Patent ID: 8322234

Claim:
Apparatus for measuring the mass of a liquid, comprising: a bulk fabric storage container having an expanded size when filled with the liquid and a smaller, collapsed size when empty; at least one deflection member arranged in a grid pattern upon which said bulk fabric storage container is positioned, said grid pattern having a size at least equal to said expanded size of said bulk fabric storage container, said at least one deflection member having a hollow interior filled with a fluid, said at least one deflection member being movable between a first position in which said hollow interior has a first cross sectional area and said bulk fabric storage container is empty, and a second position in which said hollow interior has a second cross sectional area and said bulk fabric storage container is full, said second cross sectional area being less than said first cross sectional area, said at least one deflection member being effective to assume any cross sectional area between said first and second cross sectional areas in response to variations in the mass of the liquid within said bulk fabric storage container; at least one pressure measurement device coupled to said at least one deflection member, said at least one pressure measurement device being effective to sense the pressure of said fluid within said hollow interior of said at least one deflection member with said bulk fabric storage container resting on said grid pattern and while the size of said bulk fabric storage container varies between said expanded size and said collapsed size as liquid is introduced into or removed from said bulk fabric storage container, the pressure sensed by said at least one pressure measurement device varying in relation to said cross sectional area of said at least one deflection member, said at least one pressure measurement device producing a measurement of said pressure that may be correlated to the mass of the liquid within said bulk fabric storage container.