Improvements in Gas Governors.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 20th July, 1889
Complete Specification Left; 21st Apr., 1890--Accepted, 28th June, 1890)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Gas Governors.
I, AUGUSTE FERON, of 10bs Square Tussieux, Lille Mechanic do hereby declare
the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
It has been found that the working of gas governors or regulators of the kind
known as Clegg's becomes less and less perfect as the consumption of gas increases,
owing to this increase necessitating in order to satisfy the requirements of consumption,
considerable variation in the pressure of the gas leaving the works the maximum
being attained during the hours of full illumination.
In some large towns for instance in Paris, the pressure during the day is only from
20 to 25 millimetres whereas the pressure during the night varies from 25 millimetres
to 100 millimetres and Clegg's governor has not been found suitable where such
variations occur.
Now according to this invention I adapt and combine two governors of the Clegg
type to form a compound apparatus or double governor wliereby I am enabled to
obtain results such as could not be obtained with either of the two governors comprising
it employed separately.
With the compound apparatus not only is the disturbing effect of the variations in
pressure entirely obviatul but furthermore enables the consumer to reduce the
pressure coming to him from the works, to the minimum that is strictly necessary
for his requirements, and to maintain such minimum pressure constant.
The two governors composing the compound apparatus are absolutely alike the one
to the other. They are to be placed upon the gas pipe or conduit and they com-
municate with each other by it or by means of a pipe of at least equal diameter.
Each of these governors is enclosed in a cylindrical box having a cover which
protects it from injury from external influences and communicates with the air solely
by means of a very small aperture formed in the cover.
In this box which is of cylindrical form are two concentric passages of conduits,
one for the entry and the other for the exit of the gas, also an annular chamber
concentric with the two conduits and containing a liquid such as glycerine which does
not evaporate or congeal at atmospheric temperatures.
Abell is placed in the annular chamber; the liquid forms a hydraulic closure
or seal. The bell is connected by a rigid stem to a cone whose base is towards the
current of the gas, and whose apex is located in an orifice that forms the termination
of the inlet conduit for the gas.
On arriving under the bell, the gas exerts a varying force thereon which causes the
cone to rise or to descend, that is to say, which decreases or increases the supply to
the burners according as the pressure from the main increases or diminishes.
The dimensions of the two governors constituting the compound apparatus will
depend upon the number of burners to be supplied. An essential condition for the
proper working of the apparatus consists in giving to the cones and to their seats
and to the inlet and exit conduits for the gas, whilst carefully avoiding all throttling
or undue contraction, diameters at least equal to the diameter of the inlet and outlet
number of
sockets or unions of a gas meter designed to supply the same
burners.
By burner is to be understood the conventional burner used as a unit in the gas
industry and representing a consumption of 140 litres of gas per hour.
The action of the compound apparatus or "double governor
"
is as follows
The bell of the first governor is loaded to an extent such that the gas shall only
bo able to begin to lift the bell when at the maximum day pressure, that is to say
25 millimetres. As long as this limit of 25 millimetres is not reached, the bell

page_text: remains at the bottom or in its lowest position and the cone leaves the full area of
passage open, so that the gas can pass freely with undiminished pressure into the
second governor. The object of the first governor is to prevent all excess of the
night pressure above the 25 millimetres or maximum day pressure from passing into
the second governor. The bell of the second governor is made sufficiently light to
rise under a pressure of 5 millimetres for instance, and it is capable of very easily
maintaining a constant pressure of 5 millimetres, as the gas can only pass out
of the first governor and enter the second one at a pressure equal to or less than
25 millimetres.
By thus affording a means of burning the gas at a constant and very low pressure,
the compound apparatus or "double governor enables the most favourable conditions
of intensity of light and economy in consumption to be realized in illumination, since
as is well known by burning gas at the lowest possible pressure the maximum amount
of light is obtained at the minimum cost.
<
double governor
Although in forming the compound apparatus or
"I consider
it advantageous to employ governors of the Clegg type which consists of a cone
suspended from a bell moving in a liquid, and is the most simple and sensitive
governor known to me, governors of any other suitable type may be combined in pairs
according to this invention in such a manner that the first governor shall protect the
second from the disturbing action of the pressure of the entering gas and thus allow
of the employment, in the second governor, of a bell light enough to reduce the
pressure of consumption to the minimum strictly necessary for the requirements of the
consumer.
In some cases it may be found convenient to combine three or more governors
connecting together in such a manner as to obtain results similar or analogous to
those hereinabove described.
This invention may be applied to the regulation of gas whether employed for
lighting, heating, or producing motive power.
Dotal 100 TL 3000
AUG. FÉRON,
Per L. W.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Gas Governors.
I. AUGUSTE FÉRON of Square Jussien, Lille, France do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
It has been found that the working of gas governors or regulators of the kind
known as Clegg's becomes less and less perfect as the consumption of gas increases
owing to this increase necessitating in order to satisfy the requirements of consump-
tion, considerable variation in the pressure of the gas leaving the works the maximuin
being attained during the hours of full illumination.
In some large towns, for instance in Paris, the pressure during the day is only
from 20 to 25 millimetres whereas the pressure during the night varies from 25 milli-
metres to 100 millimetres and Clegg's governor has not been found suitable where
such variations occur.
Now according to this invention I adapt and combine two governors of the Clegg
type to form a compound apparatus or double governor whereby I am enabled to
obtain the greatest amount of light, with the least possible consumption of gas, a
result which could not be obtained with either of the two governors comprising it
employed separately.
With the compound apparatus not only is the disturbing effect of the variations
in pressure entirely obviated but the consumer is furthermore enabled to reduce the
pressure coming to him from the works to the minimum that is strictly necessary for
his requirements and to maintain such minimum pressure constant.
As is well known, the less the pressure at which the gas is burned, the greater

