A PROCESS AND APPARATUSES INTENDED TO FIND OUT THE ESCAPES OF LIGHTING GAS FROM THE CONVEYING PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Antoine Fournier, of No. 60, Boulevart de
Strasbourg, Paris, in the Empire of France, Treasurer, Agent to the
Ministèry of War, for the Invention of "A PROCESS AND APPARATUSES
INTENDED TO FIND OUT THE ESCAPES OF LIGHTING GAS FROM THE CONVEYING
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Antoine Fournier
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 1st December 1859.
I, CHARLES ANTOINE FOURNIER, of No. 60, Boulevart de Strasbourg, Paris,
in the Empire of France, Treasurer, Agent to the Ministery of War, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "A PROCESS AND APPARATUSES
INTENDED TO FIND OUT THE ESCAPES OF LIGHTING GAS FROM THE CONVEYING PIPES,
AND TO DETERMINE THE PRECISE LEAKING PLACES OF THE SAID PIPES," to be
as follows:-
My apparatus for finding out escapes of lighting gas from the delivery pipes
is simply a double branched barometrical tube, in connection on one side with
the pipe conveying the gas from the gasometer, and on the other side with the
delivery pipe, the connecting cock being turned off when the pipes are filled
with gas.
If there be no escapes the colored liquid in the barometrical tube
will keep its level in both branches of the said tube, whilst if there be some

page_text: escape of gas, the greater pressure of the gas in the branch connected with the
feed pipe will cause the liquid to rise in the other branch. The barometrical
tube may be connected with both ends of the stop cock, the key of which
would then have three positions, 1st, for giving a free passage to the gas;
2dly, for stopping it entirely; 3dly, for establishing a double communication
with the branches of the barometrical tube.
The apparatus for finding the leaking places of the pipes is composed of a
glass receiver, containing volatile alkali, which is volatilized by any convenient
means, and the vapour is introduced into the delivery pipes; then if a glass
rod dipped in muriatic acid be carried along near the said pipes it will, on
coming near the escape, be suddenly surrounded by thick white vapours, and
a white substance will be deposited on it.
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said Charles Antoine
Fournier in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 22nd June 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
ANTOINE FOURNIER, of No. 60, Boulevart de Strasbourg, Paris, in the Empire
of France, Treasurer, Agent to the Ministéry of War, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Charles Antoine Fournier, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
Antoine Fournier, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Charles Antoine Fournier, 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 PROCESS
AND APPARATUSES INTENDED TO FIND OUT THE ESCAPES OF LIGHTING GAS FROM THE
CONVEYING PIPES, AND TO DETERMINE THE PRECISE LEAKING PLACES OF THE SAID
PIPES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Antoine
Fournier, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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

page_text: Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Antoine Fournier, 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 and accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-
My process may be divided into two distinct operations, the first one showing
whether there is any escape or leakage of gas, and the second pointing out the
place.
The first is accomplished by means of a permanent apparatus fitted to the
gas pipes; it is easily understood by anybody, and I call it a revealer.
The second is applied only when the first apparatus has revealed that there
is an escape of gas, then an odourous gas capable of being made visible is
introduced into the pipes, and a reactive substance is carried along the pipes,
when the gas as it escapes is made visible by this substance.
First part, the revealer. The gas supplied has always a certain pressure,
which I use for carrying my Invention into effect. The revealer being destined
to ascertain the loss of gas, must be placed very close to the place of introduction
of the gas into the establishment, which is to be protected by it; it is adjusted
on the delivery pipe, and is used as an induction and stop-cock, allowing at
pleasure the free passage or shutting off of the gas.
My Invention will be easily understood by the inspection of the annexed
Drawing, in which the same letters of reference indicate the same pieces in
all the Figures.
This apparatus consists of a common stop-cock, or of one with a modified
shape, the plug of which is pierced through with a rather long shaped hole, as
shown Fig. 6, in order to make it shut tight; two narrow channels are cut in
the plug at b, b', one on each side of the hole A', Figs. 2, 3, 4, 6; when desirous
to try the revealer the narrow channels are brought in the position shown,
Fig. 4; the side 6 of the channel communicates with the induction pipe A,
whilst the side b¹ is in communication with a hole d pierced through the seat
to which the revealing tube is connected by a piece K screwed fast on it. The
revealer alone is a U-shaped glass tube C, C', containing a colored liquid up
to the level E, E¹, Figs. 2 and 3. The handle L of the stop-cock shows, on
a segment R, O, S, the various positions of the plug, according to the require-
ments.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation, Figs. 2, 3, 4, are vertical sections corresponding
to Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is an end elevation, Fig. 6 a partly cross vertical section-

