A NEW OR IMPROVED. APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING. OR REGULATING THE FLOW OF WATER OR LIQUIDS IN DWELLING HOUSES, FACTORIES; AND OTHER BUILDINGS, THE SAME BEING APPLICABLE AS A WATER OR LIQUID METER
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Archibald Caldwell, of Strathbungo, in the County of
Renfrew, North Britain, Plumber, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED.
APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING. OR REGULATING THE FLOW OF WATER OR
LIQUIDS IN DWELLING HOUSES, FACTORIES; AND OTHER BUILDINGS, THE
SAME BEING APPLICABLE AS A WATER OR LIQUID METER,”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Archibald Caldwell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 9th March 1876.
ARCHIBALD CALDWELL, of Strathbungo, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain,
Plumber. "A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULA-
TING THE FLOW OF WATER OR LIQUIDS IN DWELLING HOUSES, FACTORIES, AND
OTHER BUILDINGS, THE SAME BEING APPLICABLE AS A WATER OR LIQUID METER."
This Invention which relates to a new or improved arrangement or construction
of apparatus for controlling or regulating the supply of water to the service or
discharge pipes in dwelling houses, factories, and other buildings, and which may
also be used in regulating the flow of other liquids, consists of a cylindrical chamber
or vessel closed at both ends and placed vertically, horizontally, or inclined at an
angle. Within the chamber or vessel a piston composed of leather, india-rubber,
or other equivalent material is so placed as to fit water-tight around the interior
thereof.
The piston is fixed on one end of a rod on whose other end a smaller piston is
secured and so placed as to fit water-tight around the interior of a tube, the length
of which is about half the length of the cylindrical chamber or vessel. At that end
of the rod whereon the larger piston is situated a valve is also preferably fixed and
which alternately opens and closes the entrance to an exit pipe attached to the end
of the chamber or vessel. The water or other liquid is admitted to the interior of
the apparatus by a pipe communicating with the main and attached to the chamber
or vessel.
When the cock or valve of the service pipe is closed the pressure of water within
the apparatus acting upon the smaller piston draws the larger one towards the
centre of the chamber or vessel, two or more small openings being made in the said
larger piston to permit of the passage of water through it and allow of such motion
being effected. The quantity of water passed through such holes or openings to
Price 6d.1

page_text: the discharge side of the piston at cach operation represents the quantity which it
is desired should flow through the service pipe at cach discharge, and this quantity
is so discharged (when the cock or valvo of the service pipo is opened) by the
pressure of water against the inner side of the larger piston, forcing it towards
the end of the chamber or vessel.
Under a modification of the apparatus it may be made to discharge at both ends,
and instead of making holes in the larger piston as herein-before set forth, a pipe
or pipes may be employed to conduct the water from the inlet to the outlet side of
the said piston.
The apparatus constructed under any of the modifications herein-before de-
scribed may also be provided with an indicator, and employed as a meter for
indicating the flow of water or other liquids.
"
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Archibald Caldwell in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 8th
September 1876.
ARCHIBALD CALDWELL, of Strathbungo, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain,
Plumber. "A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING
THE FLOW OF WATER OR LIQUIDS IN DWELLING HOUSES, FACTORIES, AND OTHER
BUILDINGS, THE SAME BEING APPLICABLE AS A WATER OR LIQUID METER."
My said Invention relates to a new or improved arrangement or construction of
apparatus for controlling or regulating the flow of liquids, and it is more especially
applicable for controlling the supply of water to the service pipes of dwelling houses,
factories, and other buildings.
And in order that any said Invention may be properly understood, I now proceed
more particularly to set forth the system, mode, or manner in or under which the
saine is, or may be used or practically carried into effect, reference being had to the
annexed Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is
to say,
..
On the Sheet of Drawings hereunto appended, Figure 1 is a vertical section of
the apparatus constructed in accordance with my said Invention; Figure 2 is also
a part vertical section shewing another position of the regulating piston or plunger,
an enlarged detailed view of which is illustrated by Figure 3 of the Drawings.
Figure 4 is in part a plan and in part a horizontal section of the said apparatus
which consists of a chamber or vessel A, preferably cylindrical, closed at both ends,
and provided at its interior with a piston or plunger B composed of a cup of
leather, india rubber, or other flexible material. Rigidity is imparted to the- piston
or plunger by two metal plates or discs c, which are bolted together through the
flexible portion as shown. In the piston or plunger valves are placed, the said
valves being composed of leather, india-rubber, or other flexible cups d, which are.
secured on the upper ends of hollow spindles e by screw bolts or equivalent means.
The spindles e, in which lateral openings f communicating with the annular
spaces are made, are at their lower ends screwed into tubes h, which project
beyond the under side of the piston or plunger when the valves & are closed as seen
.at Figure 2. A shoulder or check is made towards the lower end of each spindle e,
between which and the upper end of the tube ha leather, india-rubber, or other
flexible disc y, is held so as to divide the annular space surrounding the spindle e
and tube / into an upper and lower portion, as seen in Figure 1 of the Drawings.
The piston or plunger B is secured to a rod or spindle C whose upper end enters
into a tube D, an inverted leather, india-rubber, or other flexible cup i being so
secured to the upper end of the said rod or spindle as to bear water-tight against
the bore of the said tube, whoso length is equal or nearly equal to the stroke of the
piston or plunger B; or instead of this inverted cup arrangement the tube D may
be connected direct to the piston or plunger B, in which case the said tube is closed

