IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE AND DISTRIBUTION OF GAS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Hunt, of Nine Elms, in the County of
Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED IN THE
MANUFACTURE AND DISTRIBUTION OF GAS."
Scaled the 5th May 1871, and dated the 23rd January 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION Íeft by the said Charles Hunt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd January 1871.
I, CHARLES HUNT, of Nine Elms, in the County of Surrey, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
USED IN THE MANUFACTURE AND DISTRIBUTION OF GAS," to be as follows:
This Invention has for its object the regulating the pressure or
exhaust, or controlling the supply of gas by a simple, more efficient, and
less expensive means than is at present employed. This I accomplish
by such an improved arrangement of a throttle valve as to constitute
the apparatus to which it is applied a governor or regulator, the val
being operated upon by means of a gas holder which is actuated by
pressure of the iras.

page_text: conveys
Instead of fixing the lever or radius arm of the valve on the outside of
the chamber in which the valve works, as heretofore, and attaching it to
the spindle which carries the disc or throttle, and by which the motion
of the lever is communicated, I fix the arm inside the valve chamber,
and by preference upon the disc or throttle. The pipe which ordinarily
the outlet gas, or gas which has passed the valve to the gas
holder used to operate upon the valve, is in my arrangement placed in
the centre of the tank of such gas holder, and is connected to the top of
the valve chamber immediately over the end of the lever or radius arm
furthest from the disc or throttle. A rod or chain passing down the pipe
connects the lever to the crown of the gas holder in a similar way to
that by which the cone of an ordinary gas governor is suspended. In
this arrangement I require no stuffing box for the spindle, and in some
cases I prefer to substitute for the spindle steel centres upon which the
disc or throttle is accurately balanced and turns freely. The friction is
thus materially reduced and the valve rendered more sensitive to alter-
ations of pressure.
.
The several parts of the valve with the exception of the spindle or
centres, and the connecting rod or chain, I make of cast iron, but they
may be made of any other suitable material. This arrangement I apply
where a gas governor is now required, namely, upon the main pipe which
supplies the gas to the district. Or if required to control the exhaust
upon the byc-pass main which connects the inlet main to the outlet
main of the exhausters.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 2
filed by the said Charles Hunt, in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 21st July 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
HUNT, of Nine Elms, in the County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her a
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-.
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles Hunt, Her special
licence that I, the said Charles Hunt, my executors, administrators, and a
"
".

page_text: assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Hunt, 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 or "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE AND DISTRIBUTION OF GAS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Hunt 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 Charles Hunt, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawing, and to the letters marked thereon, that is to say-
-
This Invention has for its object the regulating the pressure .or
exhaust or controlling the supply of gas by a simple, more efficient, and
less expensive means than is at present employed. This I accomplish
by such an improved arrangement of a throttle valve as to constitute the
apparatus to which it is applied a governor or regulator, the valve being
operated upon by means of a gas holder which is actuated by the pressure
of the gas.
Instead of fixing the lever or radius arm of the valve on the outside
of the chamber in which the valve works as heretofore, and attaching it
to the spindle which carries the disc or throttle, and by which the
motion of the lever is communicated, I fix the arm inside the valve
chamber and by preference upon the disc or throttle. The pipe which
ordinarily conveys the outlet gas or gas which has passed the valve to
the gas holder used to operate upon the valve, is in this arrangement
placed in the centre of the tank of such gas holder, and is connected to
the top of the valve chamber immediately over the end of the lever or
radius arm farthest from the disc or throttle. A rod or chain passing
down the pipe connects the lever to the crown of the gas holder in a

page_text: similar way to that by which the cone of an ordinary gas governor is
suspended.
In lieu of a spindle to the valve I prefer in most cases to use stcel
centres, upon which the disc or throttle is accurately balanced and
turns freely. The friction is thus materially reduced and the valve
rendered more sensitive to alterations of pressure. I do not however
confine myself to the use of steel centres, but employ a spindle when-
ever it is found to be more convenient.
The several parts of the valve with the exception of the spindle or
centres, lever, and connecting rod or chain, I make of cast iron, but
they may be made of any other suitable material. This arrangement
I apply where a gas governor is now required, namely, upon the main
pipe which supplies the gas to the district, or if required to control the
exhaust upon the bye-pass main which connects the inlet main to the
outlet main of the exhauster. For the latter purpose however it is
necessary to increase the size of the air vessel attached to the gas holder,'
in order to make it more buoyant.
In order that the foregoing may be more readily understood, Drawings
are attached hereto of which the following is a description
:--
Fig. 1 is an elevation of the gas holder and longitudinal section of the
valve chamber, while Fig. 2 is a transverse section (through L, M,
Fig. 1) of half of the valve and chamber.
In Fig. 1, A is the gas holder; B, the tank; C, the pipe communi-
cating with the valve chamber and gas holder; D, the valve chamber;
E, the disc or throttle; F, the lever fixed to the disc, and G, the rod
which is attached at one end to the lever, and at the other to the crown
of the gas holder; H and I are two openings for the purpose of getting
at the valve, and are furnished with plates to cover the same when the
apparatus is in action; J is a sealed pipe for drawing off any conden-
sation which may take place in the. valve chamber; and K in Fig. 2,
shows one of the steel centres upon which the disc works.
In the Drawing a simple lever attached to the valve is shown, but a'
radius arm may be applied if found more advantageous. I am aware
that governors have been made upon the same principle before, but the
arrangement whereby the lever or radius arm, and the spindle or steel
centres are placed within the valve chamber or main surrounding them'
is new, and constitute this Invention.

page_text: Having now described and particularly set forth the nature of this
Invention, I would observe in conclusion that I do not restrict myself
to the precise details which I have described or referred to as variations
may be made therefrom without deviating from the main features of this
Invention; but what I consider to be novel and original and therefore
claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent is, the construction of gas regulators, or governors,
substantially as herein described.