Level indicator with front reading

The invention relates to a level indicator which indicates the percentage volume of liquefied gas contained in the relative tank and presents considerable advantages compared to the conventional types of such level indicators, is particular greatly facilitating the taking of readings.

It is well known that the use of tanks which have a higher capacity (generally from 500 to 5,000 litres or more) instead of the traditional liquefied gas cylinders is becoming increasingly common because the user has available a much larger reserve of liquefied gas and therefore has to replenish the stock at much longer intervals.

These tanks for liquefied gas are provided with a level indicator which is normally constituted by a rod and a float which by feedback transmission actuates the pointer of the indicator, which rotates inside a dial housed in a case, connected to the extremity of the transmission rod and attached to the outside of the tank in a position which is suitable for taking a reading.

However, since the said tanks for liquefied gas are installed in positions to which access is very difficult and are very subject to dirt and deterioration, whether located in a cellar, underground or in the open, the aforesaid case which houses the level indicator is normally protected by a plastic cover which is simply pressed down onto the case and has to be removed every time a reading of the level of the gas in the tank is taken, or the case is supplied with a cover which can be opened but which is fixed, and preferably hinged, to the body of the case. In some types of embodiments the said cover is provided with a window or lens so that the user can read the indicator without having to open the cover.

In spite of this, the disadvantage of all these types of level indicator is that they can only be read close to and, since the case housing the indicator is very often located at some considerable height, the user has to use a stool, steps or some other means of raising himself to the same level in order to take a reading. Thus the whole process becomes quite complicated, especially if, at the same time, the user has to hold an electric torch, a notebook or other things.

US-A-3 212 333 and US-A-2 371 511 disclose a level indicator for liquefied gas, actuated by a rotating rod connected to a float, comprising a body fixed to the tank and provided with an upper window for reading the upper dial, as well as a drum supported in such a way as to be able to rotate inside the body and which is caused to rotate by magnets arranged respectively at the upper extremity of the rotating rod and on the base of the drum, the indicator pointer being fixed at the top of the rotating drum. However, a rotating pointer is a very delicate instrument especially in the severe working environment of the level indicator, and the provision of another pointer for reading a lateral graduated scale would be very complex or even impossible.

DE-C-326582 discloses a level indicator provided with a graduated scale of the level of a tank on the side surface of a rotating drum which can be read through a window cut in the side of the body of the indicator, but this is a coiled spring actuated device which does not suggest and cannot be provided with a second scale on the top of the indicator case.

Therefore in the prior art the problem of having two graduated rotating scales, one to be read from above and the other from the front side with two fixed reference indexes, was neither recognized nor solved.

The present invention solves this problem by means of a level indicator with the features recited in the characterizing part of Claim 1.

The invention as claimed eliminates all these disadvantages, making it possible to take a reading of the indicator with the greatest simplicity, without the need for climbing and even at quite a considerable distance from the indicator since not only is reading made easier by the lens inserted in the window, but a spyglass or binoculars can be used to take a reading from a distance.

The invention as claimed solves the problem by the use of a rotating drum which has a dial on the top and, at the side, a repetition of the scale given on the dial, so that a frontal reading can also be taken through the window provided without the need to refer to the dial located on the top of the case which houses the indicator.

These and other characteristics, together with the advantages and the scope of the indicator according to the invention of this claim, will be made even clearer and more evident in the following detailed description of certain preferential embodiments, given purely as a non-limiting example of the scope of this invention and referring to the attached drawings, in which:

• Figure 1 is a perspective cross-section view of the indicator in accordance with the invention; and
• Figures 2A, 2B, 2C are respectively perspective cross-section views from the front and from above of one embodiment of the indicator in question, specially designed for application in the housing cases of existing level indicators.

Referring now to Figure 1 of the attached drawings, the level indicator of the invention as claimed consists of a body 1 inserted at the upper extremity of a tube 11 inside which a rod 12 rotates freely, said rod by means of an appropriate transmission rotating in proportion to the movement of the float which follows the level of the liquefied gas and being provided at its upper extremity with magnets 13 which, as will be explained later, cause the dial of the indicator to rotate.

The body 1 is mounted on the tank (not shown) with the interposition of the anchor ring 2 by means of the hexagon headed screws 10 and is closed at the top by the housing 4 which has an upper window 14 and is fixed to the body 1 by means of locking screws 6 with an interposed gasket 5.

The indicator is covered by a protective cover 3 which is pressure-applied and which must be removed every time a reading has to be taken. It could also be applied in a different way, for example, hinged to the body 1.

The internal chamber which is delimited by the body 1 and the housing 4 contains the rotating drum 7, which has the dial 8 mounted on its upper surface, so that it can normally be read through the upper window 14. The drum 7 is supported in such a way that it can rotate by means of pintles 16 and 17, at the bottom inside a seat in the slot or central spindle of the body 1 and at the top in a seat 15 provided at the centre of the window 14, in which a special glass or lens is fitted.

Magnets 9 are arranged at the bottom of the drum 7 and these are caused to rotate by the corresponding magnets 13 located at the upper extremity of the rod 12, and their degree of rotation corresponds to that of the rod 12 and, therefore, to the displacement of the float, thus causing the dial 8 to rotate and aligning the figure which indicates the level of liquefied gas contained in the tank with the reference index.

The scale of levels reproduced on the dial 8 is duplicated on the side surface of the drum 7, as represented by the reference number 18, and can be seen from the outside through a transparent window, provided with glass or a lens, which has been cut out of the front side surface of the housing 4 and/or the body 1, and is provided with a reference index for reading the value of the level.

The embodiment described up until now refers to an indicator of a new construction to be integrally applied to the tanks but the system of the invention of this claim can also be applied to indicators which already exist, merely by replacing the indicator unit contained in the housing actually in use with an indicator which is basically similar to the one already described and which will now be described in greater detail by reference to Figures 2A, 2B and 2C.

It is known that the housing cases existing today, whether of the type with a hinged cover or the type with a press-on protective cover, have a shaped seat into which the indicator unit, together with the dial and the relative pointer, is inserted and fixed.

In accordance with the second embodiment shown in Figures 2A, 2B and 2C, an indicator functioning on the principle of the invention of this claim can be inserted and fixed in the seat of the housing case.

It comprises a body 20 with side pieces 21 for fixing to the housing case (not shown) by means of screws (also not shown). The body 20 is closed by a cover 22 with an upper window 23 and a side or front window 24. Inside the chamber formed in this way there is another drum 25, which works on the same principle as the drum 7 of the first embodiment, thus it is supported by the body 20 and the case 22 respectively by freely rotating pintles 26 and 27 and rotates because of the action of the magnets 28 in the manner previously described. The dial 29 is fixed to the drum 25 and its scale is repeated on the side face 30 of the drum 25 and thus a reading can be taken through the transparent lenticular window 24 which has a reference index for reading the value.

Thus it is evident that, in all its embodiments, the level indicator according to the invention of this claim fully achieves all the set objectives and in particular permits the taking of side and front readings without having to climb or assume uncomfortable positions and even at a considerable distance.