AN APPARATUS CALLED A GASOSCOPE, AND INTENDED TO SHEW THE PRESENCE OF BICARBURETED HYDROGEN GAS (THE GAS USED FOR LIGHTING) IN MINES, WELLS, HOUSES, BUILDINGS, ROOMS, OR VAULTS, AND CONSEQUENTLY TO PREVENT THE EXPLOSIONS AND ACCIDENTS LIABLE TO BE PRODUCED BY THE SAID GAS
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WARRICK, of Lawrence Pountney Lane, Cannon Street, in the City of London,
Merchant, sond greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great, Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Seventh day of March, in the fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her
heirs and successors, give and grant unto the said John Warrick, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said John Warrick,
my exors, adiñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Warrick,
my exors, adñiors, or assigns, should at any timo 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, and also in all Her Colonies
and Plantations abroad, an Invention, being a communication from a foreigner
residing abroad, of "AN APPARATUS CALLED A GASOSCOPE, AND INTENDED TO SHEW
THE PRESENCE OF BICARBURETED HYDROGEN GAS (THE GAS USED FOR LIGHTING) IN
MINES, WELLS, HOUSES, BUILDINGS, ROOMS, OR VAULTS, AND CONSEQUENTLY TO
PREVENT THE EXPLOSIONS AND ACCIDENTS LIABLE TO BE PRODUCED BY THE SAID GAS;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that 1, the said John
Warrick, should cause a particular description of the nature of the said [n-
vention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be enrolled in Her
said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months next and

page_text: immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at largo
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Warrick, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention consists 5
in an apparatus preserving a certain equilibrium under its ordinary circum-
stances, but which equilibrium is disturbed by the presence of bicarburetted
hydrogen gas, and the disturbance of which equilibrium causes a notico or
alarm to be given of the presence of such gas, as aforesaid.
And in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said John Warrick, 1
do hereby describe the manner in which the said Invention is to be performed,
by the following statement thereof, reference being bad to the Drawing here-
unto annexed, and to the figuros nud letters marked thereon, that is to say:-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
The Drawing here shown represents the general form and arrangement of 1
the apparatus. A is an aerial globe, sensible to the action of bicarbureted
hydrogen gas. This globe is made of very thin glass, anil may bo compared
with a soap bubble; it is perforated with a small hole" inarked y, or holes for
the egress and ingress of atmospheric air; B consists of a floating globe im-
mersed in water, and serving to support the wholo of this part of the apparatus 2
connected with it, videlicet, the globe A, the piece of iron F, the rod D, and
the ballast C; C represents ballast or lastage of lead, of a weight relative to
the length of the stem or rod D, which supports the aerial globe; D is a rod
or piece connecting the two globes or balls A and B, and may be made of brass
or copper; E is a magnet or loadstone placed or fixed on K; the lid of the 2
hydraulic tub; F is a piece of iron which is fixed' to the glass ball A, and
to which the upper end of the rod D is also fixed; F' is a piece of brass or
copper, which is attached to the ball B, for tho purpose of fixing: the 'con-
necting rod D to such ball; G is the limit of the range or sphere of attraction
of the magnet; El is a chime of bells or alarum on the lid of the said tub, with a 3
lever, which lever when acted upon sets off the chimo 'or alarm; J; I, tho' water
level of the apparatus; J, J, J, is an liydraulic tub, of an oval form; of glass
or zinc, filled with distilled water, on which there is a Inyor of oil to prevent
the evaporation of the liquid, and in which water the ball' floats; K is the
lid of the tub, made of glass, with two holes for the passage of the two rods g
connecting the balls or globes A and B, and the similar globes L, L; L, L,
consists of an apparatus similar to the foregoing A, D, B, and C, with the
exception of the magnet; it is of similar dimensions and weight, and..its

