IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE WEIGHT OR VOLUME OF WATER OR OTHER FLUID SUPPLIED TO STEAM BOILERS OR OTHER VESSELS, AND THE QUANTITY OF CALORIC TRANSMITTED TO THE SAME
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Nathaniel Grew, of 8, New Broad Street, City
of London, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE WEIGHT OR VOLUME OF WATER OR OTHER
FLUID SUPPLIED TO STEAM BOILERS OR OTHER VESSELS, AND THE QUANTITY
OF CALORIC TRANSMITTED TO THE SAME."-A communication from abroad
by William Fischer and Theodor Stiehl, of Essen, in the Kingdom
of Prussia, Engineers.
Sealed the 21st June 1870, and dated the 24th December 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Nathaniel Grew at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th December 1869.
I, NATHANIEL GREW, of 8, New Broad Street, City of London, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "In-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE WEIGHT OR VOLUME OF WATER OR
OTHER FLUID SUPPLIED TO STEAM BOILERS OR OTHER VESSELS, AND THE QUANTITY
OF CALORIC TRANSMITTED TO THE SAME," (a communication,) to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in applying to steam boilers or other vessels an
apparatus for measuring the weight or volume of water or other fluid

page_text: supplied thereto, and the quantity of caloric furnished by the fire or
other means of heat transmitted to the same, and the means by which
this is effected is as follows:-
On the boiler or other vessel is affixed a chamber or vessel containing
a series of sieves, by which means the feed water or other fluid in a
finely divided state is mixed with steam from the boiler and heated
thereby this heated water or other fluid mingled with the condensed
steam then passes through a revolving drum, by which its volume and
weight is measured or determined, and by means of wheelwork actuating
hands on a dial shews thereby the exact amount of water or other fluid
entering the boiler or other vessel in a given time, and also the amount
of caloric which is required to warm the feed water or other fluid to
the temperature of the steam, and also the amount of caloric which
is required to evaporate it.
The wheelwork is so arranged that the hands upon the dial indicat
the units of caloric imparted to the weight or volume of water or other
fluid which has passed the measuring portion of the apparatus.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Nathaniel Grew in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 21st June 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, NATHANIEL
GREW, of 8, New Broad Street, City of London, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Nathaniel Grew, Her special licence
that I, the said Nathaniel Grew, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Nathaniel Grew, 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

page_text: IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE WEIGHT OR VOLUME OF WATER OR OTHER FLUID
SUPPLIED TO STEAM BOILERS OR OTHER VESSELS, AND THE QUANTITY OF CALORIC
TRANSMITTED TO THE SAME," a communication to me from abroad by
William Fischer and Theodore Stiehl, of Essen, in the Kingdom of
Prussia, Engineers, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Nathaniel Grew, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 Nathaniel Grew, 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:―
This Invention consists in the arrangement of a drum mounted
horizontally on a spindle, the interior of which drum is divided into
several spaces or buckets spirally disposed. The lower part of this drum
is immersed in a trough or basin, and is so constructed that on oil,
water, or other fluid passing through it it revolves. This drum is
connected to wheelwork and dials, by which means the number of its
revolutions are registered, and the quantity of fluid passing through the
drum is ascertained.
Figs. 1 and 2 shew a section of the arrangement of this fluid meter.
The cylindrical drum t is divided into six or more or less spaces or
buckets by as many spirally shaped blades 8, 8. The drum is open at
one end but closed at the other, with the exception of a central hole
through which the piper passes. The diameter of this hole in the drum
is somewhat larger than the exterior diameter of the pipe r, in order
that the drum may revolve freely without touching the pipe 1. The
lower part of the drum is immersed in a basin b, the brim or upper edge
of which is about one-half an inch below the lowest part of the central
hole in the drum. The fluid to be measured is introduced into the meter
by the funnel a, near the bottom of which a perforated plate or sieve is
fixed in order to prevent stones or other foreign matter from entering
the meter. The fluid flows through the piper and falls into the drum t;
having passed this drum it arrives in the basin b, over the brim i of
which it flows off. It again collects in the channel p and leaves the

page_text: meter by the pipe m. The box or casing g, which encloses the drum,
has a small hole at y, in order to allow the atmospheric air to com-
municate freely with the interior of the meter. The small pipe h, which
is closed by means of a screw cap cover, or a cock is intended to clear
the basin 6 of any fluid remaining after measuring. This fluid meter is
only intended to be employed in such cases where the fluid can flow off
freely over the brim i of the basin, and where the drum t above that
line revolves in atmospheric air, steam, or gas. The blades or buckets
of the drum t are formed to the shape of such part of the thread of a
screw that they cannot allow a passage to the fluid at both ends of the
drum at the same time, that is to say, if the fluid can enter a bucket
at o it cannot leave it until the drum has revolved so far that when it
does leave the drum no more fluid can enter the drum at o. The blades
are also formed to the shape of a screw thread, in order to cause as little
resistance as possible to the passing of the fluid through the buckets.
The spindle of the drum also revolves on friction rollers to diminish the
friction as much as possible. Within certain limits the drum can be so
adjusted as to allow an appointed quantity of fluid to pass per revolution,
and this adjustment is effected by plunging it more or less into the
basin b. The spindle v of the drum is furnished with a small pinion w,
which gears into the wheels of an indicating apparatus z, the hands of
which point out the number of revolutions of the drum, or the corre-
sponding number of gallons or cubic feet of fluid which have passed
through the measuring drum.
Figs. 3 and 4 shew an arrangement of the meter intended to measure
the feed water which is supplied to steam boilers. When employed for
this purpose it is necessary, first, that the meter is fixed in a higher
position than the surface of the water in the boiler; and, second, that
the meter is in communication with the steam space of the boiler in
order that the feed water may flow off freely over the brim i of the
basin 6 into the boiler, and then above the brim i. The water may be
filled with steam. In this case it is preferred to fit up the meter directly
on the boiler, and make the diameter of the supply pipe d of sufficient
size to give passage both to the feed water flowing into the boiler and
also to the steam entering the meter. Should this arrangement be not
practicable or convenient the meter may be fixed directly in the feed

