Meter register and drive mechanism therefor

Claim 1

IN A FLUID METER HAVING A METER HOUSING, A REGISTER ASSEMBLY ADAPTED TO BE FIXED TO SAID METER HOUSING AND COMPRISING A MULTI-COMPONENT REGISTER CASING DELIMITING A CONFINED SPACE, AND A LOW TORQUE REGISTER MECHANISM STRUCTURAL DISTINCT FROM SAID REGISTER CASING AND MOUNTED IN SAID SPACE SOLELY ON ONLY ONE OF THE COMPONENTS OF SAID REGISTER CASING, SAID LOW TORQUE REGISTER MECHANISM COMPRISING: AN INDICATING POINTER, A PLURAL ORDER COUNTER MECHANISM INCLUDING A SERIES OF COUNTER WHEELS OF DIFFERENT ORDERS AND A COMMON SHAFT FOR SAID WHEELS, A SPEED REDUCING GEAR TRAIN INCLUDING A PLURALITY OF PARALLEL SHAFT WITH GEAR CLUSTERS EACH INCLUDING A RELATIVELY LARGE DRIVEN AND RELATIVELY SMALL DRIVE GEAR JOURNALLED THEREON AND OPERATIVELY CONNECTED IN SAID GEAR TRAIN, AN INPUT PINION AND AN OUTPUT SHAFT FOR SAID GEAR TRAIN, A PAIR OF SPACED SUPPORTING MEMBERS RIGIDLY CONNECTED TOGETHER, SOME OF SAID PARALLEL SHAFTS BEING MOUNED SOLELY ON AND FIXED AT ONE END TO ONE OF SAID MEMBERS AND THE REMAINDER BEING MOUNTED SOLELY ON AND FIXED AT ONE END TO THE OTHER OF SAID MEMBERS WITH SAID FRAME MEMBERS COOPERATING WITH EACH OTHER TO AXIALLY RETAIN SAID RELATIVELY LARGE DRIVEN AND SAID RELATIVELY SMALL DRIVE GEARS ON THOSE SHAFTS FIXED ON ONE OF SAID MEMBERS, TWO OF SAID GEAR CLUSTERS BEING INTERCHANGEABLE TO ALTERNATE THE GEAR TRAIN VELOCITY RATIO BETWEEN TWO DIFFERENT VALUES TO CAUSE FLOW THROUGH SAID METER TO BE REGISTERED IN ALTERNATE ONES OF TWO UNITS OF MEASUREMENT, MEANS SUPPORTING SAID COMMON SHAFT BETWEEN SAID PAIR OF SPACED MEMBERS, AND A DRIVE CONNECTION BETWEEN SAID OUTPUT SHAFT, SAID INDICATOR POINTER AND SAID COUNTER MECHANISM.