A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR MEASURING WATER AND OTHER FLUIDS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Wyatt Orford, of New Street, Birmingham,
in the County of Warwick, Architect and Engineer, for the Invention of
"A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR MEASURING WATER AND OTHER
FLUIDS."
Sealed the 16th.June 1865, and dated the 19th December 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Wyatt Orford
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 19th December 1864.
I, CHARLES WYATT ORFORD, of New Street, Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Architect and Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "A NEW AND IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR MEASURING WATER AND
OTHER FLUIDS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the correct measurement of water and
other fluids, which is effected by means of a vessel of any required size, in
which there is placed a float or piston moving freely upon a piston rod up to a
certain point, but that point being reached, the said piston or float will, by the
action of water or other fluid admitted into the vessel or discharged therefrom,
ascend or descend, as the case may be, giving motion to a rolling weight fixed
above it, and that again to one or more taps, which by one and the same plug
in each tap admit or discharge the water or other fluid, the holes for the
passage of the water or other fluid through the plug of the taps being made at

page_text: such an angle from each other that by the motion of the plug, water or other
fluid is admitted and discharged alternately. The alternate action of the piston
rod moves an indicator, which shows exactly the amount of water or other
fluid passed thro' the meter, and by means of an adjusting tappet fixed
upon the piston rod, and regulating by its position on the rod the amount of
water or other fluid discharged at each stroke, the amount passed thro' can
be shown by either pints, quarts, or gallons.
The difference between high and low-pressure meters, according to this
Invention is, that high-pressure require two separate taps, and low, one tap.
The low-pressure may, however, be made open at the top, and the piston or
float need not be fitted tight to the sides of the vessel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Wyatt Orford in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 17th June 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
WYATT ORFORD, of New Street, Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Architect and Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Charles Wyatt Orford, Her special licence, that I, the
said Charles Wyatt Orford, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Charles Wyatt Orford, 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 "A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR MEASURING WATER AND
OTHER FLUIDS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles
Wyatt Orford, 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 inmediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Wyatt Orford, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the sanie
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to what is technically called a new and improved
apparatus for measuring water and other fluids, and has for its advantages
more particularly that by its use all and every portion of water or any other
fluid passing through it is most correctly measured, and by the index attached
the exact amount is shown, and in this respect differing most essentially from
what are called approximate meters.
By my Invention also it is quite impossible for any portion of the water or
other fluid to pass through without being registered, as the ingress and egress
are never and cannot possibly be open at the same time.
The Invention will, however, be fully understood by reference to the
accompanying Drawings, in which Fig. 1 represents the side elevation of my
new and improved apparatus for measuring water and other fluids; Fig. II. a
section of the same used at high pressure; Fig. III. a plan of the same;
Fig. IV. a section of the same used at low pressure.
In Fig. I., A is the cylinder, which may be made of any size that
circumstances may require; B, the piston rod; C, the frame working on its
centre C', and moved by the rolling weight D, as shewn by the dotted lines;
E is the tap or valve, which in high-pressure meters is four-way, and in low
pressure, three-way, as shewn Figs. II. and IV; F is an arm connected with
and moved by the frame C, while it communicates motion to the tap by
means of the bands G, G; these bands attached to the frame C and arm F
are loose until the frame has each time passed beyond the horizontal line,
when they become tight, and reverse the tap by being connected with the
peripheries of the small roller at end of plug of tap, as shown. H is a lever
which is shewn more distinctly in Fig. V.; this lever is connected with the
piston rod B, which moves it, and has at its other extremity a rod J, the end
of which is formed into a loop, so as to allow the frame C to move freely in it
as soon as the said frame C has passed beyond the horizontal either way; K
is the index, which is moved by the frame C at each reversion by a simple
ratchet wheel and connecting rod.
In Fig. II., the ends of the cylinder are both closed, and the meter is
therefore high-pressure, discharging one side of the piston while it is filling on
the other; A being the interior of the cylinder; B, the piston; and D, the
four-way cock or valve.
In Fig. IV., the cylinder A is open at top, and the piston or float B moving

page_text: on guide rods F, F, acts by its own buoyancy in rising and its weight in
falling; the exact quantity of water discharged is, however, regulated by
means of the moveable tappets D, D, which allow the float to rise and fall
without moving the piston rod C until such time as the tappets are reached
either way. This portion of the Invention is equally applicable to the high-
pressure meter.
The working my Invention will now be fully understood as the piston or
float moves the piston rod, and this again communicates motion either way to
the frame containing the rolling weight, and as soon as the said frame has passed
the horizontal, the rolling weight descends by its own gravitation, and by so
ascending causes the frame to fall or rise in the loop of the connecting rod,
in which position it remains until again acted upon by the lever connected
with the piston rod, at the same time by its motion the tap or cock is reversed
by means of the hands attached to it, and passing round the pulley fixed on
the plug of the tap.
Having now described the nature and particulars of my Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire to be distinctly under-
stood that I do not absolutely confine myself in putting my Invention into
use to the precise arrangement as shewn by the accompanying Drawings, as
such must be modified to suit circumstances, without however departing in
such arrangement of parts from the principles of my Invention, which I
declare to be and I claim as my Invention,―
First, the use of a rolling weight, as a motive power for turning the taps or
cocks of water meters.
Second, the use of a piston or float moving freely upon the piston rod until
such time as checked by tappets or other appliances thereto attached.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Wyatt Orford, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
CHARLES WYATT ORFORD. (L.S.)