Improvements in Electric Meters.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Dec., 1899-Accepted, 7th Apr., 1900
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Electric Meters.
We, THE BRITISHI THOMSON-HOUSTON COMPANY, LIMITED, of 83, Cannon
Street, in the City of London, Electrical Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of
our said invention (which has been communicated to us from abroad by
Caryl D. Haskins, residing at Newton Centre, in the County of Middlesex,
State of Massachusetts, United States of America, Electrical Engineer,) and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:—
In the operation of storage batteries it is desirable to provide some indicator
or registering device which will register the intake and output of energy. Such
a device is serviceable not only for indicating during a protracted period of
service the amount of energy put through the battery, and the extent or use
to which it has been put, but it is of value also for indicating the condition
of charge in the battery during a single run and showing how much further
energy may be safely drawn from it, thereby conserving the life of the battery
by preventing excessive charge or discharge. We provide a meter for accom-
plishing these results.
In carrying out our invention we provide a device responsive to change of
current direction for cutting in or out either of two registering devices
accordingly as the battery is charging or discharging. We preferably operate
these devices mechanically by an electro-motor, which may be thrown by the
circuit-changer into or out of operative relation to the several dials.
Our invention, therefore, comprises a storage battery meter, provided with
two registering devices and means for throwing either into operation accord-
ingly as the battery is charging or discharging. More specifically it comprises
two dial trains and a motor adapted to drive the same, adapted to be shifted
into relation to either of them by the change of direction of current.
Other more specific features will hereinafter be specifically indicated in the
claims.
In the drawing, which embodies our improvements, we have exemplified as
the type of meter, so far as the motive mechanism is concerned, the well-known
Thomson recording wattmeter. It is not however essential to our invention
that any specific type of operating mechanism for the meter be employed, as
will be hereinafter more evident. The movable or rotary portion of the meter
is provided with a devico adapted to engage either of two registering trains 1,2,
and may be shifted into operative relation to either by an electro-magnetic
device controlled by reversal of the current. As specifically shown, a movable
armature 3 adapted to slide or move in guides on the top of the frame supporting
the meter parts, shifts the armature-shaft 4 so as to bring the worm 5 into gear
with one or the other of the dial-wheel trains. The armature is polarized by
a shunt circuit from two or more cells of the storage battery and plays in a
magnetic field controlled by the coil 51 connected in series relation to the
battery. Thus, upon reversal of the battery current on beginning to discharge,

page_text: the polarity of the field-magnet, which is in series with the cells of the battery,
reverses, and the position of the armature is shifted, thereby shifting the clutch
from the train of wheel-work last engaged to the other train. The motive
mechanism of the meter in the organization shown comprises a shunt-circuit
in fixed relation to the charging mains 6, 6", which may be traced as follows:
proceeding from the main 6, through the storage battery in series through the
series coil 5¹ of the clutch-controlling device, through the series coils 8, 8% of
the meter-motor and back by the conductor 7 to the opposite charging main 6".
The shunt-circuit of the motive mechanism leads from the main by conduc-
tor 9 to the armature 10 of the motive mechanism, and thence by a fixed
resistance 11 to the main C. The speed of the motor may be dampened by a
conducting disc 11" moving in the field of a permanent magnet 12 in a manner
commonly practised in the construction of electric meters.
Assuming that the polarity while the battery is charging is such to hold the
registering train 1 in operative relation to the worm 5, when the period of
discharge of the battery begins, the current through the coil 5¹ reverses, thereby
reversing the sign of its poles and shifting the armature 3, which is controlled
by a shunt from two or more cells of the battery and has therefore a constant
polarization. This armature rests upon the top of the meter frame, and has a
stem extending through an opening in the same, which has a socket at its tip
for receiving the end of the armature shaft 4, but a small play is necessary to
shift the worm from clutching relation to either wheel-train. No special pro-
vision as to the mounting of the armature is therefore necessary except that
it should be so arranged as to be capable of turning with relation to the stem
of the armature 3 and should move with it when the latter is shifted to the
right and carry with it the stem 4 which carries the worm, thus throwing into
gear with the armature 10 the dial 2. The indication of the several dials will
thus show at any time the amount of charge and discharge of the battery; or
if adjusted at the start of a run, will at the finish of said run indicate the
amount of current put into the battery and the amount of energy still available
therein.
It will be seen that the essential feature is the electro-magnetic organiza-
tion 3 and 5 by which one or the other metering device is put into action, and
that the only prerequisite so far as the latter devices are concerned is that they
shall be capable in any manner electro-mechanical, electro-chemical, electro-
thermal, or otherwise of operating the dial registers.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention (as communicated to us from abroad) and in what manner the same
is to be performed, we declare that what we claim is:—
1-A meter for storage-batteries, comprising two registers, means operated
by the current passing through the battery to operate the same, and an electro-
magnetic device controlled by the direction of current flow, to cut into opera-
tion either register.
2A storage-battery meter comprising two dials, one to register the inflow
and the other the outflow of the battery, and an electro-magnetic device con-
trolled by the battery current for cutting into circuit either of said registers.
3-A storage-battery meter comprising two register-devices and an electro-
magnetic device in the battery-circuit to control the operation of either register
in accordance with the direction of battery current.
4A storage-battery meter comprising two register-devices and a polarized
electro-magnetic device controlled by the battery-current to throw either register
into operation accordingly as the battery is charging or discharging.
'
5 A storage battery-meter comprising two meter-registers, a motor operated
by the battery-current at varying speeds according to the strength of current,
a clutch and an electro-magnetic device responsive to change of direction of
the battery current to engage the motor with either register.

page_text: 6-A storage-battery register comprising two registers, a meter-motor includ-
ing on one of its members a coil in series with the battery, a polarized electro-
magnetic device included in the battery-circuit, and a clutch controlled by this
device to couple the motor to either register.
7-A storage-battery-meter comprising two registers, a meter-motor governed
by its battery-circuit, a worm on the movable member thereof, and a polarized
electro-magnetic device in the battery-circuit to shift the worm into engage-
ment with either register.
8 The combination in a meter, of means for separately recording on different
indexes the current flowing in different directions.
9-A meter comprising two registers and an electrically controlled device for
rendering either register operative according to the direction of current.
10 A meter comprising two registers, a meter operating motor and an electri-
cally controlled device for coupling the motor to either register.
Dated this 28th day of December 1899
THE BRITISH THOMSON-HOUSTON CO., LTD.
ALFRED CLEMENTS,
Assistant Secretary.
A. R. MONKS,
Managing Director.