IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER METERS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Engineer and Patent Agent, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER METERS."-A communication from abroad
by Mr. Frank Grant Johnson, of Brooklyn, Kings County, State of
New York. United States of America. Doctor of Medicine.
Sealed the 16th May 1862, and dated the 17th March 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th
March 1862.
I, WILLIAM CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER METERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the arrangement within a stationary cylinder or
cylindrical pipe of two or more oblique bladed wheels secured at suitable
distances apart on a central shaft so applied as to rotate freely within the said
cylinder or pipe, and two or more series of stationary spiral water passages
surrounding the shaft in the spaces between the said wheels, such passages
and the blades of the said wheels being set at angles of forty-five degrees or
thereabouts to the axis of the shaft and cylinder or pipe; their obliquity is
in opposite directions relatively to the said axis so that water passing through
the said cylinder or pipe may be caused to strike the blades of the wheels in a
direction at right angles or nearly so to the faces thereof, by which system

page_text: of wheels and passages the water, as it passes through the cylinder or pipe, is
made to act on the several wheels in succession, so that greater power is obtained
to give motion to the shaft and the indicating apparatus which is geared
therewith than could be had with a single wheel, while at same time there
is no material increase of friction on the shaft.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th September 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer and
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters.
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Clark, Her special licence that I, the said William
Clark, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Clark, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN WATER METERS," a com". from abroad by Mr. Frank Grant
Johnson, of Brooklyn, Kings County, State of New York, United States of
America, Doctor of Medicine, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Clark, my executors or administrator, 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 immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Clark, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
-

page_text: This Invention consists in the arrangement, within a stationary cylinder
or cylindrical pipe, of two or more oblique bladed wheels secure at suitable
distances apart on a central shaft, so applied as to rotate freely within the said
cylinder or pipe, and two or more series of stationary spiral water passages
surrounding the shaft in the spaces between the said wheels, such passages
and the blades of the said wheels being set at angles of forty-five degrees. or
thereabouts to the axis of the shaft and cylinder or pipe, but their obliquity
being in opposite directions relatively to the said axis, so that water passing
through the said cylinder or pipe may be caused to strike the blades of the
wheels perpendicular or nearly so to the faces thereof, by which system of
wheels and passages the water, as it passes through the cylinder or pipe, is
made to act on the several wheels in succession, so that greater power is
obtained to give motion to the shaft and the indicating apparatus which is
geared therewith than could be had with a single wheel, while at the same time
there is no material increase of friction on the shaft.
In the accompanying Drawing which forms part of this Specification, Fig. 1
is a front elevation of a meter constructed according to this Invention; Fig. 2
is an elevation with the casing in section; Fig. 3 is a horizontal section in the
plane indicated by the line x, x, Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is an upright view of a
portion of the cylinder and one of the wheels and series of spiral water passages
in section; Fig. 5 exhibits a transverse section of the cylinder close to one of the
wheels; Fig. 6 is a perspective view of one of the oblique bladed wheels;
Fig. 7 is a perspective view of one of the short sections of a hollow many-
threaded screw which constitute the spiral water passages. Similar letters of
reference indicate corresponding parts in the several Figures.
5 6
A, B, is the stationary cylinder made of brass, iron, or other suitable metal.
in two sections A and B, with flanges a, a, for the reception of screws b,, b, by
which to secure them together. Near the upper end of the section B there
is an opening c, surrounded by a flat surface d,, d, to which is bolted the
box C which contains the registering mechanism; D is the shaft on which
the oblique blade wheels E, E, E, E, E, E, E, are secured, F and G are cross
braces secured to the ends of the cylinder to contain or carry the bearings
for the shaft D. The lower end of the shaft is made with a journal fitted
to a bearing in the brace G and resting on a steel plate e secured to the bottom
of the said brace, and the upper bearing consists of a centre screw f; on the
upper part of the shaft is a screw thread g which gears with a worm wheel h
on the first shaft i of the registering mechanism within the box C,, said
wheel working through the opening of the cylinder. The registering
mechanism requires no description as it is of a similar character to what is

page_text: 1
used in other meters and for many other purposes. At each end of the
cylinder there is a screw thread j, on its exterior for connecting the water,
pipes. ǹ, ǹ, ǹ, É, Н, H, I,
, are the short sections of a hollow many threaded
screw of which the several series of oblique water passages are composed, each
section containing one series of passages. The spaces s, s, between the
threads k, k, of the said screws are the passages. The central openings 1 in
the said sections of the screw are made of such size that the shaft D will rotate
within them without friction, and their circumference around the outer edges
of the threards k, k, is such that they will be clamped tightly by the two
sections A and B of the cylinder, and that no water will pass the outer edges.
The said sections correspond in number with the oblique-bladed wheels
É, É, É, É, É, É, É, and are arranged to alternate with the said wheels, one
being arranged above the uppermost wheel E, upon which the water first acts
but none below the lowest wheel E', upon which the water last acts, and only room
enough is left between the said sections for the free revolution of the wheels
without friction. The oblique-bladed wheels are of similar construction to the
sections H, H, H, H, H, H, H, but much shorter in the direction of their
axis and of somewhat larger circumference around the outer edges of their
threads or blades m, m, and their central openings n are of a size to fit tightly
to the shaft D, to which they may be secured by keying or other means, and their
obliquity is in an opposite direction. It becomes necessary owing to the external
circumference of the oblique-bladed wheels, being greater than that of the
sections of the screw thread which constitute the water passages to provide
recesses p, p, in the inner periphery of the cylinder to admit the wheels, such
recesses being wide enough and deep enough to allow the wheels to revolve
freely. The reason for making the wheels of larger diameter than the sections
H, H, H, H, H, H, H, is that the extremities of the blades of the wheels
may be out of range of the outer line of the current of water passing through
the cylinder, which prevents any water from passing through the meter without
producing its effects on the blades to give rotary motion to the shaft D. The
operation of the Invention is as follows:-
1
8
The water in descending through the cylinder must pass through the
passages s, s, and thus be brought to act upon the blades m, m, in the direc-
tion of lines perpendicular or thereabouts to their faces, thus causing a rotary
motion of the wheels E, É, É, É, É, É, É, and the shaft D to which they are
secured. The water before entering the first or uppermost series of passages
s, s, in the section H' descends in lines parallel with the sides of the cylinder i.e.
vertically, but as it enters the first series of passages its direction is changed to

page_text: one parallel with the threads k, k, and it is brought into contact with the
blades m, m, of the first. wheel E', at angles perpendicular instead of oblique
thereto, thus giving the same stream greater force of action to rotate the said
wheel. Now as soon as the same water has passed the wheel E¹, it enters
another set of passages, viz. those in the section H³, and is thus thrown
again into an oblique direction and made to act upon the second wheel E',
with as much force to rotate the shaft as it did on the first E¹, and so on
with any reasonable number of series of passages and blade wheels, the action
being as powerful on the last and every intervening wheel of the series as
upon the first one, and each wheel being thus made, by the same current or
currents of water to overcome one common resistance without increasing that
resistance to any perceptible extent.
Having described the nature of this Invention and the manner of performing
the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be protected by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
2
The alternate combination of two or more series of water passages 8, s, with
two or more oblique-bladed wheels E, E, E, E, E, E, E, substantially in the
manner and for the purpose herein specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Clark, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
JAMES DAISH,
53, Chancery Lane,
London.
W. CLARK. (L.S.)