IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE FLOW OF WATER IN PIPES
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Frederick Deacon, of Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR MEASURING THE FLOW OF WATER IN PIPES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Frederick Deacon at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th January 1879.
GEORGE FREDERICK DEACON, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Civil
Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE FLOW OF WATER
IN PIPES.
This Invention relates to improvements made with the object of increasing the
efficiency and reducing the cost of Inventions for which Letters Patent have already
been granted to me. The first on the 14th day of March 1872, No. 937, entitled
"Improvements in Apparatus for Measuring the Flow of Water in Pipes," the
second on the 29th day of December 1873, No. 4264, entitled "Apparatus for
Indicating the Velocity or Measuring the Flow of Water in Pipes," the third on
the Fifth day of January 1875, No. 50, entitled "Improvements in Apparatus for
Measuring the Flow of Water in Pipes."
The apparatus hitherto constructed as described, in those Specifications have in
nearly all cases been placed beneath the footways of streets, and as the water pipes
are generally beneath the carriage ways it has been necessary to convey the water
by separate pipes from the main to the apparatus and back again from the apparatus
to the main; it is in many cases important, if possible, to avoid this, and to place
the apparatus directly upon the main, the difficulty of doing so in practice is as
follows:-
In order to obtain proper access to the box or case containing the registering
portion of the apparatus described in those Specifications, it is desirable that the
lid or cover thereof should be the full size of that box, and that the opening in the
frame of the independent cover placed flush with the footway should be still larger.
It is found in practice that with the apparatus as hitherto constructed the covers
are of such moderate size that they may be made sufficiently light when intended
to be placed in footways to be easily lifted by one man, but that when intended to
be placed in carriage ways the greater strength necessary to bear the weight of
vehicular traffic involves so great a weight of material in the covers that they

page_text: cannot be easily raised by a single man, I render possible the reduction of the size
of the box or case and consequently of the covers by placing the clock within the
drum which has hitherto occupied space without the drum.
The apparatus described in the Specification of my Patent of the 29th December
1873, No. 426+, are provided with perforated diaphragms to cause the water to flow
uniformly to the disc.
I find than that an easier and more efficient method of attaining this object is
by the use of a short circular tube fixed in the same axis as the conical pipe through
which the water passes to the conical pipe and disc, the end of this tube furthest
from the disc being less than the size of the water chamber from which the water
flows towards the conical pipe and projecting into the water chamber.
In the forms of the same apparatus as at present used the wire communicating
between the disc and the crosshead and the bush through which that wire passes
are the only parts which wear so as to require renewal except after a very long
period of working.
I facilitate the incans of renewing these parts by making the bush and the upper
part of the guide tube accessible from the clock chamber in such a manner that they
may be withdrawn and a new bush and wire at once placed in position.
By making the frame of the crosshead in plan the segment of a circle concen-
tric with the drum and as close as practicable to the drum, and by allowing the
'pencil to project only a very short distance on the inside of that segment I am
enabled to bring the centre of gravity of the crosshead, the point of the pencil, and
the axis of the disc and wire very nearly into the same vertical line, thus any
tendency to tip is entirely removed, and rollers or wheels, if used at all, aro only
required to hold the cross-head up to the drum and are not required to prevent other
movements of the crosshead than those which are truly vertical.
I employ a weight with or without a lever to press the pencil against the drum;
a constant pressure is thus secured and no "setting" is required to make the pencil
mark well.
In removing the counterweight for any purpose it may happen that the cross-head
falls suddenly and makes a sharp bend in the wire which prevents it from working
properly; I obviate this by arranging a catch which operates when the tension of
the cord carrying the weight is removed and prevents the cross-head from falling.
When the apparatus is placed beneath a carriage way or elsewhero direct on a
water main it is important that the inlet and outlet should be at the same level.
This object I secure by allowing the conical pipe to hang down into a water space
below and around it, communicating with the outlet, and by arranging the tube to
be substituted for the perforated diaphragm to project upwards into a water space
above and around it, communicating with the inlet.
