IM- PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INDICATING THE VELOCITY OR MEASURING THE FLOW OF WATER IN PIPES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Frederic Deacon, of Liverpool, in the
County of Lancaster, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INDICATING THE VELOCITY OR MEASURING THE
FLOW OF WATER IN PIPES."
"
Sealed the 27th February 1874, and dated the 29th December 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the-said George Frederic Deacon
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 29th December 1873.
I, GEORGE FREDERIC DEACON, of Liverpool, in the County of Lan-
caster, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INDICATING THE VELOCITY
OR MEASURING THE FLOW OF WATER IN PIPES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements made with the object of
reducing the cost, simplifying the construction, and in some respects
increasing the efficiency of an Invention for which a Patent of the 14th

page_text: March 1873, No. 937, has been granted to me entitled “Improvements
in Apparatus for Measuring the Flow of Water in Pipes.
On reference being made to the Specification of my said former
Patent it will be seen that according to my former Invention a ball,
disc, or other object, which was placed in and made partly to fill the
pipe used for supplying or conveying water, was acted upon by the
pressure due to the velocity of the water, and in its turn acted upon a
weight or spring, the leverage or amount of which increased as the
ball or disc was moved in the direction of the flow until at some point
it balanced the pressure due to that velocity. By this means the
apparatus was made to indicate by the position of any parts connected
with the ball or disc the velocity of the water at any instant.
The first part of my present Invention provides means for increasing
the sensitiveness of the indicating or measuring instrument at low
velocities.
Instead of so arranging the apparatus that the moving parts are
intended to be in a state of exact balance when the indicating
instrument points to zero (at which time the water is motionless, a
condition the attainment of which is often attended with much difficulty,
because friction prevents the moving parts from working uniformly
with the requisite quickness and nicety), and from reaching the exact
point with a given velocity of flow, at which they would otherwise stand,
I place within the pipe a ball, disc, or other object having a diamater
equal in size to that of a portion of the pipe, so as to fit it exactly when
the indicating instrument is at zero; the pipe is not of uniform diameter
throughout, but increases from the point where the ball or disc fits it
until it becomes of such a diameter at the point where the disc or ball
stands when the maximum flow takes place that a sufficient annular
space is left for the passage of the water. I employ in connection with
a variable weight or spring a constant weight, which has the effect of
drawing the ball or disc to the zero point; but which, as at that point
there is no waterway, will nevertheless move with the slightest pressure
due to a flow of water, and by changing the absolute or relative
amounts of the variable weight or spring and the constant weight, I
am able to obtain various degrees of motion for different increments of
velocity.
The second part of the Invention relates to the use of a constant

page_text: increasing diameter (such as is above mentioned, and as was also
mentioned in the Specification of my former Patent) an increased flow ·
of water will force the disc or ball in the direction of the flow till the
increased annular space surrounding the disc or ball gives sufficient
outlet for such increased flow.
It is obvious that the disc or ball when used as proposed with such
a pipe, though it be only balanced by a constant weight, will have a
particular position for every particular velocity depending upon the
area of the annular space surrounding the disc or ball; and the increase
of the annular space may, if desired, be so proportioned from nil at
zero to a maximum arca at the point of maximum velocity that the
constant weight will be drawn through nearly equal spaces for equal
increments of velocity.
The third part of my Invention provides means for obviating the
difficulty arising from the friction which is inseparable from the use
of a stuffing box of the ordinary construction. I dispense with the
stuffing box, and instead of employing packing of any kind I cause the
wire connecting the disc or ball with the moving parts outside the pipe
to pass through a hole in the metal work, which it fits as accurately as
possible, consistently with its freedom; and I allow the small quantity
of water which oozes past the wire to drain away.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Frederic Deacon in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 29th June 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
FREDERIC DEACON, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Civil.
Engincer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George Frederic Deacon, Her special-
license that I, the said George Frederic Deacon, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Frederic:

