A NEW OR IMPROVED WATER METER
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Gedge, of No. 11, Wellington
Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the
Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED WATER METER."-A communi-
cation from abroad by Georges Thomas de Kercado, of No. 01,
Faubourg St. Martin, Paris, France.
Sealed the 4th July 1873, and dated the 10th January 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Gedge
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 10th January 1873.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD GEDGE, of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in
the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED WATER METER," a communi-
cation to me from abroad by Georges Thomas de Kercado, of No. 64,
Faubourg St. Martin, Paris, France, to be as follows:-
The object of the apparatus, the subject of this Invention, is to register
the quantity of water flowing from any source or water supply, and is
particularly intended for use in towns to indicate the consumption of
water in each household or establishment.

page_text: The measuring mechanism of this apparatus is contained in a resor-
voir A (see accompanying Sheet of Drawing), and before explaining this
mechanism I will describe the reservoir:-This reservoir is entirely
closed with the exception of two orifices into which pass the pipes T
and T. The pipe T, forming syphon, brings the water from the source
of supply into the reservoir. The pipo T, furnished with a cock, serves
for the outflow of water.
Supposing the reservoir to contain nothing but air at atmospheric
pressure the water from the supply will fall by its own weight to the
bottom of the reservoir, drive the air to the upper part, and continuo to
flow until the air occupying less and less space is submitted to a pressure
equal to that of a column of water, having for height the height of the
level of the water supply above the lower orifice of the pipe T, when the
flow will be arrested. If the pipe T¹ be now opened, the water which
occupies the bottom of the reservoir will flow out under the pressure of
the inner air, but at the same time this air will expand, and will no
longer equilibrate the pressure of the water coming from the supply,
which will therefore again begin to fall into the reservoir and replace in
equal proportion the water escaping by the pipe T". There will thus be
a constant outflow so long as the pipe T¹ is left open, because the store
of water which occupies a part of the reservoir will be uninterruptedly
renewed. When the pipe T¹ is closed, the flow from the tube T will also
be stopped, because the air in the reservoir will almost immediately
return to the pressure which equilibrates that of the water from the main
or supply.
There will always remain in the upper part of the reservoir a space
occupied by compressed air, and it is in this space that is placed the
measuring apparatus, which I will now proceed to describe:-
The measuring apparatus is composed of a receiver B (see accom-
panying Drawing), the bottom a of which is cup shaped and movable,
and carries a lever 7 pivoting at b. On the other side of the pivot is a
counterweight p heavier than the movable bottom, and which scrves to
bring this latter against the lower extremity of the sides of the receiver B
so as to hermetically close it. When a fixed quantity of water has
entered the receiver its pressure upon the bottom is greater than that of
the counterweight, it causes the movable cup to pivot, and falls into the
reservoir, when the cup relieved of its weight is brought back to its

page_text: original position by the counterweight. Knowing, therefore, the weight
required to cause the pivoting of the bottom of the receiver, it will only
be necessary to know the number of pivoting movements to ascertain
the quantity of water which has passed through the apparatus. For
this purpose cach pivoting movement is transmitted to an indicator
with dial D by the aid of a rod or of a block, against which the lever
strikes at cach movement. The number of contacts is indicated by the
hands, one of which marks the units, and the others different scrics.
The mechanism which moves the hands or indexes presents no novelty ;
any of the systems already applied for the same purpose to various
machines may be used.
If the pressure of the water coming from the main or source of supply
were constant, the pipe T would always permit the flow of the same
quantity of water during the pivoting movement, for this movement
always taking place under the same conditions is always effected in the
same space of time. There would therefore be no inconvenience in per-
mitting this water to fall directly into the reservoir A during the
pivoting movement, directly the quantity of water escaping from the
pipe T during each of these movements was ascertained; but this is
not what would mostly take place; the pressure would vary according
to the higher or lower level of the water supply above the apparatus,
which would occasion a more or less rapid outflow of the water, and a
projectile force more or less considerable. It is to obviate these two
inconveniences that the receiver B is surmounted by a funnel-shaped
O with which it communicates by a neck furnished with a valve s
carrying a rod, the lower end of which rests on the cap a, so that when
this cup closes the bottom of the receiver, it uplifts the valve, and thus
opens the communication between the cap and the receiver, and that
when the cup or bottom of receiver pivots downwards, the valve being
no longer upheld by it, falls by its own weight and closes the bottom of
the funnel. The water which flows from the pipe T during the pivoting
movement will remain in the upper cap, when on the contrary the cup
comes back to its original position, it again lifts the valve, and the water
recommences falling into the receiver. It is therefore only necessary to
give to the cap or funnel a capacity sufficient to prevent its becoming
filled during the pivoting movement, and to the orifice of communication
sufficient diameter to permit the funnel to empty itself into the receiver
cap

