US1190485A - Electric meter. - Google Patents

Description

M. E. TURNER.

ELECTRIC METER. APPLICATION FILED mm 16, 1910.

LWUARfi. r Patented July 11, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET M 3 q! 4,036L

' Y Z /M M. E. TURNER, ELECTRIC METER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 16. 1910'. I 1 ,1 9&485. Patented July 11, 1916.

ILWT UFFTME.

ELECTRIC METER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 16, 1910. Serial No. 567,204.

T all whom it may concern Be it known that I, MATHIAS E. TURNER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Electric Meters,

- of which the following is a full, clear, and

exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to improvements in electric meters, and more particularly to an attachment, which may be conveniently applied to existing types of meters without the necessity for altering the construction thereof, and which attachment, when so applied, will enable the meter to indicate, at the end of a predetermined time interval, the maximum of the integrated current demands or consumptions during predetermined short intervals of time during such period.

The invention shown herein is an improvement upon that shown in Patent No. 1,012,817, dated Oct. 29, 1912, granted upon an application copending herewith, and more particularly in the construction of the means for automatically returning tozero position the maximum demand indicatoractuating device; also in the mechanism for automatically rewinding the spring which actuates the shaft through which and a train of clock gearing the connection between the indicator and its actuating device is automatically broken at definite predetermined time intervals to permit the actuating device to return to-zero position.

Vith the foregoing objects in view, the invention may be defined further and generally as consisting of the combinations of elements embodied more particularly in the claims hereto annexed and illustrated, in one embodiment, in the drawings forming part hereof, wherein Figure 1 represents a front elevation of a wattmeter having my invention applied thereto, the cover being removed; Fig. 2 represents a rear elevation of the frame which supports the registering mechanism, showing the manner in which my attachment is applied to said frame; Fig. 3 represents a top plan view of the frame and attachments shown in Fig. 2, together with the worm gear and worm shaft by which the recording mechanism is driven; Fig. 4 represents a transverse sectional view through the frame on substantially-the line 4% of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 represents a view corresponding substantially to the line 55 of Fig. 3, looking 1n the direction of the arrows; Figs. 6, 7 and 8 are those corresponding to the lines 66, 77, and 8-8 respectively of Fig. 3;

Referring now by reference characters to the parts shown in the drawings, 1 denotes the rear portion of the casing of a wattmeter and 2 the disk, which is driven by the current in the usual manner.

' 3 denotes the permanent magnets between which the disk revolves, at the shoe and 5 the worm shaft which is driven by said disk. A worm on this shaft meshes with the worm gear 6 on the shaft 7 (see Fig. 3), said shaft being provided at its front end with a finger 8 adapted to engage a rearwardly projecting finger 9 carried by an arm projecting from the shaft 10. The latter shaft is our naled in the plates 11 and 12. The former plate is a special plate which I have substituted for the small triangular plate with which meters are usually equipped and, in applying my attachment to exlsting types of meters, it is necessary only to substitute the plate 11 for the small rear plate with which meters are usually provided. The plate 11 is secured to the plate 12 by means of screws 13 and suitable spacing sleeves 14. The motion of the shaft 10 is transmitted by means of a train of reduction gearing on shafts 15, 10, 17 and 18 to the pointer on the units dial 19. The motion of the shaft 18 is transmitted by means of reduction gearing 20,

20 to a shaft 20 which carries a pointer for the next or tens dial, 20*, and so on, to the shafts 21 and 22 which carry the pointers for the hundreds and thousands dials 23 and 21, respectively. The shaft 18 is a hollow shaft, differing in this respect only from the shaft which is ordinarily provided with integrating meters, and is journaled in the rear plate 11 and in the front plate 25 of the frame extending through the intermediate plate 12, while the shafts 20, 21 and 22 are journaled. in the plates 12 and 25.

26 denotes an indicator which co-act's with a scale 27 to indicate the maximum demand for current during a predetermined time interval. The indicator 26 is mounted on a shaft 28 which is sleeved within the hollow shaft 18 and projects r'earwardly through the shaft 18 and through the rear plate 11 of the frame and is there provided with an outwardly projecting arm 29 which is adapt- Patented July 11, 1916.

