IMPROVEMENTS IN WET GAS METERS
Year: 1859

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by David Grant at the Office of.
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd August
1859.
I, DAVID GRANT, of Edinburgh, in the County of Mid Lothian, North Britäin,
Gas Meter Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WET GAS METERS," to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to the arrangement and construction of what are
technically known as "wet gas meters," of the compensating kind, in which
the water is maintained at a uniform level by means of self-acting mechanism.
Under one modification, this uniformity of the fluid level is maintained by
means of a mechanical arrangement in connection with the spindle of the
measuring cylinder. This consists of a wheel or radial arms or other equivalent
therefor, having affixed thereto small cups or buckets or pieces of fibrous or
other material suitable for absorbing or taking up a small quantity of fluid from
the well or reservoir of the meter. This bucket wheel or series of radial arms
or their equivalent are fitted to a stud projecting from the face of the water
line reservoir, which has a free communication with the measuring chamber of
the meter. The buckets or fluid-lifting media are attached to short arms
projecting inwardly from the face of the wheel or the radial arms, the buckets
or lifting media, by the rotation of the wheel, or the arms dip into the well or
supply reservoir below the water line chamber. As the buckets or lifting
media pass round, a small quantity is taken up which drops off or flows into

page_text: the water line reservoir, so as to keep the fluid in the measuring chamber at
the proper level. Should the buckets or lifting media raise too much water
the surplus quantity flows back into the supply reservoir down a waste pipe
fitted in the water line chamber. Motion is communicated to the wheel or
radial arms from the measuring cylinder, the spindle of which has fast to it a
pinion which is in gear with a wheel that is carried upon a stud projecting
from the exterior of the measuring chamber. The extremity of this stud has
fast to it a pinion, which gives motion to a wheel on the stud of the bucket
wheel or the radial arms. To prevent the meter from being tampered with,
for the purpose of causing it to register a less quantity of gas than is actually
consumed, the water supply tube is bent like an inverted syphon, the shorter
leg of the syphon enters the upper part of the interior of the meter, so that if
the water is abstracted the measured gas alone flows through. The well or
supply reservoir is furnished with a waste or overflow pipe to prevent the water
from rising beyond the predetermined level within; this pipe is closed by means
of a milled-edged screw or plug. To prevent also the tilting of the meter for
the purpose of allowing unmeasured gas to flow through, a float valve is fitted
at the back of the meter, so that if it be placed out of the level, the valve
closes the outlet aperture. With these improvements the arrangement of the
compensating wet meter is greatly simplified, at the same time that its action
is rendered far more satisfactory and efficient.