IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS METERS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Webster, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS
METERS."
Sealed the 29th March 1866, and dated the 4th October 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said. James. Webster at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th October 1865.
I, JAMES WEBSTER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
GAS METERS," to be as follows, that is to say :-
My Invention consists of improvements in meters for registering the flow
of gas, by constructing the drums of such meters with fans, the blades of which
are fixed helically or in screw form around the centre drum or spindle.
The chamber for the induction pipe is formed at one end of the drum
instead of centrally, the eduction pipe being placed as usual.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Webster in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th April 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
WEBSTER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Webster, Her special license that I, the said James
Webster, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said James Webster, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN GAS METERS," upon the condition, amongst others, that I, the said
James Webster, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Webster, 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 had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in improvements in meters for regulating the flow
of gas, by constructing the drums of such meters with fans, the blades of
which are fixed helically or in screw form around the centre drum or spindle.
The chamber for the induction pipe is formed at the end of the drum
instead of centrally, the eduction pipe being placed as usual.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of the meter; Figure 2, a longitudinal section;
Figure 3, a transverse section on the line A, B; and Figure 4, a section of

page_text: metre, (B) the drum in which the screw (C) is fixed; (D) is a hollow
spindle hung upon the solid spindle (E), upon which is the worm (F), by
which the registering index (G) is worked through the shaft; (g), (H), is the
induction pipe by which the gas enters, and passing through the syphon (K),
enters the drum (B), and in its passage through the fans of the screw causes
the drum (B) to revolve, and thus work the hands of the index. The drum (B)
always floats in the water contained in the outer casing, and the gas passing
through the screw, and thence into the outer casing in the direction indicated
by the arrows, emerges through the eduction pipe (1). The remaining parts
of the meter, namely, the float, the valve, and the water caps are, as well as
the registering apparatus, the same as in meters of the ordinary construction.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I claim the improved construction of
gas meter drums, as before described, in which the fans or blades are
arranged helically or in screw form around a centre drum or spindle, substan-
tially as herein more fully set forth and specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Webster, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of March, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-six.