IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MEASURING AND REGISTERING THE FLOW OF LIQUIDS
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Joux
PARKINSON, of Buryin the County of Lancaster, Brass Founder, send greeting-
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the First day of August now last
past, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Parkinson, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, Her especial license, that I,
the said John Parkinson, my exors, adñors, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said John Parkinson, my exors, admors, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MEASURING
AND REGISTERING THE FLOW OF LIQUIDS;" in which said Letters Patent is con-
tained a proviso obliging me, the said John Parkinson, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be.
performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the said Letters
Patent, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Parkinson, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to
consist in certain improved machinery or apparatus, whereby the flow of liquids

page_text: under a varying or a uniform pressure may be accurately measured, which
object has not been effected by any of the machines now generally known and
in use; and in certain improved machinery or apparatus for registering the
flow of the liquids that have passed through the said improved machinery or
apparatus for measuring. And in further-compliance with the said proviso,
and in order that my Invention may. be fully understood and readily carried
into effect, I will proceed to describe the annexed two Sheets of Drawings.
The first of these Drawings is made to the scale marked on it, and the second
Sheet is drawn full size, and similar letters of reference are placed upon corre-
sponding picces in the different views.
.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
In Sheet 1, Fig. 1 represents a front elevation of my improved machine for
measuring fluids, and for registering the quantity that has passed through the
same. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation; Fig. 3, a side elevation; Fig. 4, a
plan view; Fig. 5, a plan view taken in section through the red line. A, B, on
Fig. 1 and Fig. 6 is a plan view taken in section through the red line C, D,
on Fig. 1. In these views a' represents the vessel through which the fluid to
be measured. must pass. I make this vessel of cast iron and in two pieces
bolted together at the .centre, as shewn in the Drawing, but it may be made
in any other convenient manner. b is a valve box, bolted to the the side
pipe c, which forms. the connection between the upper and lower ends of the
vessel a.
The supply pipe d, which is screwed into the lid e of the valve
box b, conducts the water or other fluid from the main pipe to the machine,
and the off pipe f, screwed into the upper part of the said pipe c, takes the
measured water or other fluid away. The valve g, seen best in Fig. 2, and by
dotted lines in Fig. 3, is provided: above with a rack, into the teeth of, which
the segment h gears; this segment. is fixed on a spindle i, passing through a
stuffing box in the side of the valve box b; near the outer end of the spindle i
is fixed a bush k, on to which the tumbler lever j is binged and moves freely,
-being prevented from.coming off by a nut.screwed on the bush., and clearly
shown in Fig. 3. A pini projects from the lever j, and comes alternately into:
contact with one or other of the ears projecting from the bush k; as will bey
explained hereafter...The vessel a contains a piston formed by the bent
plates and m; these plates are riveted together near the centre,' and between.
them is held the bag n, made of vulcanized india rubber, or other suitable
elastic material; the bag n is held by, and forms the packing between the two
halves of the vessel a. The upper end of the vessel a is provided with a
stuffing box, through which passes the piston rod o; this piston rod is connected

