AN IMPROVED GAS REGULATOR
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, of 32, Essex
Street, Strand, London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
GAS REGULATOR."-A communication.
Sealed the 23rd October 1855, and dated the 25th April 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux
Bellford at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 25th April 1855.
T, AUGUSTE EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD, of 32, Essex Street, Strand,
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED GAS REGULATOR," a communication, to be as follows; and
consists in a certain arrangement of an inverted floating cup, upon which
the gas acts to control the opening of the induction or regulating valve, com-
bined with the application to the said cup of an air spring, or its equivalent,
for the purpose of increasing and diminishing the resistance of the said cup to
the pressure of gas as the pressure in the pipe increases or diminishes by
reason of a less or greater consumption or otherwise, whereby a uniform
pressure may be maintained on the burners. In a regulating chamber is a
diaphragm, placed between the inlet and outlet pipes, and which receives the
induction or regulating valve. An inverted cup floats in a liquid in an
annular well in the bottom of the chamber, & is connected with the valve by

page_text: a rod, which protrudes through the bottom of the chamber, for the purpose of
being weighted. The interior or under side of the cup is exposed to the
atmosphere through an opening in the bottom of the chamber, the upper side
being exposed to the pressure of the gas. The sides of the cup are made
double, & form an air cell above the surface of the fluid in which the cup floats.
The air thus confined forms a spring to give the requisite buoyancy to the
cup, its force increasing or diminishing as it becomes compressed or otherwise
by the pressure of the gas in the chamber acting above the cup, until the
valve is balanced so as to permit the passage of gas necessary to sustain the
desired pressure at the outlet. Instead of the air spring, a spiral or other
spring applied to partly suspend the valve & cup from the top of the chamber
may be used, or a float of buoyant material applied to or forming the sides of
the cup.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 25th October 1855.
:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AUGUSTE
EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD, of 32, Essex Street, Strand, London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS. Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for. Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Auguste: Edouard Loradoux Bellford, Her special licence that I, the
said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, my executors, administrators, and
assigns,, or such other's as .I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, 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 "AN IMPROVED GAS REGULATOR," (a
communication,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Auguste
Edouard Loradoux Bellford, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the samé was, to be performed, and cause the same to

page_text: 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 Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, do'
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention; and in, what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, that is to say:-'
My Invention consists in a certain arrangement of an inverted floating cup.
upon which the gas acts to control the opening of the induction or regulating
valve, combined with the application to the said cup of an air spring, or its
equivalent, for the purpose of increasing and diminishing the resistance of the
said cup to, the pressure of the gas--as, the pressure in the pipe increases or
diminishes, by reason of a-less or greater consumption-or otherwise, whereby a
desirable and uniform pressure on the burners is at all times maintained.
i
The accompanying Drawings represent a vertical central section of a gas
regulator constructed according to the Invention. A is the regulating chamber,
placed in the supply pipe, which-may consist of an upright cylindrical or other
formed vessel, made of tin plate or other light metal. a is the inlet and b
the outlet of the pipe to and from the said chamber. c is a diaphragm, placed
between the inlet and outlet to receive the induction or regulating valve B,
which is of the form of an inverted cone. C is the inverted cup, which floats
in quicksilver or other fluid contained in an annular formed well D in the
bottom of the chamber A, and is connected directly to the bottom of the valve
by a stem (d), which is continued through the bottom of the chamber, for the
purpose of being weighted to graduate the pressure in the pipe. The interior
or under side of the cup is exposed to the atmosphere, which has free access
through the opening e in the bottom of the chamber, and only the upper side
is exposed to the pressure of the gas. The sides of the cup are made double,
in order that a quantity of air may be confined in the annular space f within
them, and above the surface of the quicksilver. The air thus confined in f
serves as a spring to counterbalance the pressure of the gas, and gives the
requisite buoyancy to the cup, its force increasing or diminishing as it becomes
compressed or is allowed to expand by any increase or diminution of the
pressure of the gas in the chamber acting above the cup, until the valve is
balanced in the position necessary to allow of the passage of so much gas as
is necessary to sustain the desired pressure at the outlet b.
It may be well to mention that I consider as equivalent to the air spring f
a spiral or other spring applied to partly suspend the valve and cup from the
top of the chamber A, or a float of wood or some buoyant material applied to
or forming the sides of the cup. I consider the regulator to possess advan-

page_text: tages over others in common use in its extreme simplicity and small cost of
construction, while it is as effective as the rest. I am aware that the inverted
cup has been and is employed by others, and therefore I disclaim it, irre-
spectively of the peculiar arrangement and combination herein described;
and what I claim as my Invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is,
the arrangement of the inverted cup, so that only the upper side or exterior is
exposed to the pressure of the gas, and the under side or interior is exposed
to the atmosphere when this is combined, with the application to the cup
of the air spring f, or its equivalent, substantially as and for the purposes
herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this 23rd day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
A. E. LORADOUX BELLFORD. (L.S.)