CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS METERS
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, STEPHEN
HUTCHISON, of the London Gas Works, Vauxhall, in the County of Surrey,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Second day of July, One thousand eight hundred and
forty-five, in the ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Stephen Hutchison, my exors,
adiors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said, my exors, admors, or assigns, or such others
as I, the said Stephen Hutchison, my exors, admors, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey,
Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS METERS;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said
Stephen Hutchison, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
to particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same
to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six

page_text: calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being had thereunto,
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Stephen Hutchison, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention
is described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, and
by the aid of the illustrative Drawings hereunto annexed (that is to say) :-
My said improvement or improvements in making or constructing gas meters
are more particularly applicable to that class or description of gas meters
commonly called dry meters, and consists in the application of circular slide
valves and boxes constructed and put in motion in the manner described,
and in the application of lubricators to the valves of dry gas meters.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS OF A GAS METER, WITH THE IMPROVEMENTS
APPLIED THERETO.
Figure 1 is a section of a gas meter, throngh the centre of a pair of
chambers; the valve K is shewn with its cap removed.
Figure 2 is a longitudinal and vertical section of one of the valves and box.
Figure 3 is a horizontal plan of the meter, having its top cover removed.
Figure 4 is an external front elevation of the meter entire.
Figure 5 is a transverse and vertical section of the meter taken at the
dotted line Z, Z, of the Figure 3.
In each of the Figures the same letters of reference indicate the same
parts, as far as the same parts can been seen in each Figure.
In Figure 1, A1, A2, A3, A mark four flexible bags formed of leather, which
is saturated with a mixture of tar with naptha and oil. On the upper side"
of each bag, and at its centre are placed two discs of tin plate, one on the
upper side of the leather of which the bag is composed, and another and
corresponding plate on the under side of the same. These have fixed at their
centres a forked upright bar Z, such bars being jointed to the beams B', B',
B, B, Figure 3 and 1. The four beams cannot been seen at once in either
of these Figures, but two of them, B' and B³, are to be seen in Figure 3, and
the beams B and B' in Figure 1. The bags A', A3, A°, A' are suspended
two and two on the beams at their opposite ends, the open ends of the bags
being secured to the tops of the four cylindrical cups or chambers 'C', C³, C³, C+
When the apparatus is in action the gas enters and leaves these chambers
by the pipes D', D, D, D', which are connected to the valve boxes E', E'.
Through the centre of each of such valve boxes there is a passage F, commu-
nicating with the inlet passage G, shewn at (Figures 1 and 5) by the 'flat

page_text: pipe H, shewn at Figures 1, 3, and 5. The space in the valve box between
the metal of the passage F and the metal composing the outside is divided
above and below the passage F by a vertical partition; and through the face of
each of the valve boxes E', E³, are four apertures, J1, J, J, J', shewn at
Figure 1, two on each side of the vertical partition K¹, K. At the Figures 1,
3, and 5 are the circular valves, each of which consists of a dome-shaped cap,
seen in Figure 5, and a metal plate having a circular hole opposite the
passage F, and six apertures, J, J, J, J, J, J, three of which are inlet
passages and three outlet passages for the gas. The dome-shaped caps are
notched out at the outlet passages, and securely fixed to the metal plate, and
to the projecting pieces L, L, at the outlet passages. M is a centre pin fixed
in the bridge N, seen in Figure 1. O, Figure 1, is a bridge across the circular
hole in the centre of the valve, and on which it turns on the pin M, at
Figures 1, 3, and 5. P, P, are connecting rods, which, when the meter is in
action, give motion to the cranks Q, Q, Figures 1 and 5, which are placed at
an angle of ninety degrees or thereabouts to each other. At Figures 3 and 5,
R, R, are the supports for the beams B1, B2, B3, B4, and form the springs
S1, S2, shewn at Figures 1 and 5, which keep the valves K1, K2, up to the
faces of the valve boxes E¹, E, Figures 1, 3, and 5. At Figure 5, T, T, are
adjusting screws to regulate the pressure on the valves. At Figures 1 and 5,
U, U, are connecting rods which give motion to the valves K, K. At Figure 3,
V is a screw which is put in motion by the crank W, and the head of the
screw that attaches the connecting rod P to the crank Q in Figure 1. X is a
carriage to support the screw V. Y is a stuffing box to prevent the gas
passing into the index box a, shewn at Figures 1 and 3.
wheel which takes into the screw V, and which puts in
At Figure 3, 6 is a
motion an arbor for
communicating motion to the index. This arbor has two concentric hands g, h,
shewn at Figure 4. The wheels and screws of the index are so arranged that
the hand g revolves once for every twenty-seven thousand cubic feet of gas
that passes through the meter, and the hand "h" once for every two million
seven hundred thousand cubic feet of gas that passes. At Figures 1 and 5,
d is the outlet pipe and e the inlet pipe from the gas holder or service pipe,
and by which the gas to be measured enters the meter. At Figure 1, f is a
ratchet and pall to prevent the meter moving in the event of the inlet and
outlet pipes being reversed. At Figure 1, is one of two carriages in which
the shaft k, Figure 3, revolves. Lubricators are fixed over the valves, at each
end of which is inserted a piece of cotton or other suitable material, through
which the oil contained in the lubricators passes drop by drop into the valves,
thereby preventing them getting out of order for a longer period than heretofore.