page_text: will be the amount of light produced with the same consumption of gas. By my
invention the gas can be burnt at the lowest possible pressure and the most
advantageous conditions as regards intensity of light and economy of consumption
can be obtained.
The two governors composing the compound apparatus are absolutely alike the
one to the other. They are to be placed upon the gas pipe or conduit and they
communicate with each other by it or by means of a pipe of at least equal
diameter.
A compound arrangement of two governors according to this invention is shewn in
the annexed sheet of drawings.
Each of the two governors is shewn enclosed in a cylindrical box of cast, metal,
having a cover which protects it from all external influences.
In order to obviate too abrupt movements of the working parts, that might ensue
under the influence of abrupt changes of pressure, the interior of the box is placed
in communication with the exterior solely by means of a very small opening m formed
in a metal plug screwed in the centre of the cover.
This arrangement acts as an air brake that prevents all abrupt movements and
allows the working parts of the apparatus to descend or ascend only to the same
extent as the air has time to enter or leave the space above the "bell."
The gas enters by the conduit A and passes out by the conduit B. The annular
vessel contains a liquid such as glycerine which does not evaporate nor congeal at
atmospheric temperatures.
The plug D of the level of the liquid, is so placed as to give to the liquid soal
around the bell when the latter is in its lowest position, a minimum height of 12 centi-
metres. The metal stem connecting the cone and the bell is guided by means of the
collars E cast in one with the valve seat.
is a discharge plug for letting off the water of condensation.
The dimensions of the two governors constituting the compound apparatus will
depend upon the number of buruers to be supplied. An essential condition for the
proper working of the apparatus consists in giving to the cones and to their seats
and to the inlet and exit conduits for the gas, whilst carefully avoiding all throttling
or undue contraction, diameters at least equal to the diameter of the inlet and
outlet sockets or unions of a gas meter designed to supply the same number of
burners.
*
The action of the compound apparatus or double governor " is as follows:-
The bell of the first governor is loaded to an extent such that the gas shall only
be able to begin to lift the bell when at the maximum day pressure that is to
say 25 millimetros. As long as this limit of 25 millimetres is not reached, the bell
remains at the bottom or in its lowest position and the cone leaves the full area of
passage open, so that the gas can pass freely with undiminished pressure into the
second governor.
The object of the first governor is to prevent all excess of the
night pressure above the 25 millimetres or maximum day pressure from passing into
the second governor. The bell of the second governor is provided with a float G and
constructed to rise under a pressure of 5 millimetres for instance, and it is capable
of very easily maintaining a constant pressure of 5 millimetres, as the gas can only
pass out of the first governor and enter the second one at a pressure equal to or less
than 25 millimetres.
The importance of the results capable of being thus obtained, will be understood
when it is borne in mind that a system of illumination furnished with good burners
on conduits properly dimensioned with relation to the amount of gas to be supplied
by them, is efficiently supplied at a pressure of 5 millimetres, and that it is only by
burning the gas at the lowest possible pressure that the most favourable conditions for
intensity of light and economy in consumption are attained.
For the reason that the second governor operates in a situation sheltered from the
shocks of the external or incoming pressure, the said second regulator may be made
so sensitive that it corrects instantly the slightest changes in the internal pressure

page_text: that are produced by the illumination or the extinction of, it may be even of one
single burner only.
Although in forming the compound apparatus or "double governor" I consider it
advantageous to employ governors of the Clegg type which consists of a cone
suspended from a bell moving in a liquid, and is the most simple and sensitive
governor known to me, governors of any other suitable type may be combined in
pairs according to this invention in such a manner that the first governor shall protect
the second from the disturbing action of the pressure of the entering gas and thus
allow of the employment in the second governor, of a bell light enough to reduce the
pressure of consumption to the minimum strictly necessary for the requirements of
the consumer.
In some cases it may be found convenient to combine 3 or more governors
connected together in such a manner as to obtain results similar or analogous to
those hereinabove described.
This invention may be applied to the regulation of gas whether employed for lighting,
heating, or producing motive power.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
In the regulation of gas supply the combined use of two or more governors
through each of which the gas passes in succession, the second governor of the series
being more sensitive than the first, and the third, if there be a third, more sensitive
than the second, and so on, the arrangement being such as to reduce the gas to the
lowest desirable pressure, say a pressure of 5 millimetres, and maintain this pressure
constant, so that a maximum amount of light can be obtained with a minimum
consumption of gas as herein set forth.
Dated this 21st day of April 1890.
A. FERON,
Per L. W.