GB407561A - Improvements in or connected with pre-payment gas or like meters - Google Patents

Abstract

407,561. Prepayment mechanism for meters. METERS, Ltd., Blackfriars House, Parsonage, and BARLOW, G., 171, Windsor Road, Oldham, both in Lancashire. May 15, 1933, No. 14030. [Class 27.] Coin action, thrust and multiplecoin.-In a prepayment mechanism for gas or like meters operable at will by pennies or shillings, a coin inserted through a slot in the usual price-change disc a<1>, Fig. 1, into a pocket b which is rotated by a handle b<x>, depresses a slide b' by acting on an arm b' and causes a tooth b<3> to engage the teeth of a wheel c. The wheel c has a hollow boss c<1> on which is secured a wheel c<2> meshing with a wheel c<3>, Fig. 7, on a short shaft carrying another wheel c', which drives a wheel e either through wheels e<1>, e<2>, Fig. 4, or through wheel e<3>, e<4>. Rotation of the shaft of the wheel e is transmitted through bevel wheels g, g<1> to a usual screw-and-nut valve-controlling quantity mechanism. The wheels e, e<2> are compounded for rotation together as also are the wheels e<3>, e<4>, the wheels e', e<3> being mounted in a frame f which is rockable about the axis of the wheel e to cause either the wheel e<1> or the wheel e<3> to mesh with the wheel c' according as a shilling or a penny is used. Normally the frame is held by a spring h with the shilling wheel e<1> in mesh. When a penny is inserted, an incline b<5> on the arm b<4> shifts a plunger p, passing through the boss c<1>, rearwardly. The outer end of this plunger acts on an incline or cam-face f<1> fixed on the frame f and rocks the frame to disengage the wheels e<1>, c<4> and bring the wheels e', c<4> into engagement. If a coin, such as a halfpenny, is inserted the frame f is only rocked so far that neither wheel e<1> or e<3> is in mesh with the wheel c<4>.