IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS REGU- LATORS.
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Dean, Gas Engineer, of Bradford, and
Robert Lancaster, Engineer, of Shelf, near Halifax, both in the
County of York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS REGU-
LATORS.
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Dean and
Robert Lancaster at the Office of the Commissioners of Patcuts,
with their Petition, on the 6th February 1873.
WC, WILLIAM DEAN, Gas Engineer, of Bradford, and ROBERT
LANCASTER, Engineer, of Shelf, near Halifax, both in the County of
York, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN GAS REGULATORS," to be as follows, that it is say :-
Our Invention relates to a mechanical arrangement whereby the
valve of a gas regulator is brought with greater certainty to its seat;
and also to an improved disc balloon or diaphragm for gas regulators.
To carry out our Invention we employ a guide or parallel motion to
prevent the balloon or diaphragm working sideways, by which the perfect

page_text: government of the gas was prevented and great loss of quicksilver
ensued; this guide or parallel motion is made by a continuation of the
valve spindle working through a metal bush, on which is fitted a metal
cap to prevent any injury to the guide or parallel motion.
The balloon or diaphragm of the present gas regulators is very
defective on account of want of size and proportion; to obviate theso
defects we make much larger balloons or diaphragms, that is to say, we
make them in proportion to their requirements; by means of our improved
guide or parallel motion and proportionate balloons or diaphragms we
are enabled to give any regular pressure to the gas.
]
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Dean and Robert Lancaster in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 6th August 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, WILLIAM
DEAN, Gas Engineer, of Bradford, and ROBERT LANCASTER, Engineer; of
Shelf, near Halifax, both in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said William Deau and Robert Lancaster,
Her special licence that we, the said William Dean and Robert Lan-
caster, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as wc,
the said William Dean and Robert Lancaster, our exccutors, adminis-
trators, 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 tho
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS REGULATORS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said William Dean and
Robert Lancaster, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our, or their, or one of their hands and scals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the samo was to be performed, and cause the same to

page_text: be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar monthis
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Dean, on behalf of myself and
the said Robert Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of our said In-
vention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement,
reference being had to the Drawing hereto annexed and to the figures
and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
The said Invention relates to a mechanical arrangement whereby the
valve of a gas regulator is brought with greater certainty to its scat and
also to an improved disk balloon or diaphragm for gas regulators.
To carry out our Invention we employ a guide or parallel motion to
prevent the balloon or diaphragm working sideways, by which the
complete control of the gas was prevented and great loss of quicksilver
ensued; this guide or parallel motion is made by a continuation of the
valve spindle working through a metal bush, on which is fitted a metal
cap to prevent injury to the guide or parallel motion.
The balloon or diaphragm of the present gas regulators is very
defective through its want of size and proportion; to obviate these
defects we make much larger balloons or diaphragms, that is to say, we
make them in proportion to their requirements; by means of our im-
proved guide or parallel motion and proportionate balloons or diaphragms
we are enabled to give any required and at the same time a regular
pressure to thic gas.
But in order to enable our improvements to be better understood I
will proceed to describe the same by reference to the accompanying
Drawing, in which Figure 1 represents a sectional elevation of the gas
regulator; Figure 2, plan with bonnet and balloon removed, and Figure 3,
elevation of the gas regulator. Similar letters of reference are used in
all the Figures to represent similar parts.
A is the guide or parallel motion made by the continuation of the
valve spindle B; this guide A works through the bush C, cast on the
bonnet D, thus preventing the balloon or diaphragm E from working
sideways, giving a complete control over the gas and preventing the great
loss of quicksilver caused by the present system (it is obvious that when
the balloon or diaphragm was worked without guide or parallel motion
the pressure of the gas often tilted the balloon or worked it sideways,

page_text: forcing out the quicksilver and stopping the working of the gas
regulator). To the spindle B is fitted the valve F, which being guided
by the guide or parallel motion A, always acts in a perpendicular
direction, whereby the valve F is brought with regularity to its scat G,
giving an equal pressure to the gas passing between the valve F and the
scat G. The spindle B and guide or parallel motion A pass through an
opening made in the balloon or diaphragm E, and are kept in place by
means of the screw nuts H; a metal cap I is fitted on the bush C to
prevent injury to the guide or parallel motion A; N, small screw for the
purpose of letting out quicksilver when required. The gas passes
through the gas regulator, as shown by the arrows, and entering tho
regulator Rat J, passes through the openings K, then through the scat
G into the balloon or diaphragm E, onwards through the openings L
into the discharge pipe M.
Our improved regulators are made much larger than those at present
constructed; we make them in proportion to their requirements so as to
give any regular pressure to the gas.
Having now described our Invention, and the best means we are
acquainted with for carrying the same into effect, we would have it
understood that we do not confine ourselves to the precise details shown
and described, as the same may be varied without departing from the
pcculiar character of our Invention, but what we do claim is, the
making or constructing gas regulators with guides or parallel motions
and proportionate balloons or diaphragms, substantially as herein
before described and represented in the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Dean, have hereto set my
hand and scal, this Fifth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-three.
Witness,
WALTER JA³. TURNER, C.E.
Patent Agent,
Bradford.
WILLIAM DEAN. (L.S.)