CERTAIN MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR INDICATING THE SPEED OF REVOLVING MACHINERY AND OTHER MOVING OBJECTS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Marshall Arthur Wier, of Number 33, Abchurch
Lane, in the City of London, for the Invention of "CERTAIN MEANS AND
APPARATUS FOR INDICATING THE SPEED OF REVOLVING MACHINERY AND OTHER
MOVING OBJECTS."
Sealed the 5th January 1875, and dated the 11th July 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Marshall Arthur Wier
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 11th July 1874.
I, MARSHALL ARTHUR WIER, of Number 33, Abchurch Lane, in the
City of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"CERTAIN MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR INDICATING THE SPEED OP REVOLVING
MACHINERY AND OTHER MOVING OBJECTS," to be as follows:-
The Invention has for object the indication of the speed or number of
revolutions in a given time of prime movers, machinery, and certain
other moving objects, in such manner that the said speed or number of
reyolutions can be ascertained by simple inspection, and without counting

page_text: or reference to a timepiece, and consists in the employment, as a means
of indication, of the vortex or hollow produced in a liquid when made to
rotate more or less rapidly. It is known that when a vessel containing
a liquid is set in rotary motion in a plane parallel to the surface of the
liquid the said surface assumes a curved form, falling at the centre and
rising at the circumference against the sides of the vessel in proportion
to the speed at which the vessel is made to revolve; consequently, if the
vessel be transparent the amount of fall at the centre or rise at the
circumference, corresponding to various known speeds or numbers of
revolutions of the vessel in a given time, can be seen and marked on the
vessel or on a scale; such marks or scale then becomes a means of
indicating by reference to the position of the depression or elevation of
the surface of the liquid the speed at which the vessel is revolving at
any time.
In applying the above-described effects to the purpose of indicating
the speed of other revolving objects, the vessel containing the liquid is
caused to revolve at a rate proportionate to that of the object of which
the speed is to be indicated, the fall or rise in the surface of the liquid
corresponding to known speeds of the revolving object being once
ascertained and marked on the scale, and also the corresponding speeds.
Those speeds are readily ascertained at any time afterwards by simply
reading off the speed marked on the scale at the point corresponding to
the position of the depression or elevation of the liquid in the vessel.
When the vessel is made transparent the readings may be taken by
direct observation; when it is made opaque a float may be caused to
follow the movement of the vortex, and to move an index over a scale
external to the vessel.
The Invention is applicable not only in cases where the ascertaining
of the speed of rotating bodies is the direct object, but also in cases
where the speed of a body in rectilinear or other motion is required to
be known, when such rectilinear or other motion is produced by or can
be made to produce rotary motion in other bodies, as for example, the
speed of carriages, of the wind, of rivers, and the like.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Marshall Arthur Wier in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 11th January 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MARSHALL
ARTHUR WIER, of Number Thirty-three, Abchurch Lane, in the City of
London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of July, in the year.
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Marshall Arthur Wier, Her.
special license that I, the said Marshall Arthur Wier, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Marshall Arthur:
Wier, 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
"CERTAIN MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR INDICATING THE SPEED OF REVOLVING
MACHINERY AND OTHER MOVING OBJECTS," upon the condition (amongst others).
that I, the said Marshall Arthur Wier, 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 Invention, and in what manner the same 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 Marshall Arthur Wier, 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawing, and to the letters and figures marked theroon, that is to
say:
The Invention has for object the indication of the speed or number of
revolutions in a given time of prime movers, machinery, and certain
other moving objects, in such manner that the said speed or number of.

