Current Meter Register

Description:

In 1887, an American hydraulic engineer named Clemens Herschel described a water meter based the principle that the Italian engineer, Giovanni Battista Venturi, had articulated in the 1790s. Examples of Herschel’s meter made by the Builders Iron Foundry in Providence, R.I., were soon installed in numerous large water-works systems. Many were equipped with a mechanical registering device developed by Frederick Connet, the chief engineer of that organization, and his colleague, Walter W. Jackson.

This early example of Connet’s register is marked “VENTURI METER MANUFACTURED BY BUILDERS IRON FOUNDRY, PROVIDENCE, R. I.” A successor firm, Builders-Providence, Inc., donated it to the Smithsonian in 1957. It measures 68 inches high, 22 inches wide, 20 inches deep, and weighs 200 pounds.

In 1899, in recognition of their achievements in this regard, the Franklin Institute awarded the Elliott-Cresson gold medal to Herschel, and the John Scott legacy premium and medal to Connet and Jackson.

Ref: Frederick N. Connet and Walter W. Jackson, “Integrating Apparatus,” U.S. Patent 529,365 (1894).

Builders Iron Foundry, The Venturi Meter patented by Clemens Herschel (Providence, R.I., 1898).

"The Venturi Meter," Journal of the Franklin Institute 147 (1899): 108-145.

Date Made: ca 1900

Maker: Builders Iron Foundry

Location: Currently not on view

Place Made: United States: Rhode Island, Providence

See more items in: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences, Water Currents, Measuring & Mapping

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Credit Line: Builders-Providence, Inc.

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: PH.315197Accession Number: 214200Catalog Number: 315197

Object Name: current meter register

Measurements: overall: 68 in x 22 in x 20 in; 172.72 cm x 55.88 cm x 50.8 cmoverall: 81 in x 28 in x 31 in; 205.74 cm x 71.12 cm x 78.74 cm

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ad-b41c-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_1434252

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