In the foregoing Specification the upper and lower parts of the apparatus are
referred to as they are placed in the arrangement of the apparatus nost generally
adopted, but I wish it to bo understood that many of the improvements are appli-
cable to any similar apparatus if inverted or placed in the horizontal or in any other
position.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said George Frederick Deacon in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 10th July 1879.
GEORGE FREDERICK DEACON, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Civil
Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE FLOW OF WATER
IN PIPES."
This Invention relates to improvements made with the object of increasing the
efficiency and reducing the cost of Inventions for which Patents have already been
granted to me, the first on the Fourteenth March, One thousand eight hundred and
seventy three, Number 937, entitled "Improvements in Apparatus for Measuring
the Flow of Water in Pipes," the second on the Twenty ninth December, One thou-
sand eight hundred and seventy three, Number 4204, entitled "Improvements in
Apparatus for Indicating the Velocity or Measuring the Flow of Water in Pipes,"
the third on the Fifth January, One thousand eight hundred and seventy five,
Number 50, entitled "Improvements in Apparatus for Measuring the Flow of
Water in Pipes."
The apparatus hitherto constructed, as described in the Specifications of my said
Patents, are generally known as waste water meters, and have in nearly all cases
been employed for the purpose of measuring and recording graphically the state of
flow in mains used for the supply of water to various sections of a town or district,
and they have generally been placed beneath the footways of streets and so con-
nected with the mains that all the water passing through the mains passes or may
be caused to pass through the meters also. The cost of adapting such a meter to its
work would be much reduced and the arrangement would be much simplified if the
meter could be placed directly upon the main. But unless the size of the portion
of the meter which opens and of its independent cover can be greatly reduced; the
weight of the cover, though not inconvenient when adapted to a footway, would
become most inconvenient if increased so as to make the cover strong enough to be
placed in a carriage way. I render possible the reduction in size of the box or case
of the meter and consequently of the cover by placing the clock which has hitherto
occupied space without the drum within it.
The mode in which this is effected will be understood by reference to the Figures
in which similar letters refer to similar parts.
A is the independent cover flush with the roadway; B is the cover of the meter
box or case C; D is the drum upon which the diagram of paper or other material
is placed, hitherto caused to revolve by external clock work, but caused by my
present improvements to revolve by clockwork E, within and beneath it. In tho
example shown the frame of the clock is fixed and the spindle of the drum is driven
by the central arbor of the clock upon which it rests.
The apparatus described in the Specification of my Patent of the Twenty ninth
December, One thousand eight hundred and seventy three, Number 4264, is pro-
vided with a perforated diaphragm to cause the flow of water to the disc to be
uniform in different meters. I find that an easier and more effectual method of
obtaining this object is by the use of a short cylindrical tube forming the waterway
to the conical pipe, the end of this tubo furthest from the conical pipe, and the disc
within it, projecting into the inlet water chamber F, Figure 2, and being less than
the size of that chamber; G is the outlet water chamber. The water entering at F
passes over the edge of the cylindrical tube H and produces a flow within that tube
which for similar tubes similarly situated with regard to the chamber F will always
bo similar.
The tube H is in the Figures an extension of the conical pipe or guage tube J.
In the forms of the same apparatus as at present used the wire communicating
between the disc and the crosshend and the bush through which that wire passes
are the only parts which wear so as to requiro renewal except after a very long

page_text: period of working. I facilitate the means of renewing these parts by making the
bush and the upper part of the guide tube accessible from the clock chainber in
such a manner that they may be withdrawn and a new bush and wire at once
placed in position.
