GB2251904A

GB2251904A - Water meter installations adaptor with valve

Info

Publication number: GB2251904A
Application number: GB9100206A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Stephen Andrew Gale
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1991-01-05
Filing date: 1991-01-05
Publication date: 1992-07-22
Anticipated expiration: 2011-01-05
Also published as: GB2251904B; GB9100206D0

Abstract

In order to avoid excavating a large hole in the ground to house a water meter and shut-off valve, a compact adaptor (8) incorporating a shutoff valve (18) is provided to connect inlet and outlet passages of a water meter directly to inlet and outlet passages (4, 5) in the body of an existing stopcock (1). The adaptor (8) has at its lower end coaxial inlet (12) and outlet (10) tubes which seal respectively with the stopcock valve seat (7) and stopcock body spigot (9), and coaxial tubes (16, 17) at its upper end for connection to the coaxial inlet and outlet of the water meter. The shut-off valve is advantageously a ball valve which controls both the supply and return flows from the water meter, the ball valve member having independent flow and return passages (22, 23), but in one construction (Figure 5) only the supply passage is controlled by the ball valve. <IMAGE>

Description

WATER METER INSTALLATIONS This invention relates to water meter installations and to an adaptor for connecting a water meter to the body of a stopcock.

Water meters have not generally been provided in domestic water supplies by the British water authorities. In a pilot project on the Isle of Wight all premises are being provided with a water meter. The water meter is installed in the ground in place of the existing ground stopcock. This usually involves substantial excavation to enlarge the hole at the bottom of which fresh connections have to be made to the inlet and outlet pipes, in place of the existing stopcock, and a new stopcock, positioned at a higher level than the original one, is connected in series with the meter to enable the meter at a later date to be removed from the hole for servicing or replacement, without the need for the road supply to be turned off. An enlarged hole is needed to accommodate the new stopcock, meter and associated pipe-work.

I have appreciated that it would be advantageous to provide, in accordance with a first aspect of the invention, a stopcock adaptor which can be connected to an existing stopcock body, after removal of the stopcock headgear, and which is adapted to connect at its lower end with the inlet and outlet passages of the stopcock body, the adaptor at its upper end mounting the water meter, and the adaptor incorporating a shut-off valve which can be closed to permit servicing of the meter.

Such an adaptor can be made compact and will often permit a water meter to be installed in the existing ground hole without the need for any enlargement of the hole.

The usual stopcock body comprises an internally-threaded tubular spigot into which the headgear is threadedly secured, the headgear comprising a spindle carrying a sealing head adapted to engage with a seat in the valve body carried by a partition separating the generally aligned inlet and outlet passages of the body.

The inventive adaptor at its lower end is provided with coaxial passages for fluid connection respectively with the inlet and outlet passages of the stopcock body, the coaxial passages being defined by a downwardly-directed adaptor inlet tube adapted at its lower end to seal with the valve seat of the stopcock body, and by an adaptor outlet tube, coaxial with the adaptor inlet tube, the adaptor outlet tube carrying union means for seal ably connecting the adaptor outlet tube to the stopcock tubular spigot.

The lower end of the adaptor inlet tube preferably carries a resilient annular seal for sealing engagement with the valve seat of the stopcock body.

The union means may threadedly engage with the internal threads of the stopcock tubular spigot, or the union means may be adapted to be seal ably secured to the external surface of the tubular spigot, by a compression joint, for example.

The shut-off valve preferably comprises a turnable valve member.

Although the valve may be a plug valve it is preferably a ball valve. It can be important to provide relatively large water passages in domestic water supplies to prevent blockage by debris or sludge, and a ball valve can be arranged to provide a relatively large flow passage.

The shut-off valve may be adapted to close off only the connections from the stopcock inlet, but preferably both the inlet and outlet connections are controlled by the shut-off valve because this means that when the water meter is removed for servicing or replacement there is less chance of debris or pollutants entering the water supply.

In order to avoid the provision of independent shut-off valves in the adaptor controlling respectively fluid flow from and to the adaptor inlet tube and adaptor outlet tube, I prefer to provide a valve in which the turnable valve member is provided with independent supply and return passages which, when the valve is in the open condition, connect with the adaptor inlet tube and adaptor outlet tube respectively, but which isolate both of those tubes from the water meter when the valve member is turned to a closed condition.

The valve member may be a ball provided with supply and return passages therethrough which passages are of substantially equal cross-sectional shape positioned alongside each other. In one such embodiment of the invention the supply and return passages in the ball are of substantially semicircular shape in cross-section.

In another embodiment of the invention, the supply and return passages in the ball valve member are substantially coaxially arranged, the radially inner passage being defined by a tubular core of the ball, which core is supported from the ball body by a plurality of vanes.

