IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER METERS
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Benjamin Pryor Stockman at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 17th August 1868.
I, BENJAMIN PRYOR STOCKMAN, of 23, Abingdon Street, Westminster,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER METERS," to be
as follows:-
For the purpose of measuring the quantity or flow of water or other
fluids passing through pipes or otherwise as supplied by waterworks
companies or others so as to ascertain the amount of consumption or
supply in a given space of time I have invented an improved water
meter, which I consider to be an improvement upon the water meters
hitherto in use from its greater certainty of registration and its simplicity
of construction.
My water meter may be described as a "piston meter," as it consists
of two cylinders and pistons combined and working with a reciprocating
action, namely, one piston up while the other is down. The two
cylinders are placed side by side on a base plate common to both. The

page_text: cylinders are bored out, and the pistons are packed with a cupped
leather, or in any other suitable way to ensure their working water-
tight. At the top of the cylinders there is a capping plate, upon which
is seated the whole system of gearing comprising the valve apparatus.
Each piston has a toothed rack attached to it in place of a piston rod,
and the two racks pass through holes provided for the purpose in the
capping plate. Between the two racks is a toothed wheel in gear
with both, and reciprocating their ascent and descent. On the same
common centre with the wheel, but capable of turning partly round
independently of it, are a weighted lever and a valve, which alternates
the passages for the supply and discharge. From each cylinder there
is a pipe communicating with the valve face, and two other pipes also
communicating with the valvo face respectively for the supply and
discharge. The valve is worked by the weighted lever falling upon a
pin, there being two pins on the valve disc corresponding with each
direction in which it has to be moved by the lever. The reciprocating
wheel has also two pins on its face for the purpose of picking up the
lever and carrying it up to the top of its stroke or till its centre of
gravity overhangs the vertical line.
1- The action of the water meter may be better understood by the
following description:-Let the two cylinders be called A and B, and
when. the piston in A is down at its lowest position the piston in B
will be up at its highest position; then the cylinder A will be empty,
and to start with assume the cylinder B to be full of water or what-
éver fluid is to be measured. The position of the valve under theso
circumstances will be to afford communication between the supply
pipe and cylinder A and between the discharge pipe and cylinder B;
and supposing the water to be circulating through from supply to
discharge all the supply will enter cylinder A, raising its piston, and all
the discharge will be from cylinder B, allowing its piston to descend by
the pressure on the other side transferred by the wheel between the
racks; and this arrangement will continue until the piston in B has
arrived at the bottom of its stroke and the piston in A has arrived at
the top, when cylinder B will be empty and cylinder A full. At this
moment one of the pins on the wheel will have carried the weighted
lever upwards to the point at which its centre of gravity overhangs,
causing it to fall suddenly, striking a pin on the valve on its way,
turning it, and thereby reversing the passages, making the supply

page_text: communicate with cylinder B and the discharge with cylinder A. This
reciprocating action is constantly going on during the time the water
is flowing in and out of the meter, and the quantity or volume is
indicated and registered by a "tell-tale" apparatus of wheelwork in
gear with the reciprocating wheel or the racks or the lever. The adjust-
ment of the pressure on the valve is regulated by a screw, which keeps
the working faces in contact, and the weight on the lever is adjusted
to any required leverage or weight. The fall of the lever is checked by
springs or buffers, or both combined. The whole of the upper portion
of the water meter above the capping plate may be covered by a hood
to secure it from being tampered with, while it is so arranged as to
be readily taken to pieces or opened for the purposes of cleaning or
repairing it.