IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MEASURING AND
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Ramsbottom and George Hacking, of
Accrington, in the County of Lancaster, Machinists, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MEASURING AND
15
Sealed the 12th June 1863, and dated the 17th December 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Ramsbottom
and George Hacking at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 17th December 1862.
We, JOHN RAMSBOTTOM and GEORGE HACKING, of Accrington, in the
County of Lancaster, Machinists, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MEASURING
AND REGISTERING THE FLOW OF WATER AND OTHER FLUIDS," to be as
follows:-
These improvements relate to a means of increasing the simplicity of
structure, the accuracy of registration, and the general efficiency of water
meters, and they consist of a mode of dispensing with the racked piston rod
in those meters distinguished as of the tumbler class, and in obtaining a
proportionate diminution of length of piston rod equal to that of the rack work
otherwise required.
Also in the erection of a vértical support for the tumbler having a slotted
cavity in which the piston rod moves, and through the slotted portion of which
a projection attached to the top of the said piston rod protrudes. The tumbler

page_text: is composed of two arms which embrace the two sides of the support or pillar
to which they are attached by pivots, and terminate at their extremity by a
weighted head or connecting piece for the two arms, which head is
arranged to pass over the top of the pillar during the reciprocating tumbler
action.
The piece projecting from the piston rod carries an antifriction roller,
which raises and depresses the tumbler alternately on each side of the
pivots, and thereby causes the tumbler to fall in opposite directions
each stroke upwards and each stroke downwards of the piston is
effected.
The valve is constructed on the plug and socket principle, though if
preferred it may be flat, and the water ways are specially intended to prevent
concussion by the ports being made larger than the midfeathers which cross or
intersect them during reversion, so as not seriously to interfere with the
quantity of fluid passing through during the valvular changes. The valve
spindle carries a small taper surface which is ground. to a corresponding recess
in the stuffing box, and thus a water-tight joint, without much, if any, additional
stuffing, is obtained. The spindle carries a catch upon which the tumbler
strikes to effect reversion of the valve. The pivot which carries the arm
opposite to that by which the valve is actuated supports also a rachet wheel
and two radial arms, on one of which are placed the catches which move the
wheel and indices, and the other carries a pin which moves within a slotted bar
attached to the projection on the piston rod previously referred to. And this
bar, which partakes of the whole motion of the piston rod, transmits or com-
municates this motion, or any variability thereof sustained by different velocities
of pressure or outflow, to the registering apparatus. The pillar or support for
the tumbler and the other appliances above mentioned are erected mainly on
the cover of the cylinder in which the piston moves, and the base of the pillar
forms a water-tight packing or stuffing box for the piston rod the whole
being covered by a cap and readily accessible for repair when deranged.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed.
by the said John Ramsbottom and George Hacking in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 17th June 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wė, JOHN
RAMSBOTTOM and GEORGE HACKING, of Accrington, in the County of Lancaster,
Machinists, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said John Ramsbottom and George Hacking, Her special licence,
that we, the said John Ramsbottom and George Hacking, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said John Ramsbottom
and George Hacking, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MEASURING
AND REGISTERING THE FLOW OF WATER AND OTHER FLUIDS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said John Ramsbottom and
George Hacking, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our, or their, or one of our or their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be
filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months' next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said John Ramsbottom and George
Hacking, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement (that is to say):-
This Invention relates to fluid meters, and consists in improved arrange-
ments or contrivances for increasing the simplicity of structure, the accuracy
of registration, and the general efficiency of those important instruments. We
dispense with the racked piston rod in those meters distinguished as the
tumbler class, and thereby effect greater compactness, and reduction to a direct,
simple, and well supported form what has hitherto been a bulky and more
complicated one.
These improvements will be clearly understood by referring to the figures
and letters on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, in which similar letters
refer to similar parts.
Fig. 1 is a vertical section of one arrangement of our improved fluid
meters; Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, views of parts and modifications of the
same; Fig. 7 a. section of a bellows piston adapted for measuring aeriformi

