IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS REGULATORS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Alexander Frederick Duckham, of Camden
Town, in the County of Middlesex, Gas Engineer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS REGULATORS."
Sealed the 17th December 1869, and dated the 23rd June 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Alexander
Frederick Duckham at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with his Petition, on the 23rd June 1869.
I, HENRY ALEXANDER FREDERICK DUCKHAM, of Camden Town, in
the County of Middlesex, Gas Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS REGULATORS," to be as
follows:-
My Invention relates to improvements in gas regulators, and is more
especially applicable for regulating the supply of gas to the burners of
railway carriages, and in other cases in which the gas is stored under
high and varying pressures. The regulator consists of a valve carried

page_text: on a lever arm hinged at one end near the orifice at which the gas
arrives, and connected at the other to the centre of an india-rubber or
other diaphragm, the whole being contained within a suitable air-tight
casing. The valve may either be formed of a spherical or other shaped
part projecting from the lever arm near its fulcrum and received in a
suitable socket or seat when the valve is closed, or it may be formed
simply by the surface of the lever arm abutting against the orifice in
the nozzle at which the gas arrives for the purpose of closing the same.
The apparatus is contained in a suitable casing as before mentioned,
from which the gas is conducted to the burners as usual. Should the
pressure of the gas be great or small in proportion to the rate of con-
sumption the valve will be partially closed or opened as the case may
be, until a suitable pressure is attained. This is effected automatically
by the increase or diminution of pressure of the gas passing through
the apparatus on the diaphragm before mentioned as being connected
to the end of the lever arm. The relative positions of the valve and
diaphragm may be adjusted permanently by means of a set screw com
necting the lever arm with the diaphragm.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Alexander Frederick Duckham in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 23rd December 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, HENRY
ALEXANDER FREDERICK DUCKHAM, of Camden Town, in the County
of Middlesex, Gas Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her Most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria by Her 2
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Henry Alexander Frederick Duckham, Her
special licence that I, the said Henry Alexander Frederick Duckham, 3
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Henry Alexander Frederick Duckham, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time

page_text: and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, excrcise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS REGULATORS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry Alexander Frederick
Duckham, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particu-
larly 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 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 Henry Alexander Frederick
Duckham, 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, reference being had
to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed and to the letters and figures
marked thereon (that is to say) :-
My Invention relates to improvements in gas regulators, and is more
especially applicable for regulating the supply of gas to the burners of
railway carriages, and in otlier cases in which the gas is stored under
high and varying pressures. The regulator consists of a valve carried
on a lever arm hinged at one end near the orifice at which the gas.
arrives. and connected at the other to. the centre of an india-rubber or
other diaphragm, the whole being contained within a suitable air-tight
casing. The valve may either be formed of a spherical or other shaped
part projecting from the lever arm near its fulcrum and received in a
suitable socket or seat when the valve is closed, or it may be formed
simply by the surface of the lever arm abutting against the orifice
on the nozzle at which the gas arrives for the purpose of closing the
same. The apparatus is contained in a suitable casing as before
mentioned from which the gas is conducted to the burners as usual.
Should the pressure of the gas be great or small in proportion to the
rate of consumption the valve will be partially closed or opened as
the case may be until a suitable pressure is attained. This is effected
automatically by the increase or diminution of pressure of the gas
passing through the apparatus on the diaphragm before mentioned as
The relative positions
being connected to the end of the lever arm.

page_text: of a set screw connecting the lever arm with the diaphragm,
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS..
Figure 1 is a central section of one form of regulator showing its
position within the air-tight casing. It consists of a valve A which when
the pressure is great in proportion to the amount of gas consumed is
caused to abut against and close the orifice of nozzle B, by which the
gas arrives from the source of supply, but said valve is preferably received
in a seat formed in said nozzle as shown. This valve is mounted on a
lever arm C near one end, which is jointed to nozzle B, the other end
being jointed to a rod D connected by means of an adjustable screw
clamp to the centre of an india-rubber or other flexible diaphragm E of
an ordinary gas regulator, within which the valve A is placed, and into
which the gas is introduced at the orifice B. From this casing the gas
is conveyed to the burners by any suitable pipe G. The diaphragm E
is protected from injury by an outer metallic casing F as usual, the upper
end of rod D being received in a suitable guide formed in the top
of said casing F. Before applying this outer casing F, the relative
positions of the valve and diaphragm are permanently adjusted by means
of the clamp K screwed on rod D before referred to.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-The valve or regulator A
being in the open position shown, the gas is free to enter and fill the
space comprised between the bottom of easing F and diaphragm E,.
whence it passes to the burners to be consumed. Should the pressure
of gas in the chamber F be great in proportion to the amount consumed
either by reason of few burners being in use or from other cause, the
diaphragm E will be inflated and brought towards the position shown in
red lines raising with it. the lever arm C, and so partially closing valve A.
By this means the passage of gas is automatically reduced until the
pressure is sufliciently diminished and equilibrium restored. On the
other hand should the pressure become insufficient for the rate of con-
sumption, the diaphragm being no longer sustained thereby will collapse
and allow the lever C to fall, thereby opening the valve A to a greater
extent until the requisite pressure is attained. In order to prevent
particles of carbon and other substance held in suspension in the gas
lodging between the valve A and its seat, and thereby prevent its

page_text: closing, when the pressure is very great I prefer to provide a purifier I
composed of wool or other suitable material enclosed in wire gauze,
which I apply to the end of the nozzle piece B, or in any other con-
venient position for the purpose of filtering or purifying the gas before.
it enters the chamber in F.
'
If desired the orifice of nozzle B may open out directly towards
lever C as shown in the detached view, Figure 2, which is a central
vertical section of an improved regulating valve; B is the nozzle passing
through the sides of the casing and connected to the pipe com-
municating with the source of supply as before. The orifice is closed
as in the previous arrangement either by the surface of lever C abutting
against the orifice, or by a hemispherical or other projection A formed
on the lever and received in a corresponding socket or scat in said
orifice. The lever C is connected to a diaphragm operated by the
pressure of the gas to open or close the valve A precisely as in the
arrangement before described.
Figure 3 shows a central vertical section, and Figure 4a horizontal
section of a modification of the arrangement of valve shown in Figure 2.
In this case the valve A on lever C is provided with a stem M of
smaller diameter than the valve, which is carried down through a
slightly elongated slot in lever C in which said stem works. The valve
is moreover furnished with a stem J which works up and down in the
passage of nozzle B to guide the valve A in its scat. This guide J
is made of triangular or other suitable form, to allow of the free passage
of the gas when the valve is opened in the manner described in
reference to the foregoing arrangements. The apparatus herein-before
described is also applicable for regulating the passage of æriformi fluids
generally when under pressure.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim
to the use of a diaphragm for operating the apparatus, but what I claim
as my
Invention to be protected by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent is,-
The combination and arrangement of parts constituting the improved
apparatus for automatically regulating the pressure of the gas at the
burners according to the rate of consumption, operating substantially as
described and illustrated in Figure 1 of the Drawings.

page_text: I also claim the modified arrangements described and shown in
Figures 2, 3, and 4.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Alexander Frederick
Duckham, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second
day of December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-nine.
HEN'. A. F. DUCKHAM. (L.S.)