US1831803A - Means for indicating the height of liquids in tanks - Google Patents

Description

NGV, 1?, 1931. 331363 MEANS FOR INDICATZNG THE HEIGHT OF LIQUIDS IN TANKS Filed May 9, 1924 f'ufenrat Patented Nov. 17, 1931 NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WILLIAM P. DALRYMIPLE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO BENDIX STROMBERG CARBURETER COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A. CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS Mums FOR INDICATING THE HEIGHT or meomsm TANKS Application filed May 9, 1924. Serial No. 711,945.

This invention relates to means for indicating the height of a body of liquid in a tank from which a supply is drawn up for consumption, as for example in connection with the gasoline tank carried by a motor vehicle. in my pending application, Serial No. 611,- 002, that was filed January 6, 1923, is shown an apparatus for the same purpose, and the present invention is an improvement upon the construction therein shown. As in the said other construction this invention has particuiarly to do with a construction adapted for use in connection with a vacuum-producing apparatus for intermittently drawing up a quantity of gasoline from a supply tank for transference to a carburetor. The object of the invention is to provide improved means for utilizing air pressure developed by the head of liquid in the supply tank to indicate 330 by means of a suitable indicating device, such as a gauge, the height of the liquid in said tank. This object I accomplish by the means shown in the drawing and hereinafter particularly described; and while the construction shown is Well adapted for the practicing of the invention it is to be understood that such construction and arrangement of the parts of the mechanism may be modified in many details without departing from the invention.

in the drawing,the figure, which is largely diagrammatic, shows my invention in connection with a well-known form of intermittently-operating vacuum-producing appara- 85 tus that is employed in connection with the feeding of gasoline to the carburetor of an automobile enginemost of the parts being shown in section and some parts being broken away.

in said drawing-5 and 6 indicate, respec- 'tively, the outerand inner chambers of a well-known type of vacuum system designed for automobile use, there being in the head 7 "that hermetically closes the upper ends of both such chambers the usual passage 8 through which gasoline is admitted to the interior of the chamber 6, the passage 9 through which air 'lrom the inner chamber 6 is exhausted, and the passage 10 open to the atmosphere. The passage 8 has heretofore till been connected with a pipe that led directly to the interior of the supply tank A, but, as here shown in connection with my improvements, there is substituted for such directleadlng pipe a comparatively short length of pipe (1 that constitutes a member of a conduit of novel constructionthat connects with the supply tank ashereinafter described. From the passage 9 leads as usual a pipe 11 that at its lower end is connected with the intake manifold 12 in which, of course, is created a high vacuum or suction due to the pumpin action of the pistons in the motor, whic vacuum or suction is also established in the inner chamber 6 that is connected-with the manifold by the pipe 11. The usual pipe for the admission of atmospheric pressure to the inner chamber 6 through the passage 10 is shown at 13.. The passages or ports 9- and 10 are controlled by the usual valves that re.- spectively move upwardly and downwardly to seating or closing positions, which valves are operated by means of lever and spring devices that are interposed between such valves and the usual float 14. At the lower end of the inner chamber 6 is the ordinar nozzle 15 through which the gasoline may ow into the outer chamber 5, the nozzle being provided with a check valve 16 that will be held closed when the vacuum exists in the inner chamber. A pipe 17 connects the chamber 5 with the carburetor 18 as usual. The construction and arran ement of all the parts so far briefly describe and referred' to by reference numerals, is so well understood that I do not deem it necessary to more particularly describe them. Furthermore, my invention is not limited to its employment in connection with the particular vacuum-producing means shown but may be advantageously used with other forms of such apparatus that will intermittently produce a vacuum in a chamber so that the liquid fuel from a supply tank is thereby caused to be drawn into it and fed therefrom.

A indicates a supply tank that is located at a considerably lower level than the vacuumproducing apparatus with which it is con- 'nected, and for which it is designed to fur:

nish a supply of liquid. In the upper part of the wall of the tank A is an opening of considerable size closed by a plug 6, the wall of the tank also having a suitable opening, such as shown at c, to connect the interior of the tank with the atmosphere. The conduit through which liquid is drawn from the tank comprises in addition to the short section oi pipe a, before mentioned, a pipesection (2 that extends into the tank A and has its open lower end positioned near the bottom of the tank-such pipe, in the construction shown, passing through an opening in the plug 6. The upper portion of the pipe (1 passes through the lower part of a receptacle 0, and

its open upper end terminates a short distance from the top of said receptacle. The upper portion of this receptacle is connected in any suitable manner with the, pipe section a, and it constitutes in connection with the pipe sections a and d a continuous conduit between the chamber 6 of the vacuum-producing apparatus and the supply tank A. In that portion of the pipe (1 that is within the receptacle c and near the bottom of such receptacle are formed one or more small holes 7 through which liquid in that receptacle may drain back into the pipe (1 when the vacuumproducing apparatus is not functioning.

Surrounding that portion of the pipe d that projects into the tank A is a chamber that is here shown as formed of a tube g attached to and depending from the'plug b, and having its upper end tightly closed by such plug. This tube is preferably of such length as to have its lower open end slightly lower in the tank than is the lower end of the conduit pipe section (Z, and I also preferably notch the lower edge of the tube as indicated at it, or otherwise provide one or more lateral open ings or passages to ensure against the lower end of the tube becoming wholly closed in the event that the tube should be seated against the bottom ofthe tank.

