US2889111A - Multiple rate electricity meters - Google Patents

Description

June 2, 1959 BO LMANQ 2,889,111

MULTIPLE RATE ELECTRICITY METERS Filed June 8, 1953 4 :7 4 9 0 I9 29 5%,. w, m, m,

' E] 32 W W a2 J j 4 L/ United States Patent "cc MULTIPLE RATE ELECTRICITY METERS Karl Bollmann, Zurich, Switzerland, assignor to Landis & Gyr A.G., Zng, Switzerland, a body corporate Application June 8, 1953, Serial No. 360,307 Claims priority, application Switzerland June 11, 1952 1 Claim. (Cl. 235-92) The present invention relates to multiple rate meters especially electricity meters.

Objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part hereinafter and in part will be obvious herefrom, or may be learned by practice with the invention, the same being realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations pointed out in the appended claims.

The invention consists in the novel parts, constructions, arrangements, combinations and improvements herein shown and described.

The accompanying drawings referred to herein and constituting a part hereof, illustrate one embodiment of the invention, and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

The present invention has for its object the provision of a novel and improved multiple rate electricity meter which is unusually compact and requires an extremely low torque for its operation. A further object is the provision of a multiple rate meter in which friction has been reduced so as to insure greater accuracy in the result than has heretofore been usual.

In the design of electric meters, the designer has to deal with the registers to be driven through driving gears, and which, due to the low torque available must be operated with as little power as possible to prevent errors in the final result. The dimensions of the register plays an important part as there is little room for it in electric meters, especially in multiple tarifi registers.

The present invention aims at removing these impediments and concerns a multiple tarifi registering mechanism for electric meters in which all its vertically mounted shafts and those of the figure carriers are arranged in one plane. In this arrangement, swinging shafts serving for the alternating coupling of the register units with the metering system, may be advantageously located in the line of the transmission from the driving gear to the register mechanism behind a single variable transmission serving to provide the desired ratio between the driving gear of the register and the metering mechanism.

The drawing shows an illustrative and the preferred embodiment of the invention.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a triple tariif registering mechanism with certain parts in section, and others broken away;

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic development related to it; and

Figure 3 is a detail represented diagrammatically.

In the illustrative embodiment shown, the dial 1 of the registering mechanism, is provided with cut-outs 2 through which the figures representing the respective value on the register units are visible. The figures are arranged on the drums 3 which are seated on vertical shafts 4 arranged in one plane. The drive shaft 5 of the metering element (not shown in the drawing) carries the driving gear of the metering element. In the train of the transmission of the motion from the driving gear of the metering element to its figure drums there are shafts connected in the proper ratio to form the transmission of the driving gear of the meter element and the register mechanism, the alternating; coupling of the register units and the reduction gear of the figure drums 3, all of which shafts are arranged vertically. Shafts 6, 7 for the alternate coupling of the register units can be swung a little out of their vertical position for purposes of coupling and uncoupling. Fundamentally all the shafts of the multiple tariff register mechanism are mounted in holes passing through plates and standing on a transom 8 of the lower plate.

Between the drive shaft 5 of the meter and the swinging shaft 6 of the first register change-over point two shafts 11, 12 are arranged carrying the variable transmission in the form of two driving gears 9, 10, the shaft 11 being directly connected by means of a gear 13, 14 to the drive shaft 5 of the meter, the gears 9, 10 being fixed interchangeably outside the upper mounting of the shaft 11, 12 to the latter, and the shaft 12 carrying gears 15, 16 which can engage with, and be disengaged from, the gears 17, 18 of the swinging shaft 6.

The upper swinging shaft 6 is connected by means of a continuously engaged gear 19 to an intermediate shaft 20 which retransmits the transmitted motion to the digit drum 3 of the uppermost of the three register units.

The lower swinging shaft 6 is connected by means of a constantly engaged gear 21 to an intermediate shaft 22, which carries the gears 23, 24 of which. the former, 23, can engage wth, and be disengaged from, a gear 25 on the swinging shaft 7 of a second change-over point of the register mechanism, and the second, 24, can engage with, and be disengaged from, a gear 26 on the other swinging shaft 7 of this change-over point of the register mechanism. The upper swinging shaft 7 is constantly connected by means of the gear 27' an intermediate shaft 127 and gears 27 to the digit drum 3 of the middle register unit, and the lower swinging shaft 7, by means of the gear 28' an intermediate shaft 128 and gears 28, is constantly connected to the digit drum 3 of the lowest register unit.

The plates are arranged in such a manner that the shafts 11, 12, the shaft 6, the shaft 20' as well as the shafts 4 of the uppermost register unit are mounted above in an outer upper plate 29, and the shafts 11, 12 and the lower shaft 6 are mounted below in an intermediate plate 30, and the shaft 22, the upper shaft 7, the intermediate shafts and the shafts 4 of the middle register unit are mounted above in an intermediate plate 31, and the shaft 22, the lower swinging shaft 7, the intermediate shafts as well as the shafts 4 of the lowest register unit are mounted below in a lower plate 32. The shaft 20 as well as the shafts 4 of the uppermost register unit are mounted in an intermediate plate 33. The intermediate parts of the middle register unit and the latter 'shafts 4 are mounted below in an intermediate plate 34, and the intermediate parts as well as the shafts 4 of the lowest register unit are mounted above in an intermediate plate 35. All of the plates are connected by means of stay bolts 36 to form a solid mounting frame, at the front of which the dial is fixed which in its turn is fixed in the usual way in the meter.

