IMPROVEMENTS IN LIQUID METERS, APPLICABLE ALSO AS A MOTIVE-POWER ENGINE
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edwin Powley Alexander, of 14, Southampton
Buildings, London, Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LIQUID METERS, APPLICABLE ALSO AS A
MOTIVE-POWER ENGINE."-A communication from abroad by Albert
Schmid, of Zurich, Switzerland, Engineer.
Sealed the 14th July 1874, and dated the 21st May 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edwin Powley Alexander
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 21st May 1874.
I, EDWIN POWLEY ALEXANDER, of 14, Southampton Buildings,
London, Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LIQUID METERS,
APPLICABLE ALSO AS A MOTIVE-POWER ENGINE," a communication to me from
abroad by Albert Schmid, of Zurich, Switzerland, Engineer, to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to certain modifications of the improved motive-
power engine for which Letters Patent were granted to John Henry
Johnson on behalf of the said Albert Schmid, bearing date the 5th of

page_text: April, 1871, No. 906, which modifications it is now proposed to apply to
the measuring of liquids, such as water, wine, beer, spirits, oils, and the
like, when under sufficient pressure to overcome the friction of the
working parts of the meter.
This improved meter consists of a liquid-tight closed casing provided
with a rotating divided dial plate and indicating pointer worked by
toothed gearing from the rotating crank shaft or spindle of the meter so
as to indicate clearly the quantity of liquid passing through. On the
bottom of the closed casing inside the same there is cast a stationary
concave supporting surface, upon which rests the corresponding convex
curved port faces of two oscillating cylinders, the piston rods of which
are coupled to crank pins at right angles on the rotating shaft or spindle.
A single central outlet is formed in the concave surface for each
cylinder, and the convex surface of each cylinder is provided with two
inlet ports. The cylinders each oscillate on trunnions in adjustable
bearings & are held down to the concave surface by adjusting screws.
When either of the pistons is at half-stroke one or other of the inlet
ports of the corresponding cylinder is open to the interior of the casing,
into which the liquid to be measured has free access through a pipe for
that purpose, the liquid pressure inside the casing depending on the
height of the liquid column outside, or on the pressure with which the
liquid may be forced into the said casing. As each inlet port is exposed
the liquid enters thereby into the cylinder and forces the corresponding
piston along, thereby rotating the crank shaft or spindle. By the time
the piston has returned to the half stroke again the inlet port last
referred to will be over the outlet port in the concave surface, and the
liquid will consequently be expelled through that port into the exit pipe,
and so on for each cylinder. As each cylinder is of a known capacity it
follows that the amount of liquid passed through the meter in a given
time can be ascertained by simply causing the crank shaft to drive any
suitable or well known arrangement of counting mechanism.
The same arrangement of engine enclosed within a tight box or casing
is also applicable as a convenient light motive-power engine for driving
sewing machines or for other domestic purposes, for which application
the crank shaft of the engine passes through the side of the box or
casing into the open air where it is fitted with a suitable fly wheel or
pulley.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edwin Powley Alexander in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 6th August 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWIN
POWLEY ALEXANDER, of 14, Southampton Buildings, London, Con-
sulting Engineer and Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Edwin Powley Alexander, Her special
license that I, the said Edwin Powley Alexander, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edwin Powley
Alexander, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LIQUID METERS, APPLICABLE ALSO AS A MOTIVE-POWER
ENGINE," a communication to me from abroad by Albert Schmid, of
Zurich, Switzerland, Engineer, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Edwin Powley Alexander, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of 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 I, the said Edwin Powley Alexander, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, reference reference being had to
the accompanying Drawing, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon, that is to say :—
The said Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement
of liquid meter based on the principles of construction of the motive-

page_text: power engine for which Letters Patent were granted to John Henry
Johnson on behalf of the said Albert Schmid, bearing date the 5th of
April 1871, No. 906. This liquid meter is applicable not only to the
measuring of liquids such as water, wine, beer, spirits, oils, and the like,
when such liquids are under sufficient pressure to overcome the friction
of the working parts of the meter, but is also by a slight further modifi-
cation, herein-after described, applicable as a motive-power engine.
The improved meter consists of a liquid-tight closed casing provided
with a rotating divided dial plate and indicating pointer worked by
toothed gearing from the rotating crank shaft or spindle of the meter so
as to indicate clearly the quantity of liquid passing through. On the
bottom of the closed casing inside the same there is cast a stationary
concave supporting surface somewhat similar to that described in the
Specification of the said Patent, No. 906, A.D. 1871, upon which rests
the corresponding convex curved port faces (also somewhat similar to
the port face described in the said former Specification) of two oscillating
cylinders, the piston rods of which are coupled to crank pins set at an
angle of about 90° to each other on the rotating shaft or spindle. A¨
central outlet is formed in the concave surface on which each cylinder
rests, and the convex port face or surface of each cylinder is provided
with two inlet ports communicating respectively with opposite ends of
the cylinder. The cylinders each oscillate on trunnions in adjustable
bearings and are held in sufficiently close contact with the concave
surface to prevent leakage by adjusting screws.
When either of the pistons is at half-stroke one or other of the inlet
ports of the corresponding cylinder is open to the interior of the liquid-
tight closed casing, into which casing the liquid to be measured has free
access through a pipe for that purpose, the pressure of the liquid inside
the casing depending on the height of the liquid column outside, or on
the pressure with which the liquid may be forced into the said casing by
a pump or otherwise. On each inlet port being exposed to the interior
of the casing the liquid enters thereby into one or the other end of
the cylinder, as the case may be, and forces the corresponding piston
along, thereby rotating the crank shaft or spindle. By the time the
piston has returned to the half-stroke again the inlet port last referred
to will be over the outlet port in the concave surface or bed, and the
liquid will consequently be expelled through that port into the exit pipe
and so on for each cylinder, both the cylinders communicating with the

