IMPROVEMENTS IN INDICATORS OR COUNTERS FOR BEER ENGINES OR OTHER APPARATUS IN CONNECTION WITH WHICH INDICATORS ARE OR MAY BE USED
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Joseph Hoster, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN INDICATORS OR COUNTERS
FOR BEER ENGINES OR OTHER APPARATUS IN CONNECTION WITH WHICH
INDICATORS ARE OR MAY BE USED."
.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Joseph Hoster at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 5th March 1881.
FRANCIS JOSEPH HOSTER; of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster. "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN INDICATORS OR COUNTERS FOR BEER ENGINES OR OTHER APPARATUS
IN CONNECTION WITH WHICH INDICATORS ARE OR MAY BE USED."
This Invention relates to improvements in indicators or counters which when
combined with certain actuating details as hereinafter described are especially.
applicable to beer engines or to other apparatus, the strokes or beats of a
reciprocating part of which it is desired to register and have indicated, either for
the purpose of ascertaining and checking the quantity of beer or liquid drawn off,
and preventing fraudulent returns therefor and the fraudulent use of the apparatus,
or of ascertaining the amount of work performed by the apparatus, or for effecting
any similar or other purpose; and which when combined with other actuating
details capable of communicating motion from a rotating shaft or other part of
any mechanism is equally serviceable for ascertaining and indicating the revolutions
of such revolving shaft, or of any other revolving part of any mechanism.
The improved indicator or counter is constructed with an outer cylindrical case
with a lateral longitudinal slot or aperture through which the indications are
plainly apparent in the ordinary numerical order. The case is enclosed at the
bottom and at each end, and the ends serve as bearings for a fixed shaft which runs
centrally and longitudinally of the case. The indicating figures are marked from
"0" to "9" in regular progression around the periphery of wheels, which are
mounted adjacent to each other and loosely upon the central fixed shaft, and the
required number of which is dependent upon the desired extent of the indications,
that is, whether they are to extend to hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, or
beyond that. The numbers on the adjacent wheels run in inverse order. Each
wheel is preferably formed as follows, or is otherwise equivalently formed thereto :-
It is constructed as a flat rimmed pulley with a central disc or web, one side of

page_text: which is formed with a ring of teeth which are ten times more numerous than
those of a concentric segment of a similar diameter which is on the other side of
the disc or web. The side of the disc which has the ring of teeth is also formed
or provided with a raised ring within the said ring of teeth, and in this raised ring
is made a series of ten equidistant openings, and the other side of the disc is
similarly formed or provided with a raised ring of a similar diameter, and in this
raised ring is made one opening. These indicating wheels are, as above described,
placed in lateral contact loosely upon the said fixed shaft, and motion is
communicated from one to the other by means of small pinions which are mounted
loosely upon parallel shafts. Each of these shafts is arranged between two of the
indicating wheels and at right angles to the fixed shaft, and is mounted fast in the
latter, and the pinion which it carries gears with the ring of teeth of the one
wheel, and at a certain part of the revolution with the segment of teeth of the
other. Each pinion has twice the number of teeth that each of the said segments
has, and thus receives therefrom but one half a revolution at each actuation, and is
made with or connected to a flat sided or segmental locking piece which normally
bears against the flat or unnotched part of such rings, and then prevents any of
the wheels from being fraudulently turned by hand through the aperture of the
casing, and engages with the openings thereon when the actuating segment of
teeth of the one wheel is about to cause the pinion to turn to actuate the next
wheel, and then turning in the opposite openings allows the one wheel to actuate
the other.
The improved counter is self acting beyond the units wheel when rotative motion
is conveyed to the latter, however conveyed, and it may therefore be used equally
advantageously for counting or indicating the revolutions, or the reciprocations, or
part revolutions, or other movements of shafts, levers, or other parts of any
mechanism the movements of which it is desired to have indicated, for whatever
purpose such indications may be required.
The apparatus as thus far described is self-contained, the whole of the mechanism
being enclosed by the rims of the said wheels, and it cannot be got at or actuated
otherwise than by the legitimate means of actuating it.
