IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER METERS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frank Wirth, of the Firm of Wirth & Company,
Patent Agency, of Frankfort-on-the-Main, in the Empire of
Germany, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER METERS."
A communication from the German Waterwork Association, of
Frankfort-on-the-Main, in the Empire of Germany.
Sealed the 1st February 1876, and dated the 16th August 1875.

page_text: from all other driving wheels of the kind in that it is provided with an
inner division as well as with horizontal partitions attached above and
below which serve for the purpose, and give to the water a certain and
constant cross sectional motion, so that the water when flowing through
with varying velocity is always in exact proportion to the number of
rotations marked on the dial, which has been thoroughly proved by a
number of experiments.
Second. From the time it enters till it flows from the meter the water
is kept in a horizontal plane, whereby impuritics cannot be deposited
and the inserting of these meters in the mains is greatly facilitated;
this can only be attained with other meters by the water being again
raised to the horizontal level of the mains by means of a vertical tube.
Third. The water exercises on the small wheel which serves for
measuring and is moved by the water only a lateral pressure, and as
hereby the pressure rests similarly on both sides of the periphery, no
lateral friction is produced on the axis of the wheel. Pressure in a
vertical sense does not exist, and hence there exists only friction at the
lower pivot of the axis which is produced by the weight of the small
wheel only, and its weight is so small that the loss by friction can be
altogether disregarded. Hence the water has only to overcome one.
resistance in its passage through the meter, namely, the momentum of
the registering hand and wheels.
Fourth. With regard to the construction the following is new and
peculiar In order that the water passing through the meter may be
conveyed in equal quantities against the common horizontal planes, the
two inlet channels are of exactly the same dimensions, and the channel
for the outflow of the water is passed through the lower inlet channel.
The transmission works which transfer the rotations of the driving
wheel to the counting mechanism is much simplified in being constructed
upon the head piece. The technical difficulties which presented them-
selves in manufacturing the body of the meter, especially in casting
the channels, are obviated in that the interior division wall is not
necessary, the same being replaced by a shell in the shape of a ring in
which the slits for the entrance and egress of the water are easily
made.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Frank Wirth in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 5th February 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANK
WIRTH, of the Firm of Wirth & Company, Patent Agency, of Frankfort-
on-the-Main, in the Empire of Germany, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Frank Wirth, Her special licence that
I, the said Frank Wirth, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Frank Wirth, my executors, admini-
strators, 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, excrcise, and vend
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
WATER METERS," a communication from the German Waterwork
Association, of Frankfort-on-the-Main, in the Empire of Germany,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Frank Wirth,
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 Frank Wirth, do hereby declaro
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 Drawing
forming a part of this Specification.
The water meter shewn on the annexed Drawing is distinguishable
by the following particulars from all other liquid meters as yet manu-
factured.

page_text: Fourth. The arrangement of letting the liquid play on both sides of
the driving wheel at once.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frank Wirth, have hercunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
six.