Improvements in Pre-payment Fluid Meters.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 27th Aug., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 27th May, 1895-Accepted, 6th July, 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Pre-payment Fluid Meters.
I DANIEL ORME of 95 Queens' Road, Oldham, in the County of Lancaster.
Gas Meter Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
My invention relates principally to gas meters and particularly to the class of
meters designed to supply gas in quantities determined by the amount of pre-
payment for the gas as is now well understood.
As such pre-payment is usually made by the insertion of pennies I will refer only
to the use of such coins for the purpose, to avoid repetition. I employ a penny to
turn a spindle which opens a valve or which liberates the acting parts of the meter
in the usual or in a suitable manner. By preference I transmit motion from this
spindle through a worm and wheel as in the case of a former invention for which
Letters Patent Number 18490 of the year 1890 have been granted to me.
The receiving slot conducts the penny into a slot which passes across a coin
holder which is mounted to turn within a cylindrical or conical chamber and has
an axial part projecting through to the outside and adapted to be acted upon to
rotate the coin holder to the extent of part of a revolution. Stops are provided so
that the movement is limited to a little more than half a revolution or to a suitable
extent.
When the holder is in one extreme position the slot is in position to receive the
penny and when the holder is in the other extreme position the penny is discharged
into the receptacle. The worm spindle or part to be acted upon by the penny is
mounted to turn on the same axial line or thereabouts as the coin holder and
carries a disc or head upon which are two or more projections conveniently placed
for the purpose of engaging with the penny when placed in the coin holder.
When the penny is in position within the coin holder the penny projects from
one end of the slot so as to come into contact with the said projections when the
coin holder is turned and by acting on such projections turn the worm spindle.
When the coin holder has been turned to the full limited extent the penny drops
out and the coin holder can then be turned back the worm spindle remaining at
rest. If the coin holder be not turned to the extent required to discharge the
penny and be returned to its receiving position the worm spindle will be turned
back so that it is necessary that the penny shall be discbarged into the receptacle
in order that the action of the meter shall continue.
To check any attempt to retain a hold upon the penny by means of a cord so as
to prevent its discharge I make the coin holder to fit its chamber so nearly as that
a cord would be likely to be cut or broken by an attempt to turn the coid holder.
One end of the slot in the coin holder is shorter than the other so that a penny
would not drop through the discharge opening before the half turn had been
completed but the shorter slot is long enough to permit of the discharge of a half
penny which would escape before commencing to turn the worm spindle.
To provide for the possibility of the introduction of a penny when the shorter
slot is in line with the receiving slot I shape the coin holder so that when turned it
pushes back the penny into the receiving slot and thus prevents a jambing of the
apparatus.

page_text: I may limit the movement of the coin holder to half a revolution and form a
continuation of the slot in the wormspindle end or in the head upon the same.
To provide for changes in the price of the gas supplied I transmit the motion
through change gearing. I apply changeable spur wheel upon a change wheel
shaft which is mounted in a carrier which can be turned partly around the axis of
the dial or finger spindle, or other suitable shaft in the apparatus. The said
change wheel shaft is provided with a wheel or pinion which remains in gear with
a wheel upon the dill or finger spindle: When the change wheel is exchanged
for a larger or smaller wheel as may be required the carrier is turned upon its axis
to the extent required to bring the change wheel into proper gear with the wheel
by which it is intended to be driven or which it is intended to drive as the case
may be. The carrier may be fixed by means of a wing or thumb nut and a bolt
passing, through a sector slot or may be provided with spur teeth and be set by
means of a worm 'spindle or by means of a set screw acting, upon a projection or
may be adjusted or fixed by other suitable means.
The coin actuating.apparatus and the price adjustment may be used together or
separately.
1.DANTEL ORME of 95 Queens Road; Oldham, in the County of Lancaster,
Gas Meter Manufacturer, 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 and accompanying drawings:
The present invention relates to pre-payment gas meters through which a
pre-determined quantity of gis is allowed to pass to the consumer on the insertion
into a coin receiver of a coin or token¨ representing the value of the required
quantity of gas. The improvements may be used generally in connection with wet
or dry gas meters of this'type, but I will describe the invention as more particularly
applicable in conjunction with inventions for which have already obtained
Patents in the United Kingdon, Nos. 18490 of 1890 and No. 15740 of 1893.
In the Specifications of both of these Patents I'described 'coin receivers with
which' I'combined means for increasing or diminishing the quantity of gas delivered
in accordance with the market or local price of gas. The chief points of my
present invention are the employment of a coin receiver of greatly simplified con-
struction and working, and the transference of the means for increasing or
diminishing the quantity of gas to be delivered, from the coin receiver to gearing
or parts not forming part of the said coin' receiver; and thereby, rendering more
difficult or impossible the fraudhlept manipulation of the meter:
.
