A flow measuring instrument which was used to measure the water flow at Cork City Council’s waterworks from circa 1930 – 1980 and alert employees of pipe leaks in the city has been painstakingly restored by Cork City Council employee, Brendan Heffernan, and his colleague, Jim Dunlea.

Cork City Council employees pictured with the restored Deacon Recording and Integrating Water Meter, L to R: Fionnuala Mitchell, Mervyn Horgan Lifetime Lab, Jim Dunlea, John O’Sullivan, Brendan Goggin, Brendan Heffernan and Pat Kerrigan.

The Deacon Recording and Integrating Water Meter was the first of its type used in the city to give accurate readings of water flow.  The instrument, consisting of mainly brass components worked with a counter weight linked by wire to a pen which drew a line on a paper chart wrapped around a drum and recorded the flow of water from the River Lee through to a distribution main.It was the first type of mechanism to give accurate readings of waterflow and is similar to that of a Grandfather Clock, having to be wound once a week.

Clockwork Detail of Flow Meter 

The restored instrument is on display at the adjacent Lifetime Lab located at the site of the city’s old Waterworks (1750s – 1950s).