IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING GAS, WATER, AND OTHER FLUIDS, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Hanson, of Huddersfield, in the County
of York, Plumber, and David Chadwick, of Salford, in the
Sealed the 22nd September 1853, and dated the 31st March 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Hanson
and David Chadwick at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 31st March 1853.
We, GEORGE HANSON and DAVID CHADWICK, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
MEASURING GAS, WATER, AND OTHER FLUIDS, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO
APPLICABLE FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in the use of a flexible tube or bag, into one
end of which the gas, water, or other fluid to be measured enters from
the main or other source, and there exerting its force against a roller
or rollers placed upon the tube or bag, causes the said roller or rollers

page_text: to revolve and discharge from the other side thereof the fluid which has
previously entered. Each revolution, therefore, will represent a certain
amount of fluid which has passed through the apparatus, and it:
registered by means of an ordinary count connected to the roller or
rollers. If used for obtaining motive power, motion may be commu-
nicated in any ordinary manner.
may be
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Hanson and David Chadwick, in the
Great Seal Patent Office, on the 30th September 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
GEORGE HANSON, of Huddersfield, in the County of York, Plumber, and
DAVID CHADWICK, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of March, One thou-
sand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said George Hanson and David Chadwick, Her especial licence that
we, the said George Hanson and David Chadwick, our executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said George Hanson
and David Chadwick, our 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 the Isle of Man, an
Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING GAS, WATER,
AND OTHER FLUIDS, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE FOR OBTAIN-
ING MOTIVE POWER," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said George Hanson and David Chadwick, by an instrument in writing
under our 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
"

page_text: Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said George Hanson and David
Chadwick, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and asce.tained in and by the following statement and accompanying
drawing, that is to say:
Our Invention consists in the use of a flexible tube or bag, into
one end of which gas, water, or other fluid to be measured enters
from the main or other source, and there exerting its force against a
roller or rollers placed upon the tube or bag causes the said roller
or rollers to revolve and discharge from the other end thereof the fluid -
which had previously entered. Each revolution, therefore, will repre-
sent a certain amount of fluid which has passed the apparatus, through
and it may be registered by means of any ordinary count connected
to the roller or rollers. If used for obtaining motive power, motion
may be communicated in any ordinary manner.
In order that our Invention may be fully understood, we have
appended to this our Specification a drawing of a meter suitably
arranged and constructed for measuring water, and we shall in the first
place describe the principle there of by the assistance of diagrams.
In Figs. 1, and 2, let a, represent a circular flattened tube of india-
rubber or other flexible material, the two ends b, c, being open; and
upon this let there be placed a roller, so that the line de, may represent
that part of its periphery which rests upon the bag or tube, the said
roller turning upon a centre at f. By such an arrangement two cham-
bers A, B, will be formed, the one having an inlet at b, and the other
an outlet at c. If a fluid be now passed through the orifice b, with
sufficient pressure, the roller will be caused to revolve around the
centre f, in the direction of the arrow, enlarging the chamber A, which
will continue to be filled by the fluid. Upon the line de, having
arrived coincident with that of the aperture c, that orifice will be closed,
and the whole tube be charged with fluid; but, the pressure being con-
tinued, the roller will be forced onward beyond the end c, of the tube,
which will then be at liberty to open and discharge its contents, the roller
passing onward to be propelled as before. One revolution has, therefore,

page_text: represented the amount of fluid, or nearly so, necessary to fill the
tube; and if such rotations, as they follow each other, be registered by
any ordinary wheel work, the quantity of fluid discharged may be
ascertained.
We will now proceed to describe a form of apparatus which
we employ in practice as a water meter. Fig. 3, is a cross section
of the meter, and Fig. 4, a horizontal section thereof. The tube
or bag, formed of india-rubber or other flexible material, is shewn
at a, a, resting upon a metal plate b, which is slightly concave and
cut from its outward circumbrance towards the centre; one end thus
formed being bent upwards so as to constitute a spiral surface, the
object of which is to bring the discharge end c, of the tube a, above
that of the inlet end d: the former of these opens direct into a metal
casing e, which encloses the whole apparatus. The metal plate b, rests
upon a division plate f, and its helical form is supported by occasional
pieces, situate between the two. The end of the tube a, at which the
fluid enters, is closed water tight, the passage for the fluid being formed
by an orifice g, cut through the under fold of the bag or tube: through
this orifice a metal socket passes, provided with a flange, which rests
upon the interior surface of the tube, and upon which it is drawn down
so as to make a tight joint by a hollow screw nut h. The tube or bag
is kept in its central position by means of a ring of metal q, screwed to
the plate b. The roller which rests upon the tube is shewn at i, provided
with an axis placed within a slot formed formed in an upright shaft j,
in which slot it is retained by two pins or screws, but remains at
liberty to play up or down in the slot. The shaft, turns on a step k, at
bottom, and within a cross rail l, at top; and upon it is mounted a
circular disc m, the surface of which is forced upon the roller i, by a
spiral spring n, the fixed abutement of which is against the cross rail 7.
The object of this arrangement is to secure a pressure on the tube
sufficient for preventing the fluid in the bag from passing under the
roller. The fluid entering through the pipe o, passes into the lower
chamber e, of the casing, and from thence through a wire gauze »,
into the tube or bag a, through the orifice g, causing the roller, as
before described in reference to Figs. 1, and 2, to revolve, the water
admitted at the previous revolution escaping by the open end c, into

page_text: The
the casing e, from which it may be withdrawn by the pipe p.
revolutions of the shaft j, may be registered by any ordinary count; and
as that part of the apparatus embraces no feature of novelty, we have
not shewn it in the accompanying drawings.
The apparatus above described we have mentioned as a water meter;
the arrangement for gas, however, may be the same, but of lighter
construction, and formed of suitable materials for resisting the chemical
action of the substance to be measured, the pressure of the gas being
equalized by any known or suitable arrangement of regulating apparatus.
In employing our apparatus as a motive power engine, the only differ-
ence necessary will be to construct the machine of proper strength:
motion, in this instance, may be taken from the shaft j, in any ordinary
manner.
Although we have in the foregoing description alluded to a par-
ticular arrangement and construction of parts, we desire it to be under-
stood that we do not confine ourselves thereto, as many variations may
be made without departing from the principle involved; for instance,
if desired, two or more rollers may be used, and the bag or tube cut
into two or more portions, each one being provided with inlet and outlet
passages; or the bag or tube may be placed with its flattened sides
vertical, and a roller caused to move in contact therewith; and many
other modifications may be adopted which will readily suggest them-
selves: that which we claim as secured to us under the above in part
recited Letters Patent being the employment of a flexible tube or bag
capable of being divided into inlet and outlet chambers by a surface
travelling thereon, for the purposes above set forth.
In witness whereof, we, the said George Hanson and David
Chadwick, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Twenty-
ninth day of September, One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-three
GEORGE HANSON. (L.S.)
DAVID CHADWICK. (L.S.)