Improvements in Prepayment and Coin Freed Gas Meters.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Feb., 1893-Accepted, 29th Apr., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Prepayment and Coin Freed Gas Meters.
We, JOSEPH STEELE of 33 Hobson Street, Oldham, Clock Maker and JOHN
WILLIAM BRIERLEY of 10 Park View Terrace, Oldham, Index Maker, do
hereby declare the nature of our said invention aud in what manner the same is to
be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statoment:-
This invention relates to means for automatically delivering a quantity of gas
equal to the value of a coin or series of coins of fixed value or a prepaid sum of
money and thus ensuring that the gas shall be paid for before it is consumed, and
our invention consists of certain novel locking and coin-freed mechanism applied
to the ordinary counter or index of the gas meter.
And in order that our improvements shall be the more readily understood and
carried into practical effect we have hereunto annexed a sheet of drawings and we
will now proceed to describe the same with the assistance of the various figures and
lotters of reference marked thereon.
On the accompanying drawing
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of an ordinary gas meter counter with the front plate
removed to more clearly show our improvements as applied thereto. Fig. 2′is a
similar view of the opposite side of the counter and Fig. 3 is a plan view.
In accordance with our invention we employ a toothed spur wheel A supple- ·
mentary to the ordinary train of wheels of the counter and mounted loosely upon a
special spindle or arbor A', and gearing with the main driving pinion A' of the
counter. Adjacent to this supplementary wheel is a disc B rigidly mounted upon
the spindle Aaud upon the face of this disc a spring blade C is affixed formed
with a tooth or indent D, which takes into a set of teeth E on the side of tho
supplementary wheel A. The spindle or arbor A extends outside the side plate F
and is there provided with a ratchet wheel G and a disc H, in the periphery of
which latter is formed an opening or recess I. Into this opening may take the
projection J on the arm of the lever K (hereinafter called the locking lever) which
is pivoted to the side of the counter and so arranged as to cause the projection J
to bear against the periphery of the disc and take into oponing I when it comes
opposite thereto and so prevent the diso turning round.
The aforesaid arrangement constitutes the mechanism we employ for locking the
counter and preventing the flow of gas and in order to unlock the counter and allow
tho gas to flow through the meter it will be observed that the projection of the
locking lever aforesaid must first be lifted ont of the indented disc.
To effect this, the locking lever is formed with an arm L to which is pivoted the
peculiar shaped click plate M which will engage with the teeth of the ratchet G
when acted upon as hereinafter described.
Upon the side of the counter we form the vertical slot N terminating under the ·
vertical guides O in which the rod P is capable of sliding up and down.
By inserting a coin, say, a penny, in the said slot N the same falls down onto the
incline rolling against the rod P which is in its lowest position. By then lifting
the rod P, to the position shewn in dotted lines in Fig. 2 and in full lines Fig. 4, the
penny is allowed to fall down the incline against the arm Land upon pushing.
the rod down the curved foot R causes the penny to press against the said arm L,
pushing the locking lever over against the stop pin 8 (as shewn dotted in Fig. 2
and in full lines in Fig. 5) and causing the projection J to come out of the opening I
in the disc H. The penny then bears against the click plate M and the last
I

page_text: increment of movement of the rod P causes the coin to push past said plate and
simultaneously cause said plate to engage with the ratchet wheel G (as shewn in
Fig. 6) and impel it one tooth forward; the penny dropping away into a box placed
to receive it and the locking lever falling with its projection onto the periphery of
the disc. Each tooth of the ratchet wheel represents a fixed value of gas say
one penny worth and the wheel G would be divided into a number of teeth corre-
sponding with the price of gas say 40 teeth if the gas was 3 shillings and 4 pence
per thousand feet. The wheel G should have the same number of teeth as E.
The disc H having been unlocked and the ratchet wheel advanced a fraction of a
revolution both are thon free to revolve under the action of the counter and flow of
gas and through the frictional contact of the spring blade C.
The setting back of the ratchet whool does not affect the counter mechanism
as it is permitted by the tooth or indent of the spring blade C slipping over the
teeth E.
As the gas flows through the meter the disc is rotated back again in the direction
of the arrow and thus in time, that is, as soon as the penny worth of gas has passed,
the projection J on the locking lover, falls into the indent I and again locks the
counter and stops the flow of gas.
On the insertion of another coin the operation may be repeated.
It will be obvious that by inserting a series of coins one after the other, the disc
may be set proportionately further back and that a corresponding supply of gas
will be obtained.
In order to further lock the meter when no gas is passing through it I provide
the worm shaft T with a ratchet crown wheel U and I attach to the sleeve V
which forms part of the locking lever K an arm W the free extremity of which
engages with said crown wheel as illustrated in Fig. 1. Said arm rises and
disengages with the wheel simultaneously with the locking lever setting free tho
disc H.
It will be apparent that in addition to the spring plate C we may employ a
ratchet wheel keyed on the spindle and a pawl affixed to the supplementary wheel A
to drive the spindle through the pawl and allowing said ratchet wheel to be turned
back without being affected thereby.
In order to give an indication of the quantity of gas to be used after the
insertion of the coin we provide a dial marked with suitable divisions representing
cubic feet, and to the spindle of the supplementary wheel we affix an index finger
which travels over the dial aforesaid and so serves to indicate the quantity of gas
which has been paid for. The pointer will travel away from zero when the disc
is turned back and towards zero when the gas is being consumed.
This improved mechanism may be adapted for prepaid payments that is in cases
where a user may wish to pay for the gas for a length of time and for this purpose
we employ the arrangement shewn in Figs. 7 and 8, the arm L being pivoted to K
and connected with a click arm X which is connected at one end to the rod P and
takes into the teeth of the ratchet wheel at the other end.
The rod P is provided with a cap which is normally sealed. Upon the money
being paid say to a gas corporation, a representative of such corporation is sent to
set the mechanism to deliver the amount of gas paid for and in doing so he breaks
the seal and works the rod P up and down repeatedly which causes the click arm
to first push the locking lever K out of the indent I in the disc H until it is stopped
by the pin S at which instant and by the further downward movement of the rod
the click X acting from a fulcrum at Y and being held up by the spring 7
presses against the teeth of the ratchet wheel and causes tho ratchet whool to
advance one tooth at a time for each downward stroke of the rod P.
The disc being thus set back to the required extent, that is through a number
of teeth equal to the value of the gas paid for, the rod P is sealed up again and
the disc is left to rotate back under the nation of the flow of gas until the
projection J falls into the indent I when the supply stops.

page_text: Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
olaim is :-
1st. In combination with a gas meter counter the use and employment of a
supplementary wheel A, spindle A¹, "slip" and driving spring plate C, ratchet
wheel B, and indented disc H all mounted and operating substantially as and
for the purposes hereinbefore described and illustrated on the accompanying
drawing.
2nd. The coin freed mechanism as shown and more particularly described
with reference to Figs. 2, 4, 5 and 6 of the drawing, acting in the manner
herein before described in unlocking the disc H and turning back the ratchet.
wheel G.
3rd. The combination and arrangement of parts of our improved mechanism as
a whole for delivering a supply of gas in exchange for a coin of fixed value
substantially as set forth and illustrated on the accompanying drawing.
4th. The arrangement of mechanism illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8 as and for the
purposes described:
DOAL 1
ST1000