IMPROVEMENTS IN MODULES OR APPARATUS FOR REGULATING AND MEASURING THE DELIVERY OF WATER OR OTHER LIQUIDS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Imray, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings,
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MODULES OR APPARATUS FOR REGULATING AND MEASURING THE DELIVERY OF
WATER OR OTHER LIQUIDS.”—A communication from abroad by Robert
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Imray at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th June 1873.
I, JOHN IMRAY, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN MODULES OR APPARATUS FOR REGULATING AND MEASURING THE
DELIVERY OF WATER OR OTHER LIQUIDS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the construction and working of modules,
whereby the delivery of water from a dam or reservoir, as for example,
for purposes of irrigation, is regulated or rendered uniform, or nearly so,
notwithstanding variations in the head or quantity of supply, and to the
application of instruments for measuring such flow..

page_text: The improved module consists of a box provided with floats which
retain it always immersed to the same depth and in the same attitude
in the water of the reservoir. At one side of this box is an opening
extending below the surface of the water, by which opening water can
always flow into the box, the same or nearly the same quantity in a
given time, because the immersion of the opening remains the same.
The lower part of the box is fitted with an outflow pipe of sufficient size
to permit the free issue of all the water that can enter the box. This
outflow pipe is not rigidly attached to the box, but connected to it by a
spherical, cylindrical, or barrel joint, giving it certain freedom of move-
ment in a vertical plane round the axis of the joint. In a similar
manner the outflow pipe about the middle of its length is jointed to the
end of a discharge pipe, the other end of which is jointed in a similar
manner to the side or end of the dam or reservoir, where there is an
orifice for discharge.
'
The discharge pipe last named is made of such size and form as to
allow room within it for the oscillation of the free end of the outflow pipe
projecting into it, and is itself suported by floats, so that as the water
rises or falls in the dam or reservoir it works upon its end joint, while
the outflow pipe jointed to it and to the supply box can also work upon
its joints, the latter pipe being jointed to the discharge pipe about the
middle of its length, so that its weight as well as the weight of the
water flowing through it is balanced, or nearly so, on the axis of the
joint by which it is connected to the discharge pipe, or by pivots on
rods by which the discharge pipe is connected to its floats. By this
arrangement of floating box and discharge pipe governed in its attitude
by floats in combination with the intermediate balanced outflow pipe
jointed to both, and supported on the discharge pipe or its floats, the
discharge of water through the outflow orifice is rendered uniform, or
nearly so, whatever may be the head of water in the reservoir or dam.
Each of the joints above referred to, may be rendered tight by packing
embracing a portion of its curved surface and secured by a gland.
The floats for determining the level and attitude of the supply box and
discharge pipe are made adjustable in height, and may be loaded more
or less, so as to give greater or less immersion to the former, and to
govern the working of the latter on its end joint to a less or greater
height, and thus the quantity of water discharged in a given time may
be regulated within the limits of the apparatus.

page_text: As by means of the apparatus above described, the stream running
into the supply box is nearly uniform, a paddle wheel mounted on the
box so as to have its floats immersed to a constant depth in that stream
is made to revolve thereby with nearly uniform velocity. This wheel is
connected by suitable gearing to indices, which furnish a measure of the
quantity of water discharged.
It may be readily understood that the module described above is
applicable for regulating the flow of water for purposes other than for
irrigation, as for example for driving water wheels or turbines, and that
similar apparatus with its wheel and indices is applicable as a water
meter to measure and register the consumption of water for domestic or
manufacturing purposes, or for the regulation and measurement of the
deliverys of other liquids.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said John Imray in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 11th November 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
IMRAY, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in
the thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors give and grant. unto me, the said John Imray, Her special
license that I, the said John Imray, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Imray, my executors, admi-
nistrators, 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 MODULES OR
APPARATUS FOR REGULATING AND MEASURING THE DELIVERY OF WATER OR OTHER
LIQUIDS," a communication to me from abroad by Robert Gordon, of
Henzadah, in British Burma, Engineer, upon the condition (amongst