page_text: Deacon, my 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 Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR INDICATING THE VELOCITY OR MEASURING
THE FLOW OF WATER IN PIPES," upon the condition (amongst others), that
I, the said George Frederic Deacon, 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 1
Invention, and in what manner the samo 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 George Frederic Deacon, do licreby 1
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, that is to say :-
The object of this Invention is to simplify the construction and in
some respects increase the efficiency of an Invention for which a Patent 2
of the 14th March 1873, No. 937, has been granted to me entitled “Im-
provements in Apparatus for Measuring the Flow of Water in Pipes."
The first part of my present Invention provides means for increasing
the sensitiveness and accuracy of the instrument at low velocitics.
Instead of arranging the apparatus as described in the Specification 2
of my said former Patent, where the moving parts are intended to be in
state of exact balance when the indicating instrument points to zero,
at which time the water is motionless, I have adopted the arrangement
shown on Sheet 1, in sectional side elevation at Figure A, and in plan
at Figure B; the character and action of which will be clearly under- 3
stood from the following description:- The same letters distinguish
the same parts in each plan; (a) is the inlet from the main; (6) is
a perforated annular diaphragm, through which the water flows
uniformly to the disc (c) capable of a vertical motion within the conical
pipe (d). The disc (c) is attached by a rigid arm to a fine wire passing 3
through the metal work and connected at its upper end to a vertical
rigid rod carrying a cross head (i), which again carries two plungers (ƒ)

page_text: floating in the mercury contained in the tubes (k) and a pencil or pen (1),
which bears against the drum (m) (or against a chart or diagram
thereon) turned by clockwork (o). A constant weight (p) is connected
with and tends to draw up the cross head (i) by a cord 2 passing over
a pulley (2); (8) is the seat whereon the disc rests when in its lowest
position or point of maximum flow; (t) is the outlet to the main.
It is obvious that when water flows through the instrument the
disc (c) will be carried down and draw with it the cross head and parts
attached thereto, until it reaches a point at which the oxcess of pressure
on the upper face of the disc over that on the lower face due to tho
velocity of the water is balanced by the displacement of mercury in the
tubes (%) combined with the constant weight (p). There is therefore
for every particular velocity of the water, or in other words for every
particular rate of discharge, a particular position of the pen or pencil in
reference to the drum (m).
By comparing (Figure A) Sheet 2 of the Specification of my former
Patent with this description and Figure it will be seen that in my
former Patent the ball or disc did not in any position fill the conical
tube, but hung freely within it, the perfect equilibrium of the parts
at the zero point being depended upon to allow the ball or disc to
descend through a certain space with the smallest possible flow of water.
In my present Invention, on the other hand, I cause the disc (c) to
fill the conical pipe (d) at its smallest part, and I add the constant
weight (p) to the variable weight of mercury displaced. I thus ensure
the zero point being reached directly the water ceases to flow, and I
also ensure a certain displacement of the disc from the zero point oven
with the smallest flow of water.
Instead of using clockwork to move a chart or diagram past the pen
or pencil I sometimes employ the instrument simply to point out on
a fixed scale the velocities or quantities per unit of time passing through
the instrument at any time of observation.
I in some cases employ a constant weight carried by a cord passing
over a pulley on the centre (") of the lever, shown at (Figure A),
Sheet 1, of my former Patent; and by causing a ball or disc (c) to fill
the smallest end of the conical pipe exactly I obtain the same advantages
as in the arrangement last described, or instead of an independent
constant weight I so adjust the lever (k) that when at the position of

