IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING AND REGISTERING THE FLOW OF LIQUIDS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Adolphus Frankenberg, of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR MEASURING AND REGISTERING THE FLOW OF LIQUIDS."
Sealed the 4th April 1871, and dated the 8th October 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Adolphus Frankenberg
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 8th October 1870.
I, ADOLPHUS FRANKENBERG, of Manchester, in the County of Lan-
caster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING AND REGISTERING THE FLOW OF LIQUIDS,"
to be as follows:-
This apparatus is designed principally to be used in connection with
an improved apparatus for raising and drawing off liquids, for which
I have filed a petition for Letters Patent, No. 2522, dated September
20th, A.D. 1870, but it is also equally applicable under all circumstances
where the liquid to be measured and registered flows through a tap or

page_text: pipe under a moderate amount of pressure. Inside the tap or tube I
screw or otherwise fix an inner tube, fitting at one end water-tight into
the outer tube, but being gradually reduced towards its other end until
the latter forms a semicircle corresponding to about one-half the
diameter of the original tube. Opposite to this semicircular mouth and
inside the outer tube I mount a small water wheel or fan, the vanes
of which correspond in form with and work water-tight against the
semicircular mouth of the inner tube, at the same time that they
correspond in form with and revolve water-tight in the interior of the
outer tube. The wheel or fan is mounted upon a transverse axle or
spindle, one end of which passes out through the tube, and has a toothed
wheel or pinion keyed thereon which drives any ordinary or suitable
arrangement of counting and registering mechanism similar to that of
a gas meter for instance. It will be evident that upon the tap being
opened and the liquor commencing to run through the pipe, as it acts
against only one side of the wheel or fan, it will cause the latter to
revolve. In connection with the counting apparatus is a notched wheel
provided with a catch which is pressed down by a spring so as to fall
into one of the notches and prevent the wheels from revolving. This
catch is raised by pressing a small button on the tap when the latter
is turned, and the liquid will then continue to flow till the catch falls
into the next notch, indicating that a certain definite quantity has been
drawn off, the catch will then stop the wheels and prevent the flow of
the liquid, so that although the tap may remain open no more liquid
than a certain amount will flow through without again pressing the
:button.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Adolphus Frankenberg in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 8th April 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ADOLPHUS 30
FRANKENBERG, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of October, in the year of

page_text: our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs. and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Adolphus Frankenberg, Her, special license
that I, the said Adolphus Frankenberg, my executors,, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Adolphus Frankenberg, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR MEASURING AND REGISTERING THE FLOW OF LIQUIDS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Adolphus Frankenberg, 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 Adolphus Frankenberg, do hereby
declare 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 and accompanying Drawings (that is to
say):
This apparatus is applicable under all circumstances where the liquid
to be measured and registered flows through a tap or pipe under a
moderate amount of pressure. Inside the tap or tube I screw or other-
wise fix an inner tube fitting at one end water-tight into the outer tube,
but being gradually reduced towards its other end. until the latter forms
a semicircle corresponding to about one-half the diameter of the
original tube; opposite to this semicircular mouth and inside the outer
tube I mount a small water wheel or fan the vanes of which correspond
in form with and work water-tight against the semicircular mouth of
the inner tube at the same time that they correspond in form with and
revolve water-tight in the interior of the outer tube, or the wheel or .
fan may revolve in a cylindrical box having inlet and outlet openings so
arranged that only one side of the wheel is exposed. to the action of the
fluid. The wheel or fan is mounted upon a transverse axle or spindle