page_text: during the interval which separates two of these pivoting movements.
In this manner the measuring will occasion no delay in the outflow,
because so long as the pipe T" remains open the pipe T does not cease to
permit the flow of the water coming from the supply. Further, the
orifice of the pipe T is placed at the side of the funnel in order that the
liquid may break against its sides, and that the water may only fall from
an insignificant height in passing from the funnel into the receiver.
Every cause of inexactness arising from the variations in the projectile
force of the water as it leaves the pipe T will thus be avoided.
The shape and the dimensions of the water meter are not fixed while
based on the same principle; they may vary according to circumstances,
for example, the reservoir and the inner receiver may be of any other
form than the cylindrical. The dial may be placed at the sido instead of
the top of the reservoir, and instead of simply giving the receiver a
movable bottom the entire receiver may be made to pivot, or which
comes to the same thing, the lateral sides of the cup or bottom may be
lengthened, so that they may hold the quantity of water the weight of
which is to make it pivot. By this means all chance of leakage of the
water by the bottom of the receiver will be avoided.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Gedge in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 7th July 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD GEDGE, of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in the County
of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Edward Gedge, Her special
licence that I, the said William Edward Gedge, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edward
Gedge, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter

page_text: during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make
use, excrcise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain,
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"A NEW OR IMPROVED WATER METER," a communication to me from abroad
by Georges Thomas de Kercado, of No. 64, Faubourg St. Martin, Paris,
France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Edward Gedge, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, should par-
ticularly 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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Gedge, 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 :-
-
The object of the apparatus, the subject of this Invention, is to register
the quantity of water flowing from any source or water supply, and is
particularly intended for use in towns to indicate the consumption of
water in cach household or establishment.
The measuring mechanism of this apparatus is contained in a reservoir
(see accompanying Sheet of Drawing), and before explaining this
mechanism I will describe the reservoir:-This reservoir is entirely
closed, with the exception of two orifices into which pass the pipes T
and T. The pipe T, forming syphon, brings the water from the source
of supply into the reservoir; the pipe T", furnished with a cock, serves
for the outflow of water.
Supposing the reservoir to contain nothing but air at atmospheric
pressure, the water from the supply will fall by its own weight to the
bottom of the reservoir, drive the air to the upper part, and continue to.
flow until the air, occupying less and less space, is submitted to a pres-
suro equal to that of a column of water, having for height the height of
the level of the water supply above the lower orifice of the pipe T, when
the flow will be arrested. If the pipe T" be now opened, the water which
occupies the bottom of the reservoir will flow out under the pressure of
the inner air; but at the same time this air will expand, and will no

