The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1912-07-12
JUST LISTEN TO THIS, WILL
YOU? MANY MANY PEOPLE
TRY TO BEAT THE GAS METER!
Seems it Isn't Always the Com
pany Alone That Tries to Get
the Big End
WOMAN WANTS POINTER
Told TO Soak Red Rag in kero-
sene and Tie it Around Pipe
Tries 1t
WOMAN WANTS POINTER

The desire TO get all that's com
Ing TO one, and then a little bit more
is not confined entirely to the Detroit
City Gas Co." remarked Warren Stod
dard, city gas meter inspector, com
menting on the proposed ordinance
requiring the replacing and inspection
OF all gas meters at least once in three
years.
II have run across a good many in
stances where the consumers have
deliberately set out to defraud the gas
company by tampering with the
meters. and told a man In here the
other day right TO his face that he was
stealing gas from the COMPANY lie
didn't think | was wise 10 him ana
was complaining about having TO pay
too much for gas
A woman who complained to Stod'
dard about her gas meter being to0
fast got real confidential and asked
Stoddard IL he knew OF any way in
which she might fix" the meter SO
that il would register slow. What she
meant was that she would like TO
know some way OF beating the com
pany.
"iI tell YOU" said Stoddard, get
ting just as confidential. You go
home, take a little piece OF red tan-
nell soak II in kerosene and tie II
around this pipe, lead2g into the
meter, and, you can bet, that Will
fix it,"
Stoddard could hardly keep his face
straight as he saw the woman take IL
seriously and assure him that she
would try IT, Stoddard has no doubt
but that she did try II and found re-
suits satisfactory her imagination.
Some people have perfect supersti-
tons about how they can beat the
meter" said Stoddard II ran across
one meter where man kept a magnet
lying on top of 1t, supposing that the
magnet made the mechanism run slow
er. In another place, they had a
saucer OF water on top OF the meter
to make il 90 slow
The meter is a mystery 20 many
people About the only way you can
beat II is 10 take an AK to IT, Like all
delicate mechanisms 1t sometimes
gets out OF order and large percent
they have been used for a long time,
are found to be fast. The reason for
this Is that athe gas, entering the
meter infiates a pair OF bellows, the
bellows being Undated. sending ahead
the registering mechanism. like a
speedometer On an automobile. Now,
after many wears the bellows become
hardened and do not initiate to the
maximum, though initiating far enough
TO work the register Thus, the con-
sumner does not get a bellows full Of
gas. while the meter registers as
though he had
II once saw a meter that a clever
guy had sought 10 tainper with. He
made a small hole in the side OF the
meter box. then made a fine puncture
in the bellows A lot OF gas would
escape through the bellows and into
the pipe Leading to the stove or light
every time the bellows would be in
fated TO the registering point But
even this was not cunning enough to
evade detection, because the falling
off in CONSUMPTION immediately direct
ed suspicion 10 the meter. and an eX-
animation readily showed the defect
In other instances, consumers have
tapped the gas pipe before II entered
the meter but this is clumsy and a
meter reader would soon get on TO IT,.
you would be surprised at the num-
Der of persons who pat in hard study
on how 10 beat the meter. But my
advice Is don't because it is almost
certain YOU will be detected