IMPROVEMENTS IN INDEXES OR TELL-TALES APPLICABLE TO FLUID METERS AND OTHER COUNTING OR MEASURING APPARATUS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Willmer Pocock, of Craven Street, in the
City of Westminster, Architect, for the Invention of" IMPROVEMENTS IN
INDEXES OR TELL-TALES APPLICABLE TO FLUID METERS AND OTHER COUNTING
OR MEASURING APPARATUS."
Sealed the 14th February 1868, and dated the 17th August 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Willmer Pocock
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, ou
the 17th August 1867.
I, WILLIAM WILLMER POCOCK, of Craven Street, in the City of West-
minster, Architect, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN INDEXES OR TELL-TALES APPLICABLE TO FLUID METERS AND
OTHER COUNTING OR MEASURING APPARATUS," to be as follows:-
My Invention is intended to show the amount of money due for gas burnt
during any given period, or the amount of money received at the entrances of
public places, or for other similar purposes, and it consists mainly in the
addition to the train of wheels usually employed for measuring or counting of
other wheels, the spindles of which carry discs marked with figures to indicate
pounds, shillings, and pence, one figure upon each disc being visible at
all times through an aperture corresponding with such disc in the face of the
apparatus-or-otherwise..

page_text: hands or pointers of the index of the meter drives a toothed wheel, on the
spindle of which is a disc for indicating pence. The face of this disc bears
near the periphery the figures 1 to 11 and 0. The spindle of this disc carries
a projecting arm, which when the disc moves so as to show 0 through the
aperture before referred to comes against a tooth of a 20-toothed wheel carrying
a disc for indicating shillings, and overcomes the power of a spring which
holds this wheel and disc in position; this wheel and disc are thus moved a
twentieth of a revolution so as to show through the aperture the next figure
representing shillings. In the same manner an arm on the spindle of the
shillings wheel moves at the proper time a wheel and disc for indicating
pounds, and the same arrangement may if required be repeated to indicate
tens and hundreds of pounds. The number of teeth in the pence wheel and
in the wheel which drives it will be regulated according to the value of the
gas measured. If it is not required to show upon the index the quantity of
gas passed through the meter, then the ordinary train of wheels may be dis-
pensed with, and my pence wheel may be actuated directly from the meter.
I do not limit myself to the particular arrangement described for working
the shillings wheel from the pence wheel, as any other convenient arrange-
ment may be adopted, neither do I limit myself to the employment of separate
discs for pounds, shillings, and pence, as one disc may be employed having
three pointers moving round three sets of figures respectively indicating
pounds, shillings, and pence; these pointers would be actuated in substantially
the same manner as I have described for the discs.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Willmer Pocock in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th February 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WILLMER POCOCK, of Craven Street, in the City of Westminster, Architect,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her.
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant,unto me, the
said William Willmer Pocock, Her special licence that I, the said William
Willmer Pocock,my executors,administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said, William Willmer Pocock, my executors, administrators, and assigns,,

page_text: 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 INDEXES OR TELL-TALES APPLICABLE TO FLUID METERS AND OTHER'
COUNTING OR MEASURING APPARATUS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Willmer Pocock, my executors or administrators,
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 Willmer Pocock, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the saine
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is'to say:-
My Invention is intended to shew the amount of money due for gas burnt
during any given period,or the amount of money received at the entrances of
public places, or for other similar purposes; and it consists mainly in the
addition to the train of wheels usually employed for measuring and countingof
other wheels, the spindles of which carry discs marked with figures to indicate
pounds, shillings, and pence, one figure upon each such disc being visible at
all times through an aperture corresponding with such disc in the face of the
apparatus or otherwise.
I proceed to describe my Invention as applied to gas meters. A small
toothed wheel driven by the ordinary train of wheels which moves theordinary
hands or pointers of the index of the meter drives a toothed wheel, on the
spindle of which is a dise for indicating pence. The face of this disc bears
near the periphery the Figures 1 to 11 and 0. The spindle of this disc
carries a projecting arm, which I call a "shifter," and which when the disc
moves so as to show 11 through the aperture before referred to comes against.
a tooth of a 20-toothed wheel carrying a disc for indicating shillings, and
while is taking the place of 11 overcomes the power of a spring whichholds:
this wheel and disc in position; this wheel and disc are thus moved a
twentieth of a revolution so as to show through the aperture the next-figure
representing shillings. In the same manner an arm or shifter "on the
spindle of the shillings wheel moves at the proper time a wheel and disc for
indicating pounds, and the same arrangement may if required be repeated to

