IMPROVE- MENTS IN WATER METERS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Kennedy, of Kilmarnock, in the County of
Ayr, North Britain, Water Meter Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN WATER METERS."
Sealed the 17th August 1866, and dated the 20th February 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Kennedy at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 20th
February 1866.
I, THOMAS KENNEDY, of Kilmarnock, in the County of Ayr, North Britain,
Water Meter Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER METERS," to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to water meters of the cylinder-and-piston class, and
more particularly to the kind described in the Specification of Letters Patent
granted to the present applicant, and dated 20th January 1852 (No. 13,899),
and the present improvement consists in employing a deep metallic piston in
combination with what is known as "rolling packing." The piston is made
by preference of ordinary cast iron or of malleable cast iron, and is made as
light as possible, being in shape like a short cylinder, with only one end plate

page_text: for the attachment of the piston rod. Projecting flanges are cast on the outer
cylindrical surface at the top and bottom, and these serve to retain the rolling
packing, which consists of a ring of vulcanised rubber of a circular section,
and which is got into its place by being stretched a little to pass over one of
the flanges. The space between the flanges is considerably deeper than the
rubber ring, and as the piston travels from one end of the cylinder to the
other the rubber ring acts as a moving roller between the piston and the
inside of the cylinder. The piston may be coated with tin or with suitable
varnish to prevent its being corroded by the water.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Kennedy in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th August 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
KENNEDY, of Kilmarnock, in the County of Ayr, North Britain, Water Meter
Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Kennedy, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Kennedy, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Thomas Kennedy, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN WATER METERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Thomas Kennedy, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Thomas Kennedy, do heroby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the saune is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, that is to say:
My said Invention relates to water meters of the cylinder-and-piston class,
and more particularly of the kind described in the Specification of Letters
Patent granted to me and dated 20th January 1852 (No. 13,899). And in
order that my said Invention, and the manner of performing the same, may bo
properly understood, I have hereunto appended a Sheet with an explanatory
Drawing, to be herein-after referred to, and representing an example of my
improved arrangements.
My present improvement consists in employing a deep piston of any
suitable metal in combination with what is known as "rolling packing." The
piston is made by preference of ordinary cast iron or of malleable cast iron,
and it is made as light as possible, and by preference of the form shown in the
accompanying Drawing, which represents the piston in section, that is to say,
the piston is shaped like a short cylinder A, with only one end plate B for the
attachment of the piston rod C. A boss D is formed on the end plate B, and
is bored to receive a bush E on the piston rod C. The rod C is covered with
sheet copper, and the bush E, which is of gun metal is fixed to it by a steel
pin F, and is perfectly closed upon it by soldering or sweating. The bottom
end of the bush is also filled up with solder at G, to prevent access of water
to corrode the piston rod C. The bush E is fixed in the piston by means of
a screw nut H. Projecting flanges I, J, are cast at the top and bottom of
the cylindrical part A, and these serve to retain the rolling packing, which
consists of a ring K of vulcanised rubber of a circular section (in its
uncompressed state), and which is got into its place by being stretched a little
to pass over one of the flanges I or J. The space between the flanges is
considerably deeper than the rubber ring K, and as the piston travels from
one end of the cylinder to the other the rubber ring acts as a moving roller
between the piston and the inside of the cylinder. The piston may be coated
with tin or with suitable varnish to prevent its being corroded by the
water.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I have to state that I do not restrict
myself to the precise details herein described and delineated, but that what I
believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the application to water
meters of the cylinder-and-piston class of pistons of any suitable metal

page_text: combined with "rolling packing," and constructed and arranged substantially
as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Kennedy, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
THOS. KENNEDY. (LS.)