IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LIQUID METERS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to. Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LIQUID
METERS." A communication from abroad by Gottfried Kober, of the
City of New York, United States of America.
Sealed the 15th August 1861, and dated the 20th April 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th April 1861..
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the. Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON-
STRUCTION OF LIQUID METERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to that class of meters which effect the measurement
of the water or other liquid by its action upon a screw or wheel with helical
blades. A great obstacle to perfect measurement by this class of meters has
hitherto been that the velocity of rotation of the screw or wheel has been
greater relatively to a high velocity of the passage of the liquid through it
than to a low velocity, and in many examples the liquid might be drawn
through the meter very slowly without moving the screw or wheel at all.

page_text: This Invention consists mainly in the employment of a peculiar construction
of screw or wheel and mode of applying the same to its shaft, and in relation
to the mouth of the passage through which the liquid is admitted to act upon
it, whereby the above-mentioned difficulty is obviated. The measuring screw
or wheel works in a cylindrical water passage, and fits so closely thereto as
just to avoid rubbing against it. The wheel is composed of a hollow cylin-
drical boss, round which the blades are coiled, and it is made capable of rising
and falling on its shaft with variations in the pressure of the liquid admitted
below it. The helical blades with which it is furnished terminate below
the cylindrical boss or hub in a form substantially like the buckets of a
turbine wheel, and these terminations are intended, when a small quantity of
liquid only is passing through the meter, to act as a turbine and rotate the
measuring wheel. These buckets rest on an annular seat surrounding the
mouth of the inlet by which the liquid is admitted to act upon the wheel, but
when the meter is in full action they are by the pressure of the incoming liquid
raised from this seat. Near the upper edge of the cylindrical water passage
containing the measuring wheel a sliding tube is applied for the purpose of
effecting (when required) a nice adjustment of the meter.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 19th October 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON; of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS IIer most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of April in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of
Der reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and 'successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the snid
Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the 'said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should át any tinie 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 THE CONSTRUCTION OF LIQUID METERS," being a communication

page_text: from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby.
declare the nature of the 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 Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention as communicated to me. by my foreign correspondent relates
to that class of meters which effect the measurement of the water or other
liquid by its action upon a screw or wheel with helical blades. A great
obstacle to perfect measurement by this class of meters has hitherto, been that
the velocity of rotation of the screw or wheel has been greater relatively to a
high velocity of the passage of the liquid through it than to a low velocity and
in many examples' the liquid might be drawn through the meter very slowly
without moving the screw or wheel at all.
This Invention relates to the employment of a peculiar construction of screw
or wheel, and to the mode of applying the same in relation to the mouth of the
passage through which the liquid is admitted to act upon it, whereby the above--
mentioned difficulty is obviated, and also to. certain means of adjusting the.
meter for accurate measurement.
In the accompanying Drawing, which forms. part of this Specification.
Fig. 1 is a central vertical section of the improved meter; Fig. 2 is a side
view of the measuring wheel, and Fig. 3 is an inverted plan of the same.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the three Figures.
: A, B, is an upright trunk of cast iron or other metal, having it upper
part B larger than the lower part A, but both of cylindrical form. This.
trunk is erected upon. a hollow base C through which there is an inlet a,,
to the bottom of the trunk for the liquid (suppose water, for example) to be
measured. The outlet for the measured water is at the bottom of the upper
portion B of the trunk and marked b. G is the register box on the top..
of trunk; D. is an upright cylinder or cylindrical lining of brass or other metal
screwed into the bottom of the trunk, and extending upward to within a
short distance from the top of the smaller portion A thereof for the reception.
of the helically bladed wheel E, which fits closely. to the cylinder D, but so as
to work without friction therein. The upright shaft F, of this wheel works

