IMPROVEMENTS IN WET GAS METERS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Newbigging, Gas Engineer, and Alexander
Hindle, Gasfitter, both of Bacup, in the County of Lancaster, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WET GAS METERS."
Sealed the 13th October 1865, and dated the 17th April 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Newbigging and
Alexander Hindle at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 17th April 1865.
We, THOMAS NEWBIGGING, Gas Engineer, and ALEXANDER HINDLE, Gasfitter,
both of Bacup, in the County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WET GAS METERS," to be as
follows:-
Wet gas meters as hitherto constructed have this defect, namely, if
subjected to an excess of gas pressure (as is sometimes the case) the water
will be driven from them through the index boxes, the "head" of water in
the tube which encloses the shaft giving motion to the registering mechanism
having been hitherto relied upon alone to resist the gas pressure, and conse-
quently the index box or case has been hitherto left open to the atmosphere,
being used merely as a cover to protect the mechanism from damage or from
being tampered with. The object of our Invention is to remove the defect
above referred to, and our improvements consist in making the box or case

page_text: enclosing the index or registering mechanism tight against the atmosphere, or
so as to prevent the air enclosed in it from escaping, which will thus resist the
gas pressure, and will prevent the water in the meter from rising up the tubo
which encloses the shaft giving motion to the registering mechanism. We
prefer to make the box or case of cast iron with one side glazed so that the
index may be read through it, and to secure it to the upper part of the meter
case by screws, making the joint between the two air-tight by putty or other
suitable cement; or the box or case may be made of tin plate or any other
suitable material, and soldered to the meter case; or the box or case may bo
made so as to be closed upon all sides and screwed upon the upper end of the
tube ascending from the meter and surrounding the shaft giving motion to the
registering mechanism.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Newbigging and Alexander Hindle in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 16th October 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
NEWBIGGING, Gas Engineer, and ALEXANDER HINDLE, Gasfittor, both of Bacup,
in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Thomas Newbigging and Alexander Hindle, Her special license
that we, the said Thomas Newbigging and Alexander Hindle, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas Newbigging
and Alexander Hindle, our executors, administrators, or 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN WET GAS METERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said Thomas Newbigging and Alexander Hindle, by an instrument in writing
under our hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office

page_text: within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Thomas Newbigging and Alexander
Hindle, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is
to say:
Our said Invention, which relates to certain improvements in wet gas
meters, may be described as follows:-Wet gas meters as hitherto constructed
have. this defect, namely, if subjected to an excess of gas pressure (as is
sometimes the case) the water will be driven from them through the index
boxes, the "head" of water in the tube which encloses the shaft giving
motion to the registering mechanism having being relied upon alone to resist
the gas pressure, and consequently the index box or case has been hitherto
left open to the atmosphere, being used merely as a cover to protect the
mechanism from damage or from being tampered with. The object of our
Invention is to remove the defect above referred to, and our improvements
consist in making the box or case enclosing the index or registering mechanism
tight against the atmosphere, or so as to prevent the air enclosed in it from
escaping, which will thus resist the gas pressure, and will prevent the water
in the meter from rising up the tube which encloses the shaft giving motion
to the registering mechanism. We prefer to make the box or case of cast
iron with one sido glazed, so that the index may be read through it, and to
secure it to the upper part of the meter case by screws, making the joint
between the two air-tight by putty or other suitable cement, or the box or case
may be made of tin plate or any other suitable material and soldered to the
meter case, or the box or case may be made so as to be closed upon all sides,
and screwed upon the upper end of the tube, ascending from the meter and
surrounding the shaft giving motion to the registering mechanism.
And in order that our said Invention may be properly understood we shall
now proceed to describe the several Figures on the two explanatory Sheets
of Drawings which we have hereunto appended for the purpose of showing
several modifications under which our Invention may be judiciously carried
out in practice, that is to say:
Figures and 2 on Sheet 1, and Figure 1 on Sheet 2 are front views of
index boxes constructed according to our said Invention, and represent three
different methods of constructing the same, and the manner in which they
are fastened to the meter fronts, whilst a part of Figure 1 on Sheet 2 also

page_text: represents a transverse section of the index boxes. Figure 3, Sheet 1, is a
cross section at the centre of the index box shown in Figure 2, and Figure 2,
Sheet 2, is a similar section of the index box represented by Figure 1 on the
same Sheet.
The index boxes A, Figures 1 and 2, Sheet 1, are by preference constructed
of cast iron, but they may also be made of any other suitable metal or mate-
rial, and aro fastened with their base to the top plate B of the meter front
which may be effected by casting or fastening small flanches C to the bottom
of the index box, as shown in Figure 1, where these flanches are secured to
the top plate of the meter front by means of screws a, or they may be fastened
as shown in Figures 2 and 3 to the back plate D of the meter front, which
may be done by screws 6, as illustrated in these Figures. By fixing tho
index boxes to the meter fronts, putty or any plastic material may be put
between the facings to render the boxes air-tight.
The modifications shewn in Figures 1 and 2, Sheet 2, is more especially
adapted for index boxes constructed of tin. These index boxes are soldered
to a tin plate E, Figure 2, which forms the bottom and back plate of the
box, and is fastened to the top part of the scal tube F. This seal tube is
differently constructed at the upper part from the seal tubes generally in use,
and is screwed into the top plate B, Figure 1, from above, the top flanch
serving as a screw head, being countersunk into the top plate B. The top
part of the seal tube is thus made flush with the upper surface B to prevent
any water which might enter through the seal tube in emptying the meter
remaining in the index box, as would be the case were the top of the seal
tube raised above the plate B. It is of course not always necessary that
the seal tube should be screwed into the top plate of the meter front from
above for the purpose of rendering the upper end in a plane with the upper
surface of the top plate, but as in another construction of the index box, such
as that one represented at Figures 1 and 2, Sheet 2, it may be secured from
below.
All the index boxes as herein-before described are provided with a glass
plate forming the one side of the box as usual, but in the boxes comprehended
under this Invention it is much stronger, and is marked G in Figure 3,
Sheet 1, and Figure 2, Sheet 2. They have also a door at the front which
in the different Figures is marked H, and shown as open. In using the
air-tight index boxes herein-before described the seal tube may be dispensed
with entirely.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is or may be used or practically carried into effect, we

page_text: would observe in conclusion that what we consider novel and original, and
therefore claim as the Invention secured to us by the herein-beforo in part
recited Letters Patent is,-
First, the combination of air-tight index boxes with wet gas meters generally
as herein-before described, or any mere modification thereof.
Second, the application and construction of air-tight index boxes for gas
meters as herein-before described, or any mere modification thereof.
Third, the construction of wet gas meters in which no seal tube is used, as
herein-before described.
Fourth, the peculiar construction and mode of arranging seal tubes in gas
meters, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Newbigging and Alexander
Hindle, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fourteenth day
of October, One thousand cight hundred and sixty-five.
THOMAS NEWBIGGING. (L.S.)
ALEXANDER HINDLE. (L.S.)