The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1901-12-26
ABOUT GAS METERS.
WHY THESE ERRATlc INSTRUMENTS
90 NOT EXPLODE.


Happen in Case of FIRE.
The proncness Of the average news
paper reporter 10 attribute cellar con
nagrations 90 the explosion of gas me.
tors represents what appears TO be an
ineradlcoblc race trait. 30 amount OF
contradiction and no accumulation OF
proof that such an accident is an i'm.
possibility seems TO reach the news
gatherers, who go on reporting the eX-
plosion of gas meters. doubtless be-
cause the firemen have a tradition that
meters are explosive and give this ex-
planation Of every fire which they can.
not otherwise account for
For the reinsurance Of nervous peo-
pie 1t gives us pleasure to say that no
gas meter ever exploded since the
world began, and until they are made
on very different plans and contain
gas of very different composition from
that now used for Illuminating pur.
poses such an accident Is no more like
Iy to happen to them than TO milk bot
ties or salt bags.
The domestic gas meter has a more
or less well deserved reputation for
habitual mendacity, though as likely
TO lie against the gas company as for
Il; but 1t has never done anything TO
warrant the suspicion that It Is liable
co go off with bang. 1t is a tin box
OF a little less than one cubic foot
capacity, put together with soldered
seams and japanned.
Into and through II passes the gas.
which enters through the service pipe
connecting the main with the house.
usually of half an inch diameter. 1t
has very little capacity for gas storage,
and is not strong enough TO carry gas
under a greater compression than, say,
half a pound per square inch. More
than this would bulge its sides. In
point of fact the pressure of gas I'm
meters Is rarely more than enough to
balance column of water two or three
inches high.
If a gas meter Is exposed TO great
heat from external fire. nothing very
serious happens. The soldered seams
will probably melt. allowing the gas
TO escape. This gas is not explosive,
however 1t becomes so only when
mixed with air in certain definite pro-
portions.
Should this admixture exist in a
meter, which is almost impossible. its
shell Is not strong enough 10 offer any
great resistance. and should an eX-
plosion occur by reason Of fire reach
ing this admlXture OF gns and air the
meter would be wrecked. but it is
doubtful of any other damage would
result. None has been wrecked from
this cause.
II the seams of the meter are opened
by the melting of the solder or by frac-
tGre from accident, the gas within it
: would escape, and. If 1t had the chance,
burn. outside the meter II might have
opportunity to form the explosive mix
ture with air and do some damage.
What actually happens in the case
of fires attributed to the explosion Of
gas meters is usually this: Gas which
has leaked from defective pipes or
worked into the cellar from broken or
defective street mains accumulates in
pockets formed by rafters and else
where and remains there until ii comes
in contact with an accidental fire
of some sort. A fire starts in the eel
lar and the temperature gradually rises
until the smolderlng rubbish bursts in
10 fame. This reaches the mixture of
gas and air along the ceiling and an
explosion follows.
The meter. naturally enough, IS
thrown down and probably torn from
its connections, and the conclusion is
reached that, instead of being the vic
tim of the accident. the inotrensive me-
ter is the cause of all the trouble and
has INDUCED its inherent propensity to
set the house afire after lifting 1t from
its foundations.
1t Is perfectly safe generafasuoD
that the gas which makes trouble In
cellars is wholly outside the meter and
never inside of It. Grindstones some
times explode with fatal results in saw
factories, but the excellent old lady
who, after reading of such an accident
and recalling that there was an old
grindstone I'm one corner of the cellar
which had been there twenty years,
hired a couple of tramps to carry II to
the extreme corner of the garden and
pour water on It for an hour. mean
while giving thanks that 1t had not
blown herself and family into eternity
"unbeknownst to any Of u.s." was of
the type of those who. through fear OF
gas meter explosions, are all their life
Ntime subject to nervous chills.
There is rot a gas meter In use under
which il would not be perfectly safe
TO build bonfire, provided, of course
there was not quantity of gas out
side of It which the same fire could
reacb,-New York Times.