AN IMPROVED METHOD OF MEASURING AND DRAWING OFF ANY GIVEN QUANTITY OF LIQUID FROM A VAT OR OTHER VESSEL CONTAINING IT IN BULK, AND IN REGISTERING THE QUANTITY BO DRAWN OFF OR ABSTRACTED FROM TIME TO TIME
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Higgs Tyrrell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd February 1869.
I, JAMES HIGGS TYRRELL, of Hadleigh, Rochford, in the County of
Essex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED METHOD OF MEASURING AND DRAWING OFF ANY GIVEN QUANTITY OF
LIQUID FROM A VAT OR OTHER VESSEL CONTAINING IT IN BULK, AND IN REGISTERING
THE QUANTITY BO DRAWN OFF OR ABSTRACTED FROM TIME TO TIME," to be as
follows:-
The novelty of this Invention consists of improved mechanical
arrangements connected with a tap or cock whereby the quantity of
liquid required to be drawn off is first measured into a closed vessel from
the vessel that contains it in bulk; and the plug of the tap or cock is so
constructed that when it is opened to discharge the contents of the
aforesaid closed vessel containing the precise quantity to be drawn off
the tap shuts off the communication between the aforesaid closed vessel
and the vessel from which it is supplied. In connection with the
aforesaid plug is a pin or stud, which as the cock is shut operates upon a
train of wheels for indicating, by dials and a hand on each pointing to

page_text: ngures on the said mals, the gross number of
the liquid drawn off, the dials being visible through a piece of glass
fixed in front of them.
"The following is an example of the means by which it is proposed 'to
effect the above objects, observing that this Invention is intended to
apply more particularly to taps or cocks used by publicans for drawing
off spirits, the ordinary way of doing which is to fix a common cock to a
pipe 'leading from a vessel or reservoir containing the spirit, which is
drawn into an open measure, such as a half quartern, a quartern, and so
on, in which case the precise quantity drawn off cannot be ascertained,
and must be left to the honesty of servants, whereas by the use of this
Invention the exact quantity drawn off is registered on a dial, which
cannot be tampered with, and can be taken at any time by the master or
principal. The arrangement I employ consists of a long plug ground
water-tight in a tube, upon which is soldered a closed vessel to hold, say,
n'quartern of spirit. This vessel has two holes formed in the bottom
thereof corresponding to holes formed in the tube in which the plug of
the cock fits; and this plug is also formed with two holes tlierein, onc
or other of such said holes in the plug corresponding with and coming
immediately opposite to one or other of the before-mentioned holes in the
tube and closed vessel. The aforesaid tube is connected to a pipe
leading to the reservoir containing the spirit, and the holes in the plug
of the cock are so placed or formed that when the communication
between the plug and the closed vessel or measure is shut off a commu-
nication is opened between the reservoir and the closed vessel to allow it
to fill with spirit, and the act of turning the cock partly round to
discharge the contents of the said measure shuts off the communication
between the measure and the vessel or reservoir from which it is
supplied; and before the measure can be again filled the cock must be
shut off, the effect of which is to cause a pin fixed in the plug to actuate
the wheelwork before mentioned, and by the index hand on the dials to
register the precise number of measures of spirit that have been drawn
off. There are three dials, the first of which, and that to which the pin
in the plug of the cock is in connection, is divided into ten equal parts
marked by lines and figures or numerals 1 to 10, each space indicating a
measure drawn; and when the index hand of this dial points to 10 the
next dial, which registers hundreds, will register 10 on its dial, beginning
at 10 and indicating ten measures drawn off as its index hand moves

page_text: from 10 to 20, and so on up to one hundred; and the next dial indicates
a thousand measures drawn off, each division representing one hundred
measures. By these means the quantity of spirit drawn off may be
correctly ascertained at any time of the day, at the same time preventing
waste and dishonesty of servants.