IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER METERS OR APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE FLOW OF LIQUIDS OR FLUIDS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis George Fleury, of the City & County of
Bristol, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER
METERS OR APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE FLOW OF LIQUIDS OR FLUIDS.”
Sealed the 28th December 1875, and dated the 17th September 1875.
2
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis George Fleury
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 17th September 1875.
I, FRANCIS GEORGE FLEURY, of the City & County of Bristol,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN WATER METERS OR APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE FLOW, OF.
LIQUIDS OR FLUIDS," to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to that class of meters in which a spindle is
.caused to rotate by the action of the fluid or liquid against flies or vanes
fixed thereon for driving recording mechanism for indicating the
quantity of water passed through the meter.
The Invention consists in constructing meters of the above named
class in such a manner as to produce a differential vortex motion of the

page_text: liquid or fluid, thereby causing a reliable action on the flies or vanes of
the spindle on the recording mechanism. For this purpose I employ
within the body of the meter an inverted chamber of conical, parabolic,
elliptic, or other analogous form, having tangential inlet openings in the
In the bottom of this
upper portion or top of the said chamber.
chamber I use tangential openings made exactly in the opposite direc-
tion to the inlets at the top, and the lower and smaller portion of this
chamber is provided with an adjustable footstep on which the spindle
rotates, which passing up through a circular box in the top of the
conical or analogous chamber into the registering mechanism drives by
means of a worm on the spindle a train of wheels for recording the flow
of liquid.
.
Within the conical or analogous chamber are arranged two or more
.flies attached to the spindle, the outward edge of which corresponds to
the shape of the said chamber; and on the bottom of the aforesaid
circular box for the registering mechanism I form by a slot or the
equivalent thereof a driver for raising or depressing a brake formed of a
ring, disc, or bar, screwed externally and fitting into a corresponding
thread in the upper portion of the conical chamber, and by this means
the brake is raised or lowered, thus effecting an easy and certain method
of adjusting the meter.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Francis George Fleury in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 28th December 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS 2
GEORGE FLEURY, of the City and County of Bristol, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
39th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Francis George Fleury, Her special
license that I, the said Francis George Fleury, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Francis George Fleury, .

page_text: my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER METERS OR APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE FLOW OF
LIQUIDS OR FLUIDs," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Francis George Fleury, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Francis George Fleury, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say:-
My said Invention relates to that class of meters in which a spindle
is caused to rotate by the action of the fluid or liquid against flies
or vanes fixed thereon for driving recording mechanism which indicates
the quantity of water or other fluid passed through the meter.
My said Invention consists in constructing meters of the above
named class in such a manner as to produce a differential vortex motion
of the liquid or fluid, thereby causing a reliable action of the flies or
vanes on the recording mechanism.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood I
now proceed more particularly to set forth the system, mode, or manner
in or under which the same is or may be used or practically carried
into effect, reference being had to the annexed Sheets of Drawings and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :—
On Sheet 1 of the Drawings hereunto appended Figure 1 is an eleva-
tion of the meter or apparatus for measuring the flow of liquids or
fluids as constructed in accordance with my said Invention; Figure 2
(Sheet 1) is a vertical section of the meter taken at right angles to

page_text: Figure 1; Figure 3 (Sheet 1) is a horizontal section of the same on the
line a, b, Figure 2; and Figure 4 (Sheet 1) a plan thereof corresponding
with Figure 1.
As shewn by these Figures the meter consists of a casing A which is
preferably formed or cast in one picce with the inlet and outlet branches
B and C respectively, which branches are screwed or flanched at their
outer extremities to afford facility for attaching the inlet and outlet
pipes thereto. Within the casing A other casings or chambers are
situated, and in one of these (the chamber D) the recording mechanism
is placed and driven by a tangent screw a situate on the upper end of a
spindle E. The recording mechanism consists of a train of wheels into
one of which the tangent screw a is geared, but which, being behind
the tangent screw, is not clearly seen at Figure 2 of the Drawings. The
wheel referred to however is placed upon the shaft or spindle b, whereon
is also situate another tangent screw c, geared with a wheel d, fixed on
a vertical spindle e, on the upper end of which a pinion f is also
secured, as shewn at Figure 2; the pinion f gears with a wheel g placed
on the lower end of another vertical spindle h on whose upper extremity
a pinion i is fixed and geared with the wheels k which actuate the
indicating finger or pointer 1, Figures 2 and 4; from a pinion m placed
on the axis of the indicator or pointer 2 the indicator n of higher
numbers is also actuated through the intervention of the wheel o placed
on the axis thereof. The recording mechanism is mounted upon the
plate or disc F which is held water-tight in position against an internal
flanch or ring G formed around the casing A by a ring H screwed into
the casing A above it, as shewn at Figure 2; a ring I is also screwed
into the casing A to protect the indicating dial J of the meter, which is
covered by the movable lid or cover [K into which a glass disc p is
inserted, as shewn; the cover K is locked in position over the dial J by
a padlock or equivalent fastening passed through the hole in the arm
or bracket M which passes through a slot in the movable catch piece L
attached to the said cover. The chamber D containing the recording
mechanism rests upon a flanch or seat formed in the upper part of a
chamber G¹ which rests upon an internal flanch & formed around the
casing A.
*
The lower part of the chamber G³, as shewn in the Drawings, is
constructed in the form of an inverted truncated cone having tangential
inlets leading thereinto at the upper or larger end from the annular