page_text: i
others) that I, the said John Imray, 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 John Imray, 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 thereof, reference being had to the accompanying
Sheets of Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that
is to say:-
This Invention relates to the construction and working of " modules,"
whereby the delivery of water or other liquid from a dam, reservoir, or
tank, as for example, for purposes of irrigation, or from mains for
domestic or other supply, is regulated or rendered uniform, or nearly so,
*notwithstanding variations in the head or quantity of supply, and to the
application of instruments for measuring snch flow.
The improved module consists mainly of a box provided with floats,
'which retain it always immersed to the same depth and in the same
attitude in the water of the reservoir. This box has an opening below
the surface of the water, by which opening the same or nearly the same
quantity of water will always flow into the box in a given time, because
the immersion of the opening remains the same. The lower part of the
box has hinged to it an outflow pipe of sufficient size to permit the free
issue of all the water that can enter the box. As the water level in the
tank or reservoir may rise and fall, causing the regulating box to rise
- and fall with it, the outflow pipe will assume different inclinations to
the horizon, and consequently there will be a varying downward pressure
in the pipe, the pressure being greater when the water level falls, and
..less when the water level rises. In order therefore to prevent such
varying pressure from being thrown on floats of the regulating box,
whereby the immersion of this box, and consequently the quantity of
water it receives from the reservoir would be made to vary, the outflow
pipe is supported at or about the middle of its length by a system
independent of the regulating box, so that the weight of the pipe and

page_text: the water flowing through it will be balanced on each side of the point
of support. The point of support for the outflow pipe may either be
fixed, or by preference it is carried by an independent system of floats,
which will be hereafter described. To the regulating box may be
attached an apparatus for measuring the quantity of water discharged
through the same.
The construction of this improved module will be readily understood
from the accompanying Drawings.
Fig. 1, Sheet I., shews a vertical section of the apparatus, and Fig. 2
shews a plan of the same. A is the regulating box, the sides a, a, of
which are made hollow so as to form floats, by which the box is always
held immersed to the same depth below the water level X, X; it is also
connected rigidly by bars B to a float C, which may be placed either in
front of the box or behind the same, as shewn in Figs. 1 and 2, whereby
the box is prevented from assuming an inclined position in the water.
In the front end of the box A is an opening a¹ extending some distance
below the level of the water. As the depth of immersion of this opening
is always the same, the same quantity of water will always flow through
it into the box. At the bottom of the box is an opening a³, to which
the outflow pipe D is hinged by a barrel joint consisting of a cylindrical,
spherical, or barrel-shaped enlargement d on the end of the outflow
pipe D fitting into a socket a³ of like form on the box A, the joint being
made water-tight by a gland with packing, as shewn. At or near the
middle of its length the pipe D has another cylindrical, spherical, or
barrel-shaped enlargement d³, fitting into a socket e, so as to form a joint
at the end of the discharge pipe E, and this pipe is in its turn jointed in
like manner at e¹ to the socket f of a discharge orifice F fixed to the end
of the tank or reservoir.
In order to relieve the several joints of the pipes D and E of strain,
they are severally connected to pivots or fulcra in the following
manner: Two pivots f¹, f¹, are provided in the axial line of the
joint e¹, and on these pivots work radius bars e², e², which are fixed to
the side of the pipe E, and extending obliquely upwards are jointed to
floats G, G. On the bars e³, e³, are pivots d³, d³, in the axial line of the
joint d', and on these pivots work radius bars d³, d³, which are fixed to
the side of the pipe D, and are jointed at their other ends to pivots d*,
on the regulating box A. The radius bars e³, e², are provided with
adjusting screws and double nuts e³, e³, and the radius bars d³, d³, are