page_text: purpose is to act as an equilibrium to it under every variation of temperature
and barometrical pressure; N is a phosphorescent plate, intended to show
during the night or in case of absence that the apparatus has acted. This
plate is fastened to the rod connecting the globes L, L, and is here supposed
to be made of fluor spa of Iceland or Bologna, but it may also be made of phos-
phorus inclosed in glass or water; M is a compensating lever at the bottom of
the tub for preserving the equilibrium of the apparatus A, D, B, and C, and
L, L, M. The parts marked O, O, are-suspending globes of the lever M to
annul its weight; P,-support of the lever, with a bearing plate of glass or
agate; QQ, a bell of very thin glass, covering the upper globe L; R is a
tube with a capillary-opening for barometrical communication. The opening
is in the upper part of the tube, in order that the gas, which is lighter than the
air, may not penetrate under the bell to which the tube is adapted by its base;
S is an unpolished part of the circumference of the bell glass, to conceal the
phosphorescence plate when not raised, above it.
Tho accessories to the, apparatus marked in the said plan, are a, a, a, a, con-
sisting of the vault or ceiling to which it is suspended; b, b, b, b, four susponsion
spirals; to avoid shocks; c, c, roof to protect the apparatus; d, d,d, d, four
suspension-rods for the tub; e, e, e, e, very fine gauze surrounding the apparatus
to preserve it from dust and insects; it is fixed on a frame of brass wire, and
completely insulated from the apparatus on account of currents of air. The
apparatus may be of the dimensions here shewn.
⚫The theory of the said Invention and-manner it is performed is as follows:-―
In the usual state of the atmospheric pressure, and at the mean temperature
of 15% centigrade, the apparatus, being ballasted or balanced to the level I,
will remain motionless; but, at the instant, when the gas mixes with the air,
the latter becoming lighter, the apparatus A and B and, the parts connected
therewith tend to sink, by their own weight; by the effect of this motion the
piece of iron Freaches the limit G, thus. becoming, within the sphere of
attraction of the magnet, which causes it rapidly to descend as far as E, and
it consequently strikes the long-arm, of the lever of the chime H; a noise of the
chime is therefore, produced, thus announcing. the presence of the gas, and
giving: the alarm ;; as the density of the air and water undergo continual
variations,, the result would be that the last-mentioned, part of; the apparatus
would be subject to displace itself, to obviate which the apparatus L, L, and
parts connected therewith is opposed to it; and by means of the lever M both
that and similar portion of the apparatus,, videlicet, A, B, and the parts
connected, therewith, are kept in equilibrium. The aerial globe L is surrounded
by a bell of glass, before, described, which preserves, it from the influence of

page_text: the gas, but by the tube R it is kept in the same barometrical condition as
the globe A, the influence of the gas being therefore felt only on the latter;
and when, on descending, this apparatus weighs on the extremity of one arm
of the lever M, the other arm pushes up the apparatus L, and with it the
phosphorescent plate connected with the rod thereto affixed. The appearance
of this plate, which in its normal state is concealed by the rough surface S, S,
shews during the night and in case of absence that the apparatus has acted,
and consequently that there has been an escape of gas. The apparatus
constructed on the dimensions of the said plan is so very accurate that one
hundred and seventy-eighth part of gas is suflicient to make it act; it will
practically be, therefore, expedient to give the rod D a greater length, so that
the apparatus will only act when the gas has mixed in a greater proportion.
It should be observed that the force of the magnet and length of the rod D
should be proportioned to the the intensity of the sound desired to be produced,
for a mere chime would not be sufficient in some cases, as in the adaption of
the apparatus to mines where it may be required to ring a bell at a distance
or givo some more powerful sound by way of alarm.
In order to point out the further utility and application of this apparatus,
and as constituting any essential part of the Tuvention, it may be stated that
a small wire may be affixed to the extremity of the lover L, which may be
connected with a dial in the mine, at a distance from the apparatus, which
dial being provided with a hand, a motion thereof may be produced, thus
announcing the presence of gas at a distant part of the mine; a similar wire
might be also connected with a hand on a dial at the top of the shaft of a
mine in the same manner, thus giving immediate notice to those above the
mine of the presence of gas in the gallery, a part of the mine in which the
apparatus might be situate.
I would remark that I do not confine myself exclusively to the particular
construction of the apparatus herein-before described, or of the dimensions
thereof, as modifications thereof or other dimensions may be used, and at the
same time tho principle of the said Invention retained; but what I claim as
new, and as the Invention aforesaid, is an apparatus as aforesaid, preserved
in a state of equilibrium when acted upon by atmospheric air only, but which
by reason of the specific gravity of atmospheric air being greater than that of
such air when mixed with bicarbureted hydrogen gas, will sink or lose its
equilibrium in the said mixture, and will by such sinking or losing of its
equilibrium set off an alarm, or otherwise give notice of, shew, or detect the
presence of such gas in mines, wells, houses, buildings, rooms, or vaults, and
consequently provent the explosious and accidents liable to be produced by the

page_text: said gas. And such Invention being to the best of my knowledge and belief
entirely new, and never before used within that part of Her said Majesty's
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her said
Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, nor in any of Her said
Colonies and Plantations abroad, I do hereby declare this to be my Specifica-
tion of the same; and I do verily believe this my said Specification doth
comply in all respects fully and without reserve or disguise with the proviso
in the said herein-beforo in part recited Letters Patent contained; wherefore
I do hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege to the said
Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Warrick, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-two.
J. H. TURNER, Sol',
8, Chancery Lane.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifth day of May, in the year
of our Lord 1842, the aforesaid John Warrick 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
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to tho
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Sixth day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and forty-two.