page_text: Now, suppose the moving parts of the meter to be in the position shewn
in the Drawings, and gas to be admitted into the inlet passage G, through the
pipe e, Figure 1, it will pass into the valve K, through the pipe H and the
passage F, and from thence through the apertures J, J, and pipe D', into
the chamber C, but not any gas into any of the others, and the gas pressing
up the top of the bag A' will cause it to move the beam B, which puts the
other parts connected thereto in motion. When the top of the bag A' moves
upwards, it will be seen that it will depress the bag As, and discharge a portion
of the gas contained in the chamber C³ into the case through the pipe Ds
and passages J', J. When the bag A* has reached its greatest height it will
have moved the valve K so as to close all the apertures; but as the chambers
C1, C2, would come into action soon after the meter was moved, and would be
in full action on the crank completing the quarter of a revolution, they will
continue the motion and supply of gas until the apertures J, J³, open to the
apertures J, J, in the valve box, and until the apertures J, J³, open to the
apertures J, J', when the gas will cause the bag A³ to move upwards, and
thereby depress the bag A. The same operation takes place with both sets of
bags in succession, and by the intervention of the connecting rods P, P, and
cranks Q, Figure 1, produce rotary motion of the shaft k, Figure 3, and
communicate it to the index, as before described,, which is arranged as to
indicate or register on the dial before described the number of cubic feet of
gas which has entered and left the bags.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed and carried into practical effect, I wish
it to be distinctly understood that I do not claim the exclusive use of any of
the separate parts above mentioned and referred to, except in so far as the
same may be employed in combination and for the purposes of my said
Invention, which I hereby declare to consist in, and I claim,
of
Firstly, the application of slide valves and boxes to that class or description
gas meters known and distinguished as dry meters, such said slide valves
and boxes being arranged, combined, and put in motion in the manner herein-
before particularly described, set forth, and represented.
Secondly, the application of lubricators to the valves of dry gas meters.
And,
Thirdly, the new mechanical combination and arrangement of parts above
described and referred to as constituting "Certain Improvements in Gas
Meters."
And such my Invention being to the best of my knowledge and belief
entirely new, and never before used in that part of Her said Majesty's

page_text: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her said
Dominien of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in the Islands of
Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and in all Her said Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, I do hereby declare this to be my Specifi-
cation of the same, and that I do verily believe this my said Specification doth
comply in all respects, fully and without reserve or disguise, with the proviso
in the said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent contained, wherefore I
claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Stephen Hutchison, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Second day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.
STEPHEN (L.s.) HUTCHISON.
STEPHEN (L.S.) HUTCHISON.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Second day of January, in
the year of our Lord 1846, the aforesaid Stephen Hutchison came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Second day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-six.