page_text: at its upper end and works through a gland or stuffing box on the end of the
chamber or vessel A. An opening or openings is or are made in the tube D
communicating with the chamber or vessel A when so employed. A pipe F
communicating with the water or other liquid main is attached to one end of the
chamber or vessel A, and which end, when the apparatus is placed vertically or
inclined at an angle, may either be the upper one, as shown on the Drawings, or the
lower end. An eduction pipe G leading to the orifice at which the water or other
liquid is to be discharged is attached to the end of the chamber. or vessel opposito
to that whereat the pipe F is secured, and between the metal faces at the discharge
end of the apparatus a disc m of leather, india-rubber, or other flexible material is
preferably placed as seon at Figure 1. When in their lowest positions the tubes /
and the mouths of the valve orifices bear or abut against the flexible disc m,
as shewn.
The apparatus constructed as herein-before described so operates when the cock
or valve on the discharge pipe G is opened, as to pass only a certain quantity of
water or other liquid as a maximum, after which the discharge ceases for a time.
This quantity of water is regulated or determined by the capacity of that portion
of the chamber A below the piston or plunger B when in its highest position as
seen at Figure 2. The cock or valve on the pipe G being opened the piston
descends, as the water or liquid beneath it passes outwards, until it is in the
position shewn at Figure 1 of the Drawings, in which position of the piston the
discharge of water or liquid from the apparatus ceases, leaving the space X in the
chainber or vessel A and the pipe G filled with water.
Whilst the water or other liquid is being withdrawn from the under side of tho
piston or plunger B, an equal quantity passes into the chamber or vessel A on the
upper side of the said piston or plunger from the pipe F communicating with
the main. The apparatus is thus always full of water or liquid, the quantity on
the upper side of the piston or plunger being at the pressure, of the main.
In order to pass the water or other liquid from the upper to the under side of the
piston or plunger B and thereby place it in position to be discharged from the
apparatus, it is essential to close the cock or valve on the discharge or exit pipe G.
The water then passes through the lateral openings f in the stems e of the valves
d, which valves are raised from their seats when the piston B is at its lowest
position by the tubes coming in contact with the leather, india-rubber, or other
flexible disc m at the bottom of the chamber or vessel A. The water or other
liquid so passing through the stems e and tubes leaks pass the lower ends of the
said tubes into the bell mouths x, wherein it is confined by the leather, india-
rubber, or other discs y. These bell mouths a give a preponderance of superficial
area to the under side of the piston or plunger B, and the water or other liquid under
pressure acting against the said superfices and also against the cup leather at the
upper end of the piston rod C, or against the closed end of the tube D when the
tube is connected to the piston, raises the piston or plunger from the bottom of the
chamber or vessel A to the extremity of its upward stroke, the quantity of water
to be next discharged meanwhile, passing the raised valves d to the under side
of the piston, or plunger. The valves are kept open by the leather or india-
rubber discs y, until the end of their upward stroke, whereat they are closed
by coming in contact with the end of the chamber or vessel A. When the
piston has been so raised the apparatus is ready to again discharge the water below
the piston, either wholly or in part, on opening the cock or valve in the pipe G.
By means of the apparatus herein-before set forth waste of water is prevented,
for, if a discharge cock or valve in communication therewith is left open after the
maxium quantity of water or liquid supplied by one discharge has passed off, the
operation of the apparatus. is suspended, the-piston; remaining at the position shewn
at Figure 1 of the Drawings. A similar inaction also takes place in the event of
rupture or leakage of the service pipes.
"
Under a modification of the apparatus it may be made to discharge at both ends;
and instead of placing valves in the piston B, as herein-before described and shewn,

page_text: a pipe or pipes placed at the outside of the chamber or vessel A may be employed
to conduct the water from the inlet to the outlet side of the said piston; or the
apparatus may be otherwise modified without departing from the essential features
of my said Invention, it being explained that I do not confine myself to arrange or
construct the same precisely as herein-before described and in part shewn on the
Drawings.
By applying an indicator of suitable construction to the piston rod C the
apparatus is rendered applicable for employment as a ineter for indicating the
flow of water or other liquids.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the system, mode, or inanner in or under which the same is or may be used
or practically carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The apparatus arranged and constructed substantially as herein-before
described and in part illustrated on the appended Sheet of Drawings, and the
employment of the same in controlling or regulating, in indicating, and in prevent-
ing waste in the flow of water or other liquids, as set forth.
Second. The employment in apparatus for controlling or regulating the flow of
water or other liquids of a piston B, provided with valves with bell mouthed or
equivalent openings, and with an inverted cup i, or with a hollow rod or tube,
closed at its upper or outer end, substantially as and for the purposes herein-before
described.
In witness whercof, I, the said Archibald Caldwell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of September, One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-six.
ARCHIBALD CALDWELL. (L.S.)