page_text: a pipe of sufficient size. If it is not convenient or possible to fix the
meter at a higher level than the surface of the water in the boiler it can
be fixed below such level, but in that case a portion of atmospheric air
must be pumped or injected in with the feed water, and the chest or
cover of the meter so constructed that this air shall collect therein, so
that the measuring drum works in the air. In this arrangement the
meter can be fixed in any part of the feed pipe without requiring to
stand higher than the surface of the water in the boiler, or to be
connected with the steam space.
In this employment of the fluid meter the following arrangement is
made use of:-The feed water before it enters the measuring drum is led
over a series of plates or cascade e, e, e, and spreading over these plates
it is heated by the steam from the boiler almost to the temperature of
the steam. The condensed water resulting from this heating of the feed
water mingles with the latter and passes together with it through
the measuring drum. By this arrangement. the following result is
obtained: First, that the measuring of the feed water is always effected
at nearly the same temperature; secondly, the caloric which the before-
mentioned condensed water has transmitted to the feed water in heating
it is just equal to the caloric required to evaporate the condensed water
again. Therefore taking into consideration that the condensed water is
measured together with the feed water, the revolutions of the drum are
in proportion to the whole amount of caloric required for the evaporation
of the supplied feed water, the amount of caloric required to heat the
feed water to the temperature of the steam being likewise registered.
Supposing the usual pressure of the steam to be 3 to 4 atmospheres,
and that the caloric required to convert one pound of water at a
temperature of 150° Celsius into steam of 150° Celsius amounts to 500
units of caloric. The wheelwork, hereafter described, is so arranged that
the counter registers 500 units of caloric if one pound of water has
passed the measuring drum. By this arrangement the counter indicates
in caloric the whole caloric which is required to evaporate the feed
water supplied.
If the apparatus is required to work at a different steam pressure than
that above mentioned it can be arranged to do so by a corresponding
change in the wheelwork u. The wheelwork is placed outside of the
steam space, and is put in motion from the drum by means of a
shaft furnished with a tightening cone. This shaft revolving with

page_text: a considerable amount of friction would influence the exactness of the
measuring; the wheelwork is therefore so arranged as to cause the shaft
to make, say, from 10 to 20 of the revolutions of the drum. On the
upper cover of the chest of the meter a small cock fis placed, by which
the atmospheric air can be liberated so that the whole meter is filled
with steam.
In certain cases it may be necessary not to permit the feed water to
fall immediately into the boiler after having left the meter, but to
conduct it particular points of the boiler. For this purpose a particular
form of pipe is shewn in Fig. 3. As already mentioned the discharge
pipe d must be of sufficient size to give passage to the feed water, as
well as to the steam at the same time. At this discharge pipe has
several large holes cut in it by which the steam can enter the meter, and
the feed water collects below these holes in the funnel k, and can be
conducted to any required parts of the boiler by means of a pipe fastened
to the end of the funnel. The same result can be arrived at by applying
the usual feed pipes, but in that case the steam from the boiler must
be led into the upper part of the meter by a separate pipe of sufficient
size.
The choice of materials of which it is best to construct the meter must
be decided by the nature of the fluids it is intended to measure.
The measuring drum and all parts which would come in contact with
the fluids should be constructed of sheet copper, tin, or zinc joined by
soldering, the case being made of sheet copper or zinc, or of cast iron.
In the employment of this fluid meter for steam boilers, as shown in
Fig. 3, the measuring drum is made of sheet copper; the shaft or spindle
of the drum, the friction rollers, the wheelwork, the shaft l, and all the
screws in the interior of the counter of brass; the basin b, the plates or
cascade e, e, e, and the outer casing of cast iron; and the screws and
bolts for putting the same together of wrought iron.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the best
methods I am acquainted with of performing the same, I now point out
those parts of my fluid meter which I claim to be new,―
First. The arrangement of placing the measuring drum in the basin in
the steam space of boilers, by which arrangement the drum and basin is
now adapted to measure the feed water supplied to boilers.

page_text: Second. The application of spiral vanes, blades, or buckets in the
measuring drum, by which the resistance of the fluid tending to retard
the revolutions of the drum is greatly diminished, these drums therefore
being capable of making more revolutions than those drums hitherto
employed in gas meters without losing their exactness in measuring.
Thirdly. In the employment of this fluid meter for steam boilers I
claim to be new the arrangement of heating the feed water before it
passes the measuring drum by the steam from the boiler to nearly the
temperature of the steam, and that the condensed water resulting from
this heating of the feed water is measured and registered together with
the feed water.
In witness whereof, I, the said Nathaniel Grew, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy..
NATH". GREW.
(L.S.)