Summary

Type A 'Orivent' Water Meter Recorder (Serial No. 2074), made by George Kent Ltd, London, England. Geo. Kent supplied flow measurement devices for water supply and sewerage applications, boiler houses, gas and steam meters as well as engine room control equipment. The company's manufacturing works were in Luton, England, with a branch in Perth, Western Australia. By 1922, the company claimed to have installed 7,000 flow metering units throughout the world including places such as Hong Kong, India, Japan and Argentina. In Western Australia, eight of Kent's Type A recorders were used for the Goldfields Water Supply pipeline to record flow rates. The New South Wales government also purchased the Type A recorder for use in Sydney and regional water and sewerage systems. By 1922 the Victorian agents for Kent equipment were Gibson, Battle (Melbourne) Pty Ltd of 84 William Street, Melbourne, who had opened a Melbourne branch in 1912; original having been established in Sydney in 1883.

This Type A 'Orivent' Meter Recorder was installed in the Melbourne & Metropolitan Board of Works' Spotswood Sewerage Pumping Station in 1923, as part of an upgrade to the site that involved the installation of the first electric-powered sewage pumps. It features a cylindrical recording drum around which a rectangular chart was wrapped, on which a trace was written by an ink-fille stylus, recording fluctuations in flowrate throughout a 24 hour period. The meter also recorded the integrated figure of total flow volume on a small panel with six rotary dials. The Orivent tube is a modified venturi measurement device invented by Mr Clemens Herschel of the Builders Iron Foundry in the United States of America, which senses a differential in static hydrualic pressure as the fluid being measured flows through a tapered restriction (venturi) in the pipe. The Orivent tube was less expensive than a full venturi meter device and was used where some loss of 'head' or water pressure was not critical. The recording drum was driven by a clockwork mechanism, making one full revolution every 24 hours.

George Kent Ltd supplied a range of other types of venturi recorders and rate of flow indicators to suit particular applications. The Company motto was "From Drops to Rivers".

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