The improvehetits will be more easily explained and understood by proceeding
at once to a consideration of the annexed two sheets of drawings.
On Sheet 1
Fig l'is'a' front view of the dials and mechanism of a 'pre-payment metèr fitted

page_text: Fig. 6 is a front view and Fig. 7 a perspective view of the driven end of the
worm spindle which is operated through the medium of a coin by turning. the: coin
receiver.
Fig. 8 is an end view'of the coin receiver cylinder.
It will be understood that the worm of the spindle a gears with a worm-wheel on
a spindle which carries a valve, the said valve governing the admission of gas at
The
the entrance. b, the admitted gas flowing to the consumer through the exit c.
valve spindle opens and closes the valve by means of a cam, the whole operation of
which is very clearly set forth in the Specifications of my prior British Patents
already cited.
The present improvements relate in the first place to the coin receiver, and this
I will now describe.
A branch & projects from the casing containing the valve spindle and valve, and
this branch d contains the worm spindle a. The outer end of the spindle a
terminates in a disc a' and the disc carries two driving projections a². Upon the
end of the branch d'I fit a hollow cylindrical casing e which contains a revolvable
cylindrical bodyf formed with a coin receiving slot f¹. A'short'spindle f³ projects
from the cylinder through the outer end of the casing e and is furnished with a
handle a whereby the cylinder may be turned. The cylinder fis recessed at its
inner end'as clearly shown in Fig. 4 to admit the projections a: The cylinder is
also cut out midway as clearly appears in Figs. 4 and 5 and at the outer end it is
checked so as to present two shoulders' f which are intended to limit the
revolution of the cylinder by coming into contact with a stop-pin hs the position
of which is indicated in dotted lines in Fig: 8 and also 'at the end of the casing e in
Fig. 3'this pin being screwed through the end of the casing.
The coin receiving slot goes entirely through the cylinder f and is wide
enough at the top.to receive a coin of the proper size and value say for example a
penny. At the foot the slot is contracted so that the coin shall not drop through
the cylinder, but will remain therein until the cylinder is turned. On the other
hand if.a.smaller. coin of less-value; for instance a halfpenny, should be inserted,
the slot is wide enough at the foot to let it drop entirely through into. the coin
receptacle as soon as the cylinder is moved, without affecting the apparatus at all.
It will be seen that the casing e has a slot el into which a coin of the proper size
and value marked q in Fig. 4-is placed! It drops down into the slot in the
cylinder and rests upon the contracted edges of the slot beneath.
In this position the projecting edge of the coin on one side of the cylinder has
entered between. the projections a from the disc a'. The cylinder flmay now be
turned by means of 'the handle g-and the edge of the coin as it is carried round' by
the cylinder engages with the projections and acting like a screwdriver, turns
the disc a' and the spindle a.
This has the effect of turning and advancing the cam and opening the gas
admission valve as described in the Specifications of my said foregoing Patents:
When the cylinderbas been turned round rather more than half a revolution
the wide end of the slot f¹ and the contained coin come opposite to the delivery
slot in the casing leading to the coin receptacle, and the coin drops through the
slot. At the same time the shoulder comes against the 'stop' hand further
rotation of the cylinder is arrested. The cylinder is now turned back; the
spindle a remaining in the position into which it has been turned, and the pro-
jections a having been left in a position which enables the next coin inserted to
slip between them.
B
In turning the cylinder f back, the shoulder f* comes against the stop and
arrests the cylinder in a position which brings the slot fexactly in line with the.
Blot e, ready to receive another coin.
As the cylinder fits the casing e.closely for a portion of the circumference. it is
impossible for a fraudulent consumer to recover the coin'by attaching it to a piece
of cord or flexible wire. Further as already pointed out a smaller coin than the
appointed coin would also fail to actuate the mechanism as before it could operate

page_text: the spindle a it would drop through the contracted end of the slot into the coin
receptacle. The cylinder is cut out at the foot for the following reason.
Suppose for instance that the user carelessly left the cylinder as it was after it got
rid of the coin viz. with the narrow part of the slot uppermost as in the sketch
Fig. 9. When the next penny 9 was dropped in if the cylinder were not cut away
it would enter the reduced slot for some distance and lock the cylinder as shown
in Fig. 9.
But by cutting the cylinder out as I do and as indicated in Fig. 10. the edge of
the cutting bears up the lower edge of the penny clear of the contracted slot so
that the cylinder can be turned till the wide end of the slot comes opposite to the
penny which then drops in and can then be carried round by the cylinder.
In the apparatuses which I have protected under my two foregoing cited
Patents, I combined means with the coin receiver for varying the quantity of gas
to be delivered in accordance with the market or local price of gas.
In the present apparatus I isolate such varying means from the coin receiver
and obtain the same result by using change wheels in the body of the apparatus.