page_text: one end of which passes out through the tube and has a toothed wheel
or pinion keyed thereon which drives any ordinary or suitable arrange-
ment of counting and registering mechanism similar to that of a gas
meter for instance. It will be evident that upon the tap being opened
and the liquor commencing to run through the pipe as it acts against
only one side of the wheel or fan it will cause the latter to revolve.
In connection with the counting apparatus is a notched wheel or disc
provided with a catch which is acted upon by a spring so as to fall into
one of the notches and prevent the wheels from revolving. This catch
is raised by pressing a small button on the tap when the latter is turned
and the liquid will then continue to flow till the catch falls into the
notch indicating that a certain definite quantity has been drawn off,
the catch will then stop the wheels and prevent the flow of the liquid,
so that although the tap may remain open no more liquid than a certain
amount will flow through without again pressing the button.
Such being the nature and object of my said Invention for " Improve-
ments in Apparatus for Measuring and Registering the Flow of Liquids,"
I will now proceed to describe more in detail the manner in which the
same is to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect, and
in order that the same may be clearly understood I have annexed here-
unto a Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof, and have marked the same
with figures and letters of reference corresponding with those in the
following explanation thereof.
Fig. 1 in the annexed Drawing is a side elevation (shown partly in
section) of my improved measuring and registering apparatus; Fig. 2 is
a front view, and Fig. 3 a plan view of the same as seen from above.
a, a, is the supply pipe connected to the cask or vessel from which
the liquid is to be drawn, and b, b, the discharge pipe; c, c, is a plug
or tap for opening and closing the pipe a, a, and d, d, is a cylindrical
box, the opposite sides of which communicate with the pipes a, a,
and b, b, respectively. In this box is mounted a wheel or fan e, e,
turning liquid-tight therein and so arranged that only one side of its
centre (the lower side) is exposed to the action of the fluid in the
pipe a, a. Instead of this wheel or fan being mounted in a cylindrical
box it may be fitted in the interior of the pipe a, a, (as shown at Fig. 4)
and the fluid be directed against one side of its centre only by means
of an inner tube f,f, which at one end fills the tube a, a, but is gradually

page_text: reduced to a semicircular form at the end impinging on the wheel or
fan. The axle of the wheel or fan passes out through a stuffing box and
carries a bevil pinion 9, 9, in gear with a bevil wheel h, h, on an upright
spindle i, i, which by means of a spur wheel and pinion k, k, drives
another upright spindle 7, l. This second spindle carries a notched wheel
or disc m, m, provided with a catch n, n, acted upon by a spring o, o,
coiled round the spindle p, p. The other or lower end of this spindle has
fixed to it a bell-crank lever q, q, one arm of which has attached to it
a button r, r', and the other carries a toothed quadrant 8, 8, in gear with
a tooth wheel on the top of the plug or tap c, c. An ordinary train of
counting and registering wheels t, t, is connected to and driven by a
worm u, u, on the spindle 1, 1. When liquid is required to be drawn the
button r, r, must be pressed inwards which will withdraw the catch n, n,
from the notch of the disc m, m, and at the same time by means of the
bell-crank lever q, q, open the tap c, c. The liquid will then imme-
diately commence to flow from the discharge pipe and in its passage
will cause the wheel or fan to revolve which will actuate the notched
disc m and registering wheels t, t. As soon as the notched disc has
made one revolution the wheels will have indicated that a certain
definite measure (say, half a noggin or half a pint, for instance) of
liquid has passed through the tap, the catch n, n, will by the action of
the spring o, o, immediately fall into the notch and stop the wheels, the
tooth rack 8, 8, at the same time closing the tap c, c, and it will be
evident that each time the button is pressed it will measure out and
register a certain definite quantity so that not only is the liquid correctly
measured and waste prevented but the quantity drawn out of each tap is
accurately registered and can be checked as often as may be required.
If preferred an ordinary band tap may be fitted to the discharge pipe b, b,
in order further to prevent the possibility of leakage.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention,
together with the manner in which the same is to be or may be per-
formed or carried into practical effect, I wish it to be understood that
I claim as my Invention the combined apparatus for measuring and
registering the flow of liquids as herein-before described and illustrated
5 by the Drawing annexed or any mere modification or imitation, con-
structed and operating in substantially the same or a similar manner,
and more especially I claim the combination of the measuring and
registering wheel or fan with the notched disc and catch, the latter

page_text: being also connected to the plug or tap by a rack and pinion and other
equivalent device.
In witness whereof, I, the said Adolphus Frankenberg, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of April, in the year
of our Lord, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witnessed by
GEORGE DAVIES, C.E.,
Office for Patents,
Manchester.
A. FRANKENBERG. (L.S.).