Historical origin of water meters

Since the discovery of the truly instrumented balance tank water meter in 1825 in the United Kingdom, the development of water meters has been nearly two hundred years old. China's water meter use and production started late. In 1879, Li Hongzhang set up the first water plant in China for the operation of the Navy. In 1883, the British colonialists established a second water plant in Shanghai, and the water meter began to enter China. With the construction of water plants in some coastal cities, by the time of the 20th century, Shanghai Guanghua Machinery Factory (now the predecessor of Shanghai Guanghua Instrument Factory) imported parts from abroad to produce water meters. For a long time, water meters in countries such as Britain, France, and Germany have always occupied the Chinese water meter industry. These water meters with different varieties and specifications have brought different water meters to the water company due to different standards and parts. Great difficulty.

 

After the liberation in 1949, with the development of urban water supply, China's water meter industry has also developed accordingly. Since 1955, Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Nanjing, Wuhan, Guangzhou and other urban water companies have started to produce water meters. In the early 1980s, the water meter industry was organized by the Shanghai Industrial Automation Instrumentation Institute of the Ministry of Machinery Industry. According to the requirements of ISO4046, the international standard for water meters at the time, a water meter with a national design of eight-pointer and integral impeller was introduced for small-diameter water meters. . The unified design and plasticization of water meter parts have created favorable conditions for the professional production of water meters, greatly promoted the progress and development of China's water meter industry, and met the development needs of the growing urban and rural tap water industry. In the 1990s, China's economic construction continued to develop at a high speed, and the water meter industry also developed rapidly. The number of enterprises and total output both more than doubled. At the same time, various smart water meters and water meter reading systems began to rise.