page_text: in an oil box bearing c, in a brace extending across the bottom of the
cylinder D, and in a bearing on the top of the trunk A, B, and its upper part
having a screw thread c, cut upon it enters the register box G; above the
screw e, gearing with and driving the first wheel f of the registering train.
The wheel E is made with a hollow air-tight cylindrical hub d, the cavity therein
being of such capacity that though the wheel will not float it will have a
tendency to rise with any considerable pressure of water on its under side,
notwithstanding the free passage of water around it. In order to permit of
its rising and falling it is fitted to slide upon its shaft F, and is furnished with'
a long pin g, at its upper end entering a notch in a collar h, on the shaft
for the purpose of causing the latter always to rotate with it; k, k, are the
helical blades of the wheel winding round the hub like the threads of a screw
made very thin and arranged at short distances apart. These blades are
extended a short distance below the bottom of the hub ás shewn at i, i, the
action of the water upon the so extended portions which constitute one of the
features of this Invention being like the action on the buckets of a turbine
water wheel and independent of the action of the water on those portions
which surround the hub, as will be presently explained; j. is an annular
seat projecting upwards within the lower part of the cylinder D, and having
a narrow face upon which the wheel E rests when no water is being
drawn through the meter. The opening in this seat constitutes_the mouth
of the passage by which the water enters the portion of the cylinder D
which contains the wheel E; H is a short tube or collar fitted to slide on the
upper part of the cylinder D, for the purpose of forming a prolonga-
tion upwards of that cylinder; I is a strainer placed at the bottom of the
cylinder D, to exclude any dirt that might interfere with the action of the
meter. The water entering the meter at a passes upward through the opening
in the seat j, raises the wheel E, and passes under it and between its
helical blades, and fills the cylinder D and trunk A, B. When the outlet
is closed the wheel rests on the seat j, j, but as soon as the outlet is opened
in drawing off the water and the pressure above the wheel is thereby
reduced, the pressure of the water bélow raises the wheel and tlie water
passes first, between the liub of the wheel and the seat j, j, through the
passage between the turbine-like lower portion i, i, of the blades in' a
horizontal or nearly horizontal direction, and tlien ascends the passages
between the helical portions k, k, of the blades surrounding the cylindrical
hub first acting on the portions i, i, as upon the buckets of a turbine wheel,
and then against the parts above, and in both cases acting with a tendency to
produce the rotation of the wheel in one direction. When the outlet is

page_text: not much opened, or there is not a very high pressure on the inlet, and the
water is consequently passing through the meter with little velocity, the pressure
below the wheel being but little in excess of the pressure above the wheel is very
little raised from its seat, and the water is caused to pass between the wheel
and seat and through the passages between the turbine-like portions i, i, of the
blades in a horizontal direction, and thereby caused to act with great effect
upon the said portions, but when the upward pressure is greater, owing to a
greater opening of the outlet or greater pressure on the inlet, and the
velocity of the water is therefore greater, the wheel is raised higher and the
water passes between the seat j and the bottom of the wheel in a more
upward direction, and therefore acts with less effect upon the turbine-like
portions i, i, of the blades; and the wheel may be raised so high that the turbine
like action is inappreciable. Hence it will be understood that when the
water is least effective on the helical portions of the blades it is most effective
on the turbine-like portions, and vice versa. The cylinder D is represented
as not higher than the wheel E. The reason of this is that when the meter
is in operation a portion of the wheel may be above the said cylinder where,
if the tube H were not raised above the cylinder, it would be surrounded by
the wider body of water in the portion of the trunk above, which water
ascending more slowly than that in the cylinder would obstruct the revolution
of the wheel, and the more of the wheel there was exposed above the cylinder
the greater would be the obstruction and the less would be the number
of revolutions produced by a given quantity of water passing through the
wheel. By raising the tube H, above the cylinder more or less the obstruction
is more or less diminished, and vice versa, as the tube forming a continuation
of the cylinder protects the wheel from the obstructing influence of the wider
body of water above the cylinder, and hence by raising or lowering the tube
the meter may be adjusted with the greatest accuracy. When the quantity
indicated by the register is less than that actually passing, the tube H requires
to be raised, and vice versa. The tube H is more especially useful in con-
structing the first meter of a given capacity, but when the proper proportions
of the several parts of the meter have been ascertained for a meter of the
required capacity any number of meters of the same capacity may be made.
The inner cylinder or lining D may in most cases be dispensed with, and the
cylindrical portion A of the trunk be bored for the reception of the wheel E,
the seat j, j, being in such case made of a separate piece and screwed into the
bottom of the trunk.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improvements in
the Construction of Liquid Meters" as communicated to me from abroad

page_text: and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to
be understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim the
application to liquid meters of a measuring wheel made capable of rising and
falling on its shaft as the pressure of the liquid admitted below it varies, and
furnished with helical blades k, k, terminating below its hub in a form sub-
stantially like the buckets, 'of a turbine wheel applied substantially as herein
described in combination, with the seat surrounding the mouth of the inlet by:
which the. liquid. is admitted to act upon its blades, and operating as herein
set forth.
Second, the means described for adjusting the improved meter for accurate
admeasurement.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Nineteenth day of October, in the; of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
year
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66; Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)