page_text: ;
fluids and Figs. 8 and 9 are views of improved modes of actuating flat valves
for fluid meters.
We erect a vertical support or pillar N, on the top of the cylinder
cover Y, as shewn in the Drawings. Through this pillar there is a hole or
cavity which acts as a guide for the piston rod, and through a slotted portion
of the pillar marked Z in the plan, Fig. 6, a projecting piece K attached to
the top of the piston rod protrudes. This projecting piece carries an
antifriction roller L on one side and a plate W on the other, containing a
curved slot. The roller acts upon a tumbler A and raises it over its centre, or
compresses a spring S, S, Fig. 5, for the purpose of effecting an immediate
reversal of the valve E. The slotted curve is to transmit the whole motion of
the piston, or the amount of water displaced by each stroke thereof, to the
indicating apparatus, whether such strokes under different velocities of outflow
be of equal or unequal length.
The tumbler A is constructed of two arms which embrace the two sides of
the pillar N, to which they are attached by pivots P and P³, and are connected
at their extremities by a weighted head which passes over the top of the
pillar during the reciprocating action from one side to the other in the path
indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 4. A friction break G, regulated by a
spring H, is used to diminish concussion when the weight is greater than the
friction required to be overcome in changing the valve. The valve E, which
may be either of the plug and socket form or a flat valve, is suitably arranged
to avoid concussion or interrupted flow by the ports F being made larger
than the midfeathers which cross or intersect them. The valve spindle d³
carries a small taper surface, which is ground to a corresponding recess
in the stuffing box or upon a bush placed therein, in order to obtain a
fluid-tight joint with diminished friction and little or no additional packing.
'This valve spindle carries the reversing catch R, Fig. 1, which is actuated
by the projecting portion of the tumbler. The pivots P and P, Fig. 1, are
formed so that the tumbler moves upon them, and the pivot P³ also supports
two radial arms, or, what is equivalent to them, a plate T, which carries
two projecting pins, one working within and receiving motion from the slotted
plate W, and the other imparting this motion to the indices N2 by means
of the ratchet wheel R, and catches V, working in its teeth. The pillar
and the other appliances are erected mainly on the cover of the cylinder in
which the piston 0 moves, the base of the pillar serving the purpose of a
gland for the piston rod, and the bored recess a guide for the same. The sides
of the pillar are supports for the tumbler, and the slot and sides are guides

page_text: for the projecting piece on the top of the piston rod. The piston is intended
to be constructed in various ways. Where the fluid is water and the tem-
perature low, the piston may be the usual leather cupped one, with this
difference, that a recess is formed in the cup bearings or piston flanges B³
Fig. 1, and a number of apertures made to communicate with the said
recess and the body of the cylinder, thereby admitting the pressure of the
water betwixt the flanges and the cupped leathers to enhance the efficiency and
trustworthiness of the piston.
:
Where hot water is intended to be measured, such as the feed water for
steam boilers, a brass or other metallic piston will be preferable, and where gas;
air, or other aeriform fluids are to be measured, a bellows-shaped. piston,
as shewn in Fig. 7 may be used. This piston works with diminished friction
and has one of the ports F leading inside the bellows and the. other
outside.
.
Fig. 5 shews a modification or arrangement of our Invention where a
quicker action of the piston is required. A spring S, S, is screwed to the
cylinder cover and carries near its other extremity an antifriction roller L'.
A double trigger, supported on its centre pin at P, also carries a similar
roller L, and as the projecting roller L on the piston rod B travels in the
slot of the pillar until the trigger is raised beyond the perpendicular, the
spring has thereby. become so compressed, and the positions of the roller on the
trigger and the roller on the spring so. relatively altered, as to cause. the
spring to reverse the position of the trigger and also the valve with which it is`
connected..
"
Fig. 8 shews an arrangement for actuating a flat valve by the two lip-.
shaped pieces attached to the reversing shaft D2. But for the convenience of
constructing the feed and exit ways in a right line with each other it may
be desirable to move the valve also in a right line parallel to that of the reversing
shaft, we then obtain the reversing motion in the following manner :-We
attach to the reversing shaft passing through the valve box a propeller-
shaped blade or screw, as shewn in Fig. 9; a partial rotation of the blade
or screw gives progressive motion to the valve through the medium of anti-.
friction rollers attached thereto.
An additional chamber is also constructed at the back part of the valve box
into which the fluid passes in its way from the meter, so that the water
enters on one side of the valve box. at right angles to the valve shaft, and
escapes at the other side, directly opposite from the receiving, chamber.
before mentioned. A cap, S¹, Fig. 1, screwed to the cylinder top, covers all the-
above parts.

