IMPROVED APPARATUSES; FOR INDICATING ESCAPES OF LIGHTING GAS FROM THE CONVEYING PIPES AND DETERMINING THE PRECISE LEAKING PLACES OF THE SAID PIPES
Year: 1861

page_text: 10 Charles Stevens, of 31, Charing Cross, in the County
of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUSES;
FOR INDICATING ESCAPES OF LIGHTING GAS FROM THE CONVEYING PIPES AND
DETERMINING THE PRECISE LEAKING PLACES OF THE SAID PIPES." -A Cont
munication from abroad by Charles Antoine Fournier, of Paris, in the
Empire of France.
Sealed the 7th February 1862, and dated the 26th October 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Stevens at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th October 1861.
I, CHARLES STEVENS, of 31, Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED
APPARATUSES FOR INDICATING ESCAPES OF LIGHTING GAS FROM THE CONVEYING PIPES,
AND DETERMINING THE PRECISE LEAKING PLACES OF THE SAID PIPES," & that it
has been communicated to me from abroad by Charles Antoine Fournier, of
Paris, in the Empire of France, to be as follows:-
The improvements I have made in my apparatuses for indicating escapes of
lighting gas from the conveying pipes and determining the precise leaking
places of the said pipes are, 1stly, in the apparatus I denominate revealer.
The indicating tube consists of two straight glass tubes communicating by
means of one of bent brass. In these three tubes, forming as it were but one,
a colored liquid is contained, the rise and fall of which, occasioned by pressure
from the gas, is rendered easily noticeable by means of a marker placed
[Price Sd.]

page_text: between the two tubes, furnished on each side with two small pointers, distant
about of an inch one from the other, enabling the time to be more easily
remarked which the liquid takes to rise in the branch of the tube where the
pressure from the gas is the least. By means of a rod adapted between the
two tubes, one end of which is screw-cut, and a nut screw, the two glass tubes
can be made to press closely between their metallic holders.
2ndly, as the revealer would not be observed during the night, I have
adapted to it an alarum, which is set in motion in the following manner :-
The positive and negative wires of a battery, after being encased separately in
a non-conducting substance, are immersed in one of the tubes of the revealer;
the two wires have platinum ends slightly bent towards each other, but do
not touch; a float having a metallic bottom follows the movements of the
liquid the tube, and, when it has sank sufficiently, forms the connection
between the two wires, and so puts the alarum in motion.
The revealing apparatus is in connection on one side with the gasometer,
and on the other side with the delivery pipe; free passage of the gas is given
or not to the revealing apparatus by means of the stop-cock.
The apparatus for determining the leaking places consist of a glass vase
similar in shape to the test glass used for drying gases; it is made smaller
near the bottom, and so forms, as it were, two chambers separated from each
other by a bottom of china, in which holes are pierced which allow the gas to
pass, but prevent the pumice stone, with which the upper chamber is partly
filled, from descending. The upper chamber has a close-fitting cover having
two openings, by one of which the volatile alkali is introduced, through the
other the gas, which, on an escape being detected, is prevented from passing
along in the delivery pipe by the stop-cock till it has passed, first into the
bottom chamber, then into the upper chamber containing the pumice stone,
which has been previously saturated with volatile alkali. The gas, as it passes
through the pumice stone, aids the evaporation of the ammonia, which escapes
with it by the second opening in the cover above mentioned, to which opening
a tube is adapted for conveying the gas back to the delivery pipe on the other
side of the stop-cock. The escape is discovered by carrying along near the
conveying pipes any suitable reagent which the ammonia would act on, such
as a glass rod wetted with muriatic acid. Should ammoniac or other similar
gas not be employed, the lighting gas itself would serve, as it generally con-
tains a small portion of sulphuric acid, which would act on certain test papers,
such as those of salt of copper, lead, and silver.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Stevens in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st April 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
STEVENS. of 31, Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters.
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Charles Stevens, Her special licence that 1, the said Charles
Stevens, my executors, administrators, and assigns. or such others as I,
the said Charles Stevens, 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
"IMPROVED APPARATUSES FOR INDICATING ESCAPES OF LIGHTING GAS FROM THE
CONVEYING PIPES AND DETERMINING THE PRECISE LEAKING PLACES OF THE SAID
PIPES, a communication to me from abroad by Charles Antoine Fournier, of
Paris, in the Empire of France, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Charles Stevens, my executors or administrators. by an instru-
ment 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 Charles Stevens, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-
The improvements 1 introduce in my apparatuses for indicating and deter-
mining escapes of lighting gas from the delivery pipes, for which apparatuses
Letters Patent were obtained, bearing date the First of December 1859,
No. 2717, are as follows:-The process, as before, consists of two distinct
operations, by one the escape is indicated, by the other the precise spot of
the leakage is determined.
My improved indicating apparatus consists of two straight glass tubes, E &