page_text: space. O, as more particularly seen in dotted lines at t, Figure 3. At
the bottom of the said chamber other tangential openings or outlets 26
are formed in a direction reverse to that of the inlets t, as seen in dotted
lines at Figure 3 of the Drawings. The outlets a communicate with
the annular space P in the casing A. surrounding the lower part of the
chamber G', which space is divided from the space O by the flanch s
herein-before referred to. Within the conical chamber G' two or more
flies or vanes are placed and attached to the spindle E, on whose upper
end the tangent screw a herein-before referred to is fixed. On the
Drawing three such flies or vanes R are shewn, the outer edges of which
correspond in shape with the conical or inclined sides of the chamber G¹´
and the spindle E on which they are carried is supported and rotates
upon an adjustable footstep bearing passed through the lower end
of the chamber G¹. The lower part of the footstep bearing is formed
with a screw thread on it, and it is retained in position by a check nut w
placed thereon, as shewn. A box nut y is screwed into the lower end
of the casing A immediately under the footstep bearing v, which
nut is removed when it is desired to adjust the footstep bearing upwards
or downwards.
The action of the meter is as follows:- Water on being admitted
through the inlet branch B and strainer x placed therein, passes through.
the inlets to the interior of the chamber G', wherein, owing to the
tangential position of the inlets, a vortex current is created which causes
the vanes or flies R to rotate, and thereby communicate motion to the
recording mechanism herein-before described. The conical form of the
chamber G¹ causes the speed of the vortex current to become faster
the lower it descends until the water makes its exit through the tan-
gential outlets u, and thence through the branch C.
The reason for making the chamber G' conical, as herein-before.
described, is that as the upper end of the footstep wears the vanes R
descend into a faster current, and are consequently made to register
more rapidly on the dial J in proportion to the quantity of water passed.
Such faster rotation compensates for enlargement of orifices and general
wear, so that after a lengthened period of work the meter will continue
to register correctly.
. The meter is also provided with apparatus for checking and so
regulating the rate of the vortex current, and which consists of a

page_text: ring Ș screwed into the upper part of the chamber G³, and provided
with an arm or division T extending across it, as seen at Figures
2 and 3, which arm enters a slot formed between two cheeks on the
bottom of the chamber D, so that by turning the said chamber round
the brake arm T and ring S are raised or lowered, thus effecting 5
an easy and certain method of adjusting the flow of water through
the meter.
Instead of constructing the chamber G₁ conical, as herein-before
described and shewn, it may be made elliptical, parabolic, or of other
analogous figure or contour, by which the purposes of my said In- 10
vention may be attained, it being explained that I do not confine
myself to arrange or construct the meter precisely as shewn on the
Drawings, as parts thereof may be modified without departing from the
essential features of my said Invention.
'
In cases where it may be necessary I construct the improved water 15
meters with a non-return valve A on the outlet side, as shewn in the
Figure on Sheet 2 of the Drawings, the object of which is to prevent
the meter registering air in the event of the main being emptied.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the system, mode, or manner in or under which 20
the same is or may be used, or practically carried into effect, I would
observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and original, and
therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The general arrangement and construction of apparatus con- 25
stituting the improved meter for measuring the flow of liquids or fluids,
substantially as herein-before described and shewn on the Sheet of
Drawings hereunto appended.
Second. The conical or equivalent chamber G¹ provided with tan-
gential openings, as seen at Figures 2 and 3 of the Drawings, by 30
which the vortex motion is produced, substantially as herein-before
described.
Third. The ring S and arm or division T constituting the brake
herein-before described and shewn at Figures 2 and 3 of the Drawings,

page_text: Fourth. The footstep bearing for a liquid meter, seen at Figure 2
of the Drawings, by which adjustment of the vanes or flies R and
recording mechanism is effected, substantially as herein-before described.
Fifth. The non-return valve A on the outlet side of the meter, as and
for the purposes herein-before described and shown at the Figure on
Sheet 2 of the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis George Fleury, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of December,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
FRANCIS GEORGE FLEURY. (L.S.)