IMPROVEMENTS IN GAR METERS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Bruce Peebles, of Edinburgh, in the
County of Mid Lothian, North Britain, Engineer and Gas Meter
Manufacturon for the Invention of " IMPROVEMENTS IN GAR METERS."
Sealed the 14th September 1869, and dated the 10th April 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Bruce Peebles
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 10th April 1869.
I, DAVID BRUCE PEEBLES, of Edinburgh, in the County of Mid
Lothian, North Britain, Engineer and Gas Meter Manufacturer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
GAS METERS," to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention comprises an improved mode of forming a gas-tight
joint for uniting the parts of the casings of either dry or wet gas
meters, and also various minor improvements, some of which are
applicable to dry meters whilst others are applicable to wet meters.

page_text: The improved joint is designed for casings made of malleable sheet
iron, which may be tinned or otherwise protectively coated, and consists
of a groove on one part into which the edge of the other part is entered
as a tongue, whilst the joint is made tight by putting putty or other
cement, or rubber, or other compressible material into the groove. The
groove may be formed either by bending the sheet iron to form one
side and soldering on a strip for the other side, or by soldering on strips
for both sides. The parts are held together by screws, and the snugs
into which these are screwed are formed with guard flanges at the
inside to cover the holes and prevent the introduction of wires or other
instruments. The fastenings for the cap or cover are arranged so that
the screws are passed through cups or discs provided to receive the
government or other seal, and which are securely attached by soldering
or rivetting to the name plate or casing.
An improvement applicable to dry meters consists in applying a cover
with the improved joint to the top of the valve chamber instead of
permanently soldering on that top, such cover having attached to it
the inlet coupling pipe.
Another improvement consists in making a smaller opening directly
over the step of the crank spindle, and in providing for it a cover,
having in it the crank spindle stuffing box, and carrying the crank
spindle, anti-reversing catch, and connecting rods, all of which go into
their places with the cover.
An improvement applicable to wet meters is designed to prevent fraud
by tilting, and consists in suspending a lever inside the casing, which
on tilting swings into the way of a projection on the drum and stops its
action,
Another improvement is designed to prevent fraud by withdrawing
the water by the filling tube, and consists in leading this tube from a
point a little below its top filling end laterally into the dipping tube,
through which the spindle passes up to the counting mechanism; or
a small chamber may be formed in communication with the top of the
spindle tube, and have attached to it the screw filling nozzle.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said David Bruce Peebles in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 8th October 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
BRUCE PEEBLES, of Edinburgh, in the County of Mid Lothian, North
Britain, Engineer and Gas Meter Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said David Bruce Peebles, Her special
licence that I, the said David Bruce Peebles, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said David Bruce
Peebles, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, usc, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS METERS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said David Bruce Peebles, 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 David Bruce Peebles, 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 in writing, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-
My said Invention comprises an improved mode of forming a gas-
tight joint for uniting the parts of the casings of either dry or wet
gas meters, and also various minor improvements, some of which are
applicable to both dry and wet meters whilst others are applicable to
dry meters only.

