IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE FLOW OF LIQUIDS, PARTLY APPLICABLE TO ORDINARY WATER CISTERNS
Year: 1860

page_text: the County of Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of
Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE FLOW OF LIQUIDS, PARTLY APPLICABLE TO
ORDINARY WATER CISTERNS."-A communication from abroad by Augustin
Maria Harland of Paris in the maira of Wrance
Sealed the 9th April 1861, and dated the 22nd October 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 22nd October 1860.
I. JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North
Britain, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE FLOW OF LIQUIDS, PARTLY
APPLICABLE TO ORDINARY WATER CISTERNS," a communication from abroad by
Augustin Marie Herland, of Paris, in the Empire of France, to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
apparatus whereby the flow or amount of consumption of liquids is indicated
in a simple and efficient manner, and consists, as applied to a service or house
[Price 8d.]

page_text: cistern, in so combining the feed or supply pipe of the cistern with the discharge
cock or pipe that the opening of the one will effect the simultaneous closing of
the other, and vice versa; the level of the water in the cistern being by this
means made to fall when the water is drawn off therefrom, and to rise again
when the feed or supply is turned on, but in no case can the water be drawn
off simultaneously with the inlet or supply of fresh water to the cistern. This
peculiar combination of the feed pipe with the discharge pipe is effected by
means of a cock, into the body or shell of which both pipes open, but the plug
of which is provided with corresponding apertures, or with a groove or channel
so disposed that the opening of one orifice in the body of the cock will close
the other, and vice versa. The consequent alternate rising and falling of the
level of the water in the cistern is made to impart a rotatory motion to the
spindle of a counter by the agency of a float inside the cistern, and a counter-
weight outside the float, and counterweight being suspended from cords or chains
which pass each over a pulley on the spindle above referred to. The pulley
of the float is loose upon the spindle, but when it rotates in one direction it
imparts a rotatory motion to the spindle by a system of palls and a ratchet
wheel, whilst during its rotation in the contrary direction, the palls pass round
the ratchet wheel without influencing it, and consequently without actuating
the connecting mechanism, which may be of any convenient construction.
The palls and ratchet may be so arranged as to come into action during the
descent of the float, thereby showing the amount of liquid drawn off from the
cistern, or during the ascent of the float, so as to show the amount of liquid
supplied to the cistern. The upper part of the float may be made conical, so
that when the cistern is nearly full it will rise and fit closely into an air-hole
or vent in the lid or cover, and by thus precluding the escape of the air
prevent the further influx of water therein and overflowing of the cistern. In
order to prevent any derangement of the apparatus by the freezing of the
water in the cistern, it is proposed to form a separate chamber or compartment
in the bottom or sides of the cistern, which is to be kept supplied with warm
water by pipes for that purpose. This arrangement is obviously applicable to
all house or service cisterns when the water therein is liable to become frozen
in inclement weather.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Henry Johnson, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd April 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County Middlesex,
and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Henry Johnson, Her special license that I, the said
John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Henry Johnson, 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 APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE FLOW OF
LIQUIDS. PARTLY APPLICABLE TO ORDINARY WATER CISTERNS," a communication
from abroad by Augustin Maric Herland, of Paris, in the Empire of
France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Henry
Johnson, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, or under the hand and seal of one of them, 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 John Henry Johnson, 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 accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
The said Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
apparatus whereby the flow or amount of consumption of liquids is indicated
in a simple and efficient manner, and consists, as applied to a service or house
system, in so combining the feed or supply pipe of the cistern with the
discharge cock or pipe that the opening of the one will effect the simultaneous

