CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF GASOMETERS
Year: 1823

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CARLON the younger, of Burton Crescent, in the County of Middlesex,
Proprietor of Gas Works, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did,
by His Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of His United Kingdom,
bearing date at Westminster, the Tenth day of May 1828, in the fourth
year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said William Caslon, my
exors, adñiors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said William Caslon, my exors, admors, and
assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF GASOMETERS;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained
à proviso that if I, the said William Caslon, shall not particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and
cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advan-
tages whatsoever thereby granted shall utterly cease, determine, and become
void, as in and by the same (relation being thereunto had) will more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Caslon, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawing hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say) :-
My improvements on gasometers are designed to effect the following
objects: 1st, that the gasometers may be enabled to perform without the
intervention of water. 2nd, that the tanks usually employed may be dispensed
with. 3rd, that their erection may be attended with less expence than other
gasometers; and fourth, that a larger quantity of gas can be stored in a
building of the same size than can be stored with gasometers of the common
construction.
In the Drawing hereunto annexed the interior of a building is exhibited in
which sections of my improved gasometer are represented in the two positions
which its parts would assume when the gas fully occupies the interior as Fig. 1,
and when the gas is nearly all expelled as Fig. 2, the respective letters
referring to the same parts of the apparatus in both Figures. a, a, are the
side walls of the building (formed either square, oblong, or of any other
suitable figure), in which the gasometer is erected. These may be made
slight, as they have very little weight to support compared to the weight of
gasometers of the old construction. b, b, b, b, is the fixed framing made of
wooden rails, and placed at such a distance from the side walls of the building
as will enable persons to pass round for the purpose of examining the
gasometer and making any necessary repairs. The lower part of this fixed
framework is covered entirely round and over the bottom with cloth, or other
suitable material, painted with boiled linseed oil, or other elastic composition,
so as to form the bottom and sides of an air-tight vessel c, c, c, c. The
moving frame d, d, made of wooden rails, is made six or eight inches less than
the interior of the fixed framework, and moves up and down within the same.
This frame is suspènded by ropes or chains, which pass over pulleys e, e, e,
and f, and a counterpoise weight 9 is attached to the reverse end of the chains
to regulate the pressure of the moving frame. A painted or oiled cloth is
attached all round the lower edge of the moving frame at h, h, and also round
the middle i, i, of the fixed framework, and securely closed at the joint, and
the whole rendered air-tight at every part. Thus a vessel for the reception of
gas is formed, the capacity of which is variable, according to the elevation of
the moving frame.. The gas passes into the gasometer through the pipe k,
where its elastic pressure acting against the moving or upper part of it, raises
it up; the oil cloth 1, 1, at the same time is enabled, by its flexibility, to
fuld between the fixed and moveable wooden frames, as seen in Fig. 2, whence
it stretches aut as the moveable frame rises, until it has reache'l its greatest

page_text: height, shewn in Fig. 1, the painted cloth being there fully extended, and the
vessel enlarged to its greatest capacity. The superincumbent pressure of the
moving frame acting upon the gas contained within the vessel causes it to be
discharged through the pipe m, whence the gas passes to the mains and service
pipes. In describing this improved gasometer I have necessarily. mentioned
several parts and materials which are not new and..are. not intended.to bo
claimed by me as such, my Invention consisting. simply of.. gasometers of
light materials, with flexible sides, so as to dispense with..water in their
operation, and no tank being required, the erection of the buildings for
gasometers upon this plan may consequently be much slighter, and will, of
course, be less expensive than those for other gasometers, with every advantage
hitherto obtained by any of the best construction.
2.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Caslon, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-three.
igned, sealed, and delivered, by the
said William Caslon the younger, in
the presence of us, the word "and".
being erazed in the thirteenth line;
the words "and fourth, that, a larger
quantity of gas can be stored in a
building of the same size than can
be stored with gasometers of the
common construction" being inter-
lined so as to come into the four-
teenth line; the words "and over the
bottom" being interlined so as to
come into the nineteenth line; the
words "or other" being interlined so
as to come into the twentieth lino;
and the word "moving" being in-
terlined so as to come into the
twenty-third line in the room of the
word "sliding," which is erazed out
of that line; and the word "middle"
being interlined so as to come into
the twenty-third line in the room of

page_text: the word "rim," which is erazed out
of that line; and the word "part"
being interlined so as to come into
the twenty-fourth line in the room of
the word "joint," which is erazed
out of that line; the word "time
being interlined so as to come into
the twenty-fifth line; and the word
"moveable" being interlined so as
to come into the twenty-sixth line,
which interlineations and erazurcs
were respectively made before the
execution thereof.