IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS AND WATER METERS, AND IN INSTRUMENTS FOR REGU- LATING THE FLOW OF FLUIDS
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME I, WILLIAM
PARKINSON, of Cottage Lane, City Road, in the County of Middlesex, Gas
Meter Manufacturer, successor to the late Samuel Crosley, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twentieth day of
March, One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, in the twelfth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Parkinson, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial
license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William
Parkinson, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Parkinson, my exors, adiñors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term
of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in
all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS AND WATER METERS, AND IN INSTRUMENTS FOR REGU-
LATING THE FLOW OF FLUIDS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso that I, the said William Parkinson, shall cause a particular descrip-
tion of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be
onrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar

page_text: months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso,
the said
William Parkinson, hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the present Specification thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
Firstly, my Invention, in so far as it respects gas meters, consists in certain
improved arrangements for supplying them with water, and maintaining the
water always at the level therein.
proper
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of a three-light meter embodying these
improved arrangements; Figure 2 is a section thereof on the line a, b, and
Figure 3 a section on the line c, d. A is the tube through which the water is
introduced in a chamber A¹, on rising in which to the height of the orifice B
it flows over through that orifice into the case G. C is a curved overflow pipe
for regulating the height to which the water should be permitted to risc, and
at which it should be maintained in the case. The mouth or inner end of
this tube is placed in or about the center of the meter (see Figure 3), and it
discharges itself through a plugged aperture either at D or E. If the aper-
ture is placed at D (which I prefer), the pipe may be carried either outside or
inside of the case. F is a screw attached to the bottom of the overflow tube,
by means of which it may be raised or lowered, and so adjusted to its proper
level. The height of the overflow orifice B in the water-supply chamber A¹
is, it will be observed, considerably above that of the mouth C of the interior
overflow pipe, and each acts quite independently of the other. It follows
from this manner of construction that no more than the proper quantity of
water can be introduced into or driven out of the meter, even under pressure,
because as soon as there is any excess it flows over into and is discharged
through the pipe C, the mouth of which, being placed in the centre of the
area of the water, is beyond the reach of being tampered with from the
outside; also that should the meter not be placed on a perfect level, the water
line will not be thereby materially affected, in consequence of the central
position of the mouth of the waste pipe; further, that no water can be
abstracted from the meter through the supply pipe A by a syphon or otherwise,
for that pipe terminates in a chamber which is entirely separate and distinct
from the body of water in the meter; and finally, that no immeasured gas can
be drawn off through the water supply aperture B, as the only gas with which
it can have communication is such as has passed through the meter into the

page_text: case; and thus, while the water line of the meter can always be readily adjusted
to afford every needful protection to the consumer, the gas-supplying com-
panies may place the fullest confidence in the correctness of the quantities
registered.
Secondly, my Invention, in so far as it respects water meters, consists in an
improved adaptation of the wheel or drum used in the ordinary gas meters
(the construction and operation of which are well known), to the purpose of
measuring and registering the quantity of water drawn from or delivered by.
any source of supply.
Figure 4 represents a meter of this description, attached to the top of a
water cistern, on a scale of three inches to a foot, and capable of registering a
flow of ninety gallons per hour. Figure 5 is section of the same through the
centre from front to back; Figure 6 is a section through the box L, and
Figure 7 a section through the centre of the meter, at right angles with
Figure 5. The wheel or drum W is enclosed in a case M, as in the gas
meter, but it revolves at bottom in a trough of water T, which is freely sus-
pended from the top of the case M by a semicircular handle V and adjusting.
screw X. The height of water in the trough determines of course the
measuring capacity of the compartments of the drum, but that height may be
varied as may be required by raising or lowering the trough by means of the
adjusting screw X. The water passes from the trough into the case, and
thence into the cistern beneath, and it must never be allowed to rise in the
case above the edge of the trough. The apparatus for regulating the inflow.
of the water into the trough is enclosed in a separate box L, similar to the
box which contains the inlet valve in the gas meter. A view of this apparatus
in two different positions is given separately in Figures 8, 9, and 9º. A is a
vertical pipe, which is connected at top by a pipe, hose, or otherwise, with a head
of water, and terminates at bottom in a segmental flange M, in which there is a
diagonal slit or opening n for the passage of the water. To the outer sides of this
pipe A there is gimballed a moveable valve D, the top surface of the bottom
part d of which is turned truly to correspond with the under face of the flange
M. As long as this valve is in the same vertical plane with the pipe -A it
completely closes the opening n, but on being drawn to one side as represented in
Figure 9, it passes more or less from under the diagonal opening n, and allows
a proportional outflow of water. It will be obvious, therefore, that by attaching
a float to this gimballed valve, as shewn in Figure 6, there will be always just
as much water supplied as may be wanted. The instrument is, in effect, very
similar to a ball cock, only that it is much better adapted for accomplishing
the end in view, because it is attended with extremely little friction, and the