These means will of course vary, depending upon the use to which the improved
counter or indicator is put; and when it is required to indicate the revolutions of
any shaft or other object I do not find it necessary to connect the indicating
apparatus with the said motive shaft or other object by any particular means, but
use any usual or appropriate means, so many varieties of which are available and
equally applicable, but when the improved apparatus is required to indicate the
reciprocations of any part, though in some instances, such as when the part is
mechanically or automatically actuated, I also do not find it necessary to connect
the indicating apparatus with the motive object by any particular means, yet when
this object is directly actuated by hand, such as the draw handle of a beer engine,
or is dependent upon its actuation to manipulation, I then prefer to connect the
improved indicator with the draw handle or other motive lever or object by the
following means, or by modifications thereof, or by equivalently acting means, and
when thus adapted the indicating apparatus is especially applicable to beer engines
or equivalent uses, the fraudulent use of which it is of especial advantage to the
proprietors to prevent, to avoid waste and check the receipts :-Beneath the top or
counter of the beer engine I fix a toothed quadrant, at or near each end of which is
attached a stopping piece. The quadrant is arranged concentric with the centre of
the draw-handle, the depending arm of which carries a pin and actuates a piece
which slides along the quadrant and carries a pawl which is held in either of two
positions by a spring, and has its position controlled by the said stopping pieces.
The object and effect of this arrangement is to prevent the return of the draw
handle when only partly drawn down, and before the indicator is actuated, and to
necessitate the full movement of the handle and the actuation of the indicator
before it can be returned for another movement. A bracket depending from the
top or counter of the beer-engine carries a slotted cam which is so shaped as that

page_text: the initial movement of the handle shall by means of a pin carried thereby and
engaging with the cam cause a quick and complete movement of its. connections
and the actuation of the indicator, the cam being thus moved into such a position as
that the remainder of the slot is concentric with the centre of the handle, so that
the further movement of the latter into completion does not affect it. The free
end of the cam is connected by a rod to the free end of a lever, the opposite end
of which is pivoted to the case of the indicator, and an intermediate portion of
which carries a spring pawl which in one direction of motion acts upon a ten
toothed ratchet wheel, and at each pull of the handle imparts one tenth of a
rotation thereto, an equivalent are of motion being transmitted therefrom to the
first of the above mentioned indicating wheels, one complete revolution of which
imparts by the means above described one tenth of a revolution to the next
indicating wheel, which further transmits the movement, and so on, whereby the
number of the movements of the handle is registered and indicated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Francis Joseph Hoster in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
3rd September 1881.
FRANCIS JOSEPH HOSTER, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster. "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN INDICATORS OR COUNTERS FOR BEER-ENGINES, OR OTHER APPARATUS
IN CONNECTION WITH WHICH INDICATORS ARE OR MAY BE USED."
This Invention relates to improvements in indicators or counters which when
combined with certain actuating details, as hereinafter described, are especially
applicable to beer-engines or to other apparatus, the strokes or beats of a
reciprocating part of which it is desired to register and have indicated either for
the purpose of ascertaining and checking the quantity of beer or liquid drawn off
and preventing fraudulent returns therefor and the fraudulent use of the apparatus,
or of ascertaining the amount of work performed by the apparatus, or for effecting
any similar or other purpose, and which when combined with other actuating
details capable of communicating motion from a rotating shaft or other moving
part of any mechanism, is equally serviceable for ascertaining and indicating the
revolutions or movements of such shaft or other moving part.
The improved counting and indicating mechanism is illustrated on the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings in Figs. 1 to 8.
The improved mechanism is constructed with a longitudinal central shaft 1 which
is fixed or does not rotate, and which carries a loosely mounted series of wheels 2.
These wheels are mounted adjacent to each other upon the sleeves 3 of distance-
pieces or discs 4, which are secured or fixed in position by screws 5 to a fixed sleeve 6
encircling the shaft 1, and the peripheries of the wheels are marked with indicating
figures from "0" to "9" in regular progression, the numbers on the adjacent
wheels running in inverse order, as shown in Figure 1. The number of these wheels

page_text: is dependent upon the desired extent of the indications, that is, whether they are to
extend to hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, or beyond that. As exemplified in
Figures 1 and 2, there are but five wheels, which will allow of the counting and
registering being effected up to No. "99,999." Each of these wheels is preferably
formed as follows, or is otherwise equivalently formed :-It is constructed, as shown
in the sectional or detail part of Figure 1, as a flat-rimmed pulley with a disc 7, one
side of which (delineated in Figure 3) is formed with a projecting ring 8 of radiating
teeth, and the other side of which (delineated in Figure 4) is formed with a concentric
segment 9 of a similar diameter and of similarly pitched teeth. The side of the disc
represented in Figure 4 is also formed or provided with a raised ring 10, within or
of a less diameter than the segment 9; and in this ring 10 is made an opening 11,
which is situated opposite the segment 9 and extends through the disc 7. These
indicating wheels are, as above described, loosely mounted in lateral contact, but
they are so geared and locked as that they cannot be independently or improperly
actuated by the means hereinafter described, or by any suitable equivalent means.
