IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING WATER AND OTHER FLUIDS, WHICH APPARATUS IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE PURPOSE OF OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Taylor, of the Patent Saw Mills,
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING WATER AND OTHER
FLUIDS, WHICH APPARATUS IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE PURPOSE OF
OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER,
Sealed the 9th February 1853, and dated the 15th November 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Taylor at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 15th November 1852.
I, THOMAS TAYLOR, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING WATER AND OTHER
FLUIDS, WHICH APPARATUS IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE PURPOSE OF OBTAINING
MOTIVE POWER," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists,-Firstly, in a peculiar method of employing
a wheel having vanes or blades attached thereto, and against which
the water or other fluid is caused to act so as to effect a rotation of
the said wheel, from which rotation the quantity of fluid will be
registered. The wheel provided with vanes is placed in a chamber,

page_text: leaving a space between its periphery and the inside of the case; the
fluid to be measured is admitted through suitable apertures attached
to the chamber, and allowed to flow out through others, but in thus
passing from the one to the other it causes a circular current of the
fluid in the chamber to take place, and impinges upon the vanes of
the wheel, thereby imparting motion to the rotatory wheel, and in
proportion to the quantity of fluid drawn off. A peculiar feature
in the wheel consists in making its specific gravity about the same
as the fluid to be measured, so that it will float (or nearly so)
therein, by which provision the consequent buoyancy will prevent a
considerable amount of friction which would otherwise take place at
the bearings. Secondly, my Invention consists in the employment
of the above-described apparatus as a motive power engine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said Thomas Taylor in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 14th May 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
THOMAS TAYLOR, of the Patent Saw Mills, Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Taylor, Her
especial licence that I, the said Thomas Taylor, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Taylor, 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 MEASURING WATER AND
OTHER FLUIDS WHICH. APPARATUS IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE PURPOSE OF.

page_text: OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Thomas Taylor, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 Thomas Taylor, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement and accompanying Drawings
(that is to say):
My Invention consists, - Firstly, in a peculiar method of con-
structing and employing a wheel having vanes or blades attached
thereto, and against which the water or other fluid is caused to act
so as to effect a rotation of the said wheel, from which rotation the
quantity of fluid passed will be registered. Secondly, in the em-
ployment of the like arrangement of apparatus for the purpose of
obtaining motive power.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1, represents my improved
meter in vertical section; Fig. 2, is a plan view thereof, the cover
being removed; and Fig. 3 is a horizontal section. The case of the
meter is shewn at a, a, partly around the outside of which is formed
a channel b, communicating with the interior of the casing a, by two
orifices c, c, and provided with an outlet pipe d. Extending partly
around the casing is also another channel e, situate beneath that
shewn at b; this communicates with the interior of the meter
by two orifices f, f, situate about opposite to each other as regards
the centre of the casing, and it is furnished with a supply
pipe g. To the orifices f, f, are adapted nozzles h, h, their outward
parts corresponding in form to, and nearly touching, the periphery
of the rotatory wheel i. This wheel is constituted by two flanges
j,j, between which are formed a series of vanes or floats k, k, k,
and the whole is mounted upon a vertical axis l, which turns in a
step m, at bottom, and in a cross bar n, at the upper part. This
wheel may be formed in a variety of ways and of any suitable

page_text: material, but a peculiarity of my Invention consists in so constructing
it that it shall be a body of about the same specific gravity as the
fluid to be measured. One method of effecting this consists in con-
structing the wheel of thin metal, hollow, and joined together water-
tight, so as to enclose a volume of air to the exclusion of the fluid;
this will of course effect a buoyancy, and weights may be subse-
quently adapted in order to regulate the specific gravity of the
whole to the point required. A more simple method for general
purposes, however, is to construct the wheel of gutta percha, which
material is of itself about the specific gravity of water; the wheel
represented in the Drawing is supposed to be made of this material,
and it may be put together by any of the ordinary methods of
joining that material. The axle l, of the wheel i, is provided with
a pinion o, taking into another p, which, through the intervention of
the train shewn in the drawing, imparts a decreased rotatory motion
to a spindle q, connected to an ordinary "count" adapted to the
box 1.
The cover s, is securely adapted to the casing a, by means
of bolts, the flanges being packed so as to resist the pressure of fluid
intended to be measured. The action of the apparatus is as follows:
Suppose the casing to be filled with water, and therefore pressing
upon every part with equal force, the whole apparatus, will be
stationary; but if a quantity be drawn off through the pipe d,
passage b, and orifices c, c, then the fluid passing through the pipe
g, to supply its place, will flow along the passage e, and enter the
meter by the orifices f, f, at which points it is directed by the nozzles
h, h, so as to impinge upon the vanes or floats of the wheel at points
of the circumference thereof about opposite to each other as regards
the centre of motion, by which means a rotatory impetus will be
given to the wheel without any, or, at any rate, but little, thrust in a
horizontal direction, whereby the balance of the wheel will be main-
tained. The fluid in passing from the meter moves round with the
wheel in a circular current, which motion it is free to perform by
reason of the space existing between the wheel and the casing a, and
which is so arranged as to be equal to greater in sectional area than
the supply pipe g. By these means therefore rotatory motion is
communicated to the train of wheel work shewn; and as such notion

page_text: will be in proportion, or nearly so, to the quantity of fluid admitted;
the "count" will shew the amount which has passed through the
meter. It will be found that the buoyancy imparted to the rotatory
wheel by removing the greater part of the friction from the bearings;
and the method of adapting it in reference to the action of the fluid;
and the liberty of the fluid to pass freely in the casing, will enable
this apparatus to indicate with a considerable degree of accuracy
the delicacy of the adjustments so obtained, rendering it sensitive
to a very small withdrawal and replacement of fluid. In order to
adapt the above described apparatus to the purposes of the second
part of my Invention, no alteration will be necessary which requires
other explanatory drawings, the same arrangement of passages and
of wheel being adopted. In this case, however, there will not be that
necessity for regulating the specific gravity of the wheel; for a
motive power engine, it may be of metal constructed in any ordinary
manner, and if the wheel work communicating with the "count"
be removed, and the shaft l, carried through a stuffing box on the
top of the casing, power may be taken therefrom by any ordinary
method. The amount of power required will of course govern the
size of the rotatory wheel, and the area of the water passages will
be regulated accordingly.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner of carrying the same into effect, I desire
it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the precise con-
struction and arrangement shewn, as departures may, if desired, be
made therefrom; for instance, instead of two passages for ingress
and egress of the fluid, more may be used on opposite sides of the
centre of motion, and many alterations in form may be made with-
out departing from my Invention; that which I claim as secured to
me being, Firstly, the adaptation of a rotatory wheel within a casing,
between the periphery of which wheel and the said casing there is
a space of equal or greater sectional area than that of the orifice.or
orifices by which the fluid is admitted. Secondly, so constructing
the rotatory wheels of fluid meters that a portion of the friction
shall be taken from the bearings by regulating the specific gravity

page_text: of the said wheels in reference to the fluid to be measured. Thirdly,
as applied to rotatory wheel meters, causing the fluid to be measured
to impinge upon the wheel at two or more points situate at opposite
sides of a line drawn through the centre thereof. Fourthly, the
application of the points of novelty above claimed to the purpose of
obtaining motive power.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Taylor, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of May, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-three.
THOMAS TAYLOR. (L.S.)