An arrangement by which this may be effected is shown in Figure 2, where K is
the guide tube in which slides the stem L of the disc M. This guide tube projects
upwards into the case C and at its head the bush N is placed. In the former
arrangement the bush N was placed part way down the tube K, and any water
which escaped through the orifice made for the passage of the wire O overflowed at
the top of the tube and was then drained away through the chamber C. Without
removing the cover of the water chamber F this bush could not be renewed. In
its new position the bush N may be renewed without removing the cover of the
water chamber and the bush may be constructed with a lateral opening into which
a pipe may be inserted, having an outlet outside the case C, so that any water
which oozes between through the bush below that opening will be drained away.
The wire attached to the screwed cap of the disc stem L may be removed and
replaced as follows:-The bush N having been removed a movable tube is passed
down the guide tube, having on its lower end projections or hollows so formed as
to embrace similar hollows or projections in the screwed cap of the stem. By
turning the rod the screwed cap may then be withdrawn and a new wiro passed
through the movable tube and then through the cap of the stem L and affixed
thereto. By means of this movable tube the cap of the stem L is then replaced and
the wire thus secured to the stem. The movable tube may then be withdrawn.
Thus the bush N and the wire may be readily replaced without disconnecting any
large joints.
In the apparatus hitherto used the crosshead which carries the pencil by the
vertical movements of which, combined with the horizontal rotation of the drum,
the required diaphragm is produced, is guided by rollers on wheels bearing against
vertical guides, and as the line of the wire by which this crosshead is drawn down
and of the cord by which it is drawn up do not pass through its centre of gravity,
and as the point of the pencil is not in the line of that centre there is a constant
tendency to tip. In my improved arrangement I remove this tendency by bringing
the drum and therefore the point of the pencil as near as practicable to the line of
the wire and by making the crosshead in plan the segment of a circle concentric
with the drum moving in a vertical line as close to it as practicable. If this is
done the crosshead may be so balanced that its centre of gravity will be in the same
vertical line as the wire and very close to the point of the pencil, so that rollers or
wheels if used at all are only required to hold the crosshead up to the drum, and
are not required to prevent other movements of the crosshead than those which are
truly vertical.
An arrangement by which this improvement may be carried into effect is shown
at P in Figure 2, and on a larger scale in plan at Figure 4, in back elevation at
Figure 5, and in front elevation at Figure 6; P is the frame of the crosshead con-
centric with the drum D, the top of which in Figure 4 is shown to be inscribed with
twelve hours for each half revolution. The rollers R which work against the guide
Y are merely employed to prevent the backward pressure of the weight or lever
which holds the pencil Q against the drum from throwing the crosshead from the
drum.
In order to press the pencil against the drum I employ a weight with or without
a lever and thus secure a constant pressure, which when once set requires no further
adjustment to make the pencil mark well. In Figures 4, 5, and 6 this result is
obtained by placing the pencil Q in one end of a lever S, pivotted at its opposito
end T. Against the lever S a lever U is pressed by a torsional pressure produced
by the weights V.
In removing the counter weight W for any purpose it may happen that the cross-
head falls suddenly and makes a sharp bend in the wire O, which prevents it from
working properly. I obviate this by arranging a catch which operates when the

page_text: tension of the cord carrying the weight is removed and prevents the crosshead from
falling.
When the apparatus is placed beneath a carriage way or elsewhere direct on the
main it may be important that the inlet and outlet should be at the same level.
This object may be secured by allowing the conical pipe to hang down into a
water space below and around it, communicating with the outlet, and by arranging
the tube to be substituted for the perforated diaphragın and a portion of the conical
pipe so as to project upwards into a water space above and around it communicating
with the inlet.
Thus in Figure 2 the inlet chamber F surrounds the tabe and the upper part of
the conical pipe, and the outlet chamber G surrounds the lower part of the conical
pipe so that the water may pass in and out at the same level notwithstanding that
the axis of the conical pipe and of the working parts of the meter are vertical.
In the foregoing descriptions the upper and lower parts of the meter are referred
to as they are placed in the apparatus hitherto most generally adopted, and as they
are shewn in Figures 1, 2, and 3, but I wish it to be understood that many of the
improvements are applicable to any similar apparatus if inverted or placed in any
other position