Improvements in and relating to Water-meters.
Year: 1895

page_text: [Communicated from abroad by FRIEDRICH LUX, of Ludwigshafen-on-the-Rhine,
in the Kingdom of Bavaria and Empire of Germany, Manufacturer.]
Improvements in and relating to Water-meters.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co. Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained, in and by the following
statement:-
The adjustment of water-meters, for securing a correct measuring action of the
same, is at times a very tedious matter. The means heretofore devised for rendering
such adjustment possible and for effecting the said adjustment with promptness and
lespatch whenever required were, in most cases, not based upon scientific principles
and would very often impair the sensitiveness of the water meters.
The said means
or devices are usually provided within the water inlet and they would thus act to
reduce the speed of movement of the water previously to its being measured, or they
would allow a portion of the water to pass through the measuring chamber of the
meter without being measured at all.
It is obvious that a device or arrangement which would admit of a gauging or
adjusting of the action by regulating the flow at the discharge would under all
circumstances be preferable to the devices or arrangements heretofore employed, as
referred to above.
The object of this invention is to provide a construction of water meter having this
improved mode of adjustment and the invention, therefore, consists in the arrange-
ment and combination of parts more fully hereinafter described and shown in the
accompanying drawing in which-
Figure 1 is a central vertical section, on the line A-B of Figure 2, of a water-
meter provided with my improvement.
Figure 2 is a horizontal section on the line C-D of Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a horizontal section on the line E-F of Figure 1, with the winged
wheel removed.
Figure 4 is a sectional elevation of a detail on the line G-H of Figure 3.
The general construction of a wheel water meter being well known does not
require to be particularly here described. The water freely enters the measuring
chamber z in a tangential direction through the openings m m.....,. thereby
imparting rotary movement to the shaft W of the measuring wheel (see Figure 1).
By means of curved channels kk..... provided in the inner top portion and by
similar chanuels pp. provided in the bottom of the casing the measured water
is conducted towards the said shaft and caused to pass through the aperture d and
openings nn..... to the place whence it is taken for use. The channels kk.....
as well as the channels p p.. are of uniform cross section throughout. In being
driven from the peripheral portion of the measuring casing towards the aperture d,
the water by its swell acts to disturb the free movement of the measuring wheel. It
is obvious that by allowing a portion of the measured water to escape into the regular
discharge conduit near the circumferential portion of the measuring casing, the
measuring wheel may be caused to rotate more freely, and that the result of the
measurement may thus be altered.
.

page_text: To this end holes bb..... are bored in the raised portions formed by, and
between, each two channels kk.... (see Figure 1), and above the said holes is
provided a ring S, the latter resting in a correspondingly shaped annular recess
and being provided with openings a a..... corresponding with the holes bb.
above referred to. By means of an arm or index X provided on the said ring
(see Figure 2) the latter may be rotated more or less, so as to alter the positions
of the openings a a..... with regard to the holes bb....., and the latter may thus
either be closed entirely or opened to any desired width. It will thus be seen that by
a suitable adjustment of the position of the said ring, which I shall hereinafter refer
to as the gauging ring, a portion of the measured water, after having taken part in
the movement of the winged measuring wheel, may be discharged into the conduit
without being forced through the aperture d and without, on its way to this aperture,
hindering the movement of the winged measuring wheel.
If the wheel train of the counting mechanism which is in the usual and well known
manner enclosed in the chamber M and, therefore, not shown in the drawing, is so
arranged that in a particular apparatus the result of the measurement would differ by
about 10 per cent., then this may be easily corrected by moving the arm or index X
and thereby turning the gauging ring S. The said ring is retained in its position
by the eight feet forming the connection between the chamber of the counting
mechanism and the measuring casing.
A rough or preliminary adjustment may also be effected by means of the ring u,
the latter shown in position within the water meter casing in Figure 3, whilst
Figure 4 shows the said ring removed. By turning this ring a resistance may be
introduced in the channels pp so that the flow of water towards the centre
will thereby be impeded. The channels PP
provided in the bottom of the
casing may either be curved in the direction of the flow of water or in the opposite
direction. By this means, and by selecting the proper degree of curvature
for the channels, I may cause the water meter either to lag behind gradually
to advance in the indication from the largest to the smallest passage of
or
water.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. In a water-meter, an adjusting or regulating device consisting of a flat ring
rotably arranged in the cover of the measuring casing and provided, opposite to a
number of passages bb. in the cover of the measuring casing, with a number
of similar passages, such as a a..... the latter passages admitting of being so
shifted with regard to the first named passages, by the ring being rotated to
a suitable extent, that the sectional area of the passages bb.. will be
correspondingly increased or reduced in size, substantially as and for the purpose
set forth.
2. In a water-meter, a number of curved channels, such as kk. ..., provided in
the inner top portion of the measuring casing, substantially as and for the purpose
set forth.
3. In a water-meter a number of curved channels, such as pp....., provided in
the bottom of the measuring casing, and an adjustable ring, such as u, capable of
being rotated with relation to the said channels, substantially as and for the purpose
set forth.
Dated thin 7th
T
1005
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.