A HYDRO-PNEUMOMETRIC GAS METER
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Grand de Chateauneuf, of 39, Rue de l'Echiquier,
Paris, in the Empire of France, and of 4, South Street, Finsbury,
London, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "A HYDRO-PNEUMOMETRIC
GAS METER."
Sealed the 8th July 1856, and dated the 18th March 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Grand de Chateauneuf
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th March 1856.
I, GRAND DE CHÂTEAUNEUF, of 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, in the
Empire of France, and of 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Civil Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention of A HYDRO-PNEUMOMETRIC
GAS METER to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention consists of improvements in the construction of gas meters,
by which the water contained in the meter can always be maintained at the
proper level, thus ensuring the correct measurement of the gas by the meter.
A reservoir of water is placed on the top of the ordinary water meter. To
each side of this reservoir is soldered or otherwise fixed a bent tube, provided
with a stop-cock; these tubes communicate with the meter at the water level.
On the left side of the meter the bent tube is carried up into the reservoir
nearly to the top, to which part it conveys the gas when required. A small.

page_text: tube, provided with a screw stopper, is fixed to the top of the reservoir, through
which tube the latter is filled with water.. The stop-cocks of the bent tubes
must be previously closed. The meter and reservoir have each one or more
glazed openings, by which the level of the water can be seen and regulated.
When the water descends by evaporation below the proper level in the meter,
the gas immediately ascends by the tube on the left side of the meter through
the stop-cock to the upper part of the water reservoir; when by its pressure
it forces the water through the bent tube on the right of the meter, when the
stop-cock is opened into the meter. When the water rises to the proper level
the stop-cocks are closed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Grand de Chateauneuf in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 18th July 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GRAND
DE CHATEAUNEUF, of 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, in the Empire of France,
and of 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Grand de Chateauneuf, Her special license that I, the said Grand de
Chateauneuf, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Grand de Chateauneuf, 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 "A
HYDRO-PNEUMOMETRIC GAS. METER," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Grand de Chateauneuf, 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 same was to be performed, and cause-the
same to be filed in the Great Seal-Patent Office within six calendar monthis
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Grand de Chateauneuf, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is

page_text: to be performed, to be particularly described; and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference. being had to the Drawing hereto
annexed, and to the Figures and Letters marked thereon, that is to say:-
The Invention consists of an improved construction of gas meter, for
maintaining the water always at the same level, and regulating at the same
time the current of gas passing through it; the latter part of the Invention
being applicable to dry meters; as well as to meters in which water is used.
I will now proceed to describe the apparatus and means employed for obtain-
ing the above results. Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing. represents,
in elevation and section, my.improved gas meter; Figure 2 represents the
regulator detached. ..The.meter A is surmounted with a reservoir B, Figure 1,
which is put in. communication with the meter by two cocks C, D, at its
ordinary level E, E. The reservoir B is closedi hermetically at B', where the
water is introduced. D is a supply cock to maintain the level; C is a cock
giving access to the gas into the upper part of the reservoir B by means of a
tube: When the water is below the level it flows, into the meter through the
cock D; but as soon as the orifice of cock C is closed, by the elevation of the
water above the level. E, the flow at-D is stopped until the water is lowered.
This intermittent action of the water continués so long as a regular temperature
is preserved; but when the temperature of the surrounding atmosphere rises,
the gas in the reservoir dilates, and the consequent pressure causes the water
to rise above the hydraulic closing, and. to flow into the meter. I remedy this
defect by employing a small pipe. or syphon G, the lower end of which enters a
reservoir H at the bottom of the meter, and the upper end communicates with
the
gas reservoir Bat the top; for withdrawing the excess of gas. The vaccuum
produced at the upper part of the reservoir B; by the flow of water from thence
into the meter, is compensated by the syphon G,, which draws up a volume of
water from, the receiver Hin proportion to, that which has flowed into the
meter. The volume of water, thus elevated falls as soon as the gas begins to
dilate, and thus prevents the pressure which caused the flow. In case the level
of water at E should be elevated above the proper level, the water will escape
into a box with a double bottom I, placed in the meter. This double-bottomed
box forms a syphon, and allows the water to pass into the reservoir H without
permitting the gas to escape; by reason of the volume of water being more than
equal in weight to the maximum pressure, of gas in the meter.
By the combination, of these two methods of,supplying and discharging, the
level of the meter becomes invariable under all conditions. I can set the
reservoir of water B otherwise than over the meter, and the passage of water
may take place outside of it, should the consumer wish to have a larger

page_text: reservoir and a flow of longer duration.
The meter herein described indicates
the level at K, either by a box with glass front, on which the level is marked,
or by a translucid hydrometer, placed on the front of the box. A hydrometer.
must also be fixed at J on the reservoir B.
DESCRIPTION OF THE APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE PRESSURE OF GAS,
APPLICABLE TO EVERY KIND OF METER:
F, Figure 2, is a four-sided box, containing the mechanism of the regulator; K,
circular part fitting in this box, forming a projection on the interior, and having
on its flat surface a semicircular groove L; M, pulley, grooved in the same
way as the part K, on which it turns in juxtaposition on its.axis. This pulley
is also grooved on its periphery. By the oscillating motion of the pulley it
enlarges or lessens the space left between the slots for the passage of the gas
into the meter, according to the degree of pressure of the gas in the chamber
in which it operates. N, chain, fixed at its middle to the upper part of the
grooved pulley M; O, float, attached to one end of the chain N; P, counter
weight of the float, attached to the other extremity of the chain N, serving to
draw with it the pulley when the float rises or falls; Q, pipe with two elbowed
branches, one of which enters the box of the regulator, the other commu-
nicating with the atmosphere at S; T, pipe, closed by a screw at its lower end,
its upper end entering the regulator; this pipe receives the weight which
balances the float, according to the pressure of gas in the regulator; U, pipe
by which the gas is introduced into the regulator. The pipe Q receives the
water, the level of which serves to make the opening exactly sufficient for the
supply of the burners at the lowest pressure of the gas works. The level is
adjusted to the required height, either by introducing water through the exterior
orifice of the pipe Q, or by allowing the water to escape by turning round the
screw nut V at the bottom; when this precaution has been taken the regulator
acts alone. The pressure increasing in the regulator, acts on the water
contained in the pipe Q, and causes it 'to rise in the side S. The float following
the descending and ascending movement of the water turns the pulley M, which
diminishes or increases the escape of gas from the regulator into the meter by
the slots L, according to pressure. I place the new regulator either in the
interior of the meter, as shewn in the Drawing, at the part of the box where
the valve was formerly placed, or I can adapt it to the existing meters on the
side of the compartment which contains the mechanism of the meter, by putting
it in communication with the valve box by an outlet made in the side of this
box. In the latter case, it is necessary to adjust to the regulator the pipe
which introduces the gas, and to shut up the old outlet, or to lengthen the

page_text: compartment of the old meter, to place there both the regulator. and the valve
box, so that the gas may pass through the regulator previously to entering the
valve box. Meters constructed with regulators as herein-before described
economize the consumption of gas, and give light of uniform size and brilliancy.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine
myself to the precise details herein laid down; but what I claim is,-
First, the means employed for maintaining the required level of the water in
gas meters, as herein-before described, and referred to in Figure 1 of the
accompanying Drawing.
Secondly, an improved construction of regulator, applicable to every kind of
gas meters, as herein-before described, and shewn in Figures 1 and 2 of the
accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Grand de Chateauneuf, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
GRAND DE CHATEAUNEUF. (L.S.)