Fluid handling apparatus

Jan. 30, 1940. c. r. houghton 2,188,752

FLUID HANDLING APPARATUS

Filed Jan. 12, 1938

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Patented Jan. 30, 1940

2,188,752

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,188,752

FLUID HANDLING APPARATUS

Carl R. Houghton, Connersville, Ind., assignor to Roots-Connersville Blower Corporation, Connersville, Ind., a corporation of Indiana

Application January 12, 1938, Serial No. 184,508

Claims. (Cl. 121—70)

This invention relates to fluid handling apparatus and more particularly to gas meters and gas pumps and the like.

One object of the invention is the provision of 5 a fluid handling apparatus, such as gas meter or gas or vacuum pump or the like, in which the material is handled by a plurality of interfitting impellers rotatable in an impeller casing, the arrangement being such that the discharge of 1® material takes place substantially horizontally and in such manner that liquid or heavy material is cleaned from the bottom of the impeller chamber.

Another object of the invention is the provision M of a fluid handling apparatus embodying a lower impeller having at least three lobes, intermeshing with an upper impeller, the bottom of the impeller casing extending substantially horizontally to an outlet opening from a point below the axis 20 of rotation of the three-lobe impeller.

Another object of the invention is the provision of an impeller for fluid handling apparatus, the rolling surface of the impeller being formed of a number of separate curved metal plates welded 25 together and to supporting ribs which project from a carrying shaft.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description, the appended claims, and the accompanying <>q drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view of a fluid handling apparatus embodying the present invention, taken centrally of an impeller chamber on line I—I of Fig. 2;

₃₅ Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2—2 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3—3 of Fig. 1.

Referring more particularly to the drawing by reference numerals, 10 generally designates the 4₀ casing of a fluid handling apparatus such as a gas meter or gas or vacuum pump or the like, and herein shown as a gas meter which measures or meters the flow of gas by counting mechanism operated by intermeshing impellers ii and 45 12 which operate in the impeller chamber 13. The casing preferably comprises end members 15 and 16 and the body member 17, interconnected by bolts or other suitable fastening means so as to provide the impeller chamber 13. At an upper 50 portion of the body member 17, and preferably at a lateral side of the meter is an inlet opening 18 through which the gas is supplied to the impeller chamber 13. At the opposite side of the meter is a horizontally extending outlet opening 55 i 9 provided near the bottom of the casing.

The impellers ii and 12, as herein shown, are lobed intermeshing members having rolling surfaces which interfit one another, these surfaces preferably being involute curves. The lower im60 peller has more than two lobes, and the upper impeller may have two or more lobes, the number of lobes of the upper impeller being preferably one less than the number of lobes of the lower impeller. With three lobes or more on the lower impeller, the curved side wall 20 over which 5 the ends of the impeller i2 sweep near the lower portion of the casing may be continued substantially horizontally and tangentially by the bottom wall portion 21 to the outlet opening 19, the latter being arranged at one side of the meter. 10 With such a construction any liquid passing into the meter with the gaseous medium measured will be promptly cleaned at the bottom of the impeller casing, preventing the possibility of an accumulation of liquid in the meter. A liquid 15 accumulation in a meter that has been shut down over an appreciable length of time, especially if the liquid is heavy, or thick, blocks the impeller and prevents its rotation when the gas is turned on, and is quite objectionable, so it has been the 20 practice to arrange the outlet opening of a lobed impeller type of meter so that the discharge takes place in a downward direction from the bottom of the meter, the meter being arranged on supports or piers and the discharge pipe extending downwardly from the center of the meter base ²⁵between these piers. The arrangement as herein set forth, however, provides a horizontal discharge of the metered fluid while preventing the possibility of an accumulation of a liquid taking place within the meter, since any liquid carried “^ualong into the meter by the flow of gas will drain freely from the tip of the impeller and be carried by the impeller tip to a point from which the liquid may flow horizontally to the outlet openuv mg.

The impeller 11 is provided on a shaft 23 which is rotatably mounted, preferably by means of antifriction bearings 24 and 25 in the end members 15 and 16 of the casing, similar bearings 26 and 27 supporting the shaft 28 of the impeller ⁴12 which is below the impeller ii. To provide for the proper timed operation of the two impellers, the shafts 23 and 28 are provided with timing gears 30 and 3 i, intermeshing with one 5 another and operating in the gear chamber 32 at one side of the impeller chamber. One of the shafts 23 or 28 is provided with a suitable counting device 33 indicating or counting the revolutions of the shaft and thus giving an indication of the amount of gas metered. It will be under- ⁶stood that the pressure of the gas supply may be utilized for turning the impellers in the impeller chamber, or the impellers may be positively driven in any suitable manner as desired. ₅₅

The gears 30 and 31 are preferably provided with teeth having quite long addendum with only enough clearance at the bottom of the teeth to allow free passage of a mating tooth. These gears may be of the character described, for ex3,188,752 ample, in Wilkin Patent 1,646,373, October 18, 1927.

Each of the impellers 11 and 12 is preferably constructed of metal plates, of steel or the like, integrally connected to one another and to its supporting shaft by welded connections. As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the impeller I ί is formed of curved metal plates 35, 36, 31 and 38 which; define the rolling surface of the impeller, each of these plates forming a part of the waist and one-half of a lobe, the outer ends of the adjacent plates having a welded connection to one another as indicated at 39, and the waist portions of these plates being welded to one another and to the shaft 23 as indicated at 40. The weld lines 39, which extend parallel to the shaft axis where the impeller is straight,. and which extend at a helical angle where a spiral impeller is employed, preferably project beyond the ends of the curved plates to form a hard seal member at the tip of the impeller lobes where the impeller sweeps across the curved wall of the impeller chamber. The curved plates 35 to· 38 are welded as indicated at 43 to· supporting transversely extending rib plates 4i and 42, and. the latter are welded at their inner ends, as indicated at 44, to the shaft 23. By constructing the impellers of welded steel plates, instead of making them in the usual manner as metal castings, a very desirable construction is provided, as the impeller may be made of light weight with the rolling surfaces of the impeller, which must be accurately made, formed quite economically and accurately in curved plate sections suitably formed to the required shape, and integrally connected to one another and to the supporting ribs,; and welded at the tips of the lobes to provide a hard wear strip extending along the portion of the impeller which engages or sweeps along the curved surface of the impeller chamber.

The impeller 12 is also constructed of curved plate portions 45, each forming a part of the waist and a half of a lobe, the plate portions being welded together as indicated at 46 and welded to· radial rib members 48 and to transverse rib plates 49 along their lines of contact. The radial plate members 48 and the rib plates 49 are preferably flat steel plates welded to one another along their lines of contact, and welded to the shaft 28.

While the form of apparatus herein described constitutes a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to this precise.form of apparatus, and that changes may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention which is defined in the appended claims.