Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'

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Measuring Faucet
Measure large amounts of water easily.
  (+14, -1)(+14, -1)
(+14, -1)
  [vote for,
against]


The Measuring Faucet is a faucet that can measure the flow of water and control it. For instance, to fill up a pot with 10 cups of water (or its metric equivalent), you dial in the number and hit Start. It will turn on the water until 10 cups of water have gone through. A cheaper alternative is also available, simply an attachment that measures how much water goes through your faucet. It can be reset to zero when you are done filling the pot.

This would be useful because you wouldn't have to fill a measuring cup multiple times and dump it in the pot, but simply stick the pot in the sink and hit start.

-----, Oct 29 2005

A turbine or impeller based flow meter http://www.cox-instrument.com/ptf.html
Probably expensive. Has anyone ever heard of centistokes before? [bristolz, Oct 29 2005]

Some totalizer controllers http://www.cox-instrument.com/
You can set an amount to deliver with these. [bristolz, Oct 29 2005]

Japanese patent 2005048565 http://v3.espacenet...DX=JP2005048565&F=0
this device is equipped with a discharge water volume target setting means which determines the discharge volume target value [xaviergisz, Oct 30 2005]



Annotation:







       There’s dispensing equipment like this in the chemical industry, but they work off a scale that the container sits on. How does yours work?

ldischler, Oct 29 2005
  

       Probably a spinny wheel, like an odometer.   

       Problem is that this won't work perfectly, because water often has air bubbles in it in the pipes, which will contribute to volume discrepancies.   

       [+] for thinking about it, though. It's good enough for cooking, I guess.

shapu, Oct 29 2005
  

       [+] For the cheaper alternative. Very useful kitchen gadget.

wagster, Oct 29 2005
  

       Precision flow transducers and proportional (solenoid or stepper) valves like those used in liquor delivery systems can likely work in this application. Some software and control circuitry to support the UI and valve are needed and, I assume, constitute the invention here.   

       The interesting design challenge here is what form does the UI take? Screen or touch-screen based? Buttons? Spinner-selectors...?   

       Also, I imagine that you'd need a way to quickly tell the system what units of measurement you want. Ounces, Cups, Pints, Quarts, Gallons and liters? Will you need some way of easily setting fractional or mixed-fractional amounts? A lot of challenges to make this easy and intuitive. Also an emergeny shut-off is probably needed.   

       You could even have the valve ease the flow on at the beginning and off at the end to help prevent splashing.

bristolz, Oct 29 2005
  

       pleese, can this guy get a name?   

       I cannot talk to a row of dots.

po, Oct 29 2005
  

       What difference does that really make?

bristolz, Oct 29 2005
  

       Maybe [po] moves her lips when she's typing.
[Runs and hides.]

angel, Oct 29 2005
  

       mebbe angel has a point - <boom>   

       ... --- ...

po, Oct 29 2005
  

       Just down the street from me there's this joint named Texaco, and they have a whole bunch of pumps outside that have displays showing to the nearest 0.001 gallons, although I think that's just to make fools like me think there's still some of that fluid flowing while the dollar digits dance.   

       I have to think the technology is available, but maybe a bit pricey.

lurch, Oct 29 2005
  

       The question is how do we refer to him/her [-----] when gossiping over the phone?

Make it simple so it isn't constantly breaking down and mom-and-pops restaurants can afford it. Wish I had thought of this one.

jscottpete, Oct 30 2005
  

       Well... you could pronounce the name as "Hyphens," or "Dasher."

Comet? Vixen?

bristolz, Oct 30 2005
  

       I always assumed [-----] was just shorthand for [dash-it-all]

jurist, Oct 30 2005
  

       I think he's called Quintus Marcus.

lurch, Oct 30 2005
  

       Absolutely dashing.

jscottpete, Oct 30 2005
  

       Morse, is that you?   

       //simply an attachment that measures how much water goes through your faucet//   

       An easy way, admittedly with a small error, is to regulate the flow so that you get 1 cup per second when the faucet (tap) is fully open. Then simply count one-thousand and one, one thousand and two etc.

Ling, Oct 30 2005
  

       4 buttons on the handle. On the right on red button on the left one blue button for cold. One button that opens the valve and is larger than the others and place centrally. The 4th button selects measuring unit, and quantity.

Antegrity, Oct 30 2005
  

       One button to set the units and the quantity? You must design alarm clocks.

bristolz, Oct 30 2005
  

       Naahh... one clickable dial (maybe a multi-functional faucet control knob) and an oled display. Dial to select units - click - then dial to select quantity and click to start. Some microwaves and a certain mp3 player do this already.

Dog, Oct 30 2005
  

       good idea

sleeka, Oct 30 2005
  

       Just being the voice that says "and the russians used a pencil".   

       But a scale (and a thromometer and water density chart if you're that anal about it) would do the job just as well, if you tare your vessel first and put the water in carefully.   

       But I agree with whoever said it that having it turn the water on and off would be pretty spiffy albiet complicated.

jong-scx, Oct 31 2005
  

       [Bris] Centistokes is a real-world useful value for viscosity (water has a viscosity of around 1.0 centistokes.)   

       I came across the term while looking for wacky wallwalkers. (q.v.)

csea, Oct 31 2005
  

       How about a turnable disk with a knob on top with various sized orifices? Select your unit-per-second with the proper orifice, then count locomotives as [ling] suggests. A simple timer and selenoid shutoff valve could regulate how many of selected units are dispensed. For greater accuracy, a pressure regulating valve would be required upstream of the whole apparatus to provide consistant pressure to the orifice.

wittyhoosier, Dec 25 2006
  


 
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