GB1565649A - Stop tap incorporating a flow meter - Google Patents

Description

(54) STOP TAP INCORPORATING A FLOW METER (71) 1, PERCY VERNON WALL, 33 Brandwood Road, Kings Heath, Birmingham, a British Subject, do hereby declare the invention, for which I pray that a patent may be granted to me, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: - This invention relates to a device for adapting a stop tap to enable a flow meter to be connected to the tap to measure the flow through the tap.

The present invention consists in a stop tap located in a water supply pipe and incorporating a flow meter for measuring the flow of water therethrough, comprising a tap body having an inlet and an outlet for connecting in the supply pipe; an orifice formed in a partition within said body and adjacent said inlet and through which incoming water has to flow; a cap member secured said tap body and including a tube element having one end extending into said orifice in water tight engagement therewith and the other end communicating through valve means with the input side of the flow meter and a passageway surrounding said tube element above said orifice, one end of said passageway communicating with the tap body outlet and the other end with the output side of the flow meter.

Preferably said valve means includes a valving body and a valve seat formed at the said other end of said tube element and a valve member capable of being moved in and out of engagement with said valve seat by externally operated means, said valving body communicating with the inlet side of said flow meter.

At present it is common practice for the supply of water to domestic premises to be charged at a fixed cost independant of water consumption. The consumption of water varies greatly between premises and as these costs are at present escalating there has been a call for water supply to be charged at a rate dependent upon the consumption at each premises. However, prior to this invention the cost of fitting the necessary flow meters in the supplies to domestic premises has been too great apparently to permit more than a cursory examination of the possibility of such fitting. The device of the present invention is intended to enable flow meters to be installed in the supplies to domestic premises at a reasonable cost of installation, in that plumbing work can be reduced to a minimum.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing which is a side view, partly in section, of a device according to the invention shown secured in position to a stop tap, which is indicated in chain-dotted lines.

A stop tap comprises a body 10 having an inlet chamber 11 and an outlet chamber 12, the chambers being separated by a partition wall 13. The partition wall 13 is formed with an aperture 14 for flow between chambers 11, 12 the aperture being surrounded by a valve seat 15 against which normally seats, in an unadapted stop tap, a valving member 16 of a head-works 17 of the stop tap. In an unadapted stop tap, the head-works 17 is received in a screwthreaded socket of a trunk 18 of the body 10.

In the adapted stop tap, as shown in figure 1, a device 20 according to the invention is secured to the body 10 in the normal place of the head-works 17. The device 20 comprises a cap member 21 which is screwthreadedly secured to the trunk 18 of the body 10 of the tap in the place of the headworks 17. The cap member 21 has a frusto-conical wall 22 secured at its larger diameter end to a flange 23 of an externally screw-threaded tubular part 24 which is screwed into the socket of the trunk 18. A washer 25 provides a seal between the flange 23 and the trunk 18.The device 20 also includes a tube element 26 which extends through the cap member 21 at the smaller diameter end of the wall 22 to which it is secured in a fixed inter-relationship, into the outlet chamber 12 of the tap body 10 and has at its one end a sealing engagement with the valve seat 15 of the tap body 10 by means of an O-ring seal 27. The other end of the tube element is connected to a valving body 28 and leads to a valve seat 29. The original head-works 17 of the stop tap is screw-threadedly secured in a socket provided in the end of the valving body 28 so that its valving member 16 can seat upon the valve seat 29. Secured to the valving body 28 is a flow meter 30 having an inlet duct 31 communicating with the valving chamber 32 of the valving body. The flow meter 30 has an outlet duct 33 leading to a duct 34 of the cap member 21.

In use, when the valves formed by the valve member 16 and valve seat 29 is open, water can flow into the chamber 11 of the tap body 10, through the aperture 14 in the partition wall 13 and along the bore of the tubular element 26 into the chamber 32 of the valving body. Water then flows through the flow meter 30 entering through the inlet duct 31 and exiting through the duct 33 and flowing into the cap member 21 from where it flows into the outlet chamber 12 of the tap body 10. The flow of water can be regulated and also stopped by the seating of the valve member 16 on the valve seat 29.