page_text: revolutions can be ascertained by simple inspection and without counting
or reference to a timepiece, and consists in the employment as a means
of indication of the vortex or hollow produced in a liquid when made to
rotate more or less rapidly. It is known that when a vessel containing
a liquid is set in rotary motion in a plane parallel to the surface of the
liquid the said surface assumes a curved form, falling at the centre and
rising at the circumference against the sides of the vessel in proportion
to the speed at which the vessel is made to revolve; consequently, if the
vessel be transparent the amount of fall at the centre or rise at the
circumference, corresponding to various known speeds or numbers of
revolutions of the vessel in a given time can be seen and marked on the
vessel or on a scale; such marks or scale then become a means of
indicating by reference to the position of the depression or elevation of
the surface of the liquid the speed at which the vessel is revolving at
any time.
In the Drawing Figure 1 illustrates one arrangement of apparatus for
carrying out this Invention. A'is a cylindrical vessel, which may bc of
metal, but preferably of glass arranged to revolve in suitable bearings at
a rate proportionate to that of the object of which the speed is to be
indicated being driven by a band or otherwise therefrom. The said
cylinder A contains a portion of liquid, the surface of which is, say,
at B, when the cylinder is at rest, but when the said cylinder is set in
rotary motion the surface of the liquid assumes a curved form, as shewn
in dotted lines, falling in the centre and rising at the circumference
against the sides of the cylinder in proportion to the speed at which the
latter is made to revolve. If the cylinder be of transparent material
the amount of this fall at the centre or rise at the circumference
corresponding to various known speeds or numbers of revolutions in a
given time of the object driving the cylinder can be seen and marked on
the scale, together with the said corresponding speeds. Those speeds
are then readily ascertained at any time afterwards by simply reading
off the speed marked on the scale at the point corresponding to the then
position of the depression or elevation of the liquid in the cylinder.
When the cylinder is made of transparent material the readings may,
as above described, be taken by direct observation; when it is made
opaque a float may be caused to follow the movement of the vortex, and
to convey motion by any suitable means to an index or pointer moving
over a scale or dial face.

page_text: Figures 2 and 3 illustrate a modification of the above-described
apparatus. In this case the cylinder A. remains stationary, the liquid.
therein being caused to revolve by means of a fork or blade B made to
revolve therein. The cylinder A is filled with liquid to a height
somewhat above the lower end of the tube C opening into it. When
the fork or blade B is made to revolve the liquid rises at the circum-
ference of the cylinder, and a corresponding elevation of the liquid in
the tube C takes place; the amount of such elevation then becomes a
measure of the speed of rotation of the fork or blade B; and consequently
of the object driving it, as before explained.
A convenient means of imparting the necessary motion from the
rotating object of which the speed is to be measured to the cylinder A
in Figure 1, or to the fork B in Figure 2, is illustrated in dotted lines,
Figure 1, in which D represents the end of a pipe leading from a fan or
blower (not shewn in the Drawing) driven directly by the said rotating
object of which the speed is to be indicated; E is a small spiral windmill
fastened on the axis F of the cylinder A, which is extended down into
the said pipe D resting in a bearing G therein. The fan or blower
driven by the rotating object blows air through the pipe D which
impinging on the vanes of the windmill E cause it to revolve, carrying
with it the cylinder A, or when adapted accordingly, the fork B in
Figure 2. This means of effecting the rotation of the cylinder A or
fork B is specially applicable where the indicating instrument is
situated at a distance from the object of which the speed is to be
indicated.
This Invention is applicable not only in cases where the ascertaining
of the speed of rotating bodies is the direct object, but also in cases
where the speed of a body in rectilinear or other motion is required to
be known, when such rectilinear or other motion is produced by or can
be made to produce rotary motion in other bodies, as for example, the

page_text: manner in which the same is to or may be performed, I would have it
understood that what I claim as my Invention is,―
First. Indicating the speed of revolving and other moving objects by
means of the change of form in the upper surface of a revolving liquid,
as herein-before described.
Second. The adaptation and arrangement of apparatus for the purpose
of indicating by means of the changing form of the upper surface of a
revolving liquid the speed of revolving and other moving objects, sub-
stantially as herein-before described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Marshall Arthur Wier, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of January, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.
MARSHALL ARTHUR WIER. (L.S.)
Patentee.