AN IMPROVED METER FOR WATER AND OTHER LIQUIDS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Woodhouse, of Parliament Street, in
the City of Westminster, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of." AN
177
AMVER
Sealed the 27th April 1855, and dated the 7th November 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Woodhouse
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 7th November 1854.
I, WILLIAM HENRY WOODHOUSE, of Parliament Street, in the City of
Westminster, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED METER FOR WATER AND OTHER LIQUIDS"-to be as
follows:-
My meter consists of a wheel with openings, chambers, or buckets in the
periphery. These openings or chambers communicate with the axis, which is
hollow; and from thence with an air-tight reservoir, filled by means of an air
pump to the required pressure; or the centre of the wheel itself may form the
reservoir, and be filled to the required pressure. The wheel revolves in a case
made to fit as closely as is consistent with the free movement of the wheel.
The water is to pass from a feed pipe to the wheel, and from the wheel to
the exit pipe through openings in the case. The openings or chambers in the
periphery of the wheel are to be fitted with pistons, which will be driven
towards the axis when the pressure of water from the feed pipe is on them,
and then the chambers will be filled with water or other liquid. Wlien the
exit pipe is open and a chamber is opposite to it, the piston at the back of

page_text: that chamber will be driven towards the periphery by the pressure of air in
the reservoir, and the chamber will be emptied. The casc fits so closely to the
wheel that no liquid can pass from the feed to the exit pipes, except by the
chambers in the periphery of the wheel; the pistons will always be driven
towards the axis by the pressure of the liquid from the feed pipe, but may
be moved in the opposite direction, either by air, as described, or by springs,
or other suitable means; a flexible diaphragm might also be substituted for
a piston. The wheel communicates with an index, shewing the number of
revolutions; consequently the capacity of all the chambers, multiplied by the
number of revolutions of the wheel, will give the total quantity of water
passed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Henry Woodhouse in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 7th May 1855..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY WOODHOUSE, of Parliament Street, in the City of Westminster, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Henry Woodhouse, Her special licence that I, the said William
Henry Woodhouse, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Henry Woodhouse, my executors, administrators, and
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
"AN IMPROVED-METER-FOR-WATER-AND-OTHER-LIQUIDS,"-upon-the-condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Henry Woodhouse, by an instru-
ment 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 William Henry Woodhouse, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to

page_text: be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
My improved meter is constructed as follows:-A wheel is formed with
chambers or buckets in the periphery. These chambers or buckets communi-
cate with the axis of the wheel, which is hollow, and from thence with an
air-tight reservoir, filled with air by means of an air pump to any required
pressure; or the centre of the wheel itself may form the reservoir, and be
filled to the required pressure. The wheel revolves in a case made to fit as
closely as is consistent with the free movement of the wheel. The water or
other liquid passes from a feed pipe to the wheel, and from the wheel to the
exit pipe through openings in the case. The chambers or buckets in the peri-
phery of the wheel are fitted with pistons, which will be driven towards the
axis when the pressure of water or other liquid from the feed pipe is on them,
and the chambers or buckets will be filled. When the exit pipe is open and
a chamber or bucket is opposite to it, the piston at the back of that chamber
or bucket will be driven towards the periphery by the pressure of air in the
reservoir, and the chamber or bucket will be emptied. The case fits so closely
to the wheel that no liquid can pass from the feed to the exit pipe, except by
the chambers or buckets in the periphery of the wheel. The pistons will
always be driven towards the axis of the wheel by the pressure of the liquid
from the feed pipe, but may be moved in the opposite direction, either by air,
as described, or by springs, or other suitable means; flexible diaphragms might
also be substituted for the pistons. The wheel communicates with an index,
shewing the number of its revolutions; consequently the capacity of all the
chambers or buckets, multiplied by the number of revolutions of the wheel, will
give the total quantity of water passed.
Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed is a longitudinal vertical
section, and Figure 2 a transverse vertical section, of a meter constructed
according to my Invention. A is the case in which the measuring wheel
revolves; B is the measuring wheel; and C, its axis, which is made hollow, as
above mentioned; D is the compressed air reservoir, which is represented
as being formed at the centre of the measuring wheel, but it may be distinct
from the measuring wheel, and connected with the centre thereof by suitable
pipes; E, E, are the chambers or buckets in the periphery of the measuring
wheel; and F, F, are the pistons fitted therein; G, G, are apertures by which
air is admitted from the reservoir D to the back of the pistons; H is the inlet.
-pipe to the case A; and.I is the outlet pipe therefrom; J is a pipe commu-
nicating with the hollow axis C, through which air is supplied to the reservoir

page_text: D by means of an air pump. The air is maintained in the reservoir at any
required pressure. The action of the meter will be readily understood from
an inspection of the Drawings, aided by the foregoing description.. The index
for registering the number of revolutions of the measuring wheel is not shewn,
but it is of the ordinary construction employed in connection with similar
apparatus.. The number of chambers or buckets in the measuring, wheel may
be varied, and the pistons may be moved outwards by springs or other con-
venient means instead of by.air; flexible. diaphragms may also be employed
instead of pistons. The diaphragms are to be attached by.their edges to the
outer parts of the chambers or..buckets, so as to close the entrance thereto,
except when acted on by the inflowing water or other liquid; they are then
distended and forced into the chambers or buckets, but recover their original
position by, their resilient.power. as soon as the chambers or buckets. come
opposite to the outlet pipe, so as to allow the water or other liquid in them.to
be discharged..
And, having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I. declare that what I' claim is,-
The construction of an improved meter for water and other liquids, by com-
bining with a cylindrical case, closed at both ends and provided with suitable
inlet and outlet passages, a measuring wheel, revolving within the case, and
having chambers or buckets-at its periphery, fitted with pistons, which are
moved towards the centre of the wheel by the pressure of the entering water
or other liquid, so as to admit of the chambers or buckets being filled in suc-
cession as the wheel revolves, and are then forced out to the periphery of the
wheel as the chambers or buckets are successively discharged of their contents
by the pressure of air compressed in a 'reservoir, communicating with or
situated at the centre of the wheel. I also claim the use of springs for the
purpose of forcing out the pistons, instead of employing air pressure; and
the use of flexible diaphragms, fitted to the chambers or buckets, instead.of
pistons, all-as-herein-before-exemplified and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Woodhouse, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of May, One thousand eight