CERTAIN IMPROVED APPARATUSES FOR MEASURING AND REGISTERING THE FLOW OF LIQUIDS, AND OF SUBSTANCES IN A RUNNING STATE, WHICH APPARATUSES ARE IN PART ALSO APPLICABLE TO MOTIVE PURPOSES
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
BROWN the younger, of Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of that part of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twentieth day of January, One thousand eight hundred
and forty-nine, in the twelfth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs
and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Samuel Brown, my exors,
adiiors, and assigns, Her special license, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Samuel Brown, my exors, adiñiors, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Samuel Brown, my exors, adiiors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and
Man, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVED APPARATUSES FOR MEASURING AND REGISTERING
THE FLOW OF LIQUIDS, AND OF SUBSTANCES IN A RUNNING STATE, WHICH APPARATUSES
ARE IN PART ALSO APPLICABLE TO MOTIVE PURPOSES;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Samuel Brown, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be perforined, by an instrument in writing under my hand and

page_text: seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and 'immediately after the date of the said in part recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more
fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said Samuel Brown, hereby declare that nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is performed, are fully described and ascertained
in and by the present Specification thereof, reference being had to the several
Sheets of Drawings hereunto annexed, marked severally Sheets I., II., III.,
JV., V., and VI., that is to say:
The first of the said improved apparatuses is a self-acting one for measuring
and registering the quantities drawn from time to time from any reservoir or
vessel containing water, spirits, beer, or other liquid.
Figure 1, Shect I., is a front elevation, partly in section, of this appa-
ratus, and Figure 2 a top plan. A is a four-way cock, by which a con-
munication is opened or closed, first between the source of supply and the
measuring apparatus, and second, between the measuring apparatus and the
tap d, by which alone the liquid is supposed to be withdrawn. B, B, are two
cylinders, which are precisely alike in their construction-and--appendages, and..
of which, theretofore, one only need be here described. M is an air-tight float
with a long stalk N, which moves freely up and down through a stuffing box
in the cylinder cover. D is a small tube mounted on the top of the cylinder,
at one side, in the bottom of which there is an orifice C, through which the
liquid may ascend from B. R is an air-tight float (similar to M, which is
connected with a valve E, by which the tube D is closed and opened at top.
L is an indicator, which is mounted on the top of the cylinder, and graduated to
a gallon (or any other integral quantity), and the aliquot parts of a gallon.
H is a pin, which projects from a boss P at the top of the stalk N of the float,
and which, as that stalk rises and falls, moves up and down in a slot 7, in the
indicator L. Qis a pointer which is attached to the pin H, and points to the
scale of parts on the indicator. F is a tumbler which is attached to the upper
and smaller end of a moveable inclined plane G, which is centred on an axis g,
which is supported by a bearing piece T bolted to the cylinder cover. Both
the tumbler F and inclined plane G are at right angles to the pin H, which, on
coming into contact with them from above, throws them back into the positions
indicated by the dotted lines. I is a counterpoise by which the tumbler and
the inclined plane are restored to their original positions on being relieved from
the pressure of the pin H. The inclined planes of both cylinders are united by
a cross bar K, so that whatever effect is produced on the inclined plane of one