In communication with the upper end of the chamber that isformed by the tube 9 is the casing of an indicating device or gauge. indicated generally by B, which may be of any well-known type. whose mechanism is adapted to be so acted upon-by air pressure as to cause the turni of a pointer movable over the dial face, of the indicator. This indicator has communication with said chamber g in the tank through a pipe of relatively small diameter, such pipe being here shown as comprising two sections indicated respectively by z and y", there being. interposed between. these two sections, in the construction shown, a small air-tight trap is that is provided to catch any moisture that .may be carried into the pipe 2', although to free as far as possible from moisture the air that shown, a passage m that leads from this cavity Z into the upper end of the chamber 9.

With the parts constructed and arranged substantially as shown and described, the tank A is to be filled with liquid and such liquid, when the tank is first filled, will obviously rise in the pipe d and stand therein at the same level as in the tank, but owing to the air trapped in the chamber that surrounds the lower end of such pipe it will not rise to the same height in such chamber. Thereafter, upon the vacuum-producing means being set in operation, the suction produced will cause a flow of liquid through the conduit elements 03, c and a which will pass into the chamber 6 of said apparatus. After the vacuum has been destroyed by the movement of the float 14 that closes the valve that controls the passage 9, and opens the valve that controls'the passage 10, the liquid that is in the pipe member d of the conduit will flow back into the tank A. The liquid that has filled the receptacle member 6 of the conduit will slowly escape therefrom through the opening or openings f into such pipe, but as the open upper end of the pipe (Z is in communication with the chamber 6 of the vacuum-producing apparatus, which is open to the atmosphere at this time, itis evident that a volume of air will have entered the pipe d because of the fact that suction induced by the down flow of liquid in the pipe section at will draw atmospheric air from the vacuum chamber 6 through the pipe a, receptacle 0 and down through the pipe d before the contents of the receptacle e has drained into such pipe, and therefore such air will be compressed by the weight of the column of liquid above it. The weight of this column of liquid will force the air out of the open lower end of the pipe and it will bubble-up through the liquid in the surrounding chamber and be held confinedin such chamber and, after a few operations at least of the vacuum-producing apparatus, all

forced out and such chamber will thereafter remain filled with air, such air being kept confined there, of course, by the pressure of the liquid in the tank A. The extent of the pressure will vary as the amount of liquid, in the tank is decreased by its withdrawal for consumption, and such decreases in pressure will be indicated, as will be understood, by the instrument B that is directly connected with said chamber as already described.

With each destruction of the vacuum air will be allowed to flow down the conduit member d followed by a head of liquid from the receptacle membere, and, of course, such air will be largely in excess of What is required to be held in confinement in the chamber g and the pipes that connect that chamber with the indicating device B. Such excess air, as it escapes from the open lower end of the pipe (i, will pass around the lower end of the tube 9 and bubble up to the surface of the liquid in the tank. It is because of the necessity of thus permitting the passage of air to the interior of the tank that I provide the notches h in the edge of the tube so that air may escape through them in case the tube should, for any reason, be brought in contact with the bottom 'of the tank. While the amount of air required to be supplied to the chamber g would undoubtedly find its way to such chamber if the lower end of the pipe (Z and the lower end of the surrounding tube were in the same plane, yet I find it advantageous to have the end of the pipe slightly higher in the tank than the end of the tube because of the fact that the head of liquid that may be in the tube,and some will probably be there when the tank is first filledcan never be as great as that in the tank itself, owing to the confinement of a body of air in such tube, andhence the air, issuing as it does from the pipe 03' at a point higher than the end of the tube, will be almost certain to rise in such tube and fill it, thereby forcing out any liquid that may be therein, and thereafter by its pressure keeping liquid out of the tube.

By my invention I provide an apparatus of extreme simplicity and which can be cheaply and readily'installed in connection with any usual make of vacuum-producing connecting said gauge to said chamber, of a receptacle at a higher level than said" tank, a vacuum tank for intermittently creating a vacuum in said receptacle, means connecting said vacuum tank with the upper portion of said receptacle, and a conduit having an open end in said supply tank and said chamber adjacent the bottom and having a portion extending upwardly into the receptacle above the bottom, said portion of said conduit having an open upper end and a port adjacent the lower portion of said receptacle and below said last named means.

3. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination with a supply tank, a tube inv said tank closed at its upper end and communicating at its lower end with the lower portion of said tank, forming an air pressure chamber in said tank, a pressure gauge, means connecting said gauge to said chamber, of a receptacle at a higher level than said tank, means for intermittently creating a vacuum in said receptacle, a conduit connecting said vacuum creating means with said receptacle and opening into said receptacle in the upper portion, and a second conduit having an open end in said supply tank and said chamber adjacent the bottom and having a portion extending upwardly-into said receptacle above the bottom, said portion of the second conduit having an open upper end and a draining connection adjacent the pressure of the head of liquid in said tank,

a pressure gauge, means connecting said gauge to said chamber, of a receptacle at a higher level than said tank, a vacuum tank for intermittently creating a vacuum in said receptacle, a conduit connecting said vacuum tank to said receptacle and opening into the receptacle in the upper portion, and a second conduit having an open end in said supply tank and saidchamber adjacent the bottom and having a portion extending upwardly into said receptacle above the bottom, said portion of the second conduit having an open upper end and a port adjacent the lower portion of said receptacle and below the opening of the first mentioned conduit.

2. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination with a supply tank, a tube in said tank closed at its upper end and communicating at its lower end with the lower portion of said tank, forming an air pressure chamber in said tank, a pressure gauge, means lower portion of said receptacle and below the opening of the first mentioned conduit whereby said receptacle may be drained through said conduit.

WILLIAM P. DALRYMPLE.

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