page_text: longer equilibrate the pressure of the water coming from the supply,
which will therefore again begin to fall into the reservoir and replace in
equal proportion the water escaping by the pipe T. There will thus be
a constant outflow so long as the pipe T¹ is left open, because the store
of water which occupies a part of the reservoir will be renewed un-
interruptedly. When the pipe T' is closed, the flow from the tube T
will also be stopped, because the air in the reservoir will almost imme-
diately return to the pressure which equilibrates that of the water from
the main or supply.
There will always remain in the upper part of the reservoir a space
occupied by compressed air, and it is in this space that is placed the
measuring apparatus which I will now proceed to describe :-
The measuring apparatus is composed of a receiver B (sce accom-
panying Drawing), the bottom a of which is cup shaped and movable,
and carries a lever 7 pivoting at b. On the other side of the pivot is a
counterweight p heavier than the movable bottom, and which serves to
bring this latter against the lower extremity of the sides of the receiver B
so as to hermetically close it. When a fixed quantity of water has
entered the receiver, its pressure upon the bottom is greater than that of
the counterweight, it causes the movable cup to pivot, and falls into the
reservoir, when the cup relieved of its weight is brought back to its
original position by the counterweight. Knowing therefore the weight
required to cause the pivoting of the bottom of the receiver, it will only
be necessary to know the number of pivoting movements to ascertain the
quantity of water which has passed through the apparatus. For this
purpose cach pivoting movement is transmitted to an indicator with
dial D by the aid of a rod or of a block, against which the lever strikes at
each movement. The number of contacts is indicated by the hands, one
of which marks the units, and the others different series. The mechanism
which moves the hands or indexes presents no novelty; any of the
systems already applied for the same purpose to various machines may
be used.
If the pressure of the water coming from the "main" or source of
supply were constant, the pipe T would always permit the flow of the
same quantity of water during the pivoting movement, for this move- a
ment, always taking place under the same conditions, is always effected
in the same space of time. There would therefore be no inconvenience

page_text: in permitting this water to fall directly into the reservoir A during the
pivoting movement directly the quantity of water escaping from the
pipe T during each of these movements was ascertained. But this is
not what would mostly take place; the pressure would vary according
to the higher or lower level of the water supply above the apparatus,
which would occasion a more or less rapid outflow of the water, and a
projectile force more or less considerable. It is to obviate these two
inconveniences that the receiver B is surmounted by a funnel-shaped
cap C with which it communicates by a neck furnished with a valve s
carrying a rod, the lower end of which rests on the cup a, so that when
this cup closes the bottom of the receiver it uplifts the valve and thus
opens the communication between the cup and the receiver, and that
when the cup or bottom of receiver pivots downwards, the valve, being
no longer upheld by it, falls by its own weight and closes the bottom of
the funnel. The water which flows from the pipe T during the pivoting
movement will remain in the upper cap, when, on the contrary, the cup
comes back to its original position it again lifts the valve, and the water
recommences falling into the receiver. It is therefore only necessary
to give to the cap or funnel a capacity sufficient to prevent its becoming
filled during the pivoting movement, and to the orifice of communication
sufficient diameter to permit the funnel to empty itself into tho receiver
during the interval which separates two of these pivoting movements.
In this manner the measuring will occasion no delay in the outflow,
because so long as the pipe T¹ remains open the pipe T does not cease to
permit the flow of the water coming from the supply. Further, the
orifice of the pipe T is placed upon the side of the funnel in order that
the liquid may break against its sides, and that the water may only fall
from an insignificant height in passing from the funnel into the receiver.
Every cause of inexactness arising from the variations in the projectile
force of the water as it leaves the pipe T will thus be avoided.
The shape and the dimensions of the water meter are not fixed while
based on the same principle; they may vary according to circumstances,
for example, the reservoir and the inner receiver may be of any other
form than the cylindrical. The dial may be placed at the side instead of
the top of the reservoir, and, instead of simply giving the receiver a
moveable bottom, the entire receiver may be made to pivot, or, which
comes to the same thing, the lateral sides of the cup or bottom may be

page_text: lengthened so that they may hold the quantity of water the weight of
which is to make it pivot. By this means all chance of leakage of the
water by the bottom of the receiver will be avoided.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Gedge, have
hereunto set my hand and scal, this Fifth day of July, in the t
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.