CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS METERS
Year: 1843

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
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twelfth day of October, in the
seventh year of Ier reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Stephen Hutchison, my exors, admors, and
assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said Stephen Hutchison, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, and such others
as I, the said Stephen Hutchison, my exors, adñors, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times hereafter
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland called England, and Her Majesty's Dominion of Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also within the Islands of Guernsey,
Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and within all Her Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, my Invention of CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS METERS;"
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said
Stephen Hutchison, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
particularly to 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 inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
#

page_text: months next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, 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,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are described and
ascertained by the several Drawings, Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 respec-
tively, and the words following (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 consist in the application of cup
valves sealed with quicksilver or other suitable fluid, in the manner herein-
after described.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS OF A GAS METER WITH THE SAID
CUP VALVES APPLIED THERETO.
Figure 1 is a section of a gas meter through the centre of the valves and
bags; Figure 2 is a plan of the meter without the top cover; Figure 3 is
a front elevation of the meter; Figure 4 is an end elevation of the meter,
with a section of the index; a part of the meter is shown cut away in order
to show the index and its connexion; Figures 5, 6, 7, are those views of
the wheelwork of the index. In each of the Figures the same letters and
figures of reference indicate the same parts. A1, A2, A3, A4, are four
flexible bags of leather, saturated with tar, naptha, and oil; the upper ends
of each are secured to a top a, having in its centre an upright by which
they are jointed on to the beams B1, B2, B3, B4; the lower ends of the bags
are secured to the tops of the four cups C1, C2, C3, C, which are cemented on
to four short cast-iron pipes D', D2, D3, D', through which the gas passes
and leaves the bags; these pipes are cast on to the plate E, and are continua-
tions of the passages F1, F2, F³, F. G1, G2, G3, G4, are four cups with the
vertical pipes II, II, I, II', continued through them, forming circular
channels which are to be partly filled with suitable liquid. I, I, I³, 1', are
four inverted cups, which are connected by a wire y passing through the pipes
I, II, II, II', with four other cups K', K2, K³, K, the channels in
which are to be partly filled with quicksilver or other suitable fluid; the
cups are attached to the beams B2, B4, by the wires and hooks L, L, L, L.
M', M, are connecting rods which, when the meter is in action, give
motion to the cranks N', N³, which are placed as near as may be at an
angle of 90 degrees one to the other. P, P, are supports for the beams
B1, B2, B3, B'; Q is a box on the under side of the plate E, having a

page_text: bottom R cemented on to it; S, the inlet pipe from the gas holder or service
pipe, by which the gas to be measured enters the meter; T, a screw, put in
motion by the crank U and head of the screw which attaches the connecting
rod M to the crank N; V, a carriage to support the screw T; W, a piece of
iron through which the vertical shaft X passes to the wheelwork in the index
box a below. On the upper end of the shaft X is a wheel Y, which takes into
the screw T; and immediately under the wheel Y is fixed an inverted cup Z,
which nearly touches the bottom of the circular channel on the top of the
piece of iron W, and consequently dips into the quicksilver or other suitable
fluid contained therein, which prevents the gas in the upper chamber entering
the index box a. The piece of iron W is fixed to its place by the hollow
screw b, through which the shaft X passes. On the lower end of the shaft X
is a screw v, which takes into the wheel c, c; the wheel c, c, is fixed on to a
pinion arbor d having six teeth, the end of which passes through the hollow
axis of the wheel E, and receives the hand g, g. 9. The wheel h of sixty
teeth takes into the pinion d of six teeth, and is fixed on to a pinion arbor of
six teeth w, which takes into the wheel e of sixty teeth; the wheels and
screws of the index are so arranged that the hand g. g, g, revolves once for
every thousand cubic feet of gas that passes through the meter, and the hand f
once for every hundred thousand cubic feet of gas that passes; h', h, are the
cheeks to support the bearings of the wheelwork; i, i, i, i, are the stretches
to keep them together and at the proper distance apart; j, a carriage to
receive the end of the arbor d; K, K, the dial case attached to the in:lex
box a; 1, 1, the glass over the dial; m, the outlet pipe; n, a ratchet and pall
to prevent the meter moving, in the event of the inlet and outlet pipes being
reversed; p, p, p, p, are plugs to let the quicksilver or other fluid into the
lower cups; 7, the top case (cemented into the rim of the plate E) to which
the exit pipe m is attached. If the moving parts of the meter stand in the
position shewn in the Drawing, and gas is admitted into the box q through the
pipe S, it will pass into the bag A through the pipe H, and passage 12, but
not into the other bags; the cup K', K, is up as far as it will go, and the
quicksilver or other fluid in it seals the end of the pipe H', and the fluid in
the cups K³, K, is so adjusted that it prevents gas from passing up the pipe
H3, H, hence the gas presses up the top of the bag A2, and causes it to move
the beams 133, B, which puts the other parts in motion; when the top of the
bag A has moved a little upwards, it will be seen the cup K will have
descended so as to admit gas into the bag A'; at the same time the inverted
cup 13 will have ascended and opened the top of the pipe H³, to let out the
gas from A3, into the case q; A' is half up the bag; A is quite up the inverted

page_text: cup I will be just quitting the fluid in the channel of the cup G², thereby
opening a passage from A2 into the case q, and from thence to the burners;
the same takes place with all the bags in succession, and by the intervention
of the connecting rods M1, M2, and cranks N, N, produce a rotary motion of
the shaft 0, 0, which is communicated to the index, as before described, which
is arranged so as to indicate on the dial the number of cubic feet which has
entered and left the bags.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, I hereby declare that I do
not claim any of the parts herein-before described taken separately, or the
general construction of the gas meter shown in the said Drawings, as I have
annexed the said Drawings merely to render the application of my said Inven-
tion of cup valves to gas meters more intelligible. But that which I claim
as my said Invention is, the application and use of cup valves, sealed with
quicksilver or other suitable fluid, for the inlet and outlet valves to the
measuring chambers of gas meters generally.
In witness whereof, I, the said Stephen Hutchison, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.