The swinging shafts 6 and 7 of the two change-over points of the registering mechanism are: each mounted at the ends opposite to each other in a swivel arm 37 which can be made to turn about a fixed point in the mounted frame and which bears, under the pull of a spring 38, against a pin 39 of an arm 40 and 41 of a three-armed lever 40, '41, 42. The arm 42 of this threearmed lever is acted on oppositely by a spring 43 and a relay magnet 44, and a stop 45 serves to fix the position of a lever 40, 41, 42 when the relay is de energizcd.

Patented June 2, 195.9.

When the magnet 44 is tie-energized, the spring 43 maintains the upper swinging shaft 6 or 7 in engagement with the gears 15, 17 or 23, 25, while the swivel arm 37 of the lower swinging shaft 6 or 7 keeps the latter disengaged from the gears 16, 13 or 24, 26. When the relay is energized, its magnet 44 attracts the arm 42 and the coupling is reversed by the upper swinging shaft 6 (7) being disengaged from the gears 15, 17 (23, 25), and the lower swinging shaft 6 (7) engaging with the gears 16, 18 (2'4, 26).

Briefly, the action of the multiple tariff meter described with reference to Figure 2, in which two coupling gear are indicated in the neutral position, is such that if for example the relay of the first change-over point of the counting mechanism is de-energized the uppermost register unit is engaged with the drive shaft of the meter, i.e., the gears 15, 17 are engaged in each other, whereas the gears 16, 18 are disengaged. Thus the middle and lowest register units are cut out.

When the relay of the first change-over point is energized and the relay of the second change-over point deenergized the first relay engages the gears 16, 18 with each other and simultaneously disengages the gears 15, 17, however the second relay leaves the gears 23, in the'engaged position whereas the gears 24, 26 are disengaged. Thus the drive shaft 13 of the counter is engaged by means of the shaft 22 and the gears 27 with the middle register unit while the other register units are idle.

If the first relay remains energized and the second relay is also energized, the shaft 22 remains engaged with the drive shaft 5 of the meter, but is operatively connected by the gears 24, 26 with the lowest register unit, and simultaneously the middle register unit is disconnected. The transmission of motion is therefore now effected by the drive shaft 5 of the meter to the lowest register unit.

The arrangement of the relays with reference to the connection of register units might also be such that when the lower register mechanism is coupled no relay is energized, when the relay of the second change-over point is energized the middle register is coupled, and when the relay of the first change-over point is energized the uppermost register mechanism is coupled. This avoids the simultaneous excitation of both relays in the course of the reversal of the register mechanism.

The construction of a multiple tariff counter mechanism having only vertical shafts and figure carriers in one plane, oflfers the advantage that the register mechanism can be restricted to a small volume and can simultaneously be kept small in itself and with reduced friction, that coupling faults are reduced as much as possible and the figures can be large in spite of the reduced dimension. Moreover, with only a single variable transmission serving for the adaptation of the transmission ratiobetween the drive gear of the meter and the mechanism a ready interchangeability of the transmission is attained.

The vertical arrangement offers in itself a reduction of 4 friction in the bearings. It makes moreover possible a further reduction through the diminished dimension of thickness and length, to which also contributes the fact that the figure carriers are made in the form of drums which, low in weight, render possible the use of figures of large dimensions. The reduction of coupling faults results from the change-over arrangement close behind the interchangeable transmission, and this change-over arrangement may, where the present invention is used in a double tariff mechanism, which has only two register units, be situated directly behind the variable transmission. The use of a single variable transmission directly behind the drive shaft of the meter diminishes the number of shafts in the register mechanism and simplifies and facilitates the change of transmission through the method of mounting of the transmission gears.

As indicated before, the form of embodiment of the meter according to the invention which has been described only by way of example and the number of register units may be varied.

What is claimed is:

A multiple rate meter having a registering mechanism including a plurality of registers with their shafts and figure carrying members, gearing interconnecting all of said shafts, a driving shaft driven by a metering element, and a plurality of shafts between the driving shaft and registers carrying engageable and disengageable gear means whereby one or another of the registers may be selectively driven from the metering element, all of the shaft members of the register being substantially vertically mounted in a single plane and the driving shafts and other shafts between the driving shaft and the register shafts being mounted behind said plane, said engageable and disengageable gear means comprises a three-armed lever control, a pair of swinging shafts at a change-over point intermediate of the driving shaft and the registering mechanism, two arms of the lever each acting on a swivel lever serving as hearing for a swing shaft and a third arm being under the counter-rotating influence of a spring and a relay magnet, so that when the magnet is deenergized the pull of the spring engages one swinging shaft and disengages the other swinging shaft, and when the magnet is energized the spring is overcome and the reversal of the coupling is effected.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 409,649 Pforzheimer Aug. 20, 1889 548,419 Barstow Oct. 22, 1895 631,343 Thomson Aug. 22, 1899 1,732,689 Marden Oct. 22, 1929 1,805,665 Hough May 19, 1931 1,997,743 Pudelko Apr. 16, 1935 2,531,448 Lingenfelder Nov. 28, 1950 2,667,735 Solari Feb. 2, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 114,720 Switzerland Apr. 16, 1926

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