IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS FOR TESTING OR MEASURING THE Aarees Long
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Porter Wilson, of Cumberland Terrace,
Regent's Park, in the County of Middlesex, Esquire, for the In-
vention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS FOR TESTING OR MEASURING THE
Aarees Long "
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Porter Wilson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 18th November 1870.
'
I, ROBERT PORTER WILSON, of Cumberland Terrace, Regent's Park,
in the County of Middlesex, Esquire, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS FOR TESTING OR MEASURING
THE QUALITY OR COLOUR OF OILS AND OTHER LIQUIDS," to be as follows:-
The Invention has for its object improvements in means for testing or
measuring the quality or colour of oils and other liquids.
For this purpose I employ two tubes or receivers of glass or other.
suitable material provided with glass ends, which are made perfectly
flat on both the inner and outer sides. One of these tubes or receivers

page_text: I fill with an oil or liquid of known or standard quality, and the other
with the oil or liquid, the colour or quality of which it is desired to
compare therewith. These tubes or receivers are equal in length to each
other, and by preference are mounted upon an axis of motion for facility
of manipulation. Through these tubes and their contents I direct rays
of light, which rays are received on to a suitable reflector, which if
desired may also be mounted on an axis of motion to provide facility for
adjustment.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Porter Wilson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 18th May 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
PORTER WILSON, of Cumberland Terrace, Regent's Park, in the County
of Middlesex, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-fourth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Robert Porter Wilson, Her special licence that
I, the said Robert Porter Wilson, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Porter Wilson, my exe-
cutors, 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 IN
MEANS FOR TESTING OR MEASURING THE QUALITY OR COLOR OF OILS AND OTHER
LIQUIDS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert
Porter Wilson, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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

page_text: 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 Robert Porter Wilson, 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, that is to say :-
The Invention has for its object improvements in means for testing
or measuring the quality or color of oils and other liquids.
For this purpose I employ two tubes or receivers of glass or other
suitable material provided with glass ends which are made perfectly flat
on both the inner and outer sides. One of these tubes or receivers I fill
with an oil or liquid of known or standard quality and the other with
the oil or liquid, the color or quality of which it is desired to compare
therewith. These tubes or receivers are equal in length to each other
and by preference are mounted upon an axis of motion for facility of
manipulation. Through these tubes and their contents I direct rays of
light, which rays are received on to a suitable reflector which, if desired,
may also be mounted on an axis of motion to provide facility for
adjustment.
By comparison of the color or amount of light shown in the reflector
the color, density, or quality of the oil or other liquid may be
ascertained.
And in order that my said Invention may be more clearly under-
stood and readily carried into effect, I will proceed, aided by the
accompanying Drawings more fully to describe the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a side view of an instrument constructed according to my
Invention for testing or measuring the quality or color of oils and
other liquids. In this view the instrument is shown in position for use,
the case or box in which it may be enclosed being shown in section.
Figure 2 is a sectional plan of the instrument apart from its case or
box, and Figure 3 is a side view of the case or box as it will appear when
closed with the instrument therein.
a, a, are two tubes of equal length; these tubes may be made of any
suitable material according to the character of the liquid to be tested,
but those shown in the Drawings are supposed to be formed of glass

page_text: enclosed and protected by brass tubes b, b. The ends a¹, a¹, of these
tubes are formed of perfectly flat discs of glass cemented thereto, whilst
the ends a, a², which are also formed of flat discs are fixed into screw
caps or end pieces b', 6', in order to provide facility for charging and
discharging the tubes a, a. If desired the ends a¹, a¹, instead of being
cemented on to the tubes a, a, may be fixed in a similar manner to the
ends a³, a³. As it is advisable that the tubes should be so perfectly
filled that both glass end pieces a², a², shall be entirely covered with
the liquid when the tubes are inclined, say at an angle of 45 degrees, I
form such end pieces a², a², as shewn at Figure 2, where it will be seen
that they are bevilled at the edges and are of considerable thickness so.
as to project some little distance into the liquid in the tubes. By this.
arrangement it will be seen that any small quantity of air remaining in
the tubes when the caps or end pieces 6', 6', are screwed thereon must
be displaced by the glass end pieces a³, a², and compelled to occupy the
space around the bevilled edges of such end pieces where its presence
will cause no inconvenience. The two tubes are fixed in position as
close as convenient to each other upon a frame c, which is hinged at c¹
to the case or box d, and is adjusted in position to any desired angle by
means of a link e (see Figures 1 and 3) and binding screw f. The
frame c also forms a portion of the top or cover of the case or box d. To
the frame c is hinged or pivoted an adjustable mirror or reflector g and
an eye piece h which is constructed as shown in section at Figure 2, or
may be otherwise formed as may be found advisable. One of these tubes
I fill with an oil or liquid of known or standard quality, and the other
I fill with the oil or liquid, the color or quality of which it is desired to
compare therewith, then by looking into the eye piece h when the
instrument is arranged as shown in Figure 1 an image of the light trans-
mitted by the liquid to be tested is shown by the aid of the prisms h² in
juxtaposition to an image of the light transmitted through the standard
liquid, whereby an easy comparison of the color or quality of the two
liquids may be made. Or if desired the eye piece h may be removed or
turned down on the hinge h¹, and that end of the apparatus directed
towards the light, when by looking into the mirror or reflector g discs of
color corresponding to the tints of the liquids in the tubes a, a, may be
seen in the mirror or reflector, as described in my Provisional Specification.
Or by making the end pieces a¹, a³, of ground glass and mounting the
tubes a, a, b, b, in a suitable frame, and dispensing with the mirror or
reflector g the instrument may be used as an ordinary binocular telescope,

page_text: when by directing the ends a', a', towards the sky or towards a powerful
light an easy comparison of the light transmitted through the liquids in
the tubes a, a, may be made by looking into the eye piece h. The
results however obtained by these means are not so reliable as by the
arrangement shown in the Drawings.
If desired by the use of this instrument I am enabled to use discs of
glass as standards of color with which to compare a liquid in one of the
tubes a, the other tube a being empty. For this purpose I first obtain
by comparison with liquids of known or standard qualities discs of glass
of similar color thereto, such discs being held in a holder i (see Figures
1 and 2), then when it is desired to compare the quality or color of a
liquid with any one of such standard discs I place one of such discs in
the holder i and fill one of the tubes a with the liquid to be tested, when
by looking into the eye piece h the comparison may readily be made.
In some cases it may be found convenient to attach a scale of say, 10
parts or divisions to the tube containing the darker liquid, then by
removing successive portions of this darker liquid until the two images
appear of similar color or intensity on reference to the scale of divisions
a ready means is obtained of stating the color or quality of the liquid
under investigation.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the mode
in which I carry the same into effect, I would have it understood that I
do not confine myself to the precise details herein shown and described,
but what I do claim is, the employment of means for testing or
measuring the quality or color of oils and other liquids, substantially
as herein shown and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Porter Wilson, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
ROB³. P. WILSON. (L.s.)
Witness,
B. J. B. MILLS,
Patent Agent,
35, Southampton Buildings.