page_text: side a like effect is. produced, on that of the opposite side. S is a cross bean
which oscillates between the two cylinders; but is not attached.to either of them
or to their float stalks N; it turns on an axis T', which is supported by a
standard W, W, bolted to: the top flanges of the. cylinders, and. derives its
movements from the action of the tumblers and.inclined planes as will be pre-
sently explained. The office. of this beam is to open and shut the passages of
the four-way cock A, by means of the lovers: X and,c, and .to move by means
of the pauls Z, Z, the ratchet wheels b, b, of the registering wheelwork A", a
given number of, notches round for every time either of the cylinders is
emptied.
:
.
The mode of operating. with the machine is as follows.:-Supposing both.
cylinders to be at first empty, the bean S is pressed down by hand on one side.
(it is indifferent which) into-such a position as to open, through the levers X, c,
and the cock A, a communication between the source of supply and one of the.
cylinders. The liquid will then flow into that cylinder till it completely fills
it as well as the small tube D at top (less only the spaces occupied by the
floats M and R), driving the air before it out through the valve E, which is
closed by the float R as soon as 'the filling is accomplished: The other or
raised end of the beam is next depressed also by hand, when the same course
of action which has been just described is repeated, and the other cylinder also
filled with the liquid and. exhausted of its air, but with this addition, that the
now depressed end of the cross beam coming against the boss P of the float
stalk N of the last charged cylinder, presses down that stalk till the pin H
comes under the heel of the tumbler F, and is kept down thereby with the
float attached to it until relieved by the subsequent operations of the machine.
The machine is now in a completely charged state, with both cylinders filled,
and a passage open from one of them to the tap d, as shewn in Figure 1.
But before proceeding to measure with it the falling distance between the boss P
of cach float stalk N, and the inclined plane G, which must be so adjusted
by trial as to correspond exactly with the outflow of some determinate portion
of the total quantity indicated on the scale, and this is readily accomplished by
raising or lowering the position of the boss P, on the stalk N, which is provided
for the purpose with an interior screw, and matters having been thus arranged,
whatever portion of the liquid may be afterwards drawn off' by the tap & must of
necessity be indicated and registered by the apparatus, because as the liquid
falls in the cylinder, which is open to the top d, the float in that cylinder must
also fall, and bring down along with it the float stalk N and pointer Q, which
which last will point out on the indicator L, during every stage of the descent
of the stalk, the exact quantity which has been withdrawn; and when the

page_text: pointer has descended to the bottom of the range allowed to it, the pin H,.
catching against the tumbler F and inclined plane G, will throw them, as well
as the tumbler and inclined plane, on the opposite side (through the medium
of the connecting bar K) into the positions indicated by the dotted lines, and
thereby set free the float of the second charged cylinder, the stalk of which
was held down by the tumbler F, on the opposite side, as has been just ex-
plained, whereupon the float of that second charged cylinder will by its natural
levity instantly ascend, and its stalk N force up the beam S into a position the
reverse of that which it just previously occupied, thereby reversing the relative
positions of the ways of the cock A, that is to say, turning the tap d open to
the the cylinder still to be emptied, and opening a communication between the
source of supply and the cylinder requiring to be refilled; and so the
machine will continue to operate as long as there is any liquid to be drawn off*
and measured, each rise of the floats producing a change in the ways of the
cock A, and causing one cylinder to be emptied as the other is filled, or vice
versa. Farther, as the position of the oscillating beam is reversed, only each
time a quantity of the liquid corresponding with the falling distance between
the boss P of the float stalk N, and the inclined plane G has been drawn off*
(such-quantity having been ascertained as aforesaid), this furnishes an easy
and infallible means of transmitting to the registering portion of the apparatus
a mechanical indication of the fact. The pauls Z, Z, which are used for this
purpose are attached to the beam close to its axis, one on each side, so that
the beam shall have quite completed its change of position in cach instance
before the paul whose turn it is to act can pass over the number of teeth of
the ratchet wheel corresponding to the said falling distance, which number
must also be ascertained by previous trial. When it is desired to ascertain by
inspection how much of the liquid has been withdrawn, all that is necessary is
to note the number of gallons in units, tens, hundreds, &c., entered upon the
dial plate of the registering part of the apparatus, and to add the aliquot parts
shown by the indicator.
A modification of the preceding apparatus, in so far as regards the leverage
by which the four-way tap is opened and shut, and the wheelwork is actuated, is
shewn in Sheet VI. of the Drawings. The beam $ is used to give motion to
the tap only, and the place of the rigid connecting rod X, c, is partly supplied
by chains X, a, which work crosswise round the double grooved pulley P* on
the neck of the tap. The pauls Z, Z, are worked by a separate beam S*, all
attached to an elongation of the axis of S. Figure 1 is a front view of so
much of the apparatus as is necessary to show these alterations (the indicator
and part of the wheelwork being removed), and Figure 2 a top plan of the

