IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGULATING GAS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Newman Rodier, of 21, Oak Village, St.
Pancras, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR REGULATING GAS."
Sealed the 22nd February 1859, and dated the 26th August 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Newman Rodier
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th August 1858.
I, SAMUEL NEWMAN RODIER, of 21, Oak Village, St. Pancras, in the County
of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGULATING GAS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for regulating
gas. For these purposes, when the apparatus is to be applied to each burner,
there is introduced a small chamber below or near the burner. The gas is
supplied to this chamber by means of a pipe, the exterior of which it is
preferred should be largest at its upper end and tapering downwards. At
the upper part of this supply pipe there are notches or openings for the gas
to pass through. Over the supply pipe is a light hollow cap, the interior of
which corresponds in form with the exterior of the supply pipe, but so much
larger in diameter as to admit of the gas flowing freely down between the
interior of the cap and the exterior of the supply pipe when the cap is resting

page_text: on the top of the supply pipe. The lower part of the cap is so formed that
when lifted by the pressure of the gas, the lower edge of the cap comes
nearer and nearer as the cap is more and more lifted to the supply pipe, and
thus reduces the size of the passage or space which is between the interior of
the cap and the exterior of the supply pipe. It is preferred, when very light
caps are used, to form the tops thereof of talc, though other materials may be
used; and in order to prevent the cap (or it may be called the supply valve,
for it regulates the supply of gas to the burner) from rising too quickly in
any sudden change of pressure, there is a chain or series of light links
or weights suspended over the cap, and these are lifted in succession as the
cap is raised by the pressure of gas. When a regulator is to be used to
regulate a series of burners, then similar apparatus is employed of larger
dimensions, according to the number of burners to which the same is to be
applied. The burner tube is fixed to the chamber by means of a screw, by
which the height to which the cap may be raised by the pressure of gas may
be regulated, or the extent of movement of the cap or valve may be otherwise
regulated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Newman Rodier in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 26th February 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
NEWMAN RODIER, of 21, Oak Village, St. Pancras, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Samuel .Newman Rodier, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel
Newman Rodier, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such other's
as I, the said Samuel Newman Rodier, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGULATING GAS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel Newman Rodier, my

page_text: executors or administrators, by an instrument 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 immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Newman Rodier, do hereby.
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:―
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for regulating
gas. For these purposes, when the apparatus is to be applied to each burner
there is introduced a small chamber below or near the burner. The gas is
supplied to this chamber by means of a pipe, the exterior of which it is
preferred should be largest at its upper end and tapering downwards. At the
upper part of this supply pipe there are notches or openings for the gas to
pass through. Over the supply pipe is a light hollow cap, the interior of
which corresponds in form with the exterior of the supply pipe, but so much
larger in diameter as to admit of the gas flowing freely down between the
interior of the cap and the exterior of the supply pipe when the cap is resting
on the top of the supply pipe. The lower part of the cap is so formed that
when lifted by the pressure of the gas, the lower edge of the cap comes nearer
and nearer as the cap is more and more lifted to the supply pipe, and thus
reduces the size of the passage or space which is between the interior of the
cap and the exterior of the supply pipe. It is preferred, when very light caps
are used, to form the tops thereof of talc, though other materials may be used;
and in order to prevent the cap. (or it may be called the supply valve, for it
regulates the supply of gas to the burner) from rising too quickly in case of
any sudden change of pressure, there is a chain or series of light links or
weights suspended over the cap, and these are lifted in succession as the cap
is raised by the pressure of gas. When a regulator is to be used to regulate
a series of burners, then similar apparatus is employed of larger dimensions,
according to the number of burners to which the same is to be applied. The
burner tube is fixed to the chamber by means of a screw, by which the height
to which the cap may be raised by the pressure of the gas may be regulated,
or the extent of movement of the cap or valve may be otherwise regulated.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed more fully
to describe the manner of performing the same.

page_text: Figure 1 is a vertical section (about four times the natural size) of. an
apparatus for regulating gas, constructed and combined according to my
Invention. a is the burner, the form of which may be varied according to
the description of flame desired to be produced; 6 is a small chamber below,
into which the gas is supplied through the pipe or tube c, the exterior of
which is largest at its upper end. Over this pipe is placed a conical cap,
made of a ring of thin tin or other substance, closed at the top by a disc of
tale; this cap acts as a regulating valve. When this cap rests on the top of
the pipe c, the gas passes by the slits or notches at the upper end of this pipe,
thence down under the inverted cap into the chamber 6 connected with the
burner. If the pressure increases beyond that for which it is adjusted, the
cap will be raised, and the outlet passage between its lower edge and the
exterior of the conical pipe or tube will be decreased in size by the lower
edge of the cap approaching the exterior of the pipe c. d is a chain suspended
above the cap, which acts as an increasing weight as the links are pro-
gressively lifted by the top of the cap or valve. The distance through which
the cap is allowed to rise before coming in contact with the chain may be
regulated by screwing the piece x a greater or less distance into the chamber b.
Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of another arrangement, slightly differing
in form from that already described. In place of arranging the weights above
the cap in the form of a chain, one part of the weight is made in the form of
a screw bolt e, capable of working up and down in a suitable guide, and the
distance it projects downwards towards the cap can be regulated by a nut on
it, and on the lower end of the bolt is a loose weight f, so that when the cap
rises it first comes in contact with the weight f, and when it leaves this it comes
up to the end of the bolt, which, if the pressure of the gas is sufficiently high,
it also lifts, until the cap can rise no higher. As the cap rises, its lower edge
continually approaches the side of the pipe c and diminishes the space for the
passage of the gas.
Figure 3 shows another modification of the apparatus, in which the cap in
place of having weights placed over it, has a plunger g attached to it, which
is floated in mercury or other fluid within the vessel h, so as almost to balance
the weight of the cap and plunger when it is resting on the top of the pipe c,
but as it rises, the weight continually increases, the portion of the plunger g
raised out of the mercury becoming greater and greater.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner of

page_text: performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself
to the exact details described, but what I claim is, the constructing and
combining apparatus for regulating gas as herein described, and also the use
of a rising and falling cup or valve, so arranged that when it is lifted by the
pressure of the gas, its lower edge comes nearer and nearer to the supply pipe,
so as to reduce the size of the passage for the gas as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Newman Rodier, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
S. NEWMAN RODIER. (L.S.)