel and the indicator, and consequently equilibrate. Changes of temperature
alter the volume of air in the apparatus and therefore the level of the diaphragm of the
air vessel, but do not otherwise affect the pressure transmitted to the indicator. The
apparatus is further not affected by ice forming on the surface of the liquid, and may
he employed for ascertaining the level of liquids whose surface is agitated, or covered
with froth or other floating matter.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :—
1. In a pneumatic apparatus for indicating manometrically the level or depth of
liquids, the employment of a flexible, or partly flexible, closed air vessel, substantially
as described and shown in the drawings.
2. In a pneumatic apparatus for indicating manometrically the level or depth of a
liquid in a closed container in which the pressure differs from that of the external
atmosphere, the employment of a flexible or partly flexible closed air vessel both in the
liquid and in the upper part of the closed container, or in the liquid only, substantially
as described.
3. The combination of a closed flexible or partly flexible air vessel in communication
with a manometer or gange by means of a flexible armoured or other suitable tube
for taking soundings, with an auxiliary rope or wire, if necessary, to raise and lower
the apparatus, such soundings being indicated or recorded in any convenient part of a
ship or boat without raising the apparatus.
4. The employment of dry air for filling the improved apparatus mentioned in the
above three claims.