ed to be engaged by a finger or projection 31 mounted on a stud or shaft 32 which is carried by the short arm of a lever 33, said lever being pivotal] y supported from a post 34. carried by the rear plate 11 and being provided at the end of its long arm with a projection 35 by means of which and the clock work mechanism, to be described hereinafter, the lever is automatically operated at predetermined time intervals to allow the gear 31 to be returned to its initial position by the gravity of the finger or projection 30; that is to say, the gear is set in a position in which, if the arm and projection were in engagement, the indicator 26 would be at zero. Normally, the weight and length of the long arm of the lever will retain the gear 31 in mesh with a gear 36 which is mounted upon a short shaft 37, said shaft being journaled in the frame 11 and a bracket 38 carried by said frame, the shaft being provided with a pinion 39 by means of which it may be driven through a gear 40, mounted on a shaft 41 journaled similarly to the shaft 37 and having a driving pinion 42. This pinion, in turn, is driven by a gear 43 on the hollow shaft 18 and the gear 43 is driven from the shaft 10 by means of suit- .able reduction gearing interposed between the shaft 10 and by the shafts 15, 16 and 17. The gear 36 is provided with a conical projection 36 which is adapted to be engaged by a suitable tapered friction gear 80 for the purpose of rotating the gear 36 and the shaft 37 and thereby drive the shaft 28 around to zero position when the meter is read, say at the end of the month. The friction gear will be supported in the same manner as the beveled gear shown in my prior patent above referred to and will be operated in like manner to rotate the gear 36. The gear 80 is carried by a shaft 81 slidably and rotatably journa'led in brackets 82 projecting from the plate 11. A spring 83 presses against a collar 84 carried by this shaft and normally holds the same in elevated position with the wheel 80 discon nected from the disk 36*. The gear 36 is normally maintained in driving relation with the shaft 37 by suitable friction means such as the spring washer 85. The end of the shaft 81 may be squared as shown at 86 in Fig. 2 for the reception of a key. The gear 31, with its finger or projection 30, constitute an actuating device for the indicator 26. and the shaft 37 and the gear 36 constitute .a current-driven-member or device for operating the actuating device.

With the parts arranged as described thus; far. it will be seen that the gears 31 and 36 will be held in mesh or in engagement by means of the long arm of the lever 33. It will be apparent that, if this engagement betweenthe gear'sbe broken, the gear 31 and its projection 30 will be set to their initial position by the weight of said projection.

For the purpose of enabling the indicator 26 to indicate the amount of current integrated bythe meter during that predetermined short interval of time at which the demand was at a maximum, I provide means whereby the engagement between the gears 31 and 36 may be broken periodically at equal, short time intervals, to enable the gear 31 and the projection 30 to be set to its initial position at the end of each such interval. For the purpose of so breaking the engagement, I provide a train of clock gearing comprising a shaft which is rotated continuously by means of a spring, the shaft having means for periodically rocking the lever and thus moving the gear 31 away from the gear 36. To insure the uniformity of the short time intervals which is necessary for the successful and accurate operation of the indicator 26, I provide means whereby the spring which rotates the aforesaid shaft may be kept under substantially constant tension. The construction for accomplishing these results will now be described.

44 denotes a shaft which is supported by the plate 11 and a bracket 45 projecting rearwardly and downwardly from said plate. On this shaft is mounted a spring drum 46 within which is coiled the spring 47, having one end connected to the drum and the other end to the shaft. This drum is provided with a ratchet gear 48 on its peripheral surface. A pawl 49 is pivotally supported by the bracket, as shown at 50, (see Fig. 6) and is provided with a detent 51 adapted to engage the ratchet teeth. The pawl is provided with an arm 52 which normally retains, by gravity, the detent 51 in engagement with the ratchet teeth.

A wheel 53 is mounted on the shaft 44, said wheel having a plurality of radial arms 54, each having a projection 55 which is adapted to engage the projection 35 on the lever and thus rock the lever and move the gear 31 thereon out of engagement with the gear 36. \Vith the lconstruction described, it will be apparent that, forevery revolution of the shaft 44, the lever 33 will be rocked four times, each time carrying the' gear 31 out of engagement with the gear 36 and enabling the gear 31 to be set back to its initial position a corresponding number of times. As soon as the projection 55 of an arm 54 is disengaged from the projection 35 of the lever, the gear 31 is moved by gravity into engagement with the gear 36. Should the current consumption during any one of these short intervals of time exceed that forany preceding interval, the projection 30 will engage the arm 29 and advance the shaft 28 and the indicator 26 correspondingly.

' 'The shaft 44 comprises part of a small and simple clock mechanism, which is carried entirely by the plate 11 and is indicated generally at A, in Fig. 3 and comprises the. usual parts of such clock work, including a balance wheel 56, escapement mechanism 57, and reduction gearing, indicated generally at 58, 59, 60.

The spring'within the drum 46 is kept under constant tension by means of the automatic winding device, now to be described.