page_text: |pulley P. V, V, aro vulcanized india-rubber springs to keep the pauls Z, Z.,
against the ratchet wheel.
The second of the improved apparatuses aforesaid is a modification of the
preceding, and intended to serve both for measuring and registering the quan-
titics of any liquid that may from time to time be withdrawn from any vessel
in which it is stored, but also the money values corresponding to the quantities
withdrawn. Figure 1, Sheet II., is a front view of this apparatus. Figure 2 is a
side elevation, Figure 3 a back elevation, Figure 4 a plan, and Figure 5 a sec-
tion on the line a, b, of Figure 4. N is a stand or pedestal for the apparatus,
consisting of a hollow tube, which is to be placed in connection with the supply
cock or other vessel, the draughts from which are to be measured and regis-
tered. A is a four-way cock (as in the apparatus first before described) and
A¹ the handle. B, B, are two curved pipes, which branch off from A to two
cylinders C, C, which are fitted with moveable covers E, E, containing valves
D, D. F, F, are air-tight floats, which are placed in the cylinders without
any stalks, but which as they are raised by the admission of the liquid press
against and close the valves D, D. His the pipe by which the liquid is con-
veyed to the cylinders C, C. G, the pipe by which the liquid is drawn off. I;
an index plate carrying a train of wheels, the three smaller ones of which
marked W serve to indicate the quantities withdrawn, and the two larger,
marked W, the prices appertaining to these quantities. L, L, are a pair of
bevel wheels, by which the motions of the spindle of the cock A are trans-
mitted to the wheelwork, and K and M are a ratchet wheel and paul
attached at the back end of the spindle of A, whereby any reversal of the
wheelwork in front, or interference with its indications, is prevented. Sup-
posing one of the cylinders to have been filled as represented in Figure 5, then,
by turning the handle A' of the cock a quarter of a circle (say from left to
right, the ways of the cock, which had been previously in a position to allow of
that cylinder being filled from the source of supply, are reversed and allowed
to discharge itself of its contents through the pipe G, and as the liquid in it
descends the float F also descends, and the valve E is opened by the pressure
of the atmosphere from the outside, acting in the same way exactly as a vent
peg when withdrawn from a barrel, namely, to cause the liquid to flow out
freely. The same turn of the cock which leads to the preceding clearance of
one cylinder opens the communication between the other cylinder and the
source of supply, so as to cause the cylinder to be filled by the time the other
is exhausted, and so the machine goes on, one cylinder being always filled as
the other is emptied, and each cylinder filling and discharging itself twice in
the course of every complete revolution of the spindle of the cock A:

page_text: The third of the improved apparatuses aforesaid is adapted to measuring and.
registering the flow, not only of liquids, but of other substances in a. running
state, as shot, gunpowder, seeds, &c. Figure 1, Sheet III., is a front view of
this apparatus; Figure 2, a back view of it; Figure 3, a side view; Figure 4,
a top plan, and Figure 5, a cross section through the centre. P'is a pedestal or
stand; C, a barrel or case, which is supported in a transverse position by scroll
bearings from the top of the pedestal. B, B, a plug which is inserted into
the case C, and cut away on opposite sides, so as to leave on each side an open
space of some determinate cubical capacity. N, a.spring to keep up the plug
to its proper bearing in the case, and O, a bridge against which it abuts. A is
a handle to the plug, by turning which the positions of the ways may be altered
alternately, so that at one time the case shall receive and at another discharge a
quantity equal to the cubical contents of one division of the case; and T, T, are
a pair of bevilled wheels, by which cach. movement of the handle 'A is communi-
cated to the registering wheelwork attached to the front plate I. If the apparatus
is intended to be employed for the measurement of dry goods, as shot, gunpowder,
sceds, &c., a supply funnel must be affixed to the top of the case, as indicated by
dotting lines in Figure 5, and in any case the discharge may take place through
the tubo D But for-the-measurement of liquids the following modifications in
and additions to the apparatus will require to be made:-The pedestal should be
made hollow and put in communication with the source of supply, and a pipe
E be carried from the pedestal to the top of the case C; a small cylinder H
(which may be conveniently made of two diameters, as shewn, must also be
mounted on the top of the case and communicate with it, containing in the
upper or larger division of it a valve G, through which the air as it escapes is
expelled by the rise of the liquid; F is a float by which the valve G is closed
on the whole of the air being forced out. K is an 'air tube which communi-
cates with the bottom of the case. The action of the instrument is as follows:-
Supposing the plug to be moved round, say to the right, as shown in Figure 5,
so as to open a communication between the supply pipe E and the compart-
ment of the case on the off side, that compartment will be immediately filled,
as also the tube H, and the air will be driven before the liquid through the
valve G, which will then be closed by the rising of the float F; on then giving
a half turn to the plug the liquid which has been so admitted will flow through
D, and be facilitated in its escape by an inflow of air from K, while simulta-
neously therewith a communication will be opened between the supply pipe
and the other compartment, which will in its turn be filled and emptied in the
sane manner. And so the operation may be continued indefinitely, one com-
partinent being always discharged as another is filled.

