Improvements in Liquid Meters.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Mar., 1896-Accepted, 18th Apr., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Liquid Meters.
I WILLIAM MILES FOWLER of Stamford in the County of Fairfield and State
of Connecticut, United States of America, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
My invention relates to improvements in liquid meters in which a plurality of
pistons reciprocate, one after another, each in its own cylinder, and each serving
in turn to open the inlet and discharge ports of another, keeping the flow of liquid
through the motor constant, and producing a simple and reliable means for accurately
determining the amount of liquid used.
A practical embodiment of my invention is represented in the accompanying
drawings, in which :-
Fig. 1 is a view of the meter in longitudinal central section;
Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section through the cylinder and heads;
Fig. 3 is a transverse section through one of the heads, on the line x, x of
Fig. 2, and
Fig. 4 is a partial vertical longitudinal section through line y y of Fig. 3.
The number of cylinders and reciprocating pistons which I have chosen to
illustrate my invention is two. The cylinders are denoted by A A', and their
pistons by a and a respectively. In the present instance, I have shown two
cylinder heads only, each common to the corresponding ends of the two cylinders,
and provided with fluid conduits or ports inter-connecting the interiors of the two
cylinders at their ends. It is obvious, however, that separate pipes might be
substituted for the passages within the heads, if so desired.
One of the cylinder heads is denoted as a whole by B, and the other by B. The
two heads are quite similar in their structure, and for this reason I have shown in
the accompanying drawings one of the heads only in detail, the ports in the
opposite cylinder head, which do not exactly coincide with those of the head B,
being represented by dotted lines in Fig. 3. It will be understood that the
position of these ports in the cylinder head B', which are shown in Fig. 3 in dotted
lines as not coinciding with the ports in the head B, is due to the fact that the
observer is supposed to be looking (in Fig. 3) from the outer face of the head B
towards the cylinders, and at the same time at the inner face of the head B¹.
The cylinder head B is provided with a valve chamber b, centrally opposite the
end of the cylinder A, and with a valve chamber b', centrally opposite the corre-
sponding end of the cylinder A. The cylinder head B' is provided with similar
valve chambers 62 and 63 respectively, centrally opposite the corresponding ends of
the cylinders A A'.
Centrally through the cylinder A, extends a rod C, and through the cylinder A'
a corresponding rod C, each having fixed at or near its opposite ends a two-part
piston valve, consisting of cylinders c, e separated by an annular port . The
rods C, C project through one of the cylinder heads, in the present instance through
the head B¹, and one or both of them, in the present instance, one of them only,-
viz., C, is utilized to operate the register to record the amount of liquid which passes
into and out of the two cylinders A A'. The pistons a a¹ slide loosely on the
respective rods C C within the cylinders A' A', and serve, as they approach the
opposite ends of their respective cylinders, to engage the valves c c¹, and move
them, together with the rod C C', to which they are fixed, in the one direction or

page_text: the other, according to the direction in which said pistons a a' are moving within
the cylinders. A common inlet D communicates, by means of oppositely extending
passage-ways d d', shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, with ports E E in the cylinder
head B (with corresponding parts in the cylinder head B¹), which ports lead
through the valve chambers 6 of the cylinder head B, and through corresponding
valve chambers 26 of the cylinder head B', to ports e el, leading from the valve
chambers, to openings at the end of the cylinders A A', the port e leading to the
opening Fat the end of the cylinder A', and the port e to the opening at the
corresponding end of the cylinder A, while the passage-ways e e, corresponding
respectively to the ports e, el, but located in the opposite cylinder head B' com-
municate with openings F, f, leading into the corresponding ends of the cylinders A
and A¹ respectively. Attention is particularly called to the fact that the ports E
and E' open into the valve chambers & b' in different transverse planes, as clearly
noted in Fig. 2, so that when the valves c c¹, at the corresponding ends of the two
cylinders, are in positions such, for example, as that shown in Fig. 2, one of the
ports EE will be closed to its valve chamber, and the other open to its valve
chamber.
In a manner quite similar to the common inlet D, and its connections with the
valve chambers in the head B, I provide a common outlet G, with branches
leading to the opposite heads B B₁, and communicating, through oppositely
extending passages H H in the head B (and through corresponding passages in
the head B¹) with the valve chambers b 61 in the head B, and with the valve
chambers 62 and, in the head B'. Attention is particularly called to the fact
that the passage-ways H and H' communicate with the valve chambers in the head
in different transverse plaues, the passage H in the head B being in such relation
to the port e, that the two, H and e, will be simultaneously in communication with
each other, when the valve c c' is moved to close the inlet passage E, while the
two, H and el, will be in communication with each other when the valve c c of
the cylinder A is moved into position to close the inlet passage E. In fact, the
ports e el are of such width that they at all times are in communication with either
the inlet or outlet passage, i.e., e is always in communication either with the inlet E
or outlet H, and the port e¹ is always in communication either with the inlet E¹ or
the outlet H
The operation is as follows:-
Starting with the parts in the position shown in Fig. 2, and supposing the
cylinders A and A' to be filled with liquid; the inlet port E being open, the
inflowing liquid will pass through the valve chamber b' into the port e', and thence,
through the opening f, into the cylinder A, and will force the piston in that
cylinder towards the opposite end of the cylinder the liquid in the cylinder A
escaping through the opening F1 at the opposite end of the cylinder, into the
porte; thence through the valve chamber 63 at the opposite end of the cylinder A';
thence into the outlet passage H¹ to the outlet G. As the piston a approaches the
opposite end of the cylinder A, it will engage the valve c c', and shift it, so as to
open the inlet branch E in the head B to the port e, and hence to the opening Fat
that end of the cylinder A¹.
The cylinder A is now filled with liquid between the head B and the piston a,
and the piston a having been arrested in its movement, no more liquid can flow
into the cylinder A, and hence the inflowing liquid immediately begins to move the
piston a towards the opposite end of the cylinder A through the passageways E
and e and opening F above noted. As the piston al moves towards the opposite
end of the cylinder A', the liquid in the cylinder A' will be discharged through
the opening at the head B, and through the port e³, to the valve chamber b;
thence to the passageway H, which is now, by the shifting of the valve c c¹ in the
cylinder A, in open communication with the port e³, and thence to the outlet.
the piston a' approaches the opposite end of the cylinder A', it will engage the
valve c c', and shift it into position to open the inlet port at the end of the
cylinder, and close the inlet port at the opposite end of the cylinder.
As

