A MACHINE FOR MEA- SURING THE FLOW OF LIQUIDS, CALLED A FLUID METRE
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry R. Worthington, of the City of New York
United States of America, for the Invention of "A MACHINE FOR MEA-
SURING THE FLOW OF LIQUIDS, CALLED A FLUID METRE."
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Henry R. Worthington at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 16th January 1856, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME I HENRY
R. WORTHINGTON of the City of New York United States of America do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "A MACHINE FOR MEASURING
THE FLOW OF LIQUIDS CALLED A FLUID METRE" and in what manner the same is
to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof (that is to say)
My improvement in metres for measuring fluids relates to that description
of metres wherein the motion of a piston back and forth in a cylinder is
employed and where the cylinder is alternately filled and emptied at the same
time registering the number of strokes of the piston which indicates the
quantity of fluid that has passed through the metre which principle of action
is not new in fluid metres as the motion of a metre requires to be exempt from
all liability to stoppage particularly at points where it cannot again start.
It has heretofore been found necessary in reciprocating metres to adopt an
18464.

page_text: arrangement analogous to the quarter crank of steam engines wherein one
crank helps the other over the dead points or else dispensing with cranks
entirely to have an independent power such as a weight or spring to operate
the valves which produce reciprocation. By my improved arrangement I am
enabled to dispense with all weights and springs at the same time that I retain
the direct action of the pistons without using a crank or other device for
producing rotary motion. For this purpose there are two cylinders side by
side with an open space between them. In each cylinder is a piston rod with
two pistons thereon having between them a disc or wheel in a horizontal
position. Instead of one cylinder and piston as ordinarily used I employ the
two cylinders A B as shewn in Figures 23 and 4. They may be cast
separate and placed together or they may be cast as one piece. Into these
cylinders properly bored out are fitted the four pistons a' a 'be connected
together in pairs by the rods cc. These pistons being single acting and
moving in pairs each pair is to be considered as one piston. The cylinders
also in which they move are considered and spoken of as two only although
separated and appearing like four for the accommodation of the water valves
between them. Between the pair of pistons 6' 6 is placed a valve D² similar
in form of construction and general principle of action to an ordinary steam
slide valve. Between the pair of pistons a¹ a² is also placed a valve of the
sliding kind marked D' differing only from the last mentioned in having two
cavities in its face instead of one. This difference causes it to admit and
discharge the fluid in a direction exactly contrary to what the last mentioned
valve would if moving in the same way. The different directions given by the
valves D D to the fluid are shewn in the Drawings by arrows.
openings or ports appear under each valve e¹ e³ es being under valve D' and
They correspond with the well-known
which an ordinary steam slide valve is
Threa
fff being under valve D.
induction and eduction ports over
worked. The fluid to be measured is admitted under pressure to the space
between the pistons through the openings K making equal pressure upon the
interior faces of them all. Let us suppose the pair of pistons a¹ a² to have
just completed a stroke from right to left. The projection or disc G¹ on the
piston rod C¹ having been brought into contact with the valve D' has pushed
it to the left far enough to admit the fluid into the port e¹ but this port
instead of communicating with the end of cylinder B in which the pistons are
moving is carried across diagonally into the end of cylinder A shewn by the
arrows in Figure 2 which it enters at H' in Figure 3 at the same time the
delivery or discharged fluids shewn by the arrow in Figure 1 to be flowing
from Es into E and thence through the delivery passage O is flowing from

page_text: cylinder A through opening H2 Figure 3 in a diagonal passage indicated on
Figure 2 by arrows. The pressure of the influent water having been thus esta--
blished through the opening H¹ Figure 3 upon piston and escape afforded
for the fluid behind piston & through opening H this pair of pistons will move
from left to right. When near the end of the stroke the disc G* coming in con-
tact with the valve D* lying under it will push said valve across the ports.
Diagonal passages similar to those before explained connect these ports to the
ends of cylinder B. They are exhibited in Figure 2 and the direction of
the fluid shewn by the arrows. Admission of fluid into one end and escape
from the other being thus afforded for cylinder B the pair of pistons therein
contained must return from left to right. On their way they in turn actuate
the valve again for cylinder A compelling the pistons situated therein to make
another stroke. Thus by mutual action upon the valves of each other; both
pairs of pistons are made alternately and surely to reciprocate. It is plainly
casy to substitute an arrangement of levers for that of the valves and diagonal
openings herein shewn maintaining the peculiarity of reciprocal action upon
the two valves. Neither is it necessary that the two pistons should be of the
same size, nor arranged in the same position and relation to each other that is
herein shewn, so long as one piston or one pair of pistons is made to actuate
the valve or valves of the other and vice versa. And it is clearly easy to adapt
my Invention to any kind of piston whether reciprocating rotatory diaphragm
or any other form of construction that fulfills the proper office of a piston in
alternately opening & reducing a certain amount of space into which the fluid
is received and discharged. The valves moreover need not be of the sliding
kind herein shewn but may be of any other that may be preferred for
simplicity or economy. The pistons themselves may also be made to serve as
valves for each other by sliding at the proper time over openings made into
their cylinders. The counter or register is not shewn in the Drawing
not being essential to the proper illustration of my Invention. It may be
constructed in any convenient & well-known way and attached to a rod
projecting through a stuffing box as at P Figure 4. The cylinders A and B
are furnished with heads R R.
Having thus described my Invention and exhibited a practical way of
carrying the same into useful operation what I claim as new therein and
desire to secure by Letters Patent is. The employment of two cylinders in
the construction of a meter for fluids, which may be designated as cylinders A
and B with pistons fitted to work in the same so arranged and combined with
regard to each other as that the motion of the piston in cylinder A shall at
the proper time actuate the supply and delivery valve of cylinder B while in

page_text: like manner the piston moving in cylinder B shall actuate the supply and
delivery valve belonging 'to cylinder A thus mutually determining and regu-
lating the flow of 'the fluid to and from each other and producing a positive and
direct motion as herein-fully set forth.
In witness whereof I the said Henry R. Worthington have hereunto
set my hand & seal, this Eighteenth day of December One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-six.
HENRY R. WORTHINGTON. (L.s.)