IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR GOVERNING THE FLOW OF WATER UNDER PRESSURE
Year: 1882

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Wightman at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 9th October 1882.
GEORGE WIGHTMAN of Retford in the County of Nottingham
"IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR GOVERNING THE FLOW OF WATER UNDER PRESSURE
"
My invention relates to improvements in Apparatus for governing the flow of
water while under pressure, and is especially useful in conjunction with high
pressure water meters as by the use of the govenor and meter in combination, the
great defects of all high pressure meters, such as the non registration of sinall flows
(or dribbling) and waste by leakage under high pressure are to a large extent
avoided.
My improved Apparatus or Govenor by reason of its peculiar construction, either
allows the water to enter with a flow sufficient to actuate the meter, or sluts it off
altogether, collecting into brief intermittent periods of full flow the water which
usually dribbles through the meter without actuating the index, It also cuts off
the water under high pressure from the service pipes and outlet fittings, except
when considerable quantities of water are being drawn off thus reducing the waste
by leakage to a minimum.
I construct my Govenor in the following manner; a suitably shaped casing is
divided by a partition into two chambers which I call the inlet and the outlet
chambers, one being connected to the inlet pipe and the other to the outlet pipe.
At the top of the outlet chamber I fix a vertical tubular reservoir or air vessel,
its lower end being open to the outlet chamber and the two chambers are connected
and open one into the other through a short cylinder fixed in the partition wall
and projecting into the outlet chamber, and which is also provided with a series or
circle of ports a short distance from the projecting end. An inlet valve working
vertically is fixed in the bottom of the inlet chamber and is controlled by the short
end of a Tumbler or weighted lever working on a fulcrum fixed above the valve;
the upper or weighted end of the lever is attached to the rod of a piston which fits
loosely in the Cylinder before mentioned as connecting the two Chambers
The other side of the piston is connected to a bell crank lever the long arm being
under the mouth of the tubular reservoir or air vessel which contains a floating
weight free to rise and fall with the water.
The Action of the Govenor is as follows-when the govenor is at rest, the valve
is closed and the short end of the tumbler or weighted lever is nearly vertical over

page_text: the top of the valve, and is capable in that position of resisting the pressure of the
water in the inlet pipe, the weighted end falling over to one side; the piston is
thus drawn back to the end of the cylinder and the long arm of the bell crank lever
is raised to its highest position. The float is also raised in the tubular reservoir or
nir vessel. When water is withdrawn from the outlet Chamber, the float descends
and striking the long or raised arm of the bell crank draws forward the piston and
the weighted lever thereby releasing the inlet valve. The pressure of the water
forces the piston past the ports through which the water escapes to the outlet.
When the withdrawal of water ceases, the tubular resevoir or air vessel fills with
water thereby raising the float and the pressure in both chambers becomes
equal, the weighted end of the lever draws back the piston and falling over closes
and secures the inlet valve
The action of the Govenor is intermittent whenever the amount of water being
drawn off is less than the Meter will register, the supply is under low pressure
from the resevoir or air vessel.
I do not bind myself to the exact arrangement or details as above described, a5
(for example) the lever may be actuated by a spring instead of a weight, and the
inlet valve may be placed in a different position to that described. A modification of
my improved apparatus may also be made having only one chamber, in which the
iulet valve having a turnover lip, is held open by the water impinging against it,
and I am thus enabled to dispense with the Cylinder and piston before described.