A Method of and Means for Indicating when Gas Meters are Working and Registering Accurately.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Mar., 1897
'
Complete Specification Left, 8th Nov., 1897-Accepted, 11th Dec., 1897
A Method of and Means for Indicating when Gas Meters are Working
and Registering Accurately.
I, JAMES HENDY WILSON, of 39 The Broadway, Crouch End, in the County of
Middlesex; Draper and Outfitter; do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows;-
This invention relates to a method and means whereby it is possible to readily
ascertain whether the quantity of gas passing from the main to the supply is being
correctly registered by the meters, or whether the meters are working properly.
The invention, which is especially adapted for the use of large consumers of gas,
is based on the comparison between the quantity of gas registered on the dial
mechanism of two or more meters capable of allowing equal quantities of gas to
pass through them in a given time cach connected to the main and discharging
into a common reservoir or chamber.
Two or more meters of equal capacity are connected with the main by inlet pipes
of equal diameter. The outlet pipes of these meters, also of equal diameter, are
all connected to a common reservoir or mixing chamber, into which the volume
of gas from all the meters is discharged and from which it is drawn to feed the
ordinary supply pipes.
By this arrangement the full quantity of the gas passing to the supply is drawn
in equal amounts from all the meters, and, if they are all working and registering
properly, the quantity of gas passing through and registered by any one meter
should be the same as that of any other of the meters connected to the mixing
chamber. Consequently by a mere inspection of the dials any discrepancy in any
one of the meters will be at once detected, and that meter should be disconnected
and tested. Should the dials of all the meters at all times register exactly the same,
either they are all incorrect and to the same extent, which is scarcely probable,
or they are all correct and registering accurately.
To provide for the removal of any one of the meters to be tested without stopping
the supply, each outlet from the meter is provided with a cock or valve, all of the
same bore, in the pipe leading to the mixing chamber. To remove any meter all
that is required is to shut off the supply from the main by operating the usual cock
or valve, and to shut off the cock or valve on the outlet pipe. The meter being
then completely isolated from the mixing chamber may be disconnected; the gas
supply to the mixing chamber coming then from all the meters remaining in the
series. In replacing the meter after testing it is only necessary to reverse this
operation.

page_text: A Method of and Means for Indicating when Gas Meters are Working
and Registering Accurately.
I, JAMES HENDY WILSON, of 39 The Broadway, Crouch End, in the County of
Middlesex; Draper and Outfitter; do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:
This invention relates to a method and means whereby it is possible to readily
ascertain whether the quantity of gas passing from the main to the supply is being
correctly registered by the meters, or whether the meters are working properly.
The invention, which is especially adapted for the use of large consumers of gas,
is based on the comparison between the quantity of gas registered on the dial
mechanism of two or more meters capable of allowing equal quantities of gas to
pass through them in a given time each connected to the main and discharging
into a common reservoir or chamber.
Two or more meters of equal capacity are connected with the main by inlet pipes
of equal diameter. The outlet pipes of these meters, also of equal diameter, are
all connected to a common reservoir or mixing chamber into which the volume
of gas from all the meters is discharged and from which it is drawn to feed the
ordinary supply pipes.
By this arrangement the full quantity of the gas passing to the supply is drawn
in equal amounts from all the meters, and, if they are all working and registering
properly, the quantity of gas passing through and registered by any one meter
should be the same as that of any other of the meters connected to the mixing
chamber. Consequently by a mere inspection of the dials any discrepancy in any
one of the meters will be at once detected, and that meter should be disconnected
and tested. Should the dials of all the meters at all times register exactly the same,
either they are all incorrect and to the same extent, which is scarcely probable,
or they are all correct and registering accurately.
To provide for the removal of any one of the meters to be tested without stopping
the supply, each meter outlet is provided with a cock or valve, all of the same bore,
in the pipe leading to the mixing chamber. To remove any meter all that is
required is to shut off the supply from the main by operating the usual cock or
valve, and to shut off the cock or valve on the outlet pipe. The meter being then
completely isolated from the mixing chamber may be disconnected; the gas supply
to the mixing chamber coming them from all the meters remaining in the series.
In replacing the meter after testing it is only necessary to reverse this operation.
In the accompanying drawings 1 have shown my invention by way of illustra-
tion as adapted to a series of five gas meters.
Each meter A, A1, A2, A3, A4, is separately connected to the gas main B and to
a common reservoir or mixing chamber C. D, D¹ to D are the inlet pipes having
shut off valves or cocks d d to , and E, E to E, are the corresponding outlet
pipes having shut off valves or cocks e e¹ to e. F, F and F are the pipes carrying
the supply from the common reservoir or mixing chamber C to the burners in the
house or other building.
As previously stated all the meters are of the same capacity, all the inlets D
thereto are of the same diameter and capable of conveying an equal quantity of
gas to their respective meters in a given time, and the valves or cocks d thereon
are all of the same bore and are otherwise similarly constructed so as to allow the
passage of an equal quantity of gas through each in any given time. Similarly
all the outlets E and their valves or cocks e are of equal diameter and otherwise

page_text: constructed so as to allow the passage of equal volumes of gas through each in a
given time.
The connections with the main may be by means of branches from the main
trunk B as shown, or the trunk B may itself by a branch from the main, with a
cap or cover over one end to which said cap or cover the inlet pipes D are each
separately connected.
When first fitted up all the meter dial registering mechanisms should start at
zero, and so long as the respective dials register equal quantities, the assumption
is that they are all working correctly. Suppose however that the dial mechanism
of one of them, say the meter A3, differs from the others. Then it is only necessary
to shut off the valve or cocks 3 and 3 on its inlet and outlet pipes D³ and E3 when
the meter A³ may be disconnected and taken away for testing; the supply to the
mixing chamber C coming then from the remaining four meters. By this arrange-
ment the supply to the burners is not interrupted by the removal of any one of
the meters. When fitting a new meter at A3³ in place of the one removed, it would
be advantageous to set its dial mechanism to correspond with that of the other
meters in the series to avoid the necessity of making allowances in taking future
readings, so that if all work correctly thereafter all the readings on all the dials
would be alike.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said in-
vention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. Connecting two or more gas meters separately to a gas main and to a common
reservoir or mixing chamber in such a way that an equal volume of gas will pass
through each meter to the reservoir or mixing chamber aforesaid from whence it
is taken by ordinary supply pipes to the burners of the house or other building,
substantially as herein before described and for the purpose stated.
2. The method and means herein described for forming a comparison between
two or more gas meters of equal capacity consisting in separately connecting their
inlet pipes to the gas main and separately connecting their outlet pipes to a reser-
voir or mixing chamber in such a way that an equal bulk of gas can pass through
each meter to the reservoir or mixing chamber aforesaid from whence the supply
is taken to the burners of the house or other building, substantially as hereinbefore
set forth and for the purpose stated.
3. In apparatus of the kind indicated in the preceding claim providing the
inlet and outlet pipes of each meter with a shut off cock or valve substantially as
and for the purpose hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying
drawings.
F. W. GOLBY
36 Chancery Lane, London, W.C. Patent Agent for the Applicant.