IMPROVEMENTS IN LIQUID METERS."
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for
Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LIQUID METERS."
-A communication from abroad by José Francisco de Navarro,
of the City and State of New York, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 6th May 1871.
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 LIQUID
METERS," to be as follows:
-

page_text: While such is the general description of meter to which the Invention
relates, it is more particularly designed to be applied to nieters in which
the pistons are connected with separate crank shafts geared together to
work in concert and carrying cranks which are set at right angles or
thereabouts to each other.
The Invention consists in arranging the separate but geared revolving
crank shafts at opposite ends of the cylinders and placing the cylinders
out of line with each other on opposite sides of a common centre instead
of side by side.
The Invention also includes the use of a revolving valve in com-
bination with the separate revolving crank shafts, the whole being
geared so as to work in concert. This valve occupies what may be
termed a common central position relatively to the cylinders, and it is
driven by an intermediate toothed wheel arranged to gear with wheels
or pinions on the crank shafts, and preferably proportioned to revolve
only once for every two revolutions of the crank shafts. There is also
a revolving tubular valve and stationary valve seat with passages or
chambers connecting the seat with opposite ends of the cylinders, so that
the valve is balanced or nearly so as regards pressure of the liquid
passing through it, while the arrangement of the cylinders relatively
with the valve not only establishes a straight or direct passage for the
liquid to and from the cylinders, but (taken in connection with the
disposition of the crank shafts at opposite ends of the cylinders) effects
a driving action for the valve which is exempt from one-sided thrust or
pressure. By this arrangement a neat, compact, and efficient arrange-
ment of the parts generally is obtained.
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 6th November 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED 30
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lanc, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
'WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, tearing date the Sixth day of May, in the year of

page_text: our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,.
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent.
Newton, 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, usc,.
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IM-.
PROVEMENTS IN LIQUID METERS," being a communication to me from abroad.
by José Franciso de Navarro, of the City and State of New York, United:
States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors or administrators, by an instru--
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-.
vention, 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 Drawings:
liereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thercon (that is.
to say):
This Invention relates to double cylinder meters, the reciprocating:
pistons of which are controlled by a rotary valve common to both:
While such is the general description of meter to which the Invention
relates it is more particularly designed to be applied to meters. in which
the pistons are connected with separate crank shafts. geared together to
work in concert; also the cranks of which are set, at right angles or
thereabouts to each other; and the Invention consists in an arrange-
ment of the separate but geared revolving crank shafts at opposite ends..
of the cylinders in combination with an arrangement of the cylinders out
of line with each other on opposite sides of a common centre instead of

page_text: The Invention also includes a certain arrangement of a revolving
valve, the separate revolving crank shafts, and the gears that connect
the whole to work in concert. This valve which is here represented as
occupying what may be termed a common central position relatively to
the cylinders is driven by an intermediate toothed wheel arranged to
gear with wheels or pinions on the crank shafts, and preferably pro-
portioned to revolve only once for every two revolutions of the crank

page_text: This bonnet also serves as an inlet chamber for the liquid on its way to
the cylinders or measuring chambers, and likewise as a cover for the
valve and gear that connects the crank shafts with each other and with
the valve; F is a lower exhaust chamber or passage common to both.
cylinders; F, F, are the separate revolving crank shafts set in motion by
the pistons P, P¹, and arranged within the chambers B, B', at opposite
ends of the case and projecting through sleeves or bearings c up into
the bonnet D, where they are connected as by gear wheels G, G¹, and H,
the axes of which are arranged to lie in a common plane or thereabouts
intersecting the axes of the cylinders diagonally, as indicated by dotted
lines in Figures 1 and 4. The intermediate gear wheel H, which here
also forms a part of the tubular valve J is proportioned to revolve only
once for every two revolutions of the crank shafts. The valve J
constitutes a downwardly projecting tubular shaft to the wheel H,
and is open above and below to establish communication with the
inlet chamber or bonnet D, and with the exhaust chamber or passage E,
but is divided transversely intermediately of its length as by a
diaphragm d, above which the valve has two oppositely arranged inlet
ports e, e', and below which two oppositely arranged exhaust ports ƒ, ƒ¹,
in intermediate relation or line with the inlet ports. This cylindrical
or tubular valve revolves within a cylindrical valve seat K, open
top and bottom and divided longitudinally by abutments or surfaces
g, g¹, and h, h¹, into vertical ports or passages k, k¹, and 1, 1ª, over
which the valve in rotating sweeps to pass the liquid to and from
opposite ends of the cylinders C, C¹, as required and in timely relation
with the position of the cranks that are set so that when the one piston
is at the end of its stroke in one direction the other is halfway or there-
abouts in a reverse direction. The ports k, k¹, and 1, 1, communicato
respectively with the spaces B, B¹, which are open to one end of either
cylinder and with passages m, m², which connect with the opposite ends
of the cylinders. The ports are so proportioned and arranged or the
one abutment h¹ so reduced in width that when an inlet port passes
said abutment, also when an exhaust port in the valve passes the same,
communication is established for a brief period through the same inlet
or outlet with the two cylinders at their ends with which the two ports
k¹ and in the valve seat connect. This action which only applies to
one end of either cylinder, and which takes place when the cranks are
at what may be termed half-quarter stroke is necessary to keep up a

page_text: regular supply by the valve when running only one revolution for every
two revolutions of the crank shafts.
By the construction as herein described of the valve and the arrange-
ment of its ports or passages in connection with the ports or passages
in the valve seat, the valve becomes approximately balanced or is only
subject to the difference of pressure that exists between the incoming
and outgoing liquid, added to the weight of the valve.
The arrangement of the crank shafts also and valve causes the
connecting gear to operate with a counteracting pressure on opposite
sides of the valve, thus relieving the valve of lateral thrust and making
it run free. This feature of the Invention is irrespective of any
particular construction of rotary valve or of the number of revolutions
it makes relatively to the crank shafts. Likewise the arrangement of
the cylinders relatively to the valve establishes a straight or direct
passage for the liquid to and from the cylinders.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improvements
in Liquid Meters," as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
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,―
First. The arrangement of the separate but geared revolving crank
shafts F, F¹, and the cylinders C, O³, of the meter with their pistons
substantially as shewn and described.
Second. The arrangement of a revolving valve that controls the
movement of both pistons, the separate revolving crank shafts, and the
gears that connect the whole, to work in concert relatively to each other
and the cylinders of the meter, essentially as specified.
Third. The tubular revolving valve J, arranged to communicate at
its opposite ends with the inlet and exhaust chambers of the meter, and
constructed with opposite side inlet and outlet ports e, e¹, and f, S',
arranged in relation to each other and to a cross partition or diaphragm
d, substantially as specified.
Fourth. The combination and arrangement of the ports k, k³, and ɩ, l¹,
in the valve seat, the passages or chambers m, m³, and B, B', connecting.

page_text: with opposite ends of the cylinders and the revolving valve J, with its
inlets e, e¹, and outlets f, f¹, essentially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Sixth day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
one.