APPARATUS FOR TURNING, MANAGING, AND REGULATING THE MAIN TAPS OF GAS PIPES LAID ON TO HOUSES OR BUILDINGS AT A MAT TAD
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Carnaby, of No. 130; St. John Street,
. Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the
Invention of "APPARATUS FOR TURNING, MANAGING, AND REGULATING
THE MAIN TAPS OF GAS PIPES LAID ON TO HOUSES OR BUILDINGS AT A
MAT TAD"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Carnaby a
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 20th October 1859.
I, JOHN CARNABY, of No. 130, St. John Street, Clerkenwell, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "APPARATUS FOR TURNING, MANAGING, AND REGULATING
THE MAIN TAPS OF GAS PIPES LAID ON TO HOUSES OR BUILDINGS AT A PART OF .
THE HOUSE OR BUILDING DISTANT FROM THE MAIN TAP" to be as follows:-
I have two stems or handles to the key of the main tap. I have
wires,or rods attached to the stems or handles, and the wires or rods
are carried to the place where it is intended to manage the main tap.
I have a wheel or roller turned by a handle; the ends of the wires or

page_text: rods are fastened to a piece of chain or other pliable suitable material,
which is carried round the wheel and fastened at the apex, two small
wheels or rollers being so placed as to keep the chain in its proper place.
Or I have a weight attached to the end of the key of the main tap,
with a shelf or stop on which to rest; or I have a spring fastened to the
plug of the tap, or a spring fastened to the key. I have a wire or rod
attached to the key, and the wire or rod is carried to the place where
it is intended to.manage the main tap, where it is fastened to a wheel,
as before mentioned, or to a ring, in which caso hooks or knobs are
placed on a piece of metal or other suitable material which is fixed to
the wall to regulate the quantity of gas admitted through the main tap
according to the supply of gas required. To open the main tap and
admit the gas into the house pipes the ring is drawn up and hung on
one of the hooks or knobs. When it is removed from the hook or
knob the key-of the main tap being acted upon by the weight or spring
as before mentioned turns off the gas.
Another form of regulator is that of the common door bolt; notches
are made in the groove, and the handle of the bolt is turned into one
of the notches according to the quantity of gas required. I do not
confine my Invention to the precise details herein-before stated; but I
claim any apparatus or machinery upon the like principle or contrivance
which may be used to the effect aforesaid.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed. by the said John Carnaby in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 18th April 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOHN CARNABY, of Saint John Street, Clerkenwell, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand.eight hundred and fifty-two, in the sixteenth
year of. Her reign, did, for. Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and

page_text: grant unto me, the said John Carnaby, Her especial license that I, the
said John Carnaby, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Carnaby, 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
the Isle of Man, an Invention for "APPARATUS FOR TURNING, MANAGING,
AND REGULATING THE MAIN TAPS OF GAS PIPES LAID ON. TO HOUSES OR
BUILDINGS AT A PART OF THE HOUSE OR BUILDING DISTANT FROM THE MAIN
TAP,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Carnaby,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particu-
larly 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 the said John Carnaby, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following
statement (that is to say), reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon:
I have a weight attached to the end of the key of the main tap, or
the end of the key is made heavy enough to weigh the end of the key
down from the point a, to the point b, in Figure 1: Or I have a
spring fastened to the plug of the tap, the plug being made sufficiently
long for the purpose; or I have a spring fastened to the key, as shewn
in Figures 2, 3, 4. But I do not confine myself to the springs so
represented, but employ any suitable spring now in use. I have wire
rod, chain, or other suitable material attached to the key as in Figures
1, and 5, which wire rod, chain, or other material is carried in the
nanner bell wires are carried, except that at the angles or places
.where the:direction of the wire rod, chain, or other material alters' I
use either cranks, pulleys, or rollers. When I use rods or wires they
are connected at such angles or other places by cliain or other pliable
material carried round the pulleys or rollers; or I have two stems or

page_text: branches to the key of the main tap, as in Figure 5, and one line of
wire rods, chain, or other material is fastened to the end of one of. the
'stems or branches for turning on the gas, and another line of wire rods,
chain, or other material fastened to the end of the other'stem or branch
.for turning off the gas. The wire rods, chain, or other material is then
'carried, as before described, to that part of the apparatus presently
described, which I call the regulator. Or instead of a key to the main
tap I put on the end of the plug a cog wheel, bevilled if necessary,
which works into a similar wheel placed on a shaft or rod, as in Figure
7, or into a spiral screw, and at every angle in the line of communi-
cation between the tap and regulator another shaft. is placed, with
wheels thereon, corresponding to those before mentioned, and so the
work is continued with shaft after shaft to the regulator, the end of the
last shaft entering the regulator, and having on it within the regulator
a cog wheel placed horizontally, this works into a cog wheel placed
perpendicularly, (see c, Figure 7,) which works on a short shaft or
pivot, going from back to front of the regulator. The end of this shaft
or pivot is made to fit a key or handle, which being turned forces
round the wheel c, gives motion to the whole set of shafts from the
regulator to the tap, and turns the wheel placed on the plug of the
main tap as before described. I also make use of the universal joint,
or any other way now in use to work the shafts at angles: Or I put on
the end of the plug of the main tap a cog wheel, as in Figure 8, into
which the cog wheel d, works, and on the shaft on which this wheel is
fixed is placed a pulley or roller e, round which a chain passes; I have
short pegs in the groove of the pulley or roller to catch in the links of
the chain. Above this shaft is placed another (f), on the ends of
which are fixed similar pulleys or rollers. Round the pulley or roller
first mentioned and the one at g, on the last-named shaft an endless
chain is placed, and a similar chain passes round the pulley at h, and
one in the regulator (sce i, Figure 6). The chain is fastened with a
pin to the pulley i, or pegs are placed in the pulley as before mentioned.
Instead of chain, mill bands or other suitable materials may be used;
or I use a chain with links formed to work in the cogs of a wheel,
which renlers the use of pulleys unnecessary. If the gas is admitted