This winding device comprises a solenoid 61 supportedby a bracket 62 projecting rearwardly from the plate 11 and forming a support for the end of the long arm of the lever 33 and retaining the gears 31 and 36 in mesh. The solenoid core 63 has pivoted thereto the ends of a pair of arms 64 which are pivotally mounted on the shaft 44. Between the arms 64 is pivoted the pawl 65, which pawl is adapted to engage the ratchet teeth 48 on the periphery of the drum 46. It will be evident that, when the solenoid is energized, the upward movement of the core will imparta rotary movement to the drum and will wind the spring. The means by which the solenoid circuit will be periodically closed to produce this automatic winding of the spring 47 will be described hereinafter. At this stage it should be noted that ashaft is employed for making and breaking the circuit and that this shaft is driven at a greater rate of speed than the shaft 44, making preferably eight revolutions to one revolution of the latter shaft. Assuming that the latter shaft rotates once an hour, the solenoid will be energized every seven-and-one-half minutes, or twice for every operation of the lever 33 by an arm of the wheel 53. The spring'47 will therefore be automatically wound at predetermined short intervals of time. The throw of the core 63'and ofthe pawl 65 is so proportioned to the number of teeth 48 on the drum that the drum is rotated a slightly greater distance than the spring is unwound between the intervals of winding. To prevent too great tension from being exerted on the spring, the strength of the solenoid is such that, when the spring reaches a certain tension, the closing of the solenoid circuit will not produce a move ment of the core and the spring will not be wound. With the-arrangement described, it will be seen that the spring is re-wound twice during each demand period, thereby causing the power of the spring to be the same for every maximum demand period, while the additional fact that the re-winding contacts are operated by a shaft geared rigidly to the cam shaftcauses this rewinding to take place always at the same instant as regards the wheel disengagement. I esteem it sufficient for purposes of my invention that the rewinding should take place always at period! less than the maximum demand periods and preferably at strictly equal intervals for thus the periods between resettings are made more nearly accurate than would be the case were the rewindings to come irregularly or at periods greater than the periods between re-settings, since in either of the latter cases, the amount of force exerted by the spring would not be always uniform during the whole of each period and the rate of rotation of the cam and consequently the indication of the instrument would vary.- The particular period of half that of the maximum demand interval has been selected for illustration solely because of the fact that fifteen minutes is a convenient demand interval and that seven and one-half minutes is a convenient period with respect to the design and construction of chronometers.

For the purpose of making and breaking the circuit, including the solenoid, I provide a. pair of terminals 66 and 67, said terminals being in the solenoid circuit. These terminals are preferably flat springs supported each at one end and each having its free end carried on a cam mounted on a shaft 68 of the clock mechanism. The cam for the terminal 67 is represented at 69 and is shown as a cam of the snail type and has two abrupt shoulders 7 O. The cam for the terminal 66 is shown at 71 and is of similar character, but of less diameter than the cam 69. The cam 71 is provided with a pair of abrupt shoulders 72. The shoulders are located very slight-1y in advance of the shoulder 72, with the result that, as the shaft 68 rotates, the platinum contact 67 of the terminal 67 drops down onto the platinum contact 66 of the terminal 66 just long enough to close the circuit including the solenoid and energize the latter. Immediately thereafter, the contact 66 rides off its shoulder 72 and breaks the circuit thus momentarily closed. This construction of circuit-closing mechanism provides a quick closing and a quick breaking of the circuit and prevents the burning out of the contacts. Furthermore, the circuit closing mechanism is removed from the mechanism contacts, so that the latter are unaffected by the circuit which includes the solenoid.

One of the great advantages of the invention shown herein is its adaptability to eX- isting meters with a minimum of alteration in such meters to accommodate the same. It is only necessary to remove the short plate to which the plate 11 of my attachment corresponds, having previously provided the plate 11 with the necessary apertures or bearings for the shafts which extend between the plate 12 and the predecessor of the plate 11 (for instance, the shafts 10, 15, 16, 17 and 18.) The shafts 37 and 41 and the gears carried thereby, the lever 33 and gear 31, the clock-work mechanism and the rewinding mechanism therefor will all be carried by the plate 11. This arrangement makes the application of my attachment to existing meters a matter of extreme simplicity and convenience.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. In a maximum demand indicator for existing electric meters, of the typev having a dial and a gear train in the rear of said dial plate, the combination of a plate having bearings and securing devices-arranged similar to the bearings and securing devices of a plate of the existing meter and adapted to be substituted therefor, said plate also having an extension, a maximum demand shaft extending through said plate and dial, a maximum demand pointer secured to the forward end of said shaft, a gear mounted beyond the inner end of said shaft, driving connections between said gear and shaft whereby said shaft will be rotated when said gear revolves in a forwarddirection and will be left stationary when said gear rotates rearwardly, a gear operated by the meter train and adapted to rotate said first gear in a forward direction, chronometric devices carried by said extension, a leverpivoted to said plate and carrying one of said gears, cam means carried by said chronometric devices and arranged to rock said lever at predetermined intervals, so as to separate said gears, and means operative during such separation to set said shaft and pointer to Zero position.