According to a second aspect of the invention, an adaptor for connecting a water meter to a stopcock body comprises an adaptor body provided with coaxial inlet and outlet connections at one end adapted to be secured to the stopcock body in place of the stopcock headgear, the adaptor body being provided at its opposite end with coaxial water meter inlet and outlet connections for connection respectively with coaxial inlet and outlet passages of a water meter, the adaptor body housing a shut-off valve positioned intermediate said ends, the shut-off valve controlling at least communication between the inlet of the stopcock body and the water meter inlet connection.

Some adaptors in accordance with the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a vertical cross-section of a first adaptor in accordance with the invention, mounted on a stopcock body of an existing ground stopcock, the ball valve member being shown in the open condition; Figure 2 is a plan view of the ball valve member of the adaptor of Figure 1, looking in the axial direction of the passages through the ball; Figure 3 is a vertical cross-section similar to Figure 1 of a second adaptor in accordance with the invention; Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 2 but of the ball member of the adaptor of Figure 3, and Figure 5 is a vertical cross-section of a third adaptor in accordance with the invention, the ball valve member being shown in the closed condition.

With reference to Figures 1 and 2, a conventional existing stopcock body 1 comprises a stopcock inlet tube 2, an aligned stopcock outlet tube 3 defining respectively stopcock inlet and outlet passages 4 and 5, the passages 4 and 5 being separated by a partition 6 bearing an annular valve seat 7 with which the usual stopcock headgear is adapted to co-operate in the closed condition of the stopcock. The stopcock headgear has been removed, and in its place an adaptor 8 has been mounted on the usual tubular spigot 9 of the stopcock body.

Spigot 9 has the usual internal screw threads 10, which are conveniently employed in this embodiment to mount the adaptor, the adaptor at its lower end comprising coaxial adaptor inlet and outlet tubes 12 and 13 respectively, the outlet tube 13 having external threads which threadedly engage with the internal threads 10 of the stopcock body 1.

The inlet tube 12 is longer than the outlet tube 10 so as to extend to seat 7 where it seals with seat 7 by means of a suitable resilient annular seal, not shown. A suitable resilient annular seal, such a ring 14, is provided to seal the tube 13 to spigot 9, or a compression fitting may be provided such as that of Figure 3.

The upper end of the adaptor 8 is adapted to be threadedly secured to a water meter of the kind such as one from the Kent Meters MSM range, having coaxial water inlet and outlet, the adaptor body upper end 17 being internally threaded at 15 to threadedly engage the water meter body, and comprising a tubular water supply tube 16 coaxial with the adaptor body upper end 17.

The inlet tube 12 and supply tube 16 are fixedly located in place relative to the adaptor body 8 by suitable radial members, not shown, such as vanes extending radially between the tube and the body.

A ball valve member 18 is housed within the adaptor body 8 at an intermediate position between the lower and upper ends thereof and is turnable about a horizontal axis in Figure 1 by means of an operating shaft 19 keyed to the ball 18 at its inner end and having a cross-cut 20 at its outer end for operation by a suitable tool.

Alternatively, an operating handle may be permanently secured to the outer end of shaft 19.

Ball 18 is journal led in well-known manner between suitable annular ball mountings 21, 22 which effect a seal with the outer surface of the ball, at least on one side thereof, and seal with the adaptor housing 81.

The ball 18, as shown in Figure 2, is provided with coaxial supply and return passages 22, 23, the supply passage 22 being defined by a tubular core 24 supported by three integral radial vanes 25.

When the ball 18 is in the fully-open position, as in Figure 1, the supply passage 22 provides a direct axial through-connection between the inlet tube 12 and the supply tube 16, the annular return passage 23 providing a large-bore connection directly between annular water meter outlet connection 26 and the bore 27 of outlet tube 13.

When the ball 18 is turned through 90 by shaft 19 both passages 22 and 23 will be disconnected from the inlet and outlet tubes 12 and 13, to enable the water meter to be unscrewed and removed from the adaptor 8.

It will be appreciated that the adaptor 8 occupies a minimum of volume and need not project horizontally from the axis of spigot 9 by more than the water meter. Accordingly it is possible to accommodate a compact water meter and adaptor in the existing ground hole provided for access to the existing stopcock.

Since the adaptor is positioned vertically between the stopcock body and the water meter and incorporates the shut-off valve, there is no need for any pipe-work extending alongside the meter, and this helps to provide a compact installation.

In Figures 3 and 4 parts corresponding to stopcock body and adaptor of Figures 1 and 2 have been given corresponding numerals.

The adaptor 8 of Figure 3 differs from that of Figure 2 in that the shut-off ball 18 is formed with two passages 22 and 23 which are alongside each other and are of substantially semicircular shape in cross-section.