page_text: indicate tens and hundreds of pounds. The number of teeth in the pence
wheel and in the wheel which drives it will be regulated according to the
value of the gas measured.
The accompanying Drawings represent my Invention as applied to an
ordinary gas meter. Figure 1 is a front elevation of the index complete ;
Figure 2 is a similar view with the face plate removed; Figure 3 is a back
elevation. with the back frame removed.
, E, F, G, H, J, K, represent the wheels and pinions forming the ordinary
train of wheels which move the ordinary hands or pointers of theindex of the
meter. The arrangement and number of teeth of these wheels and pinions
is well understood. The pinion G is acted upon directly by the gas passing
through, the meter and drives the wheel F; a pinion on the axis of thiswheel
drives the, wheel E, and the movement is transmitted in like manner to the
wheels Hand, K in succession. The wheel. E makes one revolution for,.
say, every hundred feet of gas passed through the meter. On the pinion of:
the wheel E (which pinion may have, say, 6 teeth) I attach a toothed wheel A
which drives a toothed wheel B, on the spindle of which is, a disc, B' for
indicating pence. The relative size or number of teeth of these two wheels A
and B is regulated by the price to be. charged for the gas.. The face of the
disc B' bears, as shown, the figures 1 to 11 and 0.. P, P', is the face plate
of the apparatus. In addition to the holes for the arbors of the ordinary
index hands H, J, K, it is formed with three apertures, above which the
letters or signs "£," "s," and "d," respectively are marked. The spindle of
the disc B² carries an arm or shifter L, which when this disc has moved
round so as to show 11 through the aperture "d" of the face plates comes
against a tooth of a wheel C,and while the 0 is taking the place of the 11
behind the aperture "" moves this wheel the distanceofone tooth. Thiswheel.
has 20 teeth, and its spindle carries a disc C¹ for indicating shillings, being
marked with the Figures 1 to 19 and 0. The moving of this wheel and its
disc C' the distance of one tooth shows the next following figure throughthe
aperture "s" of the face plate. In the same manner an arm or shifter L, on
the spindle of the wheel C moves at the proper time a wheel D and a
disc D for indicating pounds, causing another-figure, to shew through the
aperture of the face plate. The wheel D may have any desired number
of teeth, twelve are shewn in the Drawings, and the disc D' bears as many
numbers, including. 0, as there are teeth in the wheel. The wheel D may also
have an arm, or shifter for working another wheel and disc,and so on for any
number according to the amount which the apparatus isrequired tocalculate..
The wheels, C, D, are held in, position by springs S, the power, of which is

page_text: overcome at the proper time by the shifters L, L. These shifters must be of
such a length as only to move the wheels the distance of one tooth at a time
If it is not required to show upon the index the quantity of gas passed
through the meter, then the ordinary train of wheels may be dispensed with,
and my pence wheel B may be actuated directly from the meter.
I do not limit myself to the particular arrangement describedfor working
the shillings wheel from the pence wheel, as anyotherconvenientarrangement
may be adopted, neither do I limit myself to the employment of separate discs
for pounds, shillings, and pence, as one disc may be employed having three
pointers moving round three sets of figures, respectively indicating pounds,
shillings, and pence. These pointers would be actuated in substantially the
same manner as I have described for the discs.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim constructing
indexes or tell tales arranged and acting substantially as herein-before
described or fluid meters and other counting or measuring apparatus forthe
purpose of showing the amount of money due for gas burnt during any given
period, or the amount of money received at the entrances of public places, or
for other similar purposes, such indexes or tell-tales being combined or not
with the train of wheels usually employed in such apparatus for measuring or
counting.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Willmer Pocock, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of February, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-eight.
WM. WILLMER POCOCK. (L.S.)