Ix- PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE FLOW OF WATER IN PIPES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Frederick Deacon, of Liverpool, in the
County of Lancaster, Oivil Engineer, for the Invention of "Ix-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE FLOW OF WATER IN PIPES."
Sealed the 22nd June 1875, and dated the 5th January 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Frederick Deacon
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 5th January 1875.
I, GEORGE FREDERICK DEACON, of Liverpool, in the County of Lan-
caster, Oivil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE FLOW OF WATER
IN PIPES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements made with the object of
reducing the wear and increasing the efficiency of Inventions for which
Patents have already been granted to me. The first on the 14th March
1872, No. 937, entitled "Improvements in Apparatus for Measuring the
Flow of Water in Pipes;" the second on the 29th December 1873, No.
4261, entitled "Apparatus for Indicating the Velocity or Measuring the
Flow of Water in Pipes:

page_text: In those Specifications a disc, ball, or other object was in some cases
supported in the waterway by a wire, this wire passed through a hole
or stuffing box to a chamber above. When in action the wire has a slow
but generally continuous motion through a longer or shorter distance,
according to the degree of variation in the velocity of flow of the water.
I find that in practice this arrangement answers remarkably well so
long as the wire and the hole through which it passes to the chamber
above are in good condition. The disc however has a tendency when the
water surrounding it is in motion to sway slightly, and to hang nearer
to one side of the cone than the other. The effect of this is to produce a
sawing action on the hole through which the wire passes, and this action
will in the course of time, whatever may be the materials used, enlarge
that hole and allow an inconvenient quantity of water to pass. I there-
forc guide the disc without interfering with the effective sectional area of
the cone by placing in the tail piece or outlet a vertical tube concentric
with the cone and supported at its upper end by the disc scat. I place on
the under side of the disc and concentric therewith a rigid stem, which
sliding in the above-mentioned tube guides the disc vertically in the
cone. To this arrangement I sometimes add a tube above the disc,
similar to that below the disc, as a guide for the rigid stem of the disc.
Or in lieu of this arrangement I lengthen the stem on the upper side of
the disc and surround it with a guide tubo. Or I may employ guides
arranged in any other suitable manner, but I prefer to arrange them in
such a way that the sectional area of the waterway will not be interfered
with and the effect on the disc of a given velocity of water altered. I
find also that the wire being thin is always affected and ultimately
<rendered too weak for its work by the electric current set up between
the cast-iron pipe and the brass of the disc when tho instrument is
employed to measure water containing certain impurities even in very
small quantities. Such impurities are contained in nearly all waters used
for the supply of towns, and I find it desirable therefore to insulate tho
wire from the disc by making the connection through the medium of a
piece of lignum vitæ coated with a solution of shellac and spirits of
wine or by some other non-conducting material to break the electric
current.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Frederick Deacon in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 5th July 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
FREDERICK DEACON, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said George Frederick Deacon, Her
special license that I, the said George Frederick Deacon, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Frederick
Deacon, my executors, administrators, and, assigns, should at any time
5 agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE FLOW OF WATER
O IN PIPES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George
Frederick Deacon, 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
5 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 George Frederick Deacon, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
O is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
The object of this Invention is to diminish the wear and increase the
efficiency of certain parts of Iventions for which two Patents have
already been granted to me, the first on the 14th March 1873, No. 937,
5 entitled "Improvements in Apparatus for Measuring the Flow of Water
in Pipes;” the second on the 29th December 1873, No. 4264, entitled

page_text: "Improvements in Apparatus for Indicating the Velocity or Measuring
tho Flow of Water in Pipes."
In the apparatus described in those Patents and illustrated in Figure A,
Sheet 1, and Figure A, Sheet 2, of the Patent of March 14th 1873,
No. 937, and in Figuro B, Sheet 2, of the Patent of 29th December, 1873, i
No. 4264, a disc, ball, or other object was hung in the waterway by a
fine wire passing through a bush of metal or other substance. This wire
has a longitudinal action within the bush, and as the disc, ball, or other
object which it supports sometimes sways slightly in the waterway, a
lateral pressure is produced against the sides of the hole in the bush
which is therefore. more quickly worn larger than would be the case if
such lateral pressure did not exist. I therefore guide the disc, ball, or
other object in such a manner that its motion can only take place in an
approximately straight line passing through the axis of the bush, but in
doing so it is important to avoid altering the sectional area of the water- 1
way about the disc, ball, or other object in such a manner that the
pressure on the disc, ball, or other object due to the velocity of the water
will be influenced thereby, and its former dependence upon the accurate
turning of the disc, ball, or other object and boring of the cono thus
altered. Any guides in short would be objectionable which had the
effect of causing eddies, or which by increasing the difficulty of accurate
construction would increase the liability to error in the measurement of
te water. I therefore clongate the rigid stem of the disc and allow it to
slide within a tube, either below the disc, above and below the disc, or
above the disc only; or I may use a tube instead of the rigid stem of the
disc, and allow it to slide upon a fixed rod concentric with the bush and
cone, or I may arrange guides in many other obvious ways to maintain
the disc in a path concentric with the axis of the bush and cone.
I have tried successfully several of the arrangements named, but the
one which experience has led me to consider the best is that illustrated
in Figure 1 which is a sectional elevation of the apparatus I now employ,
and in which the disc D and stem F are guided by the tubo G, at the
upper end of which is the bush K through which the wire H passes to
the pencil and guide wheels J.
In order to explain more fully the complete apparatus in the form in
which I have found it most efficient, I may add that in Figure 1 A. is
the inlet from main; B is the outlet to main; C is the gauge tube;