In order to effect a connection between the inlet tube 12 and the flow passage 22 in the open condition of the ball 18, the tube 12 at its upper end 121 is joggled. Similarly, in order to make a connection between return passage 26 and the passage 23 in the ball, the return tube 30 is joggled at its lower end 301 to offset the lower end 301 relative to the vertical axis of ball 18.

The union between the adaptor outlet tube and the stopcock body spigot 9 comprises in the embodiment of Figure 3 a compression fitting 31 of well-known construction.

The adaptor 8 of Figure 3 is suitable for connection to a water meter having coaxial inlet and outlet in which the inlet is radially external to the outlet, but it will be appreciated that by employing a tube 30 with a joggle 301 of opposite hand to that shown, the adaptor can be used with a meter in which the meter inlet is radially internal to the meter outlet.

It will be appreciated that when the ball 18 is turned through 900 from the position shown in Figure 3, both passages 22, 23 will be isolated from the stopcock inlet 4 and outlet 5.

Figure 5 shows an adaptor in which only the inlet passage 32 is controlled by a ball-valve member 18, the outlet passage extending directly from the upper end of the adaptor to the bore of the outlet tube 13. As shown in Figure 5, the adaptor 8 is suitable for use with a meter which has side-by-side water inlet and outlet connections, but the provision of an offsetting tube, similar to tube 12, at the upper end of the adaptor, would enable the adaptor to connect with coaxial meter inlet and outlet connections.

Claims

1. A stopcock adaptor which can be connected to an existing stopcock body, after removal of the stopcock headgear, and which is adapted to connect at its lower end with inlet and outlet passages of the stopcock body, the stopcock body comprising an internally-threaded tubular spigot into which the headgear is normally threadedly secured, the headgear comprising a spindle carrying a sealing head adapted to engage with a seat in the valve body carried by a partition separating the inlet and outlet passages of the body, the adaptor at its upper end being adapted to mount a water meter, and the adaptor incorporating a shut-off valve which can be closed to permit servicing of the meter.

2. An adaptor as claimed in claim 1 which at its lower end is provided with coaxial passages for fluid connection respectively with the inlet and outlet passages of the stopcock body, the coaxial passages being defined by a downwardly-directed adaptor inlet tube adapted at its lower end to seal with the valve seat of the stopcock body, and by an adaptor outlet tube, coaxial with the adaptor inlet tube, the adaptor outlet tube carrying union means for seal ably connecting the adaptor outlet tube to the stopcock tubular spigot.

3. An adaptor as claimed in claim 2 in which the lower end of the adaptor inlet tube carries a resilient annular seal for sealing engagement with the valve seat of the stopcock body.

4. An adaptor as claimed in claim 2 or claim 3 in which the union means is threadedly engageable with the internal threads of the stopcock tubular spigot.

5. An adaptor as claimed in any of the preceding claims in which the shut-off valve comprises a turnable valve member.

6. An adaptor as claimed in claim 5 in which the valve is a ball valve.

7. An adaptor as claimed in claim 2 or any of claims 3 to 6 as appended to claim 2 in which the shut-off valve is be adapted to close off both the inlet and outlet connections to the water meter.

8. An adaptor as claimed in claim 7 as appended to claim 5 and claim 2 in which the turnable valve member is provided with independent supply and return passages which, when the valve is in the open condition, connect with the adaptor inlet tube and adaptor outlet tube respectively, but which isolate both of those tubes from the water meter when the valve member is turned to a closed condition.

9. An adaptor as claimed in claim 8 in which the valve member is a ball provided with supply and return passages therethrough which passages are of substantially equal cross-sectional shape positioned alongside each other.

10. An adaptor as claimed in claim 8 in which the supply and return passages in the ball valve member are substantially coaxially arranged, the radially inner passage being defined by a tubular core of the ball, which core is supported from the ball body by a plurality of vanes.

11. An adaptor for connecting a water meter to a stopcock body comprising an adaptor body provided with coaxial inlet and outlet connections at one end adapted to be secured to the stopcock body in place of the stopcock headgear, the adaptor body being provided at its opposite end with coaxial water meter inlet and outlet connections for connection respectively with coaxial inlet and outlet passages of a water meter, the adaptor body housing a shut-off valve positioned intermediate said ends, the shut-off valve controlling at least communication between the inlet of the stopcock body and the water meter inlet connection.

12. An adaptor for connecting a water meter to a stopcock body, substantially as described herein with reference to Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings.

13. An adaptor for connecting a water meter to a stopcock body, substantially as described herein with reference to Figures 3 and 4 of the accompanying drawings.

14. An adaptor for connecting a water meter to a stopcock body, substantially as described herein with reference to Figure 5 of the accompanying drawings.

15. A water meter installation comprising a stopcock body connected to a water meter by an adaptor as claimed in any of the preceding claims.