Nice work!
My utility company has recently installed the 100G DLN wireless module on my gas meter (DL and LDN are the same except that the DLN has more power for fixed network reads...whatever that is).
I'd like to read the meter electronically and your solution seems to be the simplest. The option of reading it wirelessly seems more involved.
Can you provide a little more detail on how the gear rotation works to allow passage of the infrared? I see from the pictures how you have mounted it, but the details aren't entirely clear to me.
Thanks in advance!