Motion is communicated from one to the other, as from the units-wheel to the
tens-wheel, by means of small pinions 12 which are mounted loosely upon
parallel shafts 13. One of these shafts is arranged between every adjacent two of
the indicating wheels, and is fixed into the flat side of the pieces 4 at right angles
to the fixed shaft 1, and the pinion 12 which it carries is intermittently actuated
by the segment 9 of the teeth of the one (say the units) wheel, and then actuates
the ring 8 of teeth of the other (of the next higher denomination) with which it
is at all times in gear. The provision between every adjacent two of the indicating
wheels being similar to this, the motion is then intermittently communicated in
regular progression from the units-wheel to the wheel indicating the highest
denomination. Each pinion 12 receives one half a revolution at each actuation
by its segment 9, and it is made with or connected to a flat sided segmental locking-
piece 14, which, as indicated in the left hand one of the two wheels shown in
section in Figure 1, normally bears against the flat or unnotched part of the raised
ring 10, and thus prevents the wheels from being fraudulently turned by hand
or otherwise through the aperture 15 of the case through which the indicating
line of figures can be viewed, and which, as indicated in the right hand one of the
said two wheels, is capable of receiving one half a revolution each time the
opening 11 in the disc 7 comes opposite to it, at which time it is actuated or semi-
rotated by the segment 9 of teeth of the one wheel, and in its semi-rotation it
imparts one-tenth of a revolution to the wheel of the next higher denomination.
The improved counter is self acting beyond the units-wheel when rotative
motion is conveyed to the latter, however conveyed, and it may therefore be used
equally advantageously for counting or indicating the revolutions, or the part
revolutions, or reciprocations, or other movements of shafts, levers, or other parts
of any mechanism, the movements of which it is desired to have indicated, for
whatever purpose such indications may be required. With suitable connections
it is especially applicable to gas-meters and to water-meters in lieu of the usual
dials which it is so difficult to correctly read.
The apparatus as thus far described is self-contained, the whole of the mechanism
being enclosed within the rims of the said wheels, and it cannot be got at or
actuated otherwise than by the legitimate means of actuating it.
These means will of course vary, depending upon the use to which the improved
counter or indicator is put.
When it is required to indicate the revolutions of any shaft or other object it is
not necessary that the indicating apparatus should be connected with the said
motive shaft or other object by any particular means, as various arrangements of
usual or appropriate means for converting a continuous rotary motion into an
intermittent rotary motion, and so many varieties of which are available and
equally applicable, may be used. The following is however a very convenient
method of connecting the rotating shaft with the units-wheel-The two outer
indicating wheels, which respectively indicate the lowest and the highest denomi-

page_text: nations of figures, are like the intermediate wheels, except that the last one is (as
delineated in Figure 5) made without the opening 11 and segment 9, as there is no
necessity to further transmit the motion of this wheel; and the first wheel is made
without its ring 8 of teeth, but in lieu thereof, according to the modification
which will now be described, it is made with a ten-toothed star-wheel 16 (as
delineated in Figure 6) which is intermittently actuated by means of opposite pro-
jections 17, 18, on a reciprocating escapement or cam-slide 19, which is guided by
screws 20 and guide-blocks 21, as shewn in Figures 1 and 7. The slide is made with
a segmental opening 22 having opposite end recesses 23, and it is reciprocated by
means of a crank-pin 24 carried by a disc 25 fast on the end of the motive
shaft 26, and which pin in each revolution of the shaft 26 imparts two opposite
movements to the slide and an initial and completing movement to the star-wheel 16
on the units-wheel 2,. causing it to revolve one tenth of a revolution, and one
complete revolution of which imparts by the means above described one tenth of
a revolution to the tens-wheel, which similarly transmits the motion, and so on,
whereby the number of revolutions of the motive shaft is registered and indicated.
The initial movement of the star-wheel 10 is caused in the upward movement of
the slide 19 by its projection 17 shifting the wheel to the extent indicated by the
dotted teeth a, b, after the projection 18 has cleared the tooth b, so that the wheel
is then shifted, so that in the next descent of the slide the projection 18 shall
complete the movement of the star-wheel.
