AN IMPROVED MODE OF REGULATING THE SUPPLY OF GAS TO GAS BURNERS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Vincent Scully, of the City of Dublin, Esquire, and
Bennett Johns Heywood, of the same Place, Gentleman, for the Inven-
tion of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF REGULATING THE SUPPLY OF GAS TO GAS
BURNERS."
Sealed the 31st July 1855, and dated the 19th March 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Vincent Scully and Bennett
Johns Heywood at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 19th March 1855.
We, VINCENT SCULLY, of the City of Dublin, Esquire, and BENNETT JOHNS
HEYWOOD, of the same Place, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF REGULATING THE SUPPLY OF GAS TO
GAS BURNERS" to be as follows:-
The chief object of this Invention is to prevent the waste now occasioned
in burning gas in dwelling-houses by turning the burners on to the full. For
this purpose, we propose to control the amount of gas that shall be delivered.
to the burner by a check that cannot be tampered with by the servants, and
thereby to limit the supply to what is really necessary to produce the requisite
amount of illumination. To this end, we employ, in addition to the ordinary
cock, a regulating cock or tap, which we insert, by preference, in the elbow
pipe that carries the batwing, argand, or other burner; and this cock or plug
we so construct and fit, that it can only be turned by the application of a
private key (which may be termed the adjusting key).
The means employed for carrying out this Invention admits of many varia-

page_text: tions; thus, for example, a screw plug, carrying a button or valve on its end,
and having an endway motion, may be adapted to the elbow pipe, to reduce or
close the passage leading to the burner; or a simple cock may be used, when
a proper provision is made, to permit of its being turned only by the key
constructed for the purpose. Any convenient guards or protections may be 5
applied to the regulating cock or plug, to prevent ready access thereto, except
by a key suitably constructed to overcome such precautionary arrangements.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Vincent Scully and Bennett Johns Heywood in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 19th September 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,. VINCENT
SCULLY, of the City of Dublin, Esquire, and BENNETT JOHNS HEYWOOD, of the
same Place, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Vincent Scully and Bennett Johns Heywood, Her special license
that we, the said Vincent Scully and Bennett Johns Heywood, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Vincent Scully and
Bennett Johns Heywood, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "AN IMPROVED MODE
OF REGULATING THE SUPPLY OF GAS TO GAS BURNERS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Vincent Scully and Bennett Jolins Heywood, by an
instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and
seal of one of us, 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 we, the said Vincent Scully and Bennett Johns
Heywood, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing

page_text: hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say):-
The object of this Invention is to prevent the waste of gas caused by the
turning of the ordinary tap-cock on to the full on every occasion on which the
burner is required to be used. For this purpose, we control the amount of gas
that shall be delivered to any particular burner, by inserting out of sight in
the gas passage a regulator, which will limit the supply of gas to what is really
necessary to produce the requisite amount of illumination for the time being
at that burner without permanently reducing the illuminating capacity of the
burner. This regulator may consist of an ordinary tap-cock inserted in the
elbow joint or socket that carries the particular batwing, argand, or other burner
whose illuminating power is required to be controlled, and accessible only by
means of a key provided for the purpose; or a screw plug or other similar con-
trivance may be employed for determining the size of the orifice for the passage
of gas to the burner, suitable means being adopted to prevent the plug being
turned except by the application of a private key, which may be termed the
adjusting key. From this explanation it will be understood that the means
employed for carrying out this Invention may be modified in various ways;
we prefer, however, to employ the arrangements shewn in the accompanying
Drawing, as they are both simple in construction and efficient in their action.
Fig. 1 shews, in sectional elevation, one mode of determining the amount of
gas that shall pass to a gas burner. a is a portion of an ordinary gas pipe, to
the upper end of which a burner 6 is attached; c is a conical plug inserted in
a conical seat in the gas pipe, and provided with a squared head to receive a
key for turning it when required. This conical plug is pierced to allow of the
passage of the gas, and it is retained in its seat by means of a tube d, which is
screwed into the gas pipe, and made to bear against the shoulder of the plug.
If thought desirable the tube d may be soldered to the gas pipe. Projecting
from the head of the plug is a rod, over which the key has to pass before it
reaches the squared head, thereby affording an additional impediment to any
person disposed to tamper with the regulating valve or plug c.
It will be understood that the supply of gas to the burner will be at its
maximum when the bore of the plug c and of the gas pipe coincide, and that
the gas may be cut off and turned on or regulated as usual by the ordinary
gas cock; but when it is required to prevent the possibility of an unnecessary
amount of gas being supplied to the burner, the plug c is turned by the appli-
cation of the key, shewn at Fig. 2, so as to reduce the size of the gas way,
and thereby make the maximum supply of gas to the burner just suffice for
giving off the amount of light required from the burner.

page_text: Fig. 3 shews, in sectional view, another arrangement of parts for regulating
the supply of gas to gas burners. Instead of partially closing the gas way
with an adjustable plug, we apply an adjustable screw plug f directly to the
gas pipe, and attach to the plug a button g, by means of a rod h, which button,
according as it is advanced towards or moved back from a shoulder i, i, formed
within the gas pipe, will contract the gas passage, or open it to its full capacity.
The plug is screwed-into the gas pipe, and secured in its place by the tube k
being screwed tightly to the gas pipe, and, if required, soldered thereto. This
tube we close with a plate or cover l, pierced, as shewn at Fig. 4, which, while
it admits of the flat end of the key m being, inserted, and pushed up to the
screw plug and rotated with it, will afford protection to the plug, and present
considerable difficulty to its being turned by other means than by the proper
key. It will be understood that instead of this arrangement for securing the
plug from being surreptitiously turned, other means of a more complex nature
may be adopted if thought desirable.
Fig. 5 shews, in section, a screw plug, similar to that just described, inserted
in an elbow joint of a gas pipe, and in a line with the burner. The plug in
this arrangement is not provided with a button for throttling the gas way, but
the advance of the plug itself serves to effect that object. A tube k, as in the
former example, is inserted in the gas pipe in a line with the plug, in order to
form a covering for, the plug stem.
Having now set forth the nature and object of our Invention of "An
Improved Mode of Regulating the Supply of Gas to Gas Burners," and
explained the mode of carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be under-
stood that, under the above in part recited Letters Patent, we claim, the
application to gas fittings of supplementary taps or plugs for regulating
the capacity of the gas ways leading to the burners, in the manner and for
the purpose above described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Vincent Scully and Bennett Johns
Heywood, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Eighteenth day
of September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-five.
"
VINCENT
CULLY.
(L.S.)
BENNETT JOHNS HEYWOOD. (L.S.)