Improvements in and relating to Fluid Meters.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Dec., 1899-Accepted, 24th Feb., 1900
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Fluid Meters.
I, THOMAS BARTLEY WYLIE, of 1022 Brown Street, in the City and County of
Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, United States of America, Mechanical
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
My invention relates to proportional meters, or more explicitly, to that class
of meters which determine the volume of fluid passing through a conduit or
main, by passing a portion of the fluid through a tally-meter.
The object of my invention is to cheapen and simplify the construction of the
aforementioned meters, as well as to obtain more accurate results than have
heretofore been obtainable.
To these ends my invention consists, generally stated, in a proportional meter
having a valve for the unmeasured volume of fluid, a valve for the measured
volume, a controlling chamber, two diaphragms in said chamber, one of said
diaphragms having the pressure of the fluid-inlet on one side thereof, the other
diaphragm having the pressure of the direct delivery chamber on one side
thereof, and connections between said diaphragms, and a valve for controlling
the passage of gas to or from said controlling chamber.
To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will
describe the same more fully, referring to the accompanying drawings, in which-
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of my improved meter; Fig. 2 is a plan view
showing the controlling chamber in section: Fig. 3 is a modified form of my
invention; Fig. 4 is an end elevation.
Like letters indicate like parts in each.
In Fig. 1 the letter a designates a suitable shell or casing, and a¹ a³ the
inlet and outlet pipes for conveying fluid to and from the meter. The fluid-
inlet chamber 6 is separated from the direct delivery chamber by the parti-
tion The opening 2 of said partition b¹ is controlled by the direct inlet
valve d. This direct inlet valve is mounted on the stem which is suspended
from the inner walls of the casing by means of the swinging arms or links dd.
One of said arms, as, may have a weight d adjustably secured thereto, which
gives to the direct inlet valve a variable resistance to the flow of the fluid. When
the valve is open the weight will of course exert its greatest force on arm d³
against the pressure of the fluid passing through said valve.
An arm connects the stem with the valve-lever f¹ of the small propor-
tional valve f which controls the measured volume of fluid passing to or from the
tally-meter. This valve f moves over the opening which leads into the
passage f, said passage in turn leading into the controlling chamber a.
Within the controlling chamber are the diaphragms h h¹. Caps h³ secured
to the casing a form the diaphragm chambers h³h. The diaphragm chamber h³
communicates with the fluid-inlet chamber b by means of the nipe i, so that the
pressure in the diaphragm chamber h³ is always the same as the pressure in the
fluid-inlet chamber.

page_text: The diaphragm-chamber * communicates with the direct delivery chamber c
by means of the pipe ¹, so that the pressure in the diaphragm chamber h* is
always the same as the pressure in the direct delivery cliamber.
1
Within the controlling chamber g is the double rock-arm k to which the
diaphragms h, h¹, are connected by means of the links respectively.
A link connects an arm of the rock-arm k to the butter-fly valve which
controls the opening 2 leading from the controlling chamberg to the delivery
chamber m. A pipe m¹ connects this chamber m with the tally-meter n.
A pipe n' leads from the tally-meter to the, direct-delivery chamber.
The operation of my improved meter is as follows:
The fluid enters the inlet-chamber 6 by the pipe al and by its pressure forces
open the direct inlet valve sufficiently to allow the volume of fluid being
delivered to pass.. As the valve d opens and the stem d swings forward, the
proportional valve f is also opened to allow a proper proportion of the fluid to
enter the controlling chamber g. The object of the diaphragms h h and the
valye operated thereby is to regulate the pressure in chamber g so that the
drop in pressure through valve f will always bear the same ratio to the drop
through the valve d. This is accomplished by balancing the forces' acting on
diaphragms h h¹. The areas of the diaphragms h h being equal, then as the
inlet pressure through pipe to diaphragm chamber acting on diaphragm h
tends to close valve the result would be a tendency to raise the pressure in
the controlling chamber equal to that in the inlet chamber b. Diaphragm h¹
would then have this greater pressure acting on it from chamber g or in a direc-
tion opposite to that of diaphragm h, so that valve will be forced into such a
position that the pressure acting on diaphragm will be balanced by the pres-
sure acting on diaphragm . As diaphragms h h have the same pressure,
or that of the chamber g acting on their inner faces and the pressure of inlet-
chamber 6 on the outer face of diaphragm h and the pressure of delivery chamber
on the outer face of diaphragm h¹, the controlling chamber 9 will have a pres-
sure equal to the pressure of inlet-chamber 6 less one-half of the drop through
valve d, or equal to the pressure of delivery-chamber c plus one-half of the
drop through the valve d, the areas of the diaphragms being equal. It is of
course to be understood that it is not necessary to have the diaphragms of equal
area, but they have been illustrated and described as so for convenience,; and
to simplify the description.