page_text: Figure 2 is a sec-
Figure 3 a top plan
A fourth apparatus for measuring and registering the flow of liquids,
which differs in principle from all the preceding, is represented in Sliect IV.
of the Drawings annexed. Figure 1 is a front elevation of a single
apparatus of this kind, and Figure 4 a back elevation; half of the appa-
ratus being represented in both Drawings in section.
tional clevation of a set of three such apparatuses, and
of Figure 2. H. represents a cask about two thirds filled with some spirit or
other liquid, which is required to be casured and registered or drawn off.
It is provided with a close fitting bung S, and covered with water at top to the
depth of an inch or two, for the purpose of keeping it the better air-tight.
I is the tap. The measuring vessel consists of an air-tight drum B, which is
immersed to its centre in a cistern of water A, and also filled internally to its
centre with water. C, C, are plates by which the interior of the drum is
divided into as many different compartments, and which plates are set
obliquely in respect to the centre of the drum, so that as the drum revolves
they may enter and emerge from the water obliquely. D, D, are tubes which
admit air into each of the compartments of the druni as they rise above the
surface of the water, and R, R, apertures through which these tubes are sup-
plied with air. E is a small circular case which is attached to one side of the
drum at the centre (see Figure 2), and receives successively from the different
interior compartments through the apertures F, F, the air with 'which they'
have been charged by the tubes D, D, and which is expelled by the immersion
of the compartments in the water. Ġ is a tube which leads from the case E
to the cask H, and is bent at both ends, as shewn, in order that one end may
be raised above the level of the water in the drum, and the other may be con-
veniently inserted into the head of the cask H. K, K, are two side bearings
which carry pivots Li and M, on which the drum revolves, L consisting of a
screw with a plain point which turns in a socket in one end of the axis of the
drum, and M of a plug with a conical termination which fits into an opening
in the back of the case E. (The air tube G passes through the centre of the
plug M.) N is an indicator of the quantities withdrawn with train of wheels
a rached to it as before. O is a cog wheel which is affixed to the axis of the
drum B, and communicates the movements of the drum to the indicator. P is
a ratchet wheel and paul to prevent the action of the wheelwork from being
reversed or interfered with. Z, Z, is a ball tap to keep the water in the
cistern A at its level. The operation of the apparatus is as follows:-According
as the column of liquid in the cask H is diminished by draughts from the tap
I, air ruslíes in from the drum through the pipe G, to supply the place of the
liquid withdrawn, and the movement then imparted to the air in the drum

page_text: causes it to turn round on its pivots. Consequently, supposing the cubical
capacities of the drum and its compartments to be known, it is only necessary
to know how many measures of air each equal to the contents of a compart-
ment it has supplied to the vessel H, in order to ascertain at any time how
much liquid these measures have displaced, and this is indicated with certainty
by the number of revolutions or part revolutions made by the drum on its
axis, of which number the indicator in connection with the axis will always
exhibit a true account.
In Figures 2 and 3 three of these measuring and registering apparatuses are
represented as contained in one cistern of water, but any number may be
included which the cistern can be conveniently made 'large enough to hold.
Again, one apparatus may be made to serve for a number of separate casks by
causing the air pipe G to discharge itself into a union vessel G', common to the
whole of the casks, as represented in Figure 6.
Should it be desired at any time to ascertain how much liquid-is left in a
cask or number of casks (by way of testing the correctness of the indication, or
for any other purpose), a pressure guage or small bent glass tube, open at one
end only, is secured into each tap, as represented in Figure 5, when the pressure
of the column of liquid contained in the cask upon the column of air in the
glass tube will give the length of the column of liquid-by-applying-a-sliding.
scale, to which the quantity corresponding to the height will be ascertained.
A fifth apparatus for measuring and registering the flow of liquids is repre-
sented in Sheet V. of the Drawings. Figure 1 is a front clevation of this
apparatus, partly in section; and Figure 2 is a sectional elevation. B is an
air-tight hollow vessel of a pyramidal form; C, a broad wheel, which is
mounted on bearings F, F, in the top of B, and consists of an axle with a
number of cup-shaped leaves or arms radiating from it, but without any tyre..
A separate view of this wheel on an enlarged scale is given in Figure 3 on the
line a, b. D is a close chamber which is attached to one end of the wheel C,
and on the same axis, and is divided internally by plates curved in the same way
as the leaves of the wheel C into as many distinct compartments as the wheel
has leaves, each of which compartments is permanently filled to a greater or less
extent with shot. The liquid to be measured is received as it flows in from the
supply pipe A in the cup-shaped leaves of the wheel C, and as the wheel
revolves these discharge themselves upon an inclined plain M, whence the
liquid falls into the pyramidal vessel B. E is an indicator (of the same kind
as those before described) which is attached to the axis. G, a glass cover to
the indicator. His a discharge pipe; K, a grating inserted in the throat of
the supply pipe A, to bring the flow of the water into the drum; and L, a tap.

