IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO MEASURING, REGULATING THE PRESSURE OF, AND CONSUMING GAS FOR ILLUMINATION
Year: 1859

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Davies at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th January
1859. A communication from J. M. Legris, residing at Paris, in the
Empire of France, Engineer.
I, GEORGE DAVIES, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of
Middlesex, and No. 28, St. Enoch Square, in the City of Glasgow, Civil
Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inyen-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO MEASURING, REGULATING
THE PRESSURE OF, AND CONSUMING GAS FOR ILLUMINATION," (a communication from
J. M. Legris, residing at Paris, in the Empire of France, Engineer,) to be as
follows:-
The improvements which form the object of the present demand.compose
an entire system of apparatus for the purpose of illumination by gas, and
comprise,―
Firstly, a regulating gas meter affording a great exactitude of measurement,
together with perfect security and absence of all smoke and smell.
Secondly, a regulator, by means of which is obtained in an automatic
manner in each of the conducting pipes (and before arrival at the burners) a
constant and uniform pressure of the gas, whatever may be its pressure at the
meter or elsewhere, producing among other advantages an uniform intensity of
light, which prevents all loss of the gas, and obviates the necessity of constantly
regulating at each burner the quantity of gas required to be consumed..

page_text: And, thirdly, various modifications of burners designed to give at pleasure
any required amount or intensity of light without the co-operation of the
previously named apparatus.
The first part of these improvements applies to the ordinary gas meters, in
which the gas is measured by the revolution of a drum immersed in water,
and relates, firstly, to the means of regulating the pressure of the gas therein;
and, secondly, to the means of preserving with exactitude the level of the
water or other liquid therein. The equalization of the pressure of the gas is
effected by means of a cylindrical regulator, placed either before or after, or
even in the meter itself, and is capable of various modifications, the principle,
however, being always the same. The gas passes from the open mouth of a
tube into a hood or inverted box placed over it, and the lower edge of which
is sealed by dipping into water. From the interior of this hood a conical
valve or plug is suspended by a chain, the said valve or plug working in the
mouth of the aforesaid tube, the effect of which is, that as the pressure of the
gas increases it raises the hood and closes the valve, and as the pressure
decreases the bood falls and opens the valve; consequently the pressure of the
gas regulates the quantity admitted in an inverse ratio, that is to say, the
greater the pressure the less quantity admitted, and vice versa. The level of
the water in the meter is automatically preserved by means of a reservoir
hermetically closed, and communicating with the interior of the meter by
means of'a neck or tube having an orifice at the level of the water. As soon as
the level of the water sinks in the least degree below this orifice, a bubble of
air escapes up the pipe to the upper part of the reservoir, and allows a like
quantity of water to descend into the meter, thus keeping the level always
the same.
The second part of this Invention, namely, that relating to regulators
(properly so called), is capable of great variation, and may be adapted either
to the main pipe or to the pipe supplying each separate burner. The principal
feature of this part of the Invention consists in a regulating piece,, valve, key,
rod, or diaphragm, destined to open or close more or less the aperture for the
admission of the gas, & operating by means of the variation in the pressure
of the gas itself.
One modification of this regulator is somewhat in the form of the regulator
above described as applied to the gas meter working with a hood or inverted
box, and a conical plug or valve; but in order to obtain a more perfect
regularity of pressure, it is necessary that the weight of the hood should vary
with the supply in such a manner that when the hood rises it shall excrt less
pressure on the gas, and the reverse when it falls. This is effected by con-

page_text: necting the hood to a weighted lever, the falling of which counterbalances the
hood, and makes it lighter as it rises, and vice versâ. A modification of this
regulator is formed by a chamber with collapsible sides in a bellows form.
The inlet pipe is provided with a cock, the plug of which is so connected by
leverage to the top of the vessel as to close the cock as the top rises, and open
the same as it falls.
Another inodification consists in applying to the hood in the first-named
arrangement of regulator, plungers, which displace the water or fluid as the
hood sinks, causing the level thereof to rise as the hood falls, and vice versa.
A further modification, which is principally applicable to separate burners,
consists in the use of a plug, valve, or diaphragm, which is kept open by a
spring, or by its own weight or elasticity, but which any increased pressure of
the gas will partially close, so as to decrease the aperture in like proportion.
Another variation by which the gas may be made to regulate its own pressure
is, by placing in the pipe a disc having two holes therein, drilled at such an
angle to each other that the two currents or jets of gas passing through them
shall impinge upon each other. Any increased pressure would cause the two
currents mutually to repel and retard each other, and consequently prevent
the
gas from flowing too fast; the same system of obstruction or opposition
may be carried out in a variety of ways, one of the simplest of which is to
place two perforated dises in the pipe a certain distance apart, and to fill the
space between them with pounded pumice-stone, emery, or other porous
matter through which the gas has to pass in its passage to the burner.
The third part of this Invention, or that which relates to burners, consists
of a short pipe or tube terminating in several smaller diverging orifices. Over
these orifices, and with its under surface nearly at right angles thereto, is a
disc mounted on a screw, and capable of being screwed nearer to or further
from these orifices, so as to regulate the intensity of the flame. The form of
the flame is determined by the relative form of the end of the pipe, where
the orifices are, and the under side of the disc. By inverting this burner, so
that the supply pipe is above, a flame without shadow is obtained.