IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS METERS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James John Shedlock, of Weirdale Villas, Earl's
Court, Kensington, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS METERS."
Sealed the 29th-April 1862, and dated the 11th November 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James John Shedlock at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th November 1861.
I, JAMES JOHN SHEDLOCK, of Weirdale Villas, Earl's Court, Kensington, in
the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS METERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in gas meters. In order
that a gas meter may be rendered capable of delivering as near as may be
the quantity of gas within the hour; for which it is constructed, and at the
same time of correctly measuring the quantity of gas passed through it,
although a less number of lights have been burning than the meter is arranged
to supply, a regulating apparatus is applied to a meter in such manner as to
insure the meter working at a pressure not exceeding a regulated and
determined maximum pressure. In wet gas meters this is preferred to be.
accomplished by a bent tube applied to a meter, in which is placed any
suitable fluid, one end of this tube is connected with the valve box into which
the supply of gas first enters, consequently the fluid in the bent tube will
be subjected to the pressure of the incoming gas. The other end of the bent
tube has a float connected with a lever, so arranged as to tend to close the
inlet valve when the pressure of the gas depresses the fluid in the leg of the
bent tube which is connected with the valve box, and so raises the fluid and

page_text: the float in the other leg of the bent tube. The gas after passing the inlet
valve flows to a second valve chamber, where there is a second valve acted on
by the ordinary float of the meter. By these means the maximum pressure
at which the gas shall pass into a meter may be readily regulated. When my
Invention is to be applied to a dry meter, similar apparatus may be applied,
or in place thereof a flexible diaphragm acted on by the pressure of the
incoming gas, and connected with a valve, so as to regulate the maximum
pressure of the gas in the meter may be employed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James John Shedlock in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 10th May 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
JOHN SHEDLOCK, of Weirdale Villas, Earl's Court, Kensington, in the County
of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of November, 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 James John Shedlock, Her special licence that I, the said James John
Shedlock, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said James John Shedlock, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN GAS METERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said James John Shedlock, my 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 James John Shedlock, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:--

page_text: This Invention has for its object the rendering a gas meter capable of
delivering as near as may be the quantity of gas within the hour, for which it
is constructed, and at the same time of correctly measuring the quantity of
gas passed through it, although a less number of lights have been burning
than the meter is arranged to supply. For this purpose I apply to a meter
the apparatus herein described, so as to insure the meter working at a pressure
not exceeding a regulated and determined maximum pressure. The apparatus
is composed of a bent tube, in which is placed any suitable fluid; one end of
this tube is connected with the valve box into which the supply of gas first
enters, consequently the fluid in the bent tube will be subjected to the pressure
of the incoming gas. The other end of the bent tube has a float connected
with a lever, so arranged as to tend to close the inlet valve when the pressure
of the gas depresses the fluid in the. leg of the bent tube which is connected
with the valve box, and so raises the fluid and the float in the other leg of the
bent tube. The gas after passing the inlet valve flows to a second valve
chamber, where, in the case of wet gas meters, there is a second valve acted
on by the ordinary float of the meter. By these means the maximum pressure
at which the gas shall pass into a meter may be readily regulated. The above
described apparatus may also be applied to a dry meter.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
Figure 1 is a front elevation, partly in section; and Figure 2 is a plan, also
partly in section, of a wet gas meter having a regulating apparatus constructed
according to my Invention combined with it.
The gas is supplied to the meter through the inlet A, and passing down the
tube B, enters the chamber or box C. The chamber C is connected to the
tube D, which tube is filled with a fluid to the level T; the tube D is con-
nected at the bottom with another tube E, the fluid will thus, have the same
level in this tube. The gas upon entering the meter presses upon the fluid in
the tube D, and if of sufficient pressure, forces the fluid down in it, and con-
sequently raises the fluid in the tube E. In the tube E is a float F, which is
acted upon by the level of fluid in the tube E, the float rising or falling with
the fluid. The spindle of the float F is connected at the point G with one
arm of the lever H, the other arm of this lever is forked, so as to allow it to
pass round the tube I, and carry the two side rods J, J, which are attached
at the bottom to a cross head K. The cross head K supports the spindle

page_text: upon which the valve L is fixed; this valve is at the top of the tube I, and is
adapted to an opening by which the chamber C and tube I communicate with
each other. The lower end of the tube I is made to dip into the water con-
tained in the meter, in order that no gas may pass through it into the meter.
By this means if the gas in the chamber or box C is at a pressure greater than
that required, the water is pressed down in the tube D and rises in the
tube E, carrying with it the float F; the float F in rising carries up the arm G
of the lever H, and depresses the other arm, which being attached to the
valve L carries it down and partially cuts off the gas, so as only to allow the
required quantity to pass through into the tube I; the upper end of this tube
communicates by a passage with the chamber M, in which is a second valve N,
through which it passes into the front box of the meter, and through the
spout O into the drum or measuring wheel, which is shown in red dotted lines;
the stem of this valve in ordinary wet gas meters is connected to the float of
the meter, so that when the water in the meter is below the proper level the
valve will be carried down with the float, and shut off the gas from the meter,
but in the meter shown in the Drawings the valve N is connected to the
axis P of the measuring wheel or drum; this drum in the meter shown in
the Drawings is an ordinary wet meter drum, upon the external circumference
of which is an annular ring perfectly air-tight, and which has for its object to
float and buoy up the drum, and to allow it to rise and fall according to the
variation of the level of the water in the case. The shaft of the wheel passes
through and works in slots at the back and front of the case. Water is
supplied to the meter as in ordinary wet meters at the plug Q, and allowed to
overflow at the plug R, and any suitable fluid is supplied to the regulating
apparatus through the plug S, and allowed to overflow at the plug T when
the fluid has attained its proper level. The plug T is formed at the end of
a pipe T', which rises up from the bottom of the tube D. A portion of the
pipe. T' is cut away in Figure 1, in order to shew the tube D and the level of
the fluid in it when the fluid is depressed considerably by the pressure of the
gas upon its upper surface.
In witness whereof, I, the said James John Shedlock, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Tenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
JAMES JOHN SHEDLOCK. (L.S.)