By using a change wheel having more or fewer teeth, the change wheel and
consequently the bowl which operates the cam and valve spindle is moved at a
determinable rate of speed and more or less gas is delivered to the consumer.
Referring now to Fig. 1 of the drawings I mount an adjustable quadrant i loosely
upon a sleeve on the outer end of the valve spindle j. The quadrant i which is
shown separately at Fig. 24 is furnished with teeth on its periphery. Above the
toothed quadrant and gearing therewith I place a worm k the spindle k¹ of the
worm being carried in a bearing. projecting from a bracket on the frame of
the apparatus. By turning the spindle and worm, I can adjust the quadrant to
any desired position, and when set, the quadrant is locked by the worm k and
therefore requires no separate binding or locking means. One side of the
quadrant i has a boss carrying a short spindle l. The inner end of this spindle
is furnished with a toothed pinion m which gears with a similarly toothed spur
wheel n mounted on the axis of the cam and operating by means of a bowl carried
on a bracket to move the valve spindle to and fro as already described in my
aforesaid Patents. The pinion m and spur wheel n appear in dotted lines in
Fig. 1 and also in Figs. 2 and 3.
On the other end of the short spindle I place a change wheel o which can
easily be removed and replaced by a change wheel having a greater or less
number of teeth.
-
The end of the spindle is screwed and the change wheel o is secured on the
spindle by the milled nut p. The change wheel o gears with and is driven by the
pinion which is part of the gearing of the meter, receiving motion from
the upright shafts or other driving means from the bellows or measuring cylinder
of the meter. As the change wheel o is thus the medium of communication
between the mechanism of the meter and the means for closing the gas supply
valve at b, it will be evident that the quantity of gas passed through the meter
between the opening of the valve by the insertion of a coin and the operation of
the coin receiver, and the closing of the valve by the revolutions of the meter,
may be varied, either more or less gas being passed accordingly to the number
of teeth in the change wheel. For example referring to Fig. 1, suppose that
the coin inserted in the coin receiver is the equivalent in market value to 25 feet
of gas it will be noted that the number of teeth in the wheel o is 25, each tooth
in this case representing a foot of gas. Should the market price of gas fall so
as to render the coin value for 30 feet of gas for example, then the wheel of
25 teeth would be replaced by a wheel having 30 teeth, the quadrant i being
moved so as to give sufficient room for its insertion. In the same manner if
the market price of gas were to rise so that the inserted coin has a purchasing
power of 20 feet only, the change wheel o would contain 20 teeth.
The value of the locking effect of the engagement of the worm and worm
quadrant lies in this, that after being adjusted, the wheels o and r cannot draw

page_text: together or be forced apart, either of which would have the effect of disturbing
the correct working of the mechanism, as such relative movements would amount
practically to an increase or diminution of the diameter of the pitch line of the
change wheel.
As the quadrant i is pivotted on the same axial centre as the spur wheel n it will
be evident that any adjustment of the quadrant will not affect the gearing of
the pinion m with the wheel n seeing that the pinion m is carried by the quadrant.
The rest of the mechanism shown in the drawings is not material to ny
invention and I need not therefore describe it in detail. The pointer v is mounted
on the valve spindle and is turned by the action of the coin receiving mechanism
to indicate on the dial w the value of gas paid for but not consumed. The
three remaining pointers x, y, z in front of their respective dials are the usual
indicating pointers and need not be referred to.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is.
1. In pre-payment gas meters, a coin receiver, consisting of a cylinder / formed
as described, contained within a casing e formed with coin inlet and outlet slots,
the cylinder f having a coin slot wide at the top to admit freely a coin of the
proper size, and sufficiently narrow at the foot to retain the said proper coin until
the cylinder is turned round, but at the same time wide enough to permit a coin.
of a smaller size to pass therethrough and so as not to operate the mechanism,.
the cylinder being also cut out so as to prevent such smaller coins from entering
the narrow slot when improperly inserted and locking the cylinder in combination
with the fingers a projecting from, through or from a disc or part on the end
of the worm spindle a, the whole arranged and operating substantially as herein-
before described and shown.
2. In a coin receiver of a pre-payment meter of the indicated construction, the
fingers a projecting from the end of the worm shaft a and adapted to engage
both at the same time with a coin dropped into a revolvable coin receiver, so
as to effect the turning of the worm spindle a, in the manner set forth and
indicated.
3. In a pre-payment meter and as means for varying the quantity of gas to be
delivered in exchange for a specified coin, the quadrant i pivotted upon the axis of
the supply valve spindle and formed with teeth upon its periphery in combination
with an adjusting and locking worm k mounted so as to engage with the quadrant,
the said quadrant carrying a variable change wheel or wheels o, the whole arranged
and operating for the purpose and substantially in the manner hereinbefore
described and shown.
1
XJ
1005
E. K. DUTTON & Co.,
5 John Dalton Street, Manchester, Chartered Patent Agents,
For the Applicant.