page_text: through the tap by means of a valve, I attach my gear work to the
screw of the valve in the manner shewn in Figure 9. The same means
are used if the valve is opened and shut with a lever or spring. Or I
use a lever as shewn in Figure 10, a beam being fastened to an
upright fixed to the floor or to a bracket attached to the wall so
that it may have a motion similar to that of a scale beam. A short rod
is fastened to one end of it by a pin at k, so as to form a moveablė
jomt; the other extremity of the rod is fastened in a similar manner
to the end of the key of the tap at l. The other end of the beam at in,
is attached to a-short rod n, which connects it with the shaft o, in the
same way as the opposite end is connected with the key. This shaft
goes up to the regulator p, and the end of it being inside the regulator
is racked or notched, such racked or notched part corresponding in
length to the arc of the circle formed by the end of the key between its
positions, when the gas is fully turned on and fully turned off. This
notched part works into the cog wheel 2, of the regulator, and goes up
and down as the wheel is turned one way or the other. A key or handle
being fixed to the end of the shaft r, and turned to the right, raises the
end of the key of the tap to the point S, and turns the gas fully on, and
on being turned the reverse way turns it off. The wire rods, chain,
or other material being carried, as before described, to the place in
the house or building where it is intended to manage the tap, I there
fix the regulator either by letting it into the wall, fastening it to the
wall, or placing it on a table or pedestal. The following are some of
the ways in which the regulator may be formed:-A ring is fastened to
the end of the wire rod, chain, or other material; hooks or knobs are
placed at different distances on a piece of metal or other suitable ma-
terial, which is fixed in or to the wall, to regulate the quantity of gas
admitted through the tap, according to the supply required (see Figure
11). To open the tap and admit the gas into the house pipes, or into
the pipes of that part of the building where it is required, the ring is
drawn up and hung on one of the hooks or knobs. To turn off the gas
the ring is taken off the knob or hook, and the weight or spring to the
key of the main tap, as before described, draws down the extremity of
the key, and closes the passage in the tap.. Another form of regulator

page_text: is that of the common bolt (see Figure 12), which may be placed per
pendicularly or horizontally. The wire rod, chain, or other material is
fastened to the end of the bolt at R. Notches are made in the groove,
and the handle of the bolt is turned into one of them, according to the
quantity of gas required. When I use the key with two stems or
branchés I have two rows of hooks or knobs, or two bolts, placed side
by side; see Figures 13, and .14. The regulator shewn in Figure 6, is
made as follows:-I have a pulley (i) of metal or other material, whose
diameter is about half an inch more than the arc of the circle described
by the end of the key of the main tap in turning the gas fully on and
fully off; the extra half inch is to allow of the pulley being grooved so
that the chain or other material going round may not slip off. This
-pulley is placed on a shaft, going from back to front of the regulator,
the end of which s, is made to fit a key or handle by which the shaft is
turned. On the same shaft, close to the pulley just mentioned, is fixed
a cog wheel t, which works into another cog wheel (u) placed above it.
On the end of the shaft of the latter wheel an index or hand is placed,
which, as the key or handle is turned, points to figures or marks on the
face of the regulator, as is shewn in Figure 16, and indicates to what
extent the main tap is turned on. When great power is required to
turn the plug of the tap I increase the power of the regulator by
adding pinions and other wheels, the manner of doing which is well
known. The case of the regulator is made of metal, wood, or other
material; bearings are placed for the ends of the shafts, as shewn in
Figure 6, or in some other convenient manner, and the wheels before
lescribed are adjusted in it. The whole is covered by a face somewhat
like that of a clock, on which is a dial plate, through the centre of
which, at w, in Figure 16, the end of the shaft v, (Figure 6,) protudes,
and on it an index or hand is placed for the purpose just described.
The end of the shaft s, passes through a hole at a, in Figure 16, to
admit of a key or handle being applied to turn it. The chain or other
material is fastened by a pin at the apex or other convenient part of the
pulley i. Small rollers or pulleys for guides (see y, y, Figure 6,) may
be placed at the bottom of the last-mentioned pulley to keep the two
parts of the chain close, so that the case for covering them need not be

page_text: unnecessarily wide. When I have no stop at the main tap I have one
in the regulator to prevent the pulley being turned beyond a certain
point; or I use a spiral screw to turn the wheel in the regulator, as
shewn in Figure 17. I also use for a regulator a lever with a knob or
handle like a bell-pull, as shewn in Figure 15. The wires, rods, chains,
or other materials may be protected when necessary by tubes or cases
of metal, wood, or other material. If the key of the tap, or the cog
wheel used instead of a key, work horizontally, the difference in the
fixing is so slight that any workman would know what to do without
particular directions. I mean by the term main tap the tap which
admits the gas from the street pipes before it enters the meter, and also
the taps which are placed in service pipes, after passing through the
meter, for turning the gas on and off from a part of the house or
building.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Carnaby, have hereto set
my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of April, in the
or Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
year of
JOHN CARNABY. (L.S.)