page_text: Dis the disc equal in diameter to upper end of gauge tube; E is the
disc seat; F is the rigid stem of disc guided by G, a brass tube; H is a
German silver wire connecting end of stem F with J, guide wheels and
pencil; K is a brass bush through which wire H passes; L is a counter-
balance weight connected with guide J by M, a cord; O is a well to
collect water oozing through bush K; P, a pipe connected by a channel
with well O to carry off droppings of water; Q, a perforated diaphragm,
to equalise the flow of water. When the water is at rest the disc D is
held by the counterweight L against the lower end of the guide tube &
and exactly fills the upper end of the gauge tube Ċ. A flow of water in
the direction of the arrows presses down the disc D and raises the
weight L until the excess of pressure on the upper surface of the diso
due to the velocity is so far relieved by the annular area surrounding the
disc as to be balanced by the weight L. It is therefore obvious that for
each particular velocity the dise and pencil will assume particular
positions in relation to the zero or position of rest. R is the drum of
zinc carrying a paper diagram divided by horizontal lines, to the zero or
highest of which the pencil is set by an adjusting screw when the water
is at rest. The number of gallons per hour passing through the meter
when the pencil stands at any other horizontal line has been determined
by trial, and is marked on that line, and the time at which each par-
ticular quantity was passing is also shown by reference to the vertical
hour lines, 24 in number, into which the diagram is divided, and each
of which is presented to the pencil at the hour marked upon it by the
clockwork S wound once in 7 days when the meter is in use. The
diagram drawn by the pencil shows the supply in gallons per hour to
the district at every instant, and distinguishes the waste from the use of
water by the steady nature of the line due to the former, and by the
variable flow registered for the latter. The clock is constructed of
metals not liable to damage by moisture, which however need not be
present. T is the clock and drum case; U is the hinged and locked
cover; V is an india-rubber ring to keep damp air from passing into
case and softening diagram paper; W is an independent surface cover
in footway; X is a cement joint,
By removing six nuts all the parts marked D, F, G, Q, K, O, H, J, L,
M, R, P, S, may if necessary be removed at once without opening the
ground. A circular hole Y, Z, will then be left, and this having been
covered with a blank flange the water may be again turned on.

page_text: By lifting the weight L off the pulley and allowing the disc to rest on
the seat E the meter may be put out of gear when diagrams are not
required.
The second part of my Invention has for its object the reduction of
the electric current which in some waters is set up along the wire sus- 5
pending the disc in the water, and which has often been found to have
weakened the wire until it broke. Instead therefore of attaching the
wire directly to the stem of the disc, ball, or other object, I interposo
an insulating medium.
One of the arrangements by which I have successfully attained the 10
object in view is shown in Figure 2, where A is the section of the upper
end of the disc stem formed in this case of a hollow tube; B is a plug
of metal fixed therein and having a tapered hole through it; C is a plug
of lignum vitæ coated with an insulating substance, such as shellac, and
to this plug the wire D is fixed; E is a hole cut in the tubular stem 15
through which to pass the wire and wooden plug. This arrangement
has been found perfectly successful in practice.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I claim as my
improvements in apparatus for measuring the flow of water in pipes,―
First. The use in connection with either of my above-named former 20
patented apparatus, of a guide or guides for the disc, ball, or other object
or some part rigidly connected therewith, substantially as described.
Second. The interposition of an insulating material between the disc,
ball, or other object, and the wire used in either of my above-named
former patented apparatus.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Frederick Deacon, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of June, in
tho year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
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