Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-02-13
Taken by State Inspector William NJ.
Ramsey, and the Results That
He Reports Obtained.
THEY'LL REGISTER CORRECTLY,
Despite the Fact That the Consumer of Gas
Is So Loudly Blaming Them
for Heavy Bills.
WIND WILL MAKE THE HANDS REVOLYE
Mr cumnrs Shows the Necessity of Care With Natural
Gas Near Mines.

"There is nothing used that is so fairly
weighed or measured as gas by meter" was
the emphatic reply made by William RAM
sey. the State Gas Meter Inspector. yester-
! day.
Mr.. Ramsey was sitting in his Office. ar
| Ill Water street, when he said this, and in
| reply to the reporters questionable smile,
! he continued:
THE meter is unpopular because it tells
| the truth at all times and under all circum-
stances. The Philadelphia Company has
\ 1000 meters, which are $1,000 witnesses to
| prove or disprove my assertion. When the
Philadelphia Company adopted the meter
system 1t left the measuring capacity OF the
meters to the State Meter Inspector. The
company knows nothing about their meas
aring capacity, except what is told them by
myself The meters have upon them the
badge, as it were, of the Inspectors office.
They cannot be changed, or made to register
falsely, without tampering with the seal, and
that can be Immediately detected"
The Law in England Is Custom Here.
Mr.. Ramsey remarked that the reporter
might think he was making some very strong
assertions. and upon being assured that it
was big contract to be responsible for the
truth-telling of u 600 meters, said again:
"Now, right here will say that in Eng
land there is a law by which the meter may
register per cent against the supplier of
gas, and per cent against the consumer
In other words, it is considered a legal
meter when it does not register more than
per cent slow, or per cent fast. We have
no such law here, but custom makes the
same rule apply"
But how about the meters registering
wind?" was asked Mr.. Ramsey.
That" he replied, ''is something with
which have nothing to do. Ny purpose is
simply to tell you that the meters ale all
right If there is wind in the pipes instead
of gas, then tine wind will be registered
However, that is outside nv line. l guar
antee that the meters are in perfect condi-
tion. All meters are tested with wind
Many Meters Now Being Tested.
Mr.. Ramsey went on to say that when
there were disputes between the gas COM
panies and the consumers the meters were
taken out and brought to him. He said that
yesterday the Allegheny Heating Company
had brought to his Office five meters the con-
sumers having insisted that they
had been charged for more gas
than had been burned. The
names of the consumers, all of whom are AL
leghenians, and the result of the examina-
ton, are appended:
E. H. Connolly, 179 Robinson street, West
ticular; Mr.. Brokeband, Fleming avenue, West
inghouse meter, . per cent slow; j. T. Speer, %
Race street. ID. Mcdonald & Co.'s meter 2 per
cent fast; NJ. Wirth, 249 CHARTERS street. D. Nc
Donald & Co.'S meter, per cent fast: o. c. Tay-
tOr, l36 Beaver street, Goodwin Gas Company's
meter. per cent fast. All of these complaints
came within the per cent allowances
But what is all this kicking based upon Mr.
RamSey?" was asked.
u am sure don't know" he replied, Except
that the faults not with the meters There
may be careless counting of the Iueters but of
that know nothing. There is too much gas
wasted. If people want to use gas as fuel
they should get the most approved appliances
To my mind the meter is the first step toward
preventing 4 waste of this fuel"
Mr.. Ramsey said that fully l000 of the West
inghouse meters had been sent back to him for
inspection. and out of that number only two
had been found to be in any way defective In
both cases it was found that the fault was not
with the meters, but with the men who had
pie, and the fault was at once corrected
Speaking of the meter in his own residence.
he said that it had never been out of order nd
that the quantity he burned was registered
correctly.
Some More of the Big Bills.
In spite of this confidence in the correctness
of the meter, many cases continue to crop I'D
wherein the increase of late in natural Gas bills
has been enormous. w. G. Kaufman. of "a
Mclean avenue, yesterday exhibited the bill
for the past month. just received BY him.
During that time he used four loads OF coal in
an endeavor TO coax gas through the pipes in
his house. He has but three CRATES fitted IN
for gas, yet his bill was SIS q for 30 DAYS. He
added that. though rather steep, it was not
much larger than it had been for some time.
For how long a timer he WAS asked
Ever since there was such a shortage of
gas" he replied. Indeed it seems that the
less heat we are able to get from the gas COM
pany the more they charge for it,
1T is said" he was told, that mistakes are
sometimes made in reading the melers"
There is no need of anyone being deceived
that way" was the response. "Anybody can
easily read meter. That is, anyone who can
read any row of figures from left to right"
Inspector Ramsey has in his office several
meters through which the gas burned in the
building flows In testing there is used what
would look to an outsider like a large highly
polished coffee boiler. such as are seen in first
class restaurants. The pressure in this is
shown upon a scale. Connection is made with
the meter to be tes.ed by means of a rubber
tube. Then a valve is opened and the air or
gas, as may be, is turned on. AS iU passes from
the larger meter to the smaller the quantity is
registered upon The scale, and If the meter
being tested registers the same figures il is in
perfect condition. If not. it is so balanced as
to tally with the larger instrument. The latter
is SO delicately adjusted that the quantity of
pressure is shown to the smallest fraction
IhRrn is daa nj o,nl,i,