page_text: likewise provided, each with two such adjusting screws at d³, so that in
each case the position of the pipe can be accurately adjusted to each
of its joints, in order that it may work freely therein. The floats G, G,
being connected by the bars e², e², to the pipe E, support the end of that
pipe to which the pipe D is jointed, and the pipe E is expanded in its
middle so as to permit the end of the pipe D which projects into it to
work freely therein.
The action of the apparatus will be understood by reference to Fig. 1,
where it is shewn in its position in relation to the water level X, X, and
is also shewn in dotted lines in another position, when the water level is
raised to Y, Y. It will be seen that as the water level rises or sinks,
the floats G, G, raise or lower the end of the pipe E, also the floats a, a,
and G raise or lower the regulating box A, while they maintain the
latter in the same attitude. The pipe D with its contents being balanced
on the end of the pipe E, which is independently supported by the
floats G, G, any variation of vertical pressure on the pipe D has no
tendency to alter the position or attitude of the regulating box A, and
thus the aperture a¹ to this box being always immersed to the same
depth, whatever be the level of the liquid in the tank or reservoir, the
flow of liquid into it and consequently the discharge from the orifice F is
'maintained uniform.
The rate of discharge of the liquid may be varied by loading or
lightening the regulating box or its floats, or by adjusting it higher or
lower by screws or otherwise in relation to its floats, so that the
aperture a¹ being immersed more or less deeply in the liquid a greater
or less quantity may flow into the box in a given time. As the
immersion of the aperture when once adjusted remains the same, and
the flow of liquid through it is therefore uniform, the apparatus may be
fitted with or employed as a liquid meter.
Fig. 3, Sheet II., represents a vertical section, and Fig. 4 a plan of
the improved module fitted in this manner. It will be seen that the
regulating box A with its floats C, the pipes D and E with the floats G
for the latter pipe, and the radius bars e³ and d³, by which the pipes are
connected to the pivots independant of their joints, are substantially the
same as the like parts described in reference to Figs. 1 and 2; but
instead of the barrel joints of the pipes already described, I have shewn
in Figs. 3 and 4 the joints a³, d³, and f, formed by short pieces of
caoutchouc or other flexible tube embracing the ends of the pipes and

page_text: the sockets to which they are jointed; and I would have it understood
that this mode of jointing may in many cases be substituted for the
more expensive mode described in reference to Figs. 1 and 2, in which
case the adjusting screws e³ and d³ for the radius bars are dispensed
with, as shewn in Figs. 3 and 4. At the aperture a¹ of the regulating
box A. (Figs. 3 and 4) is mounted a paddle wheel H, having its floats
immersed in the stream which enters the box. On the axis of this wheel
is a worm h gearing into a wheel I, connected by gearing to a counter K
mounted on the floats C. This counter and the gearing by which it is
connected to the wheel H may be of any known construction or arrange-
ment, such as will serve to indicate or record the number of revolutions
made by the wheel H, and thus to measure the quantity of liquid that
flows into the box A.
In order to confine the variation of the water level X, X, or Y, Y,
within limits suitable to the action of the module, the pipe L by which
liquid is supplied to the tank M containing the module is provided with
a throttle valve / fixed to one of the pivots f¹ on which the bar e works.
As the pipe E rises, the throttle valve is turned so as partially to close
the passage through the supply pipe L, and thus to impede the inflow
into the tank m.
A similar arrangement may be applied to the module shewn in
Figs. 1 and 2; or instead of a throttle valve the movement of the
pipe E or its floats G may be made to work a sluice or other valve, so as
to diminish the supply to the tank as the water level rises; and farther,
the tank containing the module may also be provided with an overflow
pipo for the discharge of liquid should it rise above the desired level.
The pipe or orifice by which liquid is supplied to the tank or reservoir
containing the module should be provided with porous screens or
diaphragms to break the violence of the inflowing current, and maintain
the surface of the liquid in a smooth and even condition, without
disturbing the action of the regulating box and floats.
Having thus described the nature of this Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine
myself to particular forms, dimensions, or materials in constructing the
improved modules or apparatus for regulating and measuring the flow of
liquids, such as I have described above, but I claim,—

page_text: First. The regulating box A in combination with the system of jointed
pipes D and E, and the floats a, C, and G, whereby the aperture a¹
being maintained at a constant degree of immersion, notwithstanding
variations in the liquid level, the discharge of of liquid is rendered
uniform.
Second. The radius bars e² and d³ mounted on pivots independent of
the joints of the pipes, so that these joints are relieved of strain.
Third. The combination with the improved module of the wheel H
and any suitable counting apparatus, whereby the apparatus is made to
constitute a liquid meter.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Imray, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three..
TATT
THED AT