Water Meters

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WATER METERS.

We find in the Tribune, a notice of one of the last meetings of the London Society of Civil Engineers, at which the subject of water meters underwent careful discussion. It was stated that in London, Bristol, and other large British cities where an artificial supply of water had been introduced, meters of different kinds were in use. There are eleven distinct classes of water metres, and about ten varieties in each class, making 110 different inventions. We believe, adds the Tribune, it is high time that they should be introduced among us.

The want of meters in New York has been felt ever since the introduction of Croton.¹ Mayor Wood,² in his first message to the New York Common Council, advises the use of meters whenever they could be furnished at a cheap rate and of reliable construction.

The Croton Board took the same view, and the necessity of the measure is accounted for, by the fact that several times during the two last years the Croton Board have been compelled to request citizens to use the water sparingly, on account of the scarcity of supply.

The waste of Croton is said to exceed the quantity used, necessarily, three to one.

We paid a visit yesterday to the premises of Mr. H. F. Reed, machinist, First street, near South Eighth, where a new invention, designed for measuring water, gas, and every description of fluid, was undergoing trial. Among the party of inspection we noticed the Mayor, Hon. Samuel S. Powell,³ Ald. G. C. Preston, Ald. Jenkins, J. K. Browne, Esq., of the Board of Education, Judge Furman and Mr. W. Parr, (representing the firm of Furman & Co., distillers), Mr. A. M. Wood, Collector of Taxes, Mr. Morgan, City Surveyor, Mr. Padean, of the Collector's office, Mr. Mackay, of Brooklyn, Mr. George Stevenson, of New York, and other gentlemen, who expressed themselves as perfectly satisfied of the capabilities of the meter, as tested by experiment. This description of meter is the joint invention of Mr. S. J. Burr, the deputy City Clerk, and Mr. Rend, and has just been patented in their name. The one chiefly exhibited is in the form of a spherical brass box bisected by a flexible diaphram, or double partition of vulcanized india rubber. Between the layers of rubber is a "shifter," one end of which is attached to a shaft that turns so as to throw the valves. The water used in the experiments was admitted through a half inch pipe, communicating with the base of the box, and as one compartment of the box filled the rubber distended, expelling the water from the other compartment through the cock.

When the box is filled a "valve-throw" is raised by means of the shaft passing through the centre of the cock; and the amount of water expelled is instantaneously registered on the dials, without for a moment suspending the flow. A single drop less than the 2½ gallons, it was shown, would not move the hands of the dial; but the instant the last drop entered the box the record was made.

The arrangement for registering the flow is substantially the same as that in common use; but the meter itself is constructed on an entirely new plan. One of the advantages claimed for it, is that no leakage can possibly take place; another, that it supplants the use of stuffing boxes. The proprietors calculate to sell the two and a half gallon meters, of the size exhibited, the flow of which is ample for a large establishment, at $12 each. The price of an ordinary metre, of same size, would be $25 or upwards. The capacity of a meter for discharging, of course depends on the size of pipe used; but the meters can be made of any size, and are as capable of measuring minute quantities as large ones.

An invention of this kind is of special importance to Brooklyn just now, in view of the speedy introduction of a water supply, and when it is in contemplation to establish new Gas works in the city. In regard to the application of the meter to distilleries, Mr. Burr informs us that the rubber has been tested in alcohol and found untouched after being exposed for ten days.

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