page_text: zero it shall exert a certain pull on the ball or disc instead of being
exactly in equilibrium.
The second part of my present Invention relates to the use of a
constant weight only, without a varying weight; I have carried out
this arrangement, as shown on Sheet 2, in part sectional side clevation i
at Figure A, and in sectional end elevation at Figure B. The same
letters distinguish the same parts in each plan. (a) is the inlet from
the main; (b) is a perforated diaphragm, through which the water
flows uniformly to the disc (e), which exactly fills the smallest part of
the conical pipe (d), as above explained; whereas in my former Patent
it did not fill the pipe at any point, but had in all positions an annular
space of water round it. The disc (c) is attached by a rigid arm to a
wire (c), the upper end of which is connected with a rigid vertical
rod (f) carrying on a cross head (i) to guide wheels (5) and à pencil or
pen (1). The guide wheels bear against the vertical guides (9), and
the pencil or pen marks the drum (m) (or the chart or diagram placed
thereon), the motion being given by ordinary clockwork (o); (p) is the
counterbalance weight, which in this case exerts a constant pull upon
the disc (c), and thus insures that that disc shall always stand at the
smallest part of the conical tube when no water is passing. In my
former Invention, on the other hand, the leverage or amount of the
weight or spring at zero was nil, and the friction of the parts tended
to prevent their return to the exact position of equilibrium or zero;
(9) is the seat on which the disc rests when in its lowest position or
point of maximum flow; (") is the outlet to the main.
The last arrangement is the simplest form of the instrument, in which
a diagram is drawn; the variable weight was in the former cases
designed to make the instrument more sensitive at the low velocities,
but if the cone and disc are accurately made the form last described is
quite sufficiently sensitive, and the difficulties of adjustment are entirely a
removed. Any number of such instruments thus described being con-
structed with cones and discs of the same diameters, and with counter-
weights of the same amounts, a chart or blank diagram may be formed
by actually measuring the water passing through one of them when the
pen or pencil stands at various points, and that chart or blank diagram
will be applicable to any of the other similar meters. The horizontal
lines on the drum, in the elevations for example, are those which in a
four-inch meter divide the travel of the pencil into spaces, each

page_text: representing 100 gallons per hour; by increasing the weight (p), or
by enlarging the tube at its lower end the same meter may be made to
register larger quantities of water. I may adopt the arrangement last
described, without the clock, and, as explained in the first part of my
Invention, I may employ the instrument simply to point out on a fixed
scale the velocities or quantities per unit of time passing through the
instrument at any time of observation.
The third part of my Invention provides means for obviating the
difficulty arising from the friction which is inseparable from the use of
a stuffing box of the ordinary construction. I dispense with the stuffing
box, and instead of employing packing of any kind I cause the wire
connecting the disc or ball with the moving parts to pass through a
hole in the metal work at the bottom of a stand pipe (v), Sheet 2
(Figure B), which it fits as accurately as possible, consistently with its
freedom; and I allow the small quantity of water which oozes past the
wire to drain away through the drain pipe (x) when it rises in the stand
pipe (v) to the height of that drain pipe.
The above simple substitute for the stuffing box may be used with
advantage in connection with the apparatus described in my said former
Specification. It is obvious that instead of using a disc in the manner
above described, with reference to the respective arrangements, a ball
or other equivalent may be in some cases employed.
claim as my
Having thus described the nature of my Invention,
improvements in apparatus for indicating the velocity or measuring the
flow of water in pipes,―
1st. The combination of a pipe of a conical or taper shape, through
which the water flows; a disc or its equivalent exactly filling the smaller
end of the tube, and capable of moving into other parts of the tube when
pressed upon by the water; a constant weight, added to a weight or spring
of variable amount or leverage acting in opposition to the pressure of
the water; an indicator or pointer, connected by a wire or its equivalent
with the disc, to shew upon a scale of velocities of flow or quantities
per unit of time, the velocity or rate of flow at any instant, these
members being constructed and arranged so as to operate in combination,
substantially as herein-before set forth.
2nd. The combination of the last described arrangement with a chart
or blank diagram, moved by clockwork, upon which a scale is drawn

page_text: to receive from a pen or pencil, used instead of a pointer, a mark, line,
or diagram, which shows the velocity or quantities per units of time
passing at the time at which that part of the chart moved past the pen
or pencil.
3rd. Modifications of the two above-mentioned arrangements re-
spectively, in which the variable weight or spring is omitted, and the
constant weight only retained; whereby the apparatus is much
simplified, and the difficulties of accurate adjustment are overcome.
In witness whereof I, the said George Frederic Deacon, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of June, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.