IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE SUPPLY OF GAS TO GAS TO BURNERS
Year: 1867

page_text: Sealed the 25th February 1868, and dated the 26th August 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Walter Christopher Thurgar
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th August 1867.
I, WALTER CHRISTOPHER THURGAR. of the City of Norwich, Surgeon,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE SUPPLY OF GAS TO
GAS TO BURNERS," to be as
follows:-
The object of this Invention is to construct apparatus to be combined with
burners, so that at the proper time of the evening it will turn on the full
supply of gas, and again in the morning will turn it off to a nominal amount,
leaving only a small blue flame.
The apparatus is actuated by clockwork which is wound up once a week
or at other convenient intervals of time. The clockwork drives a spindle
which turns once an hour; this spindle has one tooth on its end, which tooth
acts upon one tooth of a 24-cogged wheel which it gears with; this 24-cogged
wheel has a spindle through its centre of suitable length, and fixed on the top
of this spindle is a plate which has two arms, one of which is fixed while the

page_text: other is adjustable, for the purpose of increasing or diminishing the distance
of the two arms according to the time of year, the plate being marked to
show the position to which the adjustable arm should be moved. This plate
revolves horizontally once in 24 hours, and as it revolves one of the arms
presses one side of a cam, of which there are two fixed on one end of the tap
which runs through the vertical gas pipe; the tap has a small groove round
the perforation, so that the gas gets through a little in daytime. When the
cam is acted upon it turns the tap so as to lower the Hame, and when the
other arm comes round it comes against another part of the same cam so as
to turn the gas on full. The small blue flame which burns in the daytime
is protected from the air by a guard which is pressed up by one cam in the
morning, and again lowered by the arm coming against the other cam in the
evening. This guard is a globe which has perforations at the bottom to let
air in; the globe has a tube fixed at the bottom, and on the other end of the
tube is a small plate, by pressure on which one of the cams (being fixed to
the tap) lifts up the guard to shield the small blue flame in the daytime.
The guard tube fits over the gas pipe. Instead of the one-toothed spindle
turning every hour it may be made to turn twice an hour, or at any other
desired interval of time, and the cogged wheel with which it gears will have an
appropriate number of cogs.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Walter Christopher Thurgar in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 26th February 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WALTER
CHRISTOPHER THURGAR, of the City of Norwich, Surgeon, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first. year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Walter Christopher Thurgar, Her special licence that I, the said Walter
Christopher Thurgar, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Walter Christopher Thurgar, 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 for "IMPROVE

page_text: MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE SUPPLY OF GAS TO BURNERS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that 1, the said Walter Christopher Thurgar, 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 Sea! Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Walter Christopher Thurgar, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
The object of this Invention is to construct apparatus to be combined with
burners, so that at the proper time of the evening it will turn on the full
supply of gas, and again in the morning will turn it off to a nominal amount,
leaving only a small blue flame.
The apparatus is actuated by clockwork which is wound up once a week
or at other convenient intervals of time. The clockwork drives a spindle
which turns once an hour; this spindle has one tooth on its end, which tooth
acts upon one tooth of a 24-cogged wheel which it gears with; this 24-cogged
wheel has a spindle through its centre of suitable length, and fixed on the top
of this spindle is a plate which has two armis, one of which is fixed while the
other is adjustable, for the purpose of increasing or diminishing the distance of
the two arms according to the time of year, the plate being marked to show
the position to which the adjustable arm should be moved. This plate
revolves horizontally once in 24 hours, and as it revolves one of the arms
presses one side of a cam, of which there are two fixed on one end of the tap
which runs through the vertical gas pipe; the tap has a small groove round
the perforation, so that the gas gets through a little in daytime. When the
cam is acted upon it turns the tap so as to lower the flame, and when the
other arm comes round it comes against another part of the same cam so as
to turn the gas on full. The small blue flame which burns in the daytime is
protected from the air by a guard which is pressed up by one cam in the
morning, and again lowered by the arm coming against the other cam in the
evening. This guard is a globe which has perforations at the bottom to let
air in; the globe has a tube fixed at the bottom, and on the other end of the
tube is a small plate, by pressure on which one of the cams (being fixed to
the tap) lifts up the guard to shield. the small blue flame in the daytime; the

page_text: guard tube fits over the gas pipe. Instead of the one-toothed spindle turning
every hour it may be made to turn twice an hour, or at any other desired
interval of time, and the cogged wheel with which it gears will have an
appropriate number of cogs.
The construction and action of my apparatus will be fully understood by the
annexed Drawings.
Figure 1 is an elevation of the apparatus with the gas turned off to a small
flame and the guard raised; Figure 2 is an elevation at right angles to Figure 1;
Figure 3 is the same view as Figure 1, but with the gas turned on full and
the guard lowered; Figure 4 is a plan of the one-toothed spindle and
24-toothed wheel; Figure 5 is a plan of the plate which carries the two arms
for acting on the cams.
tap has a small groove to
The plate h revolves once
morning comes against the
a is the gas pipe terminating in a burner band provided with a tap c; d is
a box or case enclosing clockwork, which being well understood requires no
explanation. This clockwork drives a vertical spindle having one tooth e
gearing into a 24-toothed wheel /; g is a spindle passing through the centre
of the wheel /, and carrying on its upper end a plate which has two
armis, the arm being fixed while the arm i is adjustable by means of a
pin on its under side taking into the holes m, m, in the plate, or both arms
may be made adjustable; n, n', and o, o', are two cams fixed on one end of
the tap which runs through the gas pipe a; the
allow a little gas to get through in the daytime.
in 24 hours, and as it revolves the arm i in the
part of the cam n, n', thereby moving the cams into the position shown in
Figures 1 and 2, and turning the tap so as to lower the flame; then in the
evening the other arm comes against the part n' of the same cam #, n', so
as to turn the gas on full, as shown in Figure 3. The next day the other
cam o, o', takes the place of the cam n, n, being acted on in the same manner
by the arms i, j. P is a globe-shaped guard to protect the small flame during
the day; it is carried by a tube y fitting over the gas pipe, and the lower end
of this tube has a plater which is slightly concave attached thereto. When
the cam n, n', is acted on by the arm i in the morning the cam o, o', raises
the plate r, tube q, and globe p, and when the other arm in the evening
acts on the cam n, n', the plate, tube, and globe descend. The configuration
of the cams is such that the plate, tube, and globe descend by their own
weight as soon as the arm in the evening commences to move the cam, the
cams being thereby moved at once into the horizontal position and the gas
being turned on full. s is a stop paul with a spring t to prevent the return
movement of the wheel f; u is a plate to prevent this wheel rising. The

page_text: clockwork may be wound up by a key inserted through a hole in the top of
the case d. or by a worm wheel and worm or toothed wheel and pinion. the
shaft of the worm or pinion extending through the side of the case d, and being
fitted with a handle or button for turning.
And having now described the nature of my said
manner the same is to be performed. I declare that
invention, and in what
claim as my "Improve-
ments in Apparatus for Regulating the Supply of Gas to Burners."-
First. The plate h, arms i and j. cams n. n. and o. o, all arranged.
combined. and acting substantially as and for the purpose herein-before
described.
Second. The guard p. tube q. and plate r. arranged, combined. and acting
substantially as and for the purpose herein-before described.
Third. The adjustability of the distance from each other of the arms i and j.
substantially as and for the purposes herein-before described.
Fourth. The combination of parts of apparatus. arranged and acting sub-
stantially as herein-before described and represented in the accompanying
Drawings, for regulating the supply of gas to burners.
In witness whereof. I. the said Walter Christopher Thurgar. have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of February. One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.