IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE PRESSURE OF GAS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Moss Defries, of Houndsditch, in the City of London,.
Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR REGULATING
THE PRESSURE OF GAS."
Sealed the 4th November 1859, and dated the 10th May 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Moss Defries at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th May 1859.
I, Moss DEFRIES, of Houndsditch, in the City of London, Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR REGULATING THE PRESSURE OF GAS," to be as follows:-
In order to regulate the pressure of gas in its passage from the tube to the
burner or nipple, so that the flame or light shall be fully given out, and burn
steadily without requiring regulation from the stop-cock, I construct a
chamber under the nipple or burner, in which I place two or more metal or
earthenware filtering plates; the space between these plates I fill with shot,
beads, grain, or any suitable substances of a spheroid form. The gas in its
passage from this chamber permeates through the plates and shot, causing the
latter (where the pressure of the gas is strong) to move about, and thus
cleanse the gas from impurities, leaving it to pass into and from the nipple or
burner with a uniform pressure. My improvements can be applied to argand,
fish-tail, or any description of gas burners.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Moss Defries in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
7th November 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Moss
DEFRIES, of Houndsditch, in the City of London, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Moss Defries, Her special licence that I, the said Moss Defries, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Moss
Defries, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR REGULATING THE PRESSURE OF GAS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Moss Defries, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Moss Defries, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being bad to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings
forming part of this my Specification, and to the letters of reference marked
on the Figures or Diagrams shewing similar parts in each of the Figures
respectively.
The object of my Invention is to regulate the pressure of, and in part purify,
illuminating gas in its passage from the ordinary gas pipe to the nipple of the
burner (or in some cases in its passage from the meter to its exit at the
nipple), and thereby economize the article, and lessen the objections to its
use. I am aware that the principle of checking the flow of gas in the supply
pipes, or at its exit therefrom, has been largely experimented upon, and that
various modifications of apparatus having that object have been or are pro-

page_text: tected by Letters Patent, and such have been attended with more or less
success, but all have hitherto failed (as I consider) in obtaining such a flow
or supply of gas to issue from the nipple as will burn steadily with uniformity,
and be capable of sustaining great pressure from the mains, without effect on
the flame. To render myself clearly understood, instead of using the word
"burner" to designate the whole appliance or apparatus which is screwed or
fitted on to the end of the gas supply pipe, I term the body of the apparatus
the chamber, and the part where the exit of the gas takes place, the nipple,
which latter may be of any description, bat-wing, fish-tail, or other. By the
use of my apparatus, a steady light is obtained without recourse to the
stop-cock.
The Drawing hereunto annexed exhibits five views of the gas regulator and
its parts, Figure 1 being an elevation of the whole; Figure 2, the same in
section, except the nipple a, Figure 1; Figure 3, a disc of wire gauze ;
Figure 4, perforated plate; and Figure 5, an extra plug, which can either be
fitted or left out of the combination, according to the varied pressure of gas in
the mains.
To make my apparatus, I construct a chamber between the end (nib) of
the gas supply pipe and the nipple in preference (but it may be constructed in
any portion of the pipe even close to the meter if found desirable, or more than
one chamber fitted with the parts and materials herein-after described may be
fitted in the course of the gas piping.) In this chamber (shewn in section at
Figure 2), I fit, first, a disc or plate b, of wire gauze, or of other material
capable of being perforated in a similarly minute manner; I then fill up the
chamber with a sufficient quantity of shot c, seed beads or any suitable
substances of a spheroid or semi-spheroid form or shape, but I prefer shot, as
possessing all the attributes required; I then fit in the perforated plate d,
and in some cases the extra plug e; the apparatus is now complete. The gas
being turned on, encounters in its passage from the supply pipe towards the
exit or nipple a, first the perforated plate d, which serves as a partial check;
forcing its way past this obstruction, the gas permeates among and through
the shot c, being divided, spread, and partially purified in its passage; it finally
arrives at the wire gauze disc b, and thence to the nipple a, having been so
checked and regulated in its passage as to make exit with a subdued, regular,
and uniform force, not jumping or flickering when lighted, even when the
pressure is very great from the main.
Having now described and ascertained the nature of this my said Invention,
and the manner in or by which the same is to be performed and carried into
effect, I would here observe that I do not confine myself to the precise details

page_text: herein given, or in part illustrated in the Drawing, as some variation
or modification may be requisite to suit the circumstances of particular
cases; and also that I do not claim as new, or for my exclusive use, any of
the parts (mechanical or otherwise) described or shewn, taken as parts only,
and not used in combination or for the purposes of my Invention, which I
declare to be, and I claim, the exclusive use of the combination of parts
(mechanical or other) herein-before described, and illustrated in or by the
annexed Drawing, forming when so combined "Improved Apparatus for
Regulating the Pressure of Gas."
In witness whereof, I, the said Moss Defries, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
W. E. GEDGE,
4, Wellington St., South,
Strand.
MOSS DEFRIES. (L.S.)