Improvements in Apparatus for the Measurement of Liquids.
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Apr., 1886.
Complete Left, 7th Jan., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 8th Feb., 1887.
Improvements in Apparatus for the Measurement of Liquids.
I, WILLIAM COWAN of Buccleuch Street Works, Edinburgh, Gas Apparatus Manufac-
turer, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF LIQUIDS," to be as follows:-
This invention has for its object the construction of liquid meters in such a manner
as to make them exceedingly simple and efficient, and not open to many of the objec-
tions to which those at present in use are subject.
The invention consists in constructing a box or trough divided into two compartments
of equal size and made of suitable material for containing water or other liquid. The
top of the box may if desired be covered in, but there must be an opening large enough
to lead into both chambers and admit the end of a funnel shaped pipe through which
the liquid is passed into each alternately by a means hereinafter described.
The only outlet from the two compartments is through a syphon which each contains
or has connected with it.
The shorter leg of each syphon has its opening or end a short distance from the
inside of the bottom of the chamber from which point the syphon tube is carried up
nearly to the top and is then bent downwards and carried right through the bottom,
thus forming the longer and discharging leg of the syphon.
The top of the bend of the syphon determines the level the water may attain before
it is removed from the chamber. Hence any less quantity will remain till more has
run in to raise the level sufficiently to charge the syphon. When therefore liquid is
supplied to a chamber and rises above the syphon bend it immediately begins to flow
out and continues to run till the whole quantity has been removed. Thus it is only
necessary to provide means for alternating the delivery of the water to the chambers
as each fills and empties in order to secure an accurate and continuous measurement of
the liquid supplied. For this purpose I do not employ valves but simply a funnel
shaped pipe moving on an axis far enough in each direction to deliver into either
chamber according to the movement given. This funnel is wide at the top and narrow
at the bottom. The width at the top must be sufficient to keep it always below the

page_text: pipe which is delivering the water into it whilst the bottom is better narrowed in order
to concentrate the flow of water to the chamber.
The axle of the funnel shaped pipe has fixed to it at right angles a beam which is
connected by two jointed rods to another beam which also moves on an axis in the
same plane, but at a lower level. The two beams thus move together being united in
action by the two connecting rods. The upper beam which is on the axis of the funnel
is a mere rod, but the lower beam is a hollow tube containing either a small quantity
of liquid or a metallic or other suitable ball. The object of this movable weight within
the beam is to give its ends a decided tendency to move one downwards and the other
upwards when they are thrown out of the horizontal position.
cup
The lower beam is placed under the syphon outlets because each end has to carry a
which is fixed to it in such a position that when the end of the beam is at its highest
point the cup is capable of containing water or other liquid, but when the end of the
beam lowers, the water runs out of the cup and removes the weight which the water
had added. Hence when the syphon begins to run in consequence of the chamber
having been filled, the cup on the high end of the beam is ready to receive the first
flow of water from the syphon, and being thus weighted this end of the beam descends
and in doing so causes the cup to lose its water. Any tendency however which this
might produce to make the beam swing backwards is neutralized by the movable weight
within the beam itself which now being at the lower end has the effect of keeping it
down.
When therefore either chamber has been filled and the syphon has in consequence
begun to pass liquid the weight of the liquid entering the cup forces down that end of
the beam and raises the other into the position necessary for it to receive the weight
requisite to bring it also down when its chamber has been filled. But it will be
observed that the same action changes the position of the funnel which is attached to
the upper beam, for both beams follow the same course, therefore this funnel shaped
receiver and beam fulfils the function of a valve and changes the supply of the water
from the one chamber to the other with perfect exactitude. In this way a continuous
and practically perfect measure of liquids is produced.
The index necessary to record the successive fillings and emptyings of the chambers
is so constructed that the motion of the beam or its axis communicates a rotary motion
to the wheelwork which actuates the recording pointers.
W. H. BENNETT,
Agent for the Applicant.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for the Measurement of Liquids.
I, WILLIAM COWAN of Buccleuch Street Works, Edinburgh, Gas Apparatus
Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF LIQUIDS and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
This invention has for its object, the construction of liquid meters in such a manner
as to make them exceedingly simple and efficient, and not open to many of the
objections to which those at present in use are subject.
In order that the invention may be easily understood drawings are attached hereto
of which the following is a description. Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the meter and
cistern, the front of the latter being removed, Fig. 2 is a plan, Fig. 3 a side elevation
of the same, the side of the cistern being removed, and Fig. 4 is a front elevation of
the box or trough of the meter with its division plate and syphons, the front plate of the
box having been removed. The foregoing show the application of the meter to a
cistern having the ordinary ball cock arrangement for cutting off the supply.
The invention consists of a box or trough A Fig. 1 placed over a cistern and is
divided into two compartments B and C by a partition D as seen in Fig. 4.-E is the
water service supply pipe. Within each compartment of the box there is a syphon,
one marked and the other G Fig. 4.-The short legs of the syphons terminate
within the box while the long legs end outside the box at H. and I. Above the box A
there is pivoited to a suitable support J a beam K which carries a funnel shaped pipe
or conduit L. At each extremity of the beam K a pivotted rod M depends.
lower ends of the rods are pivotted to a hollow beam N which works on an axis
attached to the support J.. On the upper part and near each end of the beam N there
is a bucket O and P, in each of which there is a small hole, and at Q there is an index
or registering apparatus.
The
a level
The action of the apparatus is exceedingly simple. When water flows from the
service pipe E it falls into the funnel shaped pipe or conduit J, and (in the position
shown in the drawing Fig. 1) is conducted into B Fig. 4, when on attaining
corresponding with the top of the interior of the syphon F the syphon is put in action
and the water escapes by the long leg at H and falls into the bucket O and into the
cistern. The force and weight of the descending water entering the bucket causes the
bucket to descend also, and as the hollow beam is loaded with either water, mercury,
or a heavy metal ball and the inclination of the beam becomes reversed it will remain
so until the opposite end is made to descend by the falling of water into the bucket at
the other extremity. On the inclination of the beam being reversed the inclination of
the funnel or conduit L becomes reversed also, thereby leading the supply of water
into the chamber C. When the water has attained a proper height in this compariment

page_text: the same action as that previously described ensues, and this continues as long as
water in any considerable stream flows from the supply pipe, and as each vibration of
the beam is communicated to the index Qa suitable register of the quantity passed is
registered, the capacity of each chamber from the bottom of the short leg of the syphon
to the top of the interior part of it having been constructed to contain a known quantity.
The syphons and conduit must be large enough to pass a rather larger quantity in a
given time than that flowing from the supply pipe. In other words the syphon must be
large enough to admit of the chamber being emptied before the funnel L returns to it
again to fill it.
Although water is the only liquid herein before mentioned meters made as described
are equally suitable for measuring many other liquids.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is,-
1. The beam K and funnel shaped conduit Las herein described and shown on the
drawings.
2. The rods M M and weighted beam N with buckets O and P having holes in them
as herein described and shown on the drawings.
3. The combination of the syphons F and G with the rest of the apparatus arranged
as herein described and shown on the drawings.
1
H BENNETT.
WH BENNETT.
Agent for the Applicant.