IMPROVE- MENTS IN INSTRUMENTS OR APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE QUANTITY, FOR REGULATING THE PRESSURE, AND FOR CONTROLLING THE FLOW OR PASSAGE OF GAS USED FOR PURPOSES OF ILLUMINATION, AND IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF GAS BURNERS
Year: 1859

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Wadsworth at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th September
1859.
I; JAMES WADSWORTH, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Gas
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN INSTRUMENTS OR APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE QUANTITY, FOR
REGULATING THE PRESSURE, AND FOR CONTROLLING THE FLOW OR PASSAGE OF GAS
USED FOR PURPOSES OF ILLUMINATION, AND IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF GAS BURNERS,"
to be as follows:-
The first of the said improvements consists in the combination and arrange-
ment of the parts composing an apparatus for measuring gas. The most
important of these parts are the measuring vessels, which are two open-
mouthed and vertically moveable receivers or gas holders of known capacity
suspended over, and having their rims or sides more or less immersed in a
fluid such as water. These receivers, when in operation, rise and fall alter-
nately as they are respectively filled and emptied through valves which are
opened and closed at the required intervals or times, and in the proper order
by the movements of the receivers, gas being admitted into the one receiver

page_text: as the previously admitted gas is being expelled from the other receiver, and
distributed to the burners. The receivers (or one of them) actuate a train of
mechanism adapted for recording the movements, and consequently the fillings
and evacuations of the receivers or measuring vessels by an index and graduated
plate, or in any other convenient manner, so that the quantity of gas passed
through the apparatus can be ascertained by inspection.
The second of the said improvements consists in the adaptation of an
apparatus similar to that before mentioned (but omitting the index or regis-
tering part) to the purpose of regulating the pressure of gas. This adaptation
is effected simply by the adjustment (by weights and counterweights,
or any
ordinary means) of the weight or gravitating force of the receivers, so that
they shall exert a stated and uniform pressure upon the contained gas. The
receivers used in the firstly-mentioned or measuring apparatus being weighted
or adjusted to the required pressure according to this improvement, that
apparatus becomes a meter and a regulator combined in one instrument.
The third of the said improvements consists in the art or method of con-
structing a novel valve for controlling the passage of gas into or from any
vessel or pipe used for containing or transmitting it. The moveable part of
the valve is a tube or cylinder closed at its upper, and open at its lower
extremity. This tube is moveable up or down over the orifice of a smaller
tube or pipe, which is presented upwards within the cavity of the moveable
tube, and projects above the surface of a fluid surrounding it, and into which
fluid the open end or mouth of the moveable tube dips when the valve is
closed. The passage for the gas is, through the open mouth of the moveable
tube and into, or out of the fixed pipe projecting within it, and this passage is
opened or closed by the elevation or depression of the moveable tube to an
extent sufficient to cause the mouth, or open end thereof, to be raised above,
or immersed beneath the surface of the fluid.
The object of the fourth improvement is the preservation of the water in any
wet gas meter. (or in any regulator in which water is used) at a constant level.
This is effected by placing a reserve of water in a closed vessel above the pro
posed level of the water in the meter, and opening a communication between
the lower part of the closed vessel and, the water chest of the meter by a pipe
entering the meter at the proposed level of the water, so, that upon the sub-
sidence of the water below the proper level, a portion of gas will pass from
the meter up the pipe into the closed vessel, and a corresponding quantity of
the reserved water will, flow into the meter to supply the deficiency.
The fifth of the said improvements has reference to the construction of gas

page_text: burners intended to be used as substitutes for the common' brass burners.
The improvement consists in forming the apex or crown of the burner of
brass, copper, or other suitable metal in a separate piece from the body, and
uniting the two parts after the holes have been drilled. This mode of con-
struction affords an opportunity of making the edges of the holes or orifices of
the burner smooth and clear from roughness internally as well as externally,
whereby the character of the flame is much improved.