page_text: The liquid now flowing into the inlet passage in the head B', corresponding to
the inlet passage E' in the head B, will pass through the valve chamber into the
porte, and thence through the opening F, to force the piston a back again into
the position shown in Fig. 2, the liquid in the cylinder A being now discharged
through the opening f, port el, chamber 6', and passageway H' in the head B. As
the piston a approaches the head B, it will shift the valve e c', to close the port E,
and at the same time open communication between the passageway in the head Bi
corresponding to the passageway E, and the inflowing liquid will straightway pass
through the port e in the head B¹ to the opening f, and will force the piston a' in
the cylinder A' back toward the position shown in ig. 2, the liquid in the
cylinder A being now discharged through the open F, port e, chamber b, and
outlet passage H. As the piston a' approaches e head B, it will shift the
valve ce into position to open the port E¹, and th operation which has hereinabove
been described will be repeated.
The successive discharge of the liquid om the cylinders in succession will
continue so long as the supply of liquid under head is admitted to the inlet, the
movable pistons in the cylinders ser ing, in succession, to automatically control
the inlet and outlet of the liquid in and out of its companion cylinder.
As the valves cc! are alternate, operated, they carry with them the rods C C¹,
and for purposes of registeri the amount of liquid which passes through the
cylinders, a registering de ce of any well-known or approved form may be so
located and constructed co be actuated by the reciprocating movement of one of
the rods CC', as, for ample, the rod C. To practically provide for this, it is
simply necessary to now the amount of liquid which will fill the two cylinders,
and making that .ae unit of record, each advance stroke of the rod C may be made
to turn a regering device one step, and the successive steps being recorded, the
amount of liquid which passes through may be read from the register. For
example, if the two cylinders hold combinedly one-half gallon of liquid, each step
of the recording device will correspond to one gallon, and if the register records
forty steps of the registering pointer or wheel, it will of course indicate forty
gallons as the amount of liquid which has passed through.
In the present instance, I have shown in connection with the reciprocating
rod C, a registering device consisting of a series of wheels K, K1, K2, the primary
wheel K being under the control of a lever L, with an operating pawl 7 and
spring, and the lever L being itself actuated by the advance movement of the
rod C. The wheels K' K may be so connected with the wheel K, in any well-known
or approved manner, such as is common in adding and recording machines, each to
move one step when the adjacent wheel has completed a full revolution, i.e., if the
primary wheel K is arranged to move one hundred successive steps to complete a
revolution, the second wheel K' will move one step for every one hundred steps of
the wheel K, and the wheel K will move one step for every one hundred steps of
the wheel K, or one step to ten thousand steps of the wheel K.
The particular form of register is not a part of my present invention, it being
my intention to use, in connection with the cylinders and their moving pistons and
valves, any suitable registering device which may be found most satisfactory for
the purpose.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. A liquid meter, comprising a plurality of cylinders, each provided with a
movable piston, the inlet and outlet of the cylinders being under the control of the
moving piston in a companion cylinder, to keep the flow of liquid constant, and
means of recording the number of strokes of one of the pistons, to determine the
amount of liquid discharged, substantially as set forth.
2. A liquid meter, comprising a plurality of cylinders, each provided with a
movable piston, an inlet conduit common to the several cylinders, ports inter-

page_text: connecting the corresponding ends of the cylinders, and valves under the control of
the movable pistons in the cylinders, to control the inlet and discharge into and
from a companion cylinder, substantially as set forth.
3. A liquid meter, comprising a plurality of cylinders, each provided with a
movable piston, inlet and outlet conduits common to the several cylinders, ports
interconnecting the ends of the cylinders, reciprocating valve rods, and valves fixed
to the rods, and under the control of the movable pistons, to control the inlet and
discharge into and from a companion cylinder, substantially as set forth.
Dated this 14th day of March 1896.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.