page_text: E, Fig. I, communicating one with the other by means of a bent brass
tube H; between the glass tubes a rod B is fixed. screw-cut at the lower end
and furnished with a small nut screw c, serving to press the two glass tubes
between the metal joints K & K', which can be rendered more secure by small
rings of india-rubber being placed between them; a marker X slides on the
rod B, and being furnished on each side with two small pointers, the rising or
falling of the liquid is easily noticeable; the pointers are distant about % of an
inch from each other.
Fig. 1. represents a front view of the indicating apparatus; A is the delivery
pipe, M, the stop-cock; Fig. 3 represents the same in section, the stop-cock
is placed so as to allow of free passage to the gas; Fig. 2 represents the
apparatus with the stop-cock closing the passage in the delivery pipe and to
the indicating tubes; Fig. 4 shows the indicating tubes in communication
with the gas pipes, the plug of the stop-cock completely closing the passage
of the gas in the delivery pipe, but the channel b admitting it freely into the
glass tube E; the tube E' is at all times in communication with the delivery
pipe Figs. 10 and 11 represent two side views of the stop-cock.
Fig. 5 represents my mode of signalling an escape of gas at night, when the
indicator is not visible; a conducting wire N, encased in a small glass or
gutta-percha tube, is brought from the negative pole, a battery, and is made
to penetrate the liquid in the tube; and another wire N¹, encased in the same
manner, comes from the positive pole and enters the same tube; the points of
the wires, which may be made of platinum, are so bent as to face each other,
but not meet; a small float, having a metal bottom D (platinum is preferable),
follows the movements of the liquid, and, when it has sunk sufficiently, effects
a communication between the two wires, and so establishes the electric current,
which sets the alarm bell or any other alarum in motion.
The improved apparatus for ascertaining the leaking places consists of a
glass vase similar to those used in laboratories for drying gases; it is con-
tracted at 0; the cover has two holes, in one of which a leaden tube E is
adapted, the inner end of which terminates in a rose; the outer end is stopped
by means of a leaden screw-cut plug; the second opening X is slightly enlarged
at its outer extremity to facilitate the adaptation to it of an india-rubber tube,
and having on one side a stop-cock with jet. At the bottom of the chamber B
a porcelaine plate is placed, having holes to admit of free passage to the gas,
but preventing the pieces of pumice stone, with which the upper chamber is
partly filled, from falling. The lower chamber B¹ has on one side a neck Z,
in which a leaden pipe is fitted, which is furnished with a stop-cock F; its
extremity K is slightly enlarged to facilitate the affixing an india-rubber tube.

page_text: The delivery pipe A is furnished with a movable plate G, Fig. 8, which is
slightly hollowed to allow of free passage to the gas, as the pipe A has a parti-
tion C inside, so as io render the closing of the passage easy, when an escape
has been indicated by substituting the plate H, H, for the plate G. The
plate H, H. is furnished with two necks D and I', see Fig. 7, to which india-
rubber tubes from the necks of the revealing apparatus, Fig. 6. are adjusted
when the ammoniac gas is to be introduced. The plate H, H, has a piece
of india-rubber, which, pressing on the partition C of the delivery pipe A,
effects a complete stoppage. See Fig. 7.
The mode of proceeding when the indicator signals an escape, which is
shown by the colored liquid, with which the two tubes are partially filled.
falling in the tube E and rising in the tube E'. is as follows:-The gas is
turned off. the stop-cock being placed in the position shown Fig. 2: the
plate H, H, is screwed on in the place of the plate G. and the pipes D' and '
of the plate H, H. are connected by india-rubber or other tubes with the
respective tubes D and I of the apparatus for introducing the ammonia; the
pumice stone in the upper chamber has been previously well saturated with
ammonia, which is introduced by the tube E, whose rose serves to sprinkle it
over the pumice stone; this being done and the connection being effected, the
gas is turned on, and unable to pass from the partition C, escapes by the
neck D' and into the pipe by which it is connected with the neck D. Fig. 6.
and so into the lower chamber B', then passing through the porcelaine bottom.
and facilitating the evaporation of the ammonia with which the pumice stone
is saturated, carries it along with it through the neck I and the connecting
india-rubber pipe into the neck 1, Fig. 7. A glass rod enclosed in a bell-
shaped cover, Fig. 9, to prevent the dropping of the muriatic acid in which it
has been dipped, is now carried along the pipes, and on coming to the escape
the muriatic acid forms with the ammoniac gas an abundance of white fumes.
Other gases may be employed instead of ammonia; the ordinary lighting gas
may even be used, as it always contains a small quantity of hydrosulphuric
acid, which would be readily detected from its acting on certain salts, such as
those of lead, silver, and copper, which it colors black, and that of tin, which
it colors brown, so that test papers prepared with these salts, on being carried
along the delivery pipes, would be colored at the spot of escape. When
ammoniac gas is introduced in the pipes, litmus paper can be used for detecting
the escape, and is the test I prefer, as the red litmus paper, when slightly
damped, is very sensitive, the smallest escape changing it instantly blue.
Having thus described the improvements, I wish it to be understood that
what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent are, firstly, the improve-

page_text: ments in the apparatus for indicating the escape, as represented Figs. 1, 2, 3,
4, 10, and 12, and the night alarm, Fig. 5, as above described; and, secondly,
the improved apparatus for the introduction of the ammoniac gas in the
delivery pipes, as represented Figs, 6, 7, and 8, and herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Stevens, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
CHARLES STEVENS. (L.S.)