CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN METERS FOR GAS AND OTHER FLUIDS
Year: 1857

page_text: was
given
prescriven
by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alfred Vincent Newton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 2nd
September 1857.-A communication.
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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN METERS FOR GAS
AND OTHER FLUIDS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates, firstly, to the employment in a meter for gas or other
fluids, either aeriform or liquid, of a system of ports of similar size and form
fitted with a single valve, which is opened by the pressure of the gas or fluid,
whose flow is to be measured in such a manner as to give at any time the
same area of opening to every port, in combination with an engine which is
driven by the gas or fluid passing through one port of the system, and is
thereby caused to give motion to a registering apparatus. The system of ports
and valves operate upon the principle that a definite quantity of any fluid,
under a certain pressure, will pass through an orifice or passage of certain
form and dimensions within a given time, the measurement by the motion of
the engine of the quantity passing through the one port in direct communica-
tion with the engine serving as an index to the aggregate quantity passing
through the whole system of ports.

page_text: The Invention relates, secondly, to an improved construction of engine
operated by the pressure of the gas or other fluid for giving motion to the
indicating apparatus of gas and other fluid meters. This engine is applicable
to meters in which the novel system of ports and valve is used, or to those in
which such engine performs the whole measurement. It consists of a
cylindrical box or shell, having a partition dividing it transversely to its axis
into two chambers, each of which contains one of two flexible metallic
chambers, constructed of an even number of metal discs, connected together
in pairs at their edges so as to form cells, which cells are connected at their
centres by lateral passages. The flexible chambers thus formed are each con-
nected with the cylindrical box by passages running down to the centre
chambers at opposite sides of the vertical partition. These chambers dilate
very readily to a considerable extent, when a fluid under pressure is admitted
to the interior, the discs assuming a concave form on their inner sides, but the
said chambers contract again by the elasticity of the metal (which may be
corrugated if desired), as the escape of the fluid from the interior is permitted,
and such contraction is further increased by subjecting them to an external
pressure. It is obvious that the capacity of the chambers or divisions of the
cylindrical or outer box containing the flexible chamber is diminished and
increased as the latter are dilated and contracted, and this is taken advantage
of to employ the outer and inner chambers as measuring chambers. Each of
these four chambers is furnished with an inlet and outlet valve, which receive
motion through suitable mechanism, to adnit and discharge the gas or liquid
required to be measured from the dilating and contracting movements of the
flexible chambers.
The last part of the Invention relates to an improvement in the valve seats,
and consists simply in bevelling their edges, by which means the valves are
prevented from adhering to their seats by reason of deposits of impurities
thereon, as often happens in gas meters having valves and seats of the ordinary
construction.