page_text: water, however great the head pressure may be, has no tendency either to
open or shut it, the only thing affecting it being the actual rise or fall of the
float. To obtain a smooth surface for the float to work in, a shield A is
inserted athwart the box L in a direction inclined downwards from a point
immediately above the bottom opening n of the pipe A. The force of the
water, whatever may be the velocity with which it enters, is broken against
the bottom of the shield A*, so as to leave the upper surface of the water in
the case L perfectly undisturbed.
Instead of the regulating apparatus just described another may be adopted,
such as is represented in Figures 10 and 11, which will answer equally well.
A is an inlet pipe as before, which is soldered (sidewise) to and communicates
at bottom with another pipe D. E is a conical valve fitted to the bottom of
the pipe D, the spindle of which is connected at top to a small piston e of
equal area with the valve, by which piston any tendency which the pressure of
the water might have to open or shut the valve is completely counteracted
or neutralized. N, O, are apertures to admit a free ingress or egress of air
from the box L, and case M. It may be proper to observe, that though the
water in the trough will be raised higher when the meter is passing a large
quantity of water than when passing a small quantity, yet that the difference
in registering at a moderate velocity is so small as to be hardly worth taking
into account (say, for example, in passing one hundred gallons per hour, with
a wheel or drum of the size of a three-light gas meter drum, and having
passages or hoods of double the usual size). Should it be thought necessary,
however, to provide a compensation for any such variation in the level of the
water in the trough, this may be readily done by suspending the trough from g
the short end of a rod or lever (to which the adjusting screw X might be
attached), and attaching the other or long end by a connecting rod to the
spindle of the float in the regulating box L, so that as the float rose the
trough would fall and adjust the water to its proper level; or the same effect
might be obtained by affixing to the stem of the regulating float a thin disc to 3
cover a portion of the entrance to the spout, so as never to allow more water
to pass into the measuring drum than the properly adjusted quantity.
In adapting such water meters to general purposes, I find it answers best
to mount them upon small cisterns, containing, say, three or four gallons.
That quantity can be drawn off in an instant or two, and its abstraction, by 3
lowering the float of the ball cock, suffices to turn on the water from the
main, when the quantity is replaced at the rate to which the meter is
adjusted.
When the upper parts of a house or other building are to be supplied, the

page_text: meter must of course be placed higher than the highest part to which the
water is to be raised, and a pipe or tube must be carried from the bottom of
the cistern (say from the orifice B, Figure 4) to the lowest place which is to
be supplied, having as many branches leading from it as may be necessary for
the supply of the lower floors or apartments.
The pressure from the main is supposed to be always on in using such
meters, and to be of force sufficient to reach the meter. A greater force than
this does not affect the meter, being prevented from doing so by the regulating
apparatus before described. Should any leakage arise from any forcible
damage or derangement of the apparatus, it will be carried off by the overflow
or waste pipe C (Figure 4), attached to the cistern.
Thirdly, my Invention, in so far as it regards regulating the flow of fluids,
consists in the employment for that purpose (in addition to the regulating
instruments or apparatuses before described) of an improved ball cock of the
description represented in Figures 12 and 13. A is the supply pipe; B the
discharge pipe; C the valve by which the communication between A and B is
closed and opened; E is a guide piece, into which the spindle of the valve is
screwed at the inner end; F is a lever by which the guide piece and valvo
spindle are moved to and fro, and which has its fulcrum at D. The float (not
shewn in the Drawings) is attached to the long end of the lever F. In its
general appearance this apparatus resembles what is commonly known by the
name of "Lambert's Ball Valve Tap," differing from it chiefly in this, that the
valve or plug takes into a solid recess at the back of the tap instead of
pressing against a flexible diaphragm, as in Lambert's tap.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention in the several
parts thereof and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that
the improvements which I claim are as follows,-
First, I claim, in respect of gas meters, the placing of the aperture through
which the water is supplied into the meter at an elevation above the proper
level of the water therein, and the placing the mouth of the overflow pipe (C)
at or about the centre of the water in the meter.
Second, I claim, in respect of water meters, the improved adaptation of the
wheel or drum of the ordinary gas meter to the purpose of measuring and
registering quantities of water, as before described; that is to say, in so far as
regards the combination of the drum or wheel of the ordinary gas meter with
a trough of water suspended by an adjusting screw, in which trough the drum
or wheel revolves, and with an instrument or instruments for regulating the
flow of the water into the said meter and trough.
And third, I claim the improved ball cock lastly herein-before described,

page_text: and also the application generally of the instruments represented in Figures
8, 9, and 9, 10, and 11, and before described, to regulating the flow of
fluids.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Parkinson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.
WILLIAM (L.S.) PARKINSON.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twentieth day of September,
in the year of our Lord 1849, the aforesaid William Parkinson came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Speci-
fication aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in
form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twentieth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.