page_text: by the chain p to the piston formed by the plates, 7 and m, and near the upper
extremity of it is fixed the rack q, working in the pinion r,fixed on the shaft s.
This shaft revolves in a bush fixed to the lide of the valve box b, and to the
other end of it is secured the pinion,t,, working in the horizontal rack u.
This rack is cast of the same. piece as the plate y, which is provided, with the
two stop, studs and . To the end of the rack u is hinged the lever y,
The click,
which vibrates. on a stud attached to the top of the vessel a.
hinged to the lever y, moves the ratchet wheel E through the tenth of a
F is the
revolution at every backward and, forward motion of the rack u.
indicator for registering the number of strokes of the piston in the vessel a.
This indicator will be particularly described in reference to Sheet 2 of the
Drawings.
Having now enumerated the principal parts forming my improved machine
for measuring and registering the flow of liquids, I will proceed to explain
how they act when the machine is in operation. The arrows in Fig. 2 indi-
cate that the fluid to be measured is entering into the vessel a, through the
supply pipe d; valve box 6, and horizontal side pipe c, thereby depressing the
piston formed by the plates and m, and forcing out the fluid which is under
the said piston through the vertical side pipe c and valve 9 into the off pipe f.
When the plate m arrives within about two inches, or more or less, from the
bottom of the vessel a, the connecting chain p will become tight, and during
the remainder of the descent of the piston the .chain will be lowering the
piston rod o, until when the plate m comes in contact with the bottom of the
vessel a, the flange of the piston rod o will arrive in the position shewn by
red lines in Fig. 2. While the piston rod o is descending the rack causes
the pinion r.to perform a portion of a revolution in the direction of the
arrows in Figs. 1 and 2, and at the same time the pinion t moves the rack u
and plate v into the position shewn in red in Figure 1; by this means the
stud w gradually raises the tumbler lever until it is a little beyond the vertical
position, when the preponderating weight at its upper end causes the piu pro-
jecting from it to act against the right-hand car of the bush K, in Figure 1,
thereby moving the spindle i, and with it the segment h, and reversing the
position of the slide valve g, as seen by the red lines in Figure 2. As soon
as the slide valve 9 is moved the fluid to be measured will descend through
the vertical, side pipe c, and will enter into the vessel a under the piston
formed by the plates and m; thereby elevating the fluid above the piston,
being then forced out of the vessel through the horizontal side pipe c and
valve g into the off pipe f. The chamber, formed in the upper piston plate l is
to collect the chain p while. the piston is ascending, and the upper portion of
9.

page_text: the said chamber by coming in contact with the under side of the flange of the
piston rod o, forces the piston rod upwards with the piston during the latter
portion of its rise, thereby reversing the motion previously given to the pinions
r and t, and bringing the racks 7 and u back into their original positions. When
the plate touches the top of the vessel a, the rim forming the chamber for the
chain P will also bear against the under side of the flange of the piston rod o,
and by this means the piston will be sufficiently supported to withstand the
pressure of the fluid that is being measured. It is, however, evident that this
pressure is only momentary, for as soon as the piston rod reaches its highest point
the horizontal rack u, actuated, as before described, by the pinion t, will have
drawn the plate v in the contrary direction of the arrow in Fig. 1, and the
stud x, by acting on the tumbler lever j, will have reversed the position of the
bush k, thereby moving the slide valve from the position shewn in red in
Fig. 2 to the position it now occupies, and admitting again the fluid on to the
top side of the plate 1, as before described. The speed at which the piston
moves up and down in the vessel a will vary according to the pressure of the fluid
to be measured, and this pressure may be uniform or varying without affecting
the accuracy of the working of the machine; but from the foregoing
description it will be apparent that every rise and fall of the piston in the
vessel a imparts a lateral motion to the horizontal rack u, and as the click is
hinged to the lever y it causes the ratchet wheel E to move through one tenth
of a revolution for each rise and fall of the piston. The vessel a is supposed
to contain about two gallons and a half, consequently every time the piston
rises and falls five gallons would have passed from the supply pipe d to the off
pipe f, and the click z would have moved the ratchet wheel E through one tenth
of a revolution, and the index on the units dial would have been moved one step.
The dials for the units, tens, hundreds, and thousands, being connected by
means of stop wheels, as will be hereafter explained, it is evident that by
multiplying the number indicated on the dials by five the result will give the
number of gallons that have passed through the machine.
On Sheet 2 I have represented another. modification of my Invention, Fig. 7
being a longitudinal section, Fig. 8 an end elevation of a machine for
measuring and registering the flow of liquids, and Fig. 9 a detached view of
one of the stop wheels for transmitting the motion from one of the registering
dials to the other. In these views G is the cylinder into which the liquid to
be measured is admitted by either of the side pipes F or I. The valve K is
very similar in its action to the one previously described in reference to Fig. 2,
and it works in the valve box L, into which the fluid to be measured is
admitted by the supply pipe M. N is a piston working accurately in the

