US170272A - Improvement in register-dials for water-meters - Google Patents

Description

, J. c. KELLEY. REGISTER-DIAL'S FOR WATER-METERS No. 170,272. Patented Nov. 2a; 1875.

. FIEHI. v7

- STATE/S PATENT Cr mea JOHN KELLEY, OF PEARSALLS, NEW YORK.

I IMPROVEMENT IN REGISTER-DIALSFOR WATER-METERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 170,272, dated November 23, 1875; application filed April 15, 1875.

To all whom "it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN G. KELLEY, of P'earsalls, in the county of Queens' and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Water-Meters; and 1 do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, and to the letters of reference marked thereon,-which form a part of this specification.

Among the most serious difiiculties of water-meters now in use is that. of reading the dial, by reason of its constant liability to be covered with mud and sediment, and especially that class of meters in which the dial and the indicating-hands work within a water-space below or back of a water-tight glass cover. In all such meters hitherto constructed the dial-hands have been placed above or outside of the dial, and the latter has been formed upon a white ground or porcelain surface. There must, however, be some means for communication between the propelling devices andthe registering mechanism, and the water will be forced into the dial compartment, and the dial become more or less covered with the sediment from the water, and rendered thereby more or less difficult to read, and will, in time, become entirely covered.

This difficulty my invention entirely overcomes; and it consists in the combination, in a water-meter, of a glass or transparent dial, with the indicating-hands, arranged below or back of the dial, whereby the dial can always be easily read, no matter how muddy the water may get, as mud cannot settle upagainst the surface of the glass, and if it did it could not obscure either the dial upon such inner surface or the indicating-hands back of such surface. I

A plain white background is combined with the glass dial, and betweenthese the indicating-hands are arranged to work, so that the usual dialsurface is, by my invention, em-

ployed in connection with the glass dial to render the numbers thereon more distinct, and the positions of the hands more readily determined with respect to such numbers.

So important are the advantages of my invention that all stuffing-boxes can be dispensed with, and the movement of the propelling device thereby more accurately communicated to the indicating mechanism, as the exclusion of mud from the dialchamber is, by my invention, rendered immaterial, and it will be only necessary to arrange the indicatiug mechanism in a compartment so as to.

of'the hai1ds;Fig. 3, a vertical section of so much ofameter as illustrates my invention; and Fig. 4, a view of the glass dial.

The meter may be of an suitable construction, but the one shown in the drawings is the one known as the gem meter, manufactured by the National Meter Company, of New York, and in which a hard-rubber propeller is employed as the motor, and the indicating-hands a are arranged to work above the dial in a top water-compartment, b, sealed by a glass cover, 0, secured in place by a cap, 61, screwed upon the outer shell of the meter. Suitable gearing connects the stem of the propeller with the mechanism of the indicating-hands, and the latter have the usual relation with a plate, e, which divides the chamber of the indicating-hands from that in which the registering mechanism is arranged. Upon this plate 6 the dial has heretofore been formed, and the hands, therefore,'in front of it, so that when the numbers were covered with mini from the water there could be no reading indicated by the hands. I have, to avoid this objection, transferred the dial to a position in front of the hands, and combined the dial with the glass cover, to obtain a transparent dial, which forms the outer side of the water-chamber b, Within which the hands work, so that the hands a, standing back of the dial, can always be seen, and the dialnumbers easily read in front of the hands.

In connection with this front glass dial, I employ a plain white plate, 6, as a background,

and thus, with the hands interposed between it and the glass dial, render it easy at all times to read the meter.

The dial is placed upon the inner surfaceof the glass cover, and as it is impossible for the mud to collect upon such surface, or to obscure the positions of the hands in relation to the dial, the state of the meter can be taken at any time desired with entire accuracy.

The glass diaI pIate is made quite thick, and the letters and numbers forming the dial may be made thereon, in any suitable way that will producethe best effect, and be the most durable. This may be done by casting the glass dial with the letters and figures sunk in the surface, and filled with some suitable substance; or it may be transferred from paper, printed from a stone, and then put in a tire and burnt in, when it becomes part of the glass, as it were, and very permanent. The dial may be printed by a rubber stamp, and then burnt in.

V It is not in this particular that I claim any special invention, but in the combinationof such a thing with a :liquid meter, to obtain the advantages statedas resulting from such combination The following is claimedasinew in watermeters, namely:

1. The combinatiomin a water-meter, of a glass or transparent dial,-c, with the indicating-hands a in positions back of said dial, whereby mud and sediment are prevented from settling upon the dial, and the relative positions therewith'of the hands thereby easily read, substantially as herein set forth.

2. The combination, with a glass dial, a, of t

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