Suppose, by way of illustration, that a volume of ten thousand cubic feet
of gas
per
hour is passing the meter, and that the drop through direct delivery
valve d is four ounces, then if the diaphragms in controlling chamber g are
of equal area, the drop through valve f will be two ounces. If tally-meter
absorbs one ounce the valve will absorb one ounce, or a total of two ounces.
If tally-meter absorbs two ounces the valve will be wide open and will have.no
absorption. If tally-meter should have no absorption the valve 7 must absorb
two ounces.
."
If the amount of absorption by the tally-meter varies, it is evident that, a
corresponding variation of pressure will occur in the controlling chamber 9,
thus changing the position of the diaphragms h. h¹ and the valve L to correspond
thereto. By this construction the friction of the tally-meter will not affect the
ratio of the volume of fluid passing through the valve d and f.
In Fig. 3 I have illustrated my invention in a different form, the only difference
however, from the form described consisting in reversing the flow of the fluid
so that the fluid passes through the tally-meter before it passes into the con-
trolling chamber. The former delivery chamber now becomes the inlet-chamber
and vice-versa. A spring o is substituted for the weight d¹.
The operation of this form of my invention will be the same, as the first
described form, as the fact that the fluid passes through the tally-meter before
entering the controlling chamber does not change the manner of operation or
the character of its work.

page_text: I do not wish to limit myself to the exact arrangement and construction of
parts illustrated and described, as these may be varied without affecting the
spirit of my invention.
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. In a proportional meter a suitable casing having an inlet and outlet, a
valve controlling the flow of the unmeasured current of fluid, a valve controlling
the measured current, a controlling chamber between the tally-meter and the
last mentioned valve, and oppositely acting diaphragms in said chamber adapted
to control the drop in pressure through said valve containing the measured
current, substantially as set forth.
2. In a proportional meter, a suitable casing having an inlet and outlet, a
valve controlling the flow of the unmeasured current of fluid, a valve controlling the
measured current, a controlling chamber between the tally-meter and the last
mentioned valve, a valve controlling the pressure in said controlling chamber,
and oppositely acting diaphragms in said chamber adapted to operate said valve,
substantially as set forth.
3. In a proportional meter, a suitable casing having an inlet and outlet, a valve
controlling the flow of the unmeasured current of fluid, a valve controlling the
measured current, a controlling chamber between the tally-meter and the last
mentioned valve, a valve controlling communication between said tally-meter and
said controlling chamber, and oppositely acting diaphragms in said chamber
adapted to operate said valve, substantially as set forth.
4. In a proportional meter, a suitable casing having an inlet and outlet, a
valve controlling the fiow of the unmeasured current of fluid, a valve controlling
the measured current, a controlling chamber between the tally-meter and the
last mentioned valve, a valve controlling communication between said tally-
meter and said controlling chamber, oppositely-acting diaphragms in said
chamber, and connections between said diaphragms and said last mentioned valve,
substantially as set forth.
5. In a proportional meter, a suitable casing having an inlet and outlet, a valve
controlling the flow of the unmeasured current of fluid, a valve controlling the
measured current, a controlling chamber between the tally meter and the last
mentioned valve, a valve controlling communication between said tally-meter
and said controlling chamber, diaphragms in said chamber, one of said diaphragms
having the pressure of the inlet chamber on one side thereof, the other diaphragm
having the pressure of the delivery-chamber on one side thereof, and connections
between said diaphragms and said last-mentioned valve, substantially as sef
forth.
JENSEN & SON,
77, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Patent Agents.