2. In an electric meter, the combination of a frame comprising a pairof spaced plates, a third plate spaced from one of said plates and detachably secured thereto, an indicator at the front of the first plate of the series, a shaft for said indicator extending through all of said plates and provided at its rear end with an arm, acurrent driven shaft projecting rearwardly from the last plate of the series, reduction gearing interposed between the second and third plates, a lever pivoted to the third plate, a gear supported near one end of said lever and having a projection adapted to engage the projecting armof the indicator shaft, a connection between the last mentioned gear and the train of reduction gearing, and clockmechanism carried entirelyby the last plate and arranged to engage intermittently the end of the lever arm opposite the gear and rock the lever to separate said gear from the train of reduction gearing.

3. In an electric meter, the combination of a frame comprising a pair of spaced plates and a third plate detachably connected to the rear plate of the'pair, an indicator shaft extending through all of said plates and having an indicator on its front end and an operating projection near its rear end, a current driven shaft, and a tram of reduction gearing extending betweenthe second and third plates, the shaft for the last gear'in said train projecting rearwardly through the rear plate and having a gear thereon, a stud projecting rearwardly from the last plate, a lever pivoted to said stud and having a gear near one end thereof provided with a projection for operating the indicator shaft, and time mechanism carried entirely by the third or rear plate and comprising a shaft having one or more projections at the rear of the plate and adapted to engage the arm of the lever opposite the gear.

4. In an electric meter, the combination of a frame comprising a-pair of plates and athird and rear plate detachably secured to one of said plates, an indicator shaft projecting through said plates and having at the rear of the third plate an operating projection, a current driven shaft, a lever pivoted to the rear of the third plate and having a gear arranged to drive said shaft through said projection, clock-work mechanism carried by the third plate for automatically operating the lever to set the gear to zero position at predetermined short time intervals, and means for winding said mechanism, the demand period being an exact multiple of the rewinding period.

5. A maximum demand attachment for meters comprising a plate adapted to be attached to the rear of the registering device and having bearings for the usual reduction train forming part of said device, said plate being provided with a current driven gear adapted to be constantly in operative connection with the registering device, a gear adapted to intermittently engage and disengage said current driven gear, and to ad- Vance an indicator-during its engaged condition and to be set back to zero position during its disengaged condition, and a constant speed shaft carried by said plate and provided with means for engaging and disengaging said gears at predetermined times.

6. In an electric meter, the combination, of an indicator, means including a movable member for operating said indicator, cam means for disengaging said member at predetermined time intervals to thereby allow the same to return to its initial position, a spring-driven escapenient-controlled clock governing the operation of said cam means, and means governed by the clock itself for rewinding the driving spring at equal time intervals, the interval between successive rewindings being not greater than the interval between successive disengagements of said movable member and being an exact factor thereof.

7 In an electric meter, the combination of an indicator, means including a movable member for operating said indicator, cam means for disengaging said member at predetermined time intervals to permit the same to return to its initial position, a spring-j driven, escapement-controlled clock governing the operation of said cam means, and means operating at a fixed angular relation to said cam means for effecting the rewind-- ing of the driving spring.

8. In an electric meter, the combination, of an indicator, means including a movable member for operating said indicator, cam means for disengaging said member at predetermined time intervals to permit the same to return to its initial position, a springdriven, escapement-controlled clock governing the operation of said cam means, rewinding means for the clock spring, and means governed by the movement of the clock parts for causing the actuation of said rewinding means at periods of which the period between successive disengagements of said movable member is an integral multiple.

9. In a metering device the combination; with a maximum demand indicator ocE the type comprising integrating mechanism,'a body adapted to be actuated during each interval of time to an extent dependent upon the total quantity of electricity that shall have passed through said apparatus during the interval,

an indicator adapted to be moved in one direction by said body and to remain in th'e position into which it is moved, a spring driven chronometrie device, means operated by said chronometric device for disconnecting said body from said integrating mechanism, and means for returning said body to its original position during such disconnection; of automatic means for rewinding said chronometric device at intervals not longer than and exact factors of the maximum demand period.

10. In a metering device the combination, with integrating mechanism, registering mechanism adapted to be driven from said integrating mechanism, spring driven chronometric devices adapted to disconnect said registering mechanism from said integrating mechanism at predetermined equal intervals of time, and means governed by said chronometric devices and adapted to rewind the spring thereof at equal intervals not longer than and an exact factor of the first mentioned equal intervals of time.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto affix my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

MATHIAS E. TURNER.

Witnesses:

J. B. HULL, ALBERT H. BATES.

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