GB722717A - Improvements in and relating to rate of flow gauges - Google Patents

Abstract

722,717. Rain gauges. NATIONAL RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION. Jan. 29, 1953 [Dec. 18, 1951], No. 29621/51. Class 97 (3). [Also in Groups XIX and XXIX] In a rain gauge having a container provided with an orifice through which passes a fixed tapered needle and being movable so that for any given rate of rainfall an equilibrium position is reached at which the inflow to the container equals the outflow through the orifice and a pen for recording the rate of rainfall, the container is suspended from a lever in such a way that it moves in a straight line and its weight is counter-balanced by the aid of a weight carried by the lever in a path which increases its restoring movement as the container descends, and the recording pen is directly linked to the lever. In the rain gauge shown, the container 27 is connected at 26 to a tape 25 secured to a cylindrical surface on an arm of a lever 14 concentric with the pivotal axis thereof, this lever having a downwardly depending arm 17 carrying a weight 16 providing a restoring couple as the container 27 descends and a pen 21 movable on a chart 6 moved as by a clockwork mechanism. Container 27 moves in a casing 33 and has an orifice 41 through which passes a tapered needle 41 carried by the casing. Rain flows into the container 27 via a channel (not shown) and apertures in a disc 28 and the container descends until the inflow equals the outflow through the orifice, the position of pen 21 on the chart 6 then indicating the rate of rainfall. An outflow 52 is provided to a chamber 55 containing a float 61 connected at 62 to a pivoted lever 64 geared to arm 71 coaxial with arm 17 and terminating in a pen which also moves over the chart 6 to indicate the total rainfall. A syphon 57 discharges the chamber 55 each time the water therein attains a certain level, a counter being stepped on each time this happens. Specification 679,381 is referred to.