page_text: same outlet pipe. As each cylinder is of a known capacity it follows
that the amount of liquid passed through the meter in a given time can
be ascertained by simply causing the crank shaft to drive any suitable
or well known arrangement of counting mechanism.
The same arrangement of engine enclosed within a steam-tight box or
casing, as above described, may also be employed as a convenient light
motive-power engine for driving sewing machines, or for other domestic
purposes, it being simply requisite to extend the crank shaft of the
engine through stuffing boxes in the sides of the closed casing and to fit
on to the external portion of such shaft a fly wheel and driving pulley,
as is well understood. Water, steam, or compressed air on being
admitted into the closed casing by the inlet pipe gains access to one or
the other end of each cylinder by the opening of the opposite ports and
thereby drives the engine.

page_text: .
The arrangement which I have found to answer well in practice, but
to which I make no special claim, consists of a divided dial & turning
freely along with a toothed wheel c attached to it by a pin d round the
hollow boss e of another toothed wheel f, the whole turning freely
round the central fixed pin or pivot 9 screwed into the diaphragm C.
To the top of the tubular boss e of the toothed wheel ƒ there is fitted a
pointer or index h. The dial 6 is divided into gallons and fractional
parts of a gallon, or into any other desired unit of measurement and
parts thereof, and a fixed index or pointer (not seen in the Drawings) is
attached to the side of the casing A just above the said dial so as to
project slightly over it. Into the teeth of the wheels c and there gears
the small spur pinion i, the spindle of which is securely fixed inside the
larger spindle k which turns in a long boss cast on the under side of
the diaphragm C, and carries a worm wheel D at its lower end in gear
with a screw throad or worm m on the crank shaft E of the meter.
of the wheels c and ƒ may have one tooth more than the other, as is well
understood in counting mechanism, so as to enable the meter to indicate
any given unit of capacity in units, tens, hundreds, and thousands, or
otherwise, according to the size and requirements of the apparatus.
One
The measuring cylinders F, F, fill and empty themselves twice for
every complete revolution, as will be herein-after explained. They each
oscillate on trunnions n, n, in bearings o, o, which are capable of vertical
adjustment by means of adjusting screws at p, p, so as to regulate the
contact pressure of the convex port faces G, G, upon the fixed concave
surfaces H, H, which may be cast on the bed plate, as shown. The
length of the arc of each of the concave surfaces H is such as to cause
one of the two inlet ports q, q', in the convex port face to be fully open
to the interior of the casing A when the piston I of the same cylinder is
at exactly half-stroke, whilst at the same time the other inlet port of
the same cylinder is brought opposite to the outlet port r in the centre
of the concave surface, and vice versa. In this position of the cylinder
the liquid to be measured which is introduced into and fills the casing A
through the inlet passage K enters the cylinder at one end; whilst at the
same time the liquid in the opposite end of the cylinder, and which has
been already measured, is expelled through the central outlet port r,
by the passages into the outlet pipe L, the outlet ports r in connection
with each cylinder both opening into one and the same outlet pipe.
The pressure of the cylinder convex slide or port face G, G, against the

page_text: corresponding concave face H is also regulated by the water pressure
itself, the pressure in the casing being greater than in the outlet
passage L. The piston rods M work through stuffing boxes in their
respective cylinder covers, and are each connected to a crank pin N in
the discs O, O, fast on the shaft E, the said crank pins being set at an
angle of 90° to each other, so that whilst one piston is at half-stroke it
other is at the end of its course. The shaft E is mounted in bearings t, t,
and has the screw thread or worm m formed upon it for driving the
counting or indicating mechanism before referred to. A strainer u of
fine wire gauze may be placed over the mouth of the inlet pipe K to
prevent the ingress of any foreign bodies which might interfere with the
working of the apparatus. As the only resistance to be overcome is the
friction of the working parts, and as this is very slight, the meter will
work accurately under a low fluid pressure. P is a glass plate to protect
the counting mechanism.
If it be desired to construct a motive-power engine the crank shaft E
should be extended through a stuffing box in one or both sides of the
closed casing A, the crank pins N in the discs O being replaced by
ordinary double cranks to allow the piston rods to pass the shaft. The
motive power is transmitted from the shaft by a driving pulley or
gearing mounted thereon outside the casing. Of course in such an
application the counting mechanism, and parts in connection therewith,
may be entirely dispensed with.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to
be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to
me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,—
1st. Thecombination and arrangement of parts constituting a liquid
meter or a motive-power engine, substantially as heroin-before described
and illustrated by the Drawings hereunto annexed.
2nd. The combination of the oscillating cylinders having convex
curved port faces resting upon corresponding concave curved beds con-
taining each a single outlet port, with the closed outer box or casing
having inlet and outlet passages when arranged substantially in the
manner and for the purpose herein-before described and illustrated by
the Drawings hereunto annexed.

page_text: 3rd. The so arranging the inlet ports of each cylinder with reference
to the curved bed over which they work, as that one of such ports shall
be open to the interior of the closed casing, and the other open to the
outlet port in the curved bed when the piston approaches or is at the
middle of its stroke, substantially as and for the purposes herein-before
described.
4th. The application and use as a single cylinder motive-power engine
of the same system of convex-curved port faces and concave bed having
the ports arranged, as herein set forth, when the closed box or casing A,
of any convenient shape, forms the air vessel, substantially as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edwin Powley Alexander, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of August, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.