IMPROVEMENTS IN LIQUID METERS
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents, 66,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, for
the Invention of " IMPROVEMENTS IN LIQUID METERS." A communication from
abroad by David Waring Huntington and William Austin Hempstead, both
of South Coventry, in the State of Connecticut, United States of America.
Sealed the 12th December 1876, and dated the 26th June 187
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 26th June 1876.
ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman. "IMPROVEMENTS IN LIQUID
METERS."
This Invention relates to that description of liquid meters in which the flow of
the liquid is measured by pistons working in cylinders and operated by a head or
pressure which forces or causes the liquid to be delivered through pipes or other-
wise as required.
The Invention consists in a double-cylinder meter of novel construction, and in
which each cylinder is furnished with a reciprocating and elongated or double-
headed piston, and an intermediate cylindrical valve operated by the piston to
control passages, arranged substantially as herein-after described, for the purpose of
effecting the reversal of the pistons, which latter and their valves move succes-
sively in like directions. The valves are what may be termed floating balanced
ones, and the meter is constructed so that there is a free continuous outlet through
the valves from the two cylinders, and a constant pressure of the liquid between
the two heads of each piston. The liquid under pressure is admitted alternately
to the four ends of the cylinders outside of the piston heads by means of the
intermediate valves which move back and forth with the pistons, causing the
contained liquid to be forced out of the opposite ends of the cylinders.
The inlet pipe is situate a little to one side of the longitudinal centre of the
one cylinder and the outlet pipe to the opposite side of the longitudinal centre of
the other cylinder, and in a line with each of these pipes is a passage connecting
the two cylinders together.
These passages are for admitting liquid from one cylinder to the other, and they
are alternately covered by the cylindrical floating valves which have a broad

page_text: annular recess in their outer peripheries forming passages for the flow of the liquid,
and are driven alternately to the right or left by the pressure of their respective
piston heads against pins which project from their opposite edges.
On the top of the two cylinders are two cross-water courses or passages which
extend from the middle of one cylinder to the end of the other and the like
arrangement, but the inverse of this is provided at the bottom of the cylinders.
These cross-water courses or passages open at one end into their respective
cylinders at points within the control of the floating valves, and at their other
end their parts are near the heads of the cylinders. By this arrangement the
liquid supplied under pressure to the metre will fill the space between the cylinder
heads, impart a to-and-fro motion to the pistons, and operate the valves so as to
allow of a continuous discharge of the liquid.
By providing an indicator, which may be operated by the pressure of one of the
piston heads against a lover, the amount of liquid passed through the meter will be
ascertained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Alfred Vincent Nowton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th December 1876.
ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman. " IMPROVEMENTS IN LIQUID
METERS." A communication from abroad by David Waring Huntington and
William Austin Hempstead, both of South Coventry, in the State of Connecticut,
United States of America.
This Invention relates to that description of liquid meters in which the flow
of the liquid is measured by pistons working in cylinders and operated by a head
or pressure which forces or causes the liquid to be delivered through pipes or
otherwise as required.
The Invention consists in a double-cylinder meter of novel construction, and in
which each cylinder is furnished with a reciprocating and elongated or double-
headed piston, and an intermediate valve operated by the piston to control passages,
arranged substantially as herein-after described, for the purpose of effecting the
reversal of the pistons, which latter and their valves move successively in like
directions. The valves are what may be termed floating balanced ones, and the
meter is constructed so that there is a free continuous outlet through the valves
from the two cylinders, and a constant pressure of the liquid between the two
heads of each piston. The liquid under pressure is admitted alternately to the four
ends of the cylinders outside of the piston heads by means of the intermediate valves
which move back and forth with the pistons, causing the contained liquid to be
forced out of the opposite ends of the cyilnders.
The object and nature of the Invention having been thus explained, it will now
be described with reference to the accompanying Drawing.
Fig. 1 is an exterior longitudinal view or plan of a meter constructed in accord-
ance with the Invention; Fig. 2 is an end view of the same, with the cylinder
covers removed; Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section with both pistons at like ends of
their cylinders; and Fig. 4 a further longitudinal section in part with one of
the pistons as thrown to the left, and the valve which is operated by it as shifted
accordingly.
A, A¹, are the two cylinders arranged side by side and here shown as occupying a
horizontal position with the indicator of the meter on top.
A little to the left, or on one side of the longitudinal centre of the cylinder A, is
the inlet b for the water or other liquid under pressure, 6¹ is a correspondingly
arranged passage connecting the two cylinders A, A¹. These passages b, b¹, are
continually open and serve to admit or pass the liquid under pressure between