page_text: closing of the other, and vice versa; the level of the water in the cistern
being by this means made to fall when the water is drawn off therefrom, and
to rise again when the feed or supply is turned on, but in no case can the
water be drawn off simultaneously with the inlet or supply of fresh water to
the cistern. This peculiar combination of the feed pipe with the discharge
pipe is effected by means of a cock, with the body or shell of which both pipes
open, but the plug of which is provided with corresponding apertures, or with
a groove or channel, so disposed that the opening of one orifice in the body of
the cock will close the other, and vice versa. The consequent alternate rising
and falling of the level of the water in the cistern is made to impart a Totatory
motion to the spindle of a counter by the agency of a float inside the cistern,
and a counterweight outside the float, and counterweight being suspended
from cords or chains which pass each over a pulley on the spindle above
referred to. The pulley of the float is loose upon the spindle, but when it
rotates in one direction it imparts a roiatory motion to the spindle by a system
of palls and a ratchet wheel, whilst during its rotation in the contrary direction
the palls pass round the ratchet wheel without influencing it, and consequently
without actuating the counting mechanism, which may be of any convenient
construction. The palls and ratchet may be so arranged as to come into action
during the descent of the float, thereby shewing the amount of liquid drawn
off from the cistern, or during the ascent of the float, so as to show the amount
of liquid supplied to the cistern. The upper part of the float may be made
conical, so that when the cistern is nearly full it will rise and fit closely into
an air-hole or vent in the lid or cover, and by thus precluding the escape of
the air prevent the further influx of water therein and overflowing of the
cistern. In order to prevent any derangement of the apparatus by the freezing
of the water in the cistern, it is proposed to form a separate chamber or
compartment in the bottom or sides of the cistern, which is to be kept supplied
with warm water by pipes for that purpose. This arrangement is obviously
applicable to all house or service cisterns where the water therein is liable to
become frozen in inclement weather.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
Figures.
In the first modification, represented by Figs. 1, 2, and 3 of the Drawings,
a reservoir is used having two orifices made therein, the one O serving. to
admit the rod of the float T, whilst the other is intended to receive the stop
:

page_text: cock R, which is in communication with the two pipes S, F, one of which
supplies the water to the reservoir, whilst the other serves to distribute or
discharge the water therefrom. The plug of this cock is perforated with two
holes, so disposed that they will never be both in communication at the same
time with the orifices F and S. The cock is opened and closed by a handle P,
to which it is simply necessary to impart a quarter turn, or a half turn,
according as it is desired to fill or to empty the reservoir or cistern. If it be
preferred to operate upon the cock automatically, the arrangement shewn at
Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, may be adopted. Upon the cistern is mounted a
frame or standard a, carrying two bearings b, b, in which work the journals
of an eccentric disc (Figs. 5, 6, and 7). This disc is driven by a pulley c.
upon which is wound a cord d. terminating at one end in the float e, and at
the other in the counterweight f. The eccentrics are so arranged that each
time the float is down or up the levers terminated by the rollers fall into
one of the notches 1, 2, and consequently cause the cock to be opened or
closed through the chain i and wheel j, which may, if desired, be replaced by
a lever or beam. The operation of the cock in this arrangement is the
same as before, that is to say, it is alternately in communication with the
supply pipe and the discharge pipe through the passage K made in the plug
of the cock, as shewn in Figs. 4 and 8.
In lieu of this arrangement, which is preferable when there is only one
undivided reservoir or cistern, a division or partition might be inserted into
the reservoir, in which case the following arrangement may be employed:-
Figs. 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 represent a reservoir having a central division,
whereby the apparatus need never be empty, since the water enters one
chamber whilst the other is emptying, but it must be understood that the
water cannot enter and leave the same chamber simultaneously. For this
purpose the cock consists of a body or socket m, in which is ground the
plug n, divided into two compartments by the partition o (Fig. 10), each
compartment communicating by the pipes P, P¹, respectively with each
chamber of the cistern, as shewn in Fig. 9. The front compartment of the
cock, or that which communicates with the pipe or nozzle q, is intended to
allow of the outlet of the water from either of the two chambers. The second
compartment of the cock, or that which is in communication with the pipe r,
conducts the water from any source of supply into the two chambers of the
cistern. Figs. 11, 12, and 13 are three sections along to the lines A, B, C, D,
C', D', which shew the relative positions of the various openings in the plug
of the cock. When one of the holes S of the first compartment A of the
plug communicates, for example, with the chamber or division A', the opposite

page_text: hole S of the second compartment B of the plug communicates with the other
half or division B¹ of the cistern, at the same time one of the holes t com-
municates with the pipe q to conduct the water in the reservoir to its
destination, and the pipe r admits a supply of water into the chamber or
division B. By means of this combination of holes suitably disposed in the
plug, there will always be a supply of water in the reservoir or cistern, for, if
one of the chambers is emptied, the other at the same time is filling, and vice
versa. It is not essential that these holes be perpendicular to each other, as
shewn in the Drawings; they may be arranged in any other manner, provided
they fulfil the conditions above set forth. They might even be replaced by four
holes made in the thickness of the division O. Fig. 10ª represents the com-
bination of two reservoirs, similar to that of Fig. 4, whereby the same result is
obtained as by having a divided reservoir.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or 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, the general construction, arrangement, and
combination of apparatus for measuring the flow of liquids, and regulating
the supply of liquids to and from cisterns or reservoirs, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-second day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-one.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)