page_text: And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, I have hereunto appended a
Sheet of explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to and repre-
senting a dry meter as made with my improvements.
Figure 1 is a plan of the top of the meter with the cap or outer cover
of the counting mechanism and valve gear removed; and Figure 2 is
a vertical section with the cap or outer cover indicated by dotted
lines; Figures 3 and 4 are a plan and an elevation of parts in con-
nection with the crank spindle for working the valves.
My improved joint is designed for casings made of malleable sheet
iron which may be tinned or otherwise protectively coated, and imparts
to casings so made all the advantages of cast-iron casings without
their excessive weight, the advantage principally referred to being that
of being easily opened for repair or inspection, which is not the case
with ordinary sheet-iron casings. The joint consists of a groove on
one part into which the edge of the other part is entered as a tongue,
whilst it is made tight by putting putty or other cement, or rubber or
other compressible material into the groove. In the body casing of
the meter represented in the Drawings my improved joint is shown as
applied for uniting the front and back plates 1, 2, the groove being
formed round the edge of each plate by bending the sheet iron to form
a flange 3 for the outside, whilst a parallel strip of iron 4 is soldered
to each plate at such a distance within the flange 3 as to form a groove
of the desired width. The body shell 5 is formed with projecting edges
or rims 6, which enter as tongues into the groove between the
flanges 3, 4, of the plates 1, 2. If preferred the groove may be formed
by soldering on strips for both sides of it. The joint is made gas-tight
by putting putty into the groove, and the plates 1, 2, are held in their
places by screws, to receive which snugs 7 are fixed inside the. body
shell 5. These snugs are formed with guard flanges 8 at a little distance
within their inner sides to cover the screw holes and prevent the intro-
duction of wires or other instruments by which fraudulent consumers
might endeavour to injure the internal parts. The fastenings for the
cap 9, indicated by dotted lines in Figure 2, are arranged so that the
screws are passed through cups or discs 10 provided to receive the
government or other seal, and which are securely attached by soldering
or rivetting to the name plate or casing.
The improvements herein-before described are applicable to both dry

page_text: and wet meters, and although they are represented as applied only to
a dry meter, gas meter makers can have no difficulty in adopting them
in the construction of wet meters.
An improvement applicable to dry meters consists in applying a
cover 11 with the improved joint to the valve chamber 12, instead of
permanently soldering it on. The groove is formed by flanges 3, 4, on
the edge of the cover 11, the tongue 6 being the edge of the vertical
sides of the valve chamber. The inlet pipe may be attached to the
cover 11 of the valve chamber as I at first proposed; I however now
prefer to make the outlet pipe pass through the valve chamber, a first
short length 13 reaching just up to the top of the chamber, and being
screwed internally to receive the coupling branch 14 (not shown in
Figure 2), which is screwed into it, and at the same time holds down
the cover 11. The inlet branch 15 communicates with a shallow
chamber 16 extending over all the available space above the diaphragms
and having its bottom inclined downwards towards the further side,
as seen in Figure 2, and which serves to retain any deposits from the
gas. This chamber 16 communicates with the valve chamber 12 by
openings 17 (Figure 1).
Another improvement applicable to dry meters consists in making
in the top of the valve chamber 12 a separate smaller opening 18
directly over the step of the crank spindle 19, and in providing for it
a cover 20, shown detached in Figures 3 and 4, having in it the crank
spindle stuffing box 21 and carrying in connection with it the worm 22
and cross arm 23 for the crank spindle, the worm and cross arm being
fixed together and supported by a bracket bearing 24. The cross arm 23
carries the anti-reversing catch 25, and is formed with a non-circular
opening to fit keywise on the correspondingly shaped top of the crank
spindle 19, whereby the proper relative positions of the parts are
accurately secured when the parts are put together. In Figures 1
and 2 the links 26 by which the movements of the measuring drums
are communicated to a pin on the cross arm 23 are represented as
turned out of the way for the removal of the parts shown in Figures 3
and 4, which parts are arranged as described so as not to require
separation from each other when being removed or replaced.
In my Provisional Specification accompanying the application for
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent certain improvements
are described as applicable to wet meters, but as I do not now consider

page_text: those improvements to be of great utility or general application I hereby
disclaim any exclusive right to their use.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I have to state that I do not
restrict myself to the precise details herein described or delineated; but
that what I believe to be novel and original and claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,—
1. The uniting of the parts of gas meter casings of sheet iron by
means of groove and tongue joints, substantially as herein-before
described.
2. The making of the snugs for the fastening screws with guard
flanges, substantially as herein-before described.
And, 3. The applying of a separate cover with details in connection
with it, substantially as herein-before described, over the crank spindle
of a dry meter.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Bruce Peebles, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
D. BRUCE PEEBLES. (L.S.)