page_text: the double heads of the two pistons B, B', which reciprocate within the cylinders,
the heads of either piston being connected by rods C, C¹. The ends of these rods
project beyond the exterior faces of the piston heads and are free to strike elastic
buffers c, c, in the heads of the cylinders in advance of the pistons reaching the
ends of the cylinders.
A little to the right of the longitudinal centre of the cylinder A¹ is the outlet d
for the liquid after it has been measured by the meter, and d¹ is a correspondingly
arranged outlet passage connecting the two cylinders A, A¹. These passages are
continually open to the exhaust as controlled by the valves D, D¹. These valves
are hollow cylinders open at their ends and of a sufficient interior capacity or borc
not only to admit of the rods C, C¹, freely passing through them, but also admitting
of a free circulation of the liquid therethrough, as clearly shown in Fig. 3 of the
Drawing. The outer ends or peripherical portions of these valves fit the
cylinders A, A¹, but each valve is provided with an annular groove e which com-
municates with the outlets d, d', and maintains an equal pressure all around the
valves.
On the top of the two cylinders A, A¹, are two cross-water courses or pas-
sages E, F, shown by dotted lines in Figures 3 and 4, and on the bottom of the
meter under the cylinders are two reversely disposed passages G, H, shown also by
dotted lines in said Figures. These passages are situated outside the cylinders, and
are furnished at their inner ends with ports f, f¹, and g, g₁, opening into the
cylinders A, A¹. The position of these passages and ports is shewn in Figures 3
and 4. The ports fand g are controlled by the valve D, and the ducts E, H, lead
to opposite ends of the cylinder A¹. The ports f¹, gl, are controlled by the valve D¹,
and the ducts F, G, lead to opposite ends of the cylinder A. The valves D, D¹,
have pins or projections h, i, on them, which the piston heads strike to shift the
valves as required.
The operation is as follows:-In Fig. 3 the piston B₁ has just completed its
stroke to the right. The liquid under pressure from the inlet b passes into the
cylinder A and fills the spaces between the heads of the piston B, and passing on
through the port b₁ fills the space between the heads of the piston B¹.
It stops
passing through the open port fl and duct F as the left-hand portion of the
cylinder A is filled, and has pressed the piston B to the end of its stroke. It how-
ever passes through the open port fand the duct E, entering the right-hand end of
the cylinder A¹ and causing the piston B¹ to move to the left. This movement
forces the contained water out from the left-hand end of the cylinder A¹ through
the duct H and port g into the annular space e around the valve D, from which it
passes by the aperture d' and around the valve D¹ into the outlet d. The piston B¹
continues to move, and when the right-hand head of said piston strikes the pins i
of the valve D¹ that valve is carried to the position shown in Fig. 4. This throws
the port g¹ outside the valve D₁ and the port f¹ within its annular groove c.
The
liquid under pressure then enters the duct G by the port g¹, and passes to the
right-hand end of the cylinder A, causing the piston B to be moved to the left.
This forces the liquid contained in the left-hand end of the cylinder A out through
the duct F and port f¹ into the annular space e around the valve D¹, from whence
it passes to and through the outlet d. When the piston B arrives near the end
of its stroke to the left it carries by the pins i the valve D with it in the manner
described for the valve D¹, and at the end of its movement both valves and pistons
are at their extreme left-hand position, and in the same relative position to each
other as they are to the right in Fig. 3. The piston B' then, or it may be shortly
before (as the pistons may have slight lead one of the other), commences to move
back to the right again in the manner herein-before described, and the two pistons
continue to move alternately, forcing the water out from between their ends and
the ends of the meter cylinders, as herein-before described.
It will be observed that the liquid under pressure is always being freely admitted
to the cylinders between the heads of the pistons, and that the pressure is constant
and uniform between said heads so that the valve D or D¹ floats, as it were, in the

page_text: liquid with a uniform pressure on all sides, causing the valve to move freely with
little or no friction or wear. It will likewise be observed that the difference of
pressure upon the inlet and outlet sides of the valves, and the inside and outside
of the piston heads, is only just what is necessary to work the meter, so that even
with a very free moving piston there is no tendency to leakage.
One of the pistons is connected with a register or indicator outside the cylinder
for recording the quantity of liquid passed through the meter. This may be done
by said piston striking a lever k at the end of its cylinder, which, turning a
spindle part of a revolution, operates any ordinary or suitable recording mechanisın
connected with it. This spindle may pass through a bushing having a rubber tube
attached to it and to the spindle, said tube being provided with internal rings to
prevent its collapse, yet allowing of it being twisted without injury. This forms a
water-tight joint for the spindle.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improvements in Liquid
Meters," as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the
above in part recited Letters Patent I claim-
First. The valve D or D¹ constructed and applied for operation, substantially as
described.
Second. A liquid meter in which there is a free continuous outlet through the
valves, and a free admission of the liquid under pressure between the heads of
the pistons through the agency of the valves which are operated by the pistons,
the liquid being admitted to and discharged from the cylinders by the pistous,
essentially as described.
Third. The combination of the cylinders A, A¹, the double-headed pistons B, B1,
the valves D, D¹, the inlets b, b1, the outlets d, d¹, and the ducts E, F, G, H, sub-
stantially as specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twentieth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.