page_text: The action of the meter is as follows:-The fluid passes the inlet to the
valve and cylinder, and by its pressure puts in action the piston, thereby
displacing the fluid on the opposite side, from whence it is free to escape
through the outlet ports of the valve and passages. When the piston bas
nearly completed its stroke. in either direction, the valve ports require to be
changed to reverse the stroke of the piston, and as it is requisite to do this
as quickly as possible, and in such manner as not seriously to affect the regu-
larity of the outflow, an amount of accumulated power must at this point be
brought into immediate operation, either in the form of a raised weight or a
compressed spring, or other means corresponding thereto, if the meter be
single acting in its principle. The tumbler A is such a weight, and
the spring S, S, and trigger Fig. 5, an equivalent thereto, and when
the piston in. Fig. 1 has nearly terminated its stroke upwards or down-
wards, and by means of the projecting piece and roller raised the
tumbler to the perpendicular, a slight additional motion or pressure on
the trigger-shaped. projection now carries the weighted head over the top
of the pillar, and it. falls to the other side, and coming into contact
with the catch on the valve Ispindle reverses the valve, and thus the motion is
continued while the supply is maintained. The spring and unweighted trigger
shewn in Fig. 5 perform a similar duty to that just described.
The slotted curve in the plate W, Fig. 2, transmits the amount of displace-
ment performed by each stroke to the index, where it is duly recorded.
Having thus explained the 'nature of our Invention and the manner of
carrying it into practical effect, we wish it to be understood that we do not
claim either a flat or plug-shaped valve, a tumbler, or a spring, because these
means have been previously used, though differently arranged, as has also a
pillar or support in meters of another class; but we do claim as new, to the
best of our knowledge and belief, either in meters of this or the double acting
kind,―
-
First, the application and construction of a projecting piece attached to the
top of a piston rod as a means of acting directly on a tumbler, or com-
pressing a spring for the purpose of reversing the motion of the valve
and transmitting the amount of displacement of the fluid to the indicating
apparatus.
Secondly, the construction and use of a two-armed trigger-shaped
instrument, one arni being on each side the centre of oscillation or rotation, as
shewn and described, whether weighted as a tumbler or actuated by a
spring, for the purpose of reversing the action of the valve ports of fluid
meters.

page_text: Thirdly, the form and manner of erecting a weighted lever or tumber in
connection with a pillar or support, so that by a direct action thereon it
may be made to fall in reverse directions, as herein described for the within-
named objects.
Fourthly, the construction and use of a slotted bar or a curved plate for the
purpose of transmitting the variable motion of the piston to the indicating
apparatus of fluid meters.
Fifthly, the mode of imparting reciprocating motion to the valve by the
means described in Figs. 8 and 9.
Sixthly, the construction and use of recessed flanges in pistons leather cupped,
as described and shewn at B2, Fig. 1.
And, seventhly, the mode of better securing a fluid-tight joint for the valve
spindle by the means above explained, together with the general construction and
arrangement of the several portions of the above-described apparatus for the
purpose of increasing the simplicity of structure, the accuracy of registration,
and the efficiency of water and other fluid meters, as all such improvements
are herein described, and illustrated in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Ranısbottom, for and on behalf
of myself and the said George Hacking, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twelfth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Signed, sealed, and delivered,
by the within-named John
Ramsbottom, in the presence
of
E. J. HUGHES,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
JOHN RAMSBOTTOM. (L.S.)