page_text: The mode in which the apparatus acts is as follows:-Each compartment of
the close chamber D is loaded with a given weight of shot or other suitable
material (as shewn in Figure 4) equivalent to some determinate quantity of
liquid, as a pint or half-pint, and this weight prevents the corresponding cup-
shaped leaf or bucket of the wheel from turning over till it has received a
quantity of the liquid just exceeding that weight. The number of times this
operation takes place affords of course an exact measure of the quantity of
liquid which passes through the wheel, and by deducting at any time the
quantity remaining in the pyramidal case B (which may be done by a pressure
guage, as before explained) from the quantity shewn on the indicator, the
remainder will be the quantity which has passed through the wheel and
been withdrawn through the tap H. But should it be desirable that the
discharge should take place at a higher level than the bottom of the case B,
then, in order to force the liquid up to the higher level through a pipe, such, for
example, as II, the air in the pyramidal case B must be condensed by succes
sive discharges of liquid into it until it has acquired a degree of expansive.
force sufficient to produce the desired effect. Of the several apparatuses which
have been before described, the first and fifth might be readily applied to motive
purposes, such as turning wheels, lathes, &c., and by such obvious modifications
as will readily occur to any competent workman. The measuring and regis-
tering portions of the apparatus might in these cases be dispensed with.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention in the several
parts thereof, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that
the improvements which I claim as constituting my said Invention are as
follows:-
First, I claim the apparatus for measuring and registering the flow of liquids
firstly herein-before described, in the general arrangement, combination, and
adaptation of parts of which the same consists; that is to say, in so far as
respects the self-acting modes or means by which the measuring cylinders are
freed from air; the rising and falling movements of the cylinder floats are
transmitted to an oscillating beam unattached to the cylinders, and thence to a
registering train of wheels. The supply and discharge passages are alternately
opened and shut by an oscillating beam, and the float stalks are held down and
liberated alternately, all as before described.
Second, I claim the apparatus secondly before described, in so far as regards
the peculiar combination of means by which it both measures and registers the
flow of liquids from vessels, and exhibits the money values of the quantities so
measured and registered, and the application of so much of the said apparatus
as relates to the money values to other liquid measuring machines.

page_text: Third, I claim the apparatus thirdly before described in so far as regards the
combination of means by which the measuring and registering are effected, by
the turning merely of the tap handle. And I claim it both as constructed for
measuring and registering the flow of solids in a running state, and with the
additions and modifications necessary for its adaptation to liquids, as before
explained.
Fourth, I claim the apparatus fourthly before described in so far as regards
the measuring of liquids withdrawn from vessels by the quantity of air admitted
to supply their place, and the application to that purpose of air which has been
previously measured by an air-tight drum revolving in water (as to which itself
I make no claim), or by, any other suitable instrument, and registered by an
indicator attached to such drum or other instrument.
And fifth, I claim the pyramidal apparatus fifthly before described in so far
as regards the open wheel C, the weighted close chamber D, and the employ-
ment of compressed air to raise the measured and registered liquid when it is
required to be delivered at a high level.
And I claim also the application generally of compressed air for the purpose
aforesaid.
In witness whoroof I the said Samuel Brown have herounto cot man houd
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twentieth day of July, in the
year of our Lord 1849, the aforesaid Samuel Brown came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute made for that purpose.