page_text: cylinder G and fixed to the piston rod O, which passes through a stuffing box
in the cylinder lid. The stopping rod P is fixed to the end of the piston rod.
and is guided above in a projection from the lid of the valve box. The
stopping studs Q and R are fixed into the rod P, and they are set at the
requisite distance apart for acting on the tumbler lever S at the proper time
for reversing the position of the valve K by means of the segment T, and the
rack cast on the upper surface of the valve. The tumbler lever S is connected
to the spindle U in the manner described in referring to Sheet One, and the
dials for registering the number of strokes of the piston are set in motion by
the click W, hinged to the stopping rod P, acting on the ratchet wheel X,
connected to the index of the units dial. To the ratchet wheel X is cast a
flange, seen best in Fig. 8, and dotted lines in Fig. 7,.and a pin is also let
into the ratchet wheel which takes into the slots of the stop wheel connected
to the tens dial, and seen detached in Fig. 9. This stop wheel has also a
flange and a pin similar to those shewn on the ratchet wheel X, and so in like
manner has the stop wheel for the hundreds dial. The flanches on these three
wheels must be cut partially away, as seen in Fig. 9, near to the pin, so that
when the wheels are in motion, and the pin of either of them is acting on the
wheel above it, there may be room for the sides of the slots into which the pins
enter to pass without touching the flange. The stop wheel for the thousands
dial does not require any flange or pin. The method of working this system
of stop wheels is as follows:-As soon as the ratchet wheel X has performed
one revolution the pin projecting from it enters into one of the ten slots in the
stop wheel connected to the tens dial, and causes it to move through one tenth
of a revolution, and as the spaces between the slots are rounded out to fit the
circuinference of the flange on the ratchet wheel X, it is evident that the stop
wheel will remain stationary until again operated upon by the next revolution
of the ratchet wheel X. The stop wheel of the hundreds dial will in like
manner be acted upon by the pin projecting from the stop wheel of the tens
dial, and so on to the thousands, each stop wheel being moved one tenth of a
revolution for an entire revolution of the one below it. The liquid to be
measured is now supposed to be entering into the cylinder G through the side
pipe H, and forcing the piston N in the direction of the arrow. The liquid
that has been measured is, at the same time making its escape through the
side pipe I, slide valve K, and thence into the off' pipe Y, as soon as the
piston N, which I have shewn as made of two cupped leathers, but which may
be made in any convenient way, has arrived near the right-hand end of the
cylinder G, the stud Q, by acting on the lever S, reverses the position of the slide
valve and causes the fluid to be measured to enter the cylinder through the side

page_text: pipe I instead of by the pipe H, as before, and thereby causes the piston to
travel in the contrary direction to that of the arrow. The click W will act on
the ratchet wheel X at each alternate move of the piston,.and as the quantity
of, fluid displaced by the piston is about one fourth of a gallon at each move,
it is evident that every two moves of the ratchet wheel X will be equal to one
gallon.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the best manner
with which I am acquainted for carrying it into effect, I wish, it to be under-
stood that I make no claim to the separate mechanical parts, nor do I confine
myself to the details herein.shewn; but what I claim is the machinery or
apparatus. herein-before described when employed for measuring and regis-
tering, the flow of liquids under uniform or varying pressures. And this my
Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and belief, entirely new, and
never, before used within that part of Her said Majesty's United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland called England,.Her..Dominion of Wales, and Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare. this.to be my Specification of
the same, and that I do verily believe this my said Specification doth comply
in all respects fully, and without reserve or disguise, with the proviso in the
said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent contained; wherefore I do
hereby. claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege to the said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Parkinson, have hereunto set .my
hand and seal; this Thirtieth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty.