IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC METERS,
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Philip Jolin, John Parsons, and
Marmaduke Francis Purcell at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on
the 12th September 1883
PHILIP JOLIN of the City of Bristol, JOHN PARSONS, of the same, place, and
MARMADUKE FRANCIS PURCELL of Dublin, in the County of Dublin, Ireland.
IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC METERS,"
45
The improvements constituting this invention consist firstly, in the employment
of an electro magnet having a movable core to wind the spring of the clockwork
mechanism through the medium of which the required measurement is effected and
indicated on the dials of the counter. The coils around the cylinder or tube
encircling the core of the said electro magnet, which may conveniently be called the
winding electro magnet, may be made up of one wire only, or they may be made
up of two wires, one of which is first wholly coiled upon the tube and the second
coiled thereafter and in the same direction, or a layer of coils of each wire may be
made alternately. Under a third method, two wires are coiled together and in the
same direction. Under a fourth, two wires are coiled separately and in opposite
directions, the wires being coiled either separately throughout or in alternate
layers.
When the meter is employed in connection with the high tension currents
required in arc lamplighting or when similar or analogous appliances or employers.
of the current are used, the aforesaid winding electro magnet is wound with coarse
wire, but is wound with fine wire when the meter is employed in connection with
the low tension currents appertaining to incandescent lamp lighting or for
analogous purposes. The core is connected to one end of a rod or arm the other
end of which is secured to a disc centred on a spindle of the clockwork train which
spindle also carries a ratchet wheel having a pawl bearing thereon. An equivalent
device to the ratchet wheel and pawl may be used in place thereof.
commutator, or its equivalent, for making and breaking the circuit of the current
through the meter and for establishing and destroying short circuits, is connected
to the clockwork train or to a spindle attached to the core of the winding electro
magnet, and as, in the motion of either the clockwork train on the said spindle, the
said effects are produced, the core of the winding electromagnet rises or falls and
D
A.

page_text: the spring of the clockwork is wound by means of the aforesaid rod or arm and
ratchet wheel and pawl. This arrangement constitutes the second part of the said
invention,
When the meter is employed to indicate the length of time during which a
current of definite and constant ampere power is passing through it, the counter with
its indicating dials is connected directly to the spindle of the last pinion in the clock-
work train the rate of motion of which train is proportional to the amount of
current passing.
In adapting the meter to indicate the amount of a current of which the ampere
power is constant but the electro motive force variable, a second electro magnet
with movable core is employed in connection with the clockwork and counter
trains. This arrangement constitutes the third part of the said invention. The
core of the electro magnet, which may be conveniently called the counter electro
magnet, is connected to a spindle upon which is carried a disc the periphery of
which impinges at one side upon the face of a cone the spindle carrying which is
geared to the clockwork train, and, at the other side upon the face of a cone the
spindle carrying which is geared to the counter train. The cones are so
proportioned and adjusted with relation to one another, that, as the vertical
position of the disc between them varies with the amount of current passing
through the counter electro magnet, the rotation imparted by the clockwork to the
cone connected to the clockwork train is transmitted through the medium of the
disc in a proportional ratio to the cone connected to the counter train from which
the required indications are obtained and shown upon the .dials. Under a
modification in this particular, the cones are arranged in frames one or both of
which frames may be free to oscillate. The faces of the cones are in contact and
the degree of oscillation of the frame or frames is governed by the movement. of
the core of the counter electro magnet according to the amount of current passing.
In this, as in the modification above described, the surfaces of the cones may be
milled or built up a series of discs having teeth formed therein, the number of
teeth or indentations in each case bearing a proportional relation to each other.
For the same purpose, the following arrangement of imechanism may be employed..
Carried upon a spindle connected with the clock work train is a toothed wheel
gearing with a pinion with which is also geared another toothed wheel carried on
the spindle aforesaid, but free to rotate independently of the first mentioned
tootbed wheel, and connected to the counter train. The toothed wheels and pinion
are borne in a frame carried on the spindle aforesaid. Above the frame is pivotted
an arm having a stud or stop attached thereto. The arm, the end of which opposite
to its pivot extends above the core of the counter electro magnet, rises and falls at
regular intervals by the action of a plate rotated by the clockwork train, and as
the core of the counter electro magnet is pulled down by the action of the current,
the stop or stud impinges upon the frame and impedes its rotation. The hands of
the counter dials are thus advanced accordingly by the intermediate toothed wheels
and pinion aforesaid. As the arm rises; the stop or stud is drawn clear of the
frame which again becomes free to rotate. The retarding action may be produced
upon the frame by means of a variable magnetic or mechanical brake instead of by
the means described.
Under another modification for adapting the meter to indicate the amount of a
variable current, a plate or cone is placed at the top of the counter electro magnet
and upon this plate or cone rests one end of an arm, the other end of which is
secured to a lever pivotted on the spindle carrying the first wheel of the counter
train. On one side of the lever is centred a pawl which, when not acted upon by
a rotating plate situated upon the last spindle of the clockwork train, hangs free of
the teeth of a ratchet wheel carried on the first, spindle of the counter train..
When, in the rotation of the clockwork train, the rotating plate aforesaid is brought
into contact with the pawl, the ratchet wheel is moved round to a degree dependent
upon the position of the core of the counter electro magnet, and the hands of the
dials are rotated accordingly.

page_text: When high tension currents are employed, the counter electro magnet is wound
with fine wire and the winding electro magnet is coiled with coarse wire, but
where currents of low tension are employed, the winding electro magnet, in which
the current is constant, is coiled with fine wire and the counter electro magnet with
coarse wire.
In the application of the meter where the lamps or other appliances using the
current are arranged in series and where the current is constant in respect to its
ampere power, the clockwork spring is wound up by a winding electro magnet as
aforesaid. The core of this electro magnet is of a given weight and is lifted at
regular intervals. The apparatus thus becomes a time measurer. The counter
train is actuated by an electro magnet constituting a suitable resistance shunt to
the point of employment of the current and the circuit is broken and made by a
commutator or commutators carried on one or more spindles of the clockwork
train. The circuit of the counter electro magnet is made and broken at regular
intervals of time and the counter train advanced to a proportional extent, the
arrangement being such as to permit each lamp or appliance using the current to
act independently of one another in this respect so that the number of " lamp-
hours" is indicated on the dials of the counter.
By attaching one end of the wire of the counter electro magnet to the main by
by which the current is supplied and the other end to an insulated spring
impinging upon the face of a commutator, and by providing a contact spring for
each lamp, each spring being connected at one end to its respective lamp and
having the other end alternately in and free from contact with metallic studs
formed upon the commutator, as the latter rotates, the necessity for using two wires
to each lamp is obviated.
In adapting the meter to indicate the amount of electricity remaining in a
storage or secondary battery, the cone, or its equivalent, herein before described
as geared to the clockwork train, is disconnected therefrom and driven by any
mechanical device by which the direction of the motion of the counter is capable of
being reversed. The reversing motion is governed by a polarised relay or its
equivalent, so that the current from the source or supply of electricity to the
accumulator, flowing in one direction, causes the counter to be driven in a forward
direction, but, when the current flows from the accumulator, the polarised relay is
actuated and, by means of the mechanical device aforesaid, the counter is driven in
the opposite direction and the dials indicate accordingly.
The said invention is applicable to self registering electrical instruments for the
purpose of indicating the amount of current passing when the electro motive force
or ampere current or both vary. It is also applicable to winding electric clocks.