Similarly, when the improved indicating apparatus is required to indicate the
reciprocations of any part, though in some instances, such as when the part is
mechanically or automatically actuated, it is also not necessary to connect the
indicating apparatus with the motive object by any particular means, as various
well known arrangements for converting a reciprocating motion into an inter-
mittent rotary motion may be used, yet when this object is directly actuated by
hand, and liable to a fraudulent use, such as the draw-handle of a beer-engine, or
is dependent upon its actuation to manipulation, it is then more advantageous to
connect the improved indicator with the draw-handle or other motive-lever or
object by the following means, or by modifications thereof, or by other equivalently
acting means; and when thus adapted the indicating apparatus is especially
applicable to beer-engines (or other equivalent uses), the fraudulent use of which it
is of especial advantage to the proprietors to prevent, to avoid waste and check the
receipts.
Beneath the top or counter 27 of the beer-engine is fixed a toothed quadrant 28,
as illustrated in Figure 8, and at or near each end of the quadrant a stopping piece 29
is attached. The quadrant is arranged concentric with the centre of motion 30 of
the draw-handle 31, the depending arm 32 of which carries a pin 33 and actuates
a piece 34 which slides along the quadrant and carries a paw! 35, which is held in
either of two positions by an inner spring, and has its position controlled by the
stopping pieces 29. The object and effect of this arrangement is to prevent the
return of the draw-handle 31 when only partly drawn down and before the
indicator is actuated, and to necessitate the full movement of the handle and
the actuation of the indicator before it can be returned for another movement.
A bracket 36 depending from the top or counter 27 carries a slotted cam 37 which
is centred at 38, and is so shaped as that the initial movement of the handle 31
shall by means of a pin 39 projecting from its depending arm 32 and engaging
with the slot of the cam 37 cause a quick and complete movement of its
connections 40, 41, and the actuation of the indicator, the cam being thus moved
into such a position as that the remainder of its slot is concentric with the centre 30
of the handle 31, so that the further movement of the latter unto completion does
not affect it. The free end of the cam is connected by a rod 40 to the free end of
a lever 41 which is centred at 42 to the case 43 of the indicator, and an intermediate
portion of which carries a spring pawl 44, which, in one direction of motion acts
upon a ten-toothed ratchet-wheel 16 secured to the units-wheel of the indicator,
and at each pull of the handle 31 imparts one-tenth of a rotation thereto, the

page_text: motion being further transmitted to the remainder of the indicating-wheels by
their within-contained mechanism, as herein before described, and thus the number
of movements of the handle is registered and indicated.
The improved indicating or counting mechanism is or may be constructed with
an outer cylindrical or other shaped case 43 having a lateral or front longitudinal
slot or aperture 15, through which the indications aro plainly apparent in the
ordinary numerical order, and without any intervening spaces, divisions, or
mechanism. This is a feature of very great practical advantage, as it enables the
indications to be plainly and immediately read off without possibility of confusion
or of mistake, and it is a feature which is altogether wanting in all existing
counting apparatus, in all of which the separate figures appear through separate
dial holes, and thus cannot be so quickly read off.
45 represents a dial which hides from view all of the wheels 2 except the
indicating line of Figures.
Having now described the nature and object of the said Invention, together
with the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried
into practical effect, I would remark in conclusion that what I consider to be novel
and original and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the hereinbefore
in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First. In a counting and indicating apparatus, the arrangement in combination
of a series of numbered indicating wheels loosely mounted adjacent to each other,
with internally arranged intermittently-rotating gearing and locking pieces, in
such a manner as that the indications can be plainly read off in continuous
numerical order, and so as to avoid any intervening divisions or mechanism which
exist in ordinary counting mechanism, and so that the whole of the self acting
mechanism of the counter shall be enclosed within the indicating wheels, and thus
cannot by any possibility be fraudulently actuated.
Second. The use of such counting and indicating mechanism when combined
with suitable actuating details for counting and indicating the revolutions,
reciprocations, or other movements of shafts, levers, or other moving parts of any
mechanism, the revolutions, strokes, beats, or movements of which it is desired to
register and have indicated, the said actuating details not necessarily being of any
particular arrangement but appropriate to the motion it is desired to register,
any usual or suitable means for converting the motion to be registered into the
intermittent rotation of the units-wheel of the counter being available and
applicable, suitable examples of such a combination being hereinbefore fully
described and illustrated on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to which
combinations I lay especial claim as being especially suitable for their respective
purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Joseph Hoster, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty third day of August, in the year of our Lord One
F. J. HOSTER. (L.S.)