The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1901-12-18
ABOUT GAS METERS.
WHY THESE ERRATlC INSTRUMENTS
DO NOT EXPLODE

to Happen 30 Them Than to Milk
Bottles or Salt Bags-VVnat Does
Happen ia Case of Fire.
The proneneSS Of the average news
paper reporter to attribute cellar con-
tlagrations to the explosion Of gas me-
ters represents what appears to be ali
ineradicable race trait. No 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 fremen have tradition that
meters are explosive and give this eS-
planation of every fire which they call
not otherwise account for.
For the reinsurance Of nervous peo'
pie it 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
lv TO happen to them than 20 milk bot
ties or salt bags.
The domestic gas meter has more
or less well deserved reputation FOL
habitual mendacity. though as likely
to lie against the gas company as fol-
It: but it has never done anything t'
warrant the suspicion that it is liable
to 20 off with Q bang. 1t is tin boz
of a little less than one cubic foot
capacity. put together With soldered
seams and japanped.
Into and through it passes the gas
which enters through the service pipe
connecting the main with the house
usually of half an inch diameter. II
has very little capacity for gas storage
and IS not strong enough 10 carr! gas
under 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 II
meters IS rarely more than enough tc
balance a column of water TWO or three
inches high.
If gas meter is exposed 10 great
heat from external Gre. nothing very
serious happens. The sodered seams
will probably melt. allowing the gas
to escape This gas is not explosive
however. It becomes so only when
mixed with air in certain definite pro
portions.
Should this admixture exist In a
meter, which is almost impossible. its
she'll is NOT strong enough 10 offer any
great resistance. and should an eS
plcsion occur by reason Of fire reach
ing this admixture Of gas and air the
meter would be wrecked. but it is
doubtful of any other damage would
result. None has been wrecked from
this cause.
If the seams of the meter are opened
by the melting of the solder or by trac
ture from accident. the gas within II
would escape. and. if it had the chance
burn Outside the meter it 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 OF
worked into the cellar from broken OF
defective street mains accumulates IN
pockets formed By rafters and else
where aud relrains there until it comes
In contact with an accidental lire
of some sort. 4 fire starts in the Gel
lar and the temperature gradually rises
until the smoldering rubbish bursts III
TO fame. This reaches the mixture OF
Gas and air along the ceiling and al
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 uoffensive me-
Ter is the cause of al! the tro"ble and
has iudulged its inherent propensity TO
set the house afire after lifting it from
its foundations.
It is q perfectly safe generalization
that the gas which makes trouble u
cellars is wholly outside the meter and
never inside Of it. Grindstones soma
times explode with fatal results in 81 W
factories, but the excellent old lad7
who, after reading of such an accident
and recalling that there WAS an clH
crindstone in one correr OF the cellar
which had been tl:ore twenty. years,
hired couple OF traDps to carry II to
the extreme corner OF the garden ano
pour wctcr on it for an hour. mean
while giving thanks that It 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
time subject to pervous chills;
There is not a gas meter in use under
which it would not be perfectly safe
to build a bonfire. provided. of course,
there was not quantity OF gas out,
side Of it which the same fire coulo
| reach.-New York Times.