IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS METERS
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
ANGUS CROLL, of Suffolk Street, Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex,
Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Thirteenth day of May,
in the ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, givé
and grant unto me, the said Alexander Angus Croll, my exors, admors, and
assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the
said Alexander Angus Croll, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Alexander Angus Croll, my exors, admors, or or assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS METERS;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Alexander Angus
Croll, should cause a particular description of the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by

page_text: the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Alexander Angus Croll, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon, that is to say:-
My Invention consists of improvements in what are called dry gas meters;
and my Invention relates only to such meters as work each with one flexible
partition, and in such manner that the flexible' material is only bent on one
surface, in contradistinction to those gas meters where only one partition is
employed, and the flexiblo material thereof passes through and through tho
plane of attachment of the flexible material, so that the flexible material used
is bent on both surfaces.
And the improvements consist of combining with the use of such descrip-
tion of single partition meters an apparatus for working the valves which
depends for its action on the use of tumblers so formed that on being moved
to a point just beyond the horizontal or central position the tumbler will fall
by its own gravity, and instantly change the position of the valve. And
it should be stated that this arrangement of apparatus is not of itself now,
as it has been applied to work the valves of other gas meters.
And the Invention consists in the combining such apparatus with the working
of a gas meter having only one partition, which in its motion does not pass
beyond the point or plane of the attachment of the outer edges of the flexiblo
material of the partition
Figure 1 shows a vertical section of a gas meter having my improvements
applied thereto.
Figure 2 is a section of the upper part, shewing a plan of the tumbler and 8
some of the other parts.
Figure 3 shows another section of the upper part, taken at the line A, B, iu
Figuro 4, which is transverse soction of the meter. And
Figuro 5 shows another section taken at the line C, D, of Figure 4.
a is the moveable partition, 6, being the flexible portion thereof. And it will s
be seen, that the part a is so large that it cannot pass beyond the point where the
outer edge of the flexible material 6 is fixed at 6', but it simply works up to
and from it. Honce the bending of the flexible material is only on one surface,

page_text: which I have found of great value in working when using gas meters with two
of such flexible partitions; but heretofore, tho' many attempts have been made
to obtain a gas meter with only one flexible partition, yet I believe till the
present improvement all the single partition meters have been liable to cause
the lights to flicker at the turn of the motion of the flexible partition. The
arms d, each of which is attached at one of its ends to an axis d', carried
by tho projections e, and by a pin joint at the other end to a short link f,
which is attached to the partition by a pin joint, in order to aid in producing
a parallel motion to the partition, and cause it to retain its vertical position in
working. From the partition a motion is communicated to the axis c by
means of the frame c', which is attached by pin joints to the partition a, and it
carries the axis c², which, by an arm caffixed to the axis c, causes that axis
to receive motion, as will readily be understood on examining the Drawings.
On the axis c is fixed the toothed instrument g, which gives motion to tho
ratchet wheel h, from the axis of which motion is to be communicated to
a train of wheels, to register the quantity of gas which may pass through the
meter, as is well understood. On the top of the axis c is fixed an arm i,
carrying a roller, which, being moved to and fro within the inverted
arch j, on the tumbler tube, that tube will be caused to be raised from
an inclined position to a point beyond the horizontal, when, the weight prepon-
derating, will cause the valve to be suddenly moved. The tumbler tube falling
on a spring k at either side prevents a shock. The tumbler tube contains
quicksilver, or it might be shot, and the tumbler apparatus might be otherwiso
varied, and yet retain the same character of action. I is an arm fixed to
the tumbler, and it is provided with a fork m, which acts on an arm n fixed on
the axis of the valve, which moves on an axis, or it may be otherwise formed.
The valve, it will be seen, is contained in a valve chest which separates the gas
from the works.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I would remark that I
do not make any claim to any of the parts separately, nor do I confine myself
to the details; but what I claim is the combining the use of tumbler appa-
ratus for actuating the valve of a gas meter having only one partition, which
is so arranged as only to approach and recede from the point of fixing of the
flexible material, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Angus Croll, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.
A. ANGUS (L.S.) CROLL.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirteenth day of November, in
tho year of our Lord 1846, the aforesaid Alexander Angus Croll came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above writton. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Thirteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-six.