The count of the flow meter 29 is displayed at an observation panel 35 so that readings of the meter 30 may be taken readily at the stop tap; if necessary with the aid of an optical device where (as will probably be the case) the panel is disposed in a badly lighted position in a chamber formed in the ground.

Original installation of the device is straight forward and requires firstly, removal of the head-works 17 from the tap body 10, secondly, screwing the cap member 21 of the device into the trunk 18 and finally screwing the head-works 17 into the valving body 28. The distance of projection of the tube element 26 through the cap member 21 is such as to ensure sealing engagement of the tube element 26 with the valve seat 15 when the can member 21 seals to the trunk 18 of the body 10.

WHAT I CLAIM IS: 1. A stop tap located in a water supply pipe and incorporating a flow meter for measuring the flow of water therethrough, comprising a tap body having an inlet and an outlet for connecting in the supply pipe; an orifice formed in a partition within said body and adjacent said inlet and through which incoming water has to flow; a cap member secured said tap body and including a tube element having one end extending into said orifice in water tight engagement therewith and the other end communicating through valve means with the input side of the flow meter and a passageway surrounding said tube element above said orifice, one end of said passageway communicating with the tap body outlet and the other end with the output side of the flow meter.

2. A stop tap according to claim 1 wherein said valve means comprising a valving body including a valve seat formed at the said other end of said tube element and a valve member capable of being moved in and out of engagement with said valve seat by externally operated means, said valving body communicating with the inlet side of said flow meter.

3. A stop tap according to claim 2 wherein movement of said valving member is effected by a knob forming part of a tap headworks.

4. A stop tap located in a water supply pipe and incorporating a flow meter substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (4)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. 29. The original head-works 17 of the stop tap is screw-threadedly secured in a socket provided in the end of the valving body 28 so that its valving member 16 can seat upon the valve seat 29. Secured to the valving body 28 is a flow meter 30 having an inlet duct 31 communicating with the valving chamber 32 of the valving body. The flow meter 30 has an outlet duct 33 leading to a duct 34 of the cap member 21. In use, when the valves formed by the valve member 16 and valve seat 29 is open, water can flow into the chamber 11 of the tap body 10, through the aperture 14 in the partition wall 13 and along the bore of the tubular element 26 into the chamber 32 of the valving body. Water then flows through the flow meter 30 entering through the inlet duct 31 and exiting through the duct 33 and flowing into the cap member 21 from where it flows into the outlet chamber 12 of the tap body 10. The flow of water can be regulated and also stopped by the seating of the valve member 16 on the valve seat 29. The count of the flow meter 29 is displayed at an observation panel 35 so that readings of the meter 30 may be taken readily at the stop tap; if necessary with the aid of an optical device where (as will probably be the case) the panel is disposed in a badly lighted position in a chamber formed in the ground. Original installation of the device is straight forward and requires firstly, removal of the head-works 17 from the tap body 10, secondly, screwing the cap member 21 of the device into the trunk 18 and finally screwing the head-works 17 into the valving body 28. The distance of projection of the tube element 26 through the cap member 21 is such as to ensure sealing engagement of the tube element 26 with the valve seat 15 when the can member 21 seals to the trunk 18 of the body 10. WHAT I CLAIM IS:

1. A stop tap located in a water supply pipe and incorporating a flow meter for measuring the flow of water therethrough, comprising a tap body having an inlet and an outlet for connecting in the supply pipe; an orifice formed in a partition within said body and adjacent said inlet and through which incoming water has to flow; a cap member secured said tap body and including a tube element having one end extending into said orifice in water tight engagement therewith and the other end communicating through valve means with the input side of the flow meter and a passageway surrounding said tube element above said orifice, one end of said passageway communicating with the tap body outlet and the other end with the output side of the flow meter.

2. A stop tap according to claim 1 wherein said valve means comprising a valving body including a valve seat formed at the said other end of said tube element and a valve member capable of being moved in and out of engagement with said valve seat by externally operated means, said valving body communicating with the inlet side of said flow meter.

3. A stop tap according to claim 2 wherein movement of said valving member is effected by a knob forming part of a tap headworks.

4. A stop tap located in a water supply pipe and incorporating a flow meter substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.