page_text: Fig. 2 shows the stop-cock when shut, completely stopping the passage of
the gas; Fig. 3 shows it wide open; Fig. 4 shows the revealer in communi-
cation with the gas pipes. The plug as it is turned completely stops the
passage of the gas to the delivery pipe B, but the channel b admits it freely into
the branch C of the glass tube C, C', the branch C' whereof communicates at
all times with the delivery pipe through the hole d'; it is the trial position of
the plug which is indicated by the handle L on the segment R, O, S. If there
is no escape of gas in the delivery pipes the colored liquid keeps its level in
both branches of the glass tube, as in Figs. 2 and 3; whilst if there is any
escape of gas there will be a sudden alteration in the level, because the
pressure in the gas meter is acting in the pipe A, and therefore in the branch
C, and the atmospheric pressure alone is acting in the pipe B, on account of
the escape of the gas that was within; and therefore, the equilibrium of the
liquid in both branches C, C³, is destroyed; the level descends at X in the first
branch, whilst it ascends at X' in the second. Of course, all the burners must
be shut during the trial. This difference of level immediately reveals the least
escape.
The glass tube being very thick, as shewn in the sectional Figs. 2, 3, 4,
the colored liquid that is in this tube is magnified, and will have the appear-
ance shown in Fig. 1.
By the use of this apparatus the danger of explosions will be obviated, by
trying before lighting the burners, or, after they have been extinguished,
whether there are any escapes. In very extensive establishments several
revealers should be used at a distance from one another.
"
Second part. Ascertaining the leaking places.-If the leakage is the result
of a stop-cock not entirely closed, it is easy to find it out, and to shut it better;
but if the leakage arises either from a fissure in the delivery pipes, a defective
joint, or a worn out stop-cock, it is rather difficult to find out the precise
leaking places; the way commonly followed in such cases is to run a light
along the pipes, which is rather dangerous. In my process I employ a gas
which may be detected by its odour, or which can afford a color with or be
rendered visible by the use of a re-agent, with which it may come in contact;
thus, by introducing sulphuretted hydrogen or ammonia in the pipe, the
peculiar odour of these gases would probably lead to the detection of the leaky
place, and a test paper saturated with a salt of lead, of silver, of copper, or
some other analogous re-agent being carried along the pipe or pipes, would
with the
of these gases become colored, when coming in contact with the
gas escaping from the leaky place; I prefer, however, using aminonia, because
its pungent odour renders it easily detectable, and because with contact with

page_text: muriatic acid the most minute traces afford instantaneously an abundance of
white fumes readily perceptible. I accordingly operate as follows:-The
apparatus for introducing the ammonia into the conveying pipes as shown,
Fig. 9; it consists of a glass receiver B, more than half filled with volatile
alkali; this receiver being dipped during a few seconds in a water bath Z, Q,
heated with an alcohol lamp D to about 104 degrees Fahrenheit, I provide
the receiver with two necks M and X; through the stopper of the neck X a
tube H penetrates within the receiver, but does not reach down to the level of
the liquid; the said tube, provided with a stop-cock N, to admit at pleasure
the ammonia as it issues into the india-rubber tube I, I, adjusted at one end
to the tube H, and at the other end on the delivery pipe A, A', which is pro-
vided with a neck for that purpose. A safety tube E, which is bent in a
suitable shape, runs through the stopper of the neck M, and some mercury
being poured into it, it falls at G, stopping the passage of the evolved ammonia,
but when the evolution is too abundant the mercury is driven up by the
expansive force of the ammonia to the enlarged aperture E', and the super-
abundant ammonia escapes.
The testing ammonia, which enters the tube A, can be carried along this
pipe by a small stream of lighting gas admitted at pleasure through the
butterfly valve C, Fig. 10, which is an enlarged section of the conveying pipe
A, A. To make the trial or detect the leaking places, the covering plate is
taken off from the pipe A, A', and a short joining tube is screwed at D to
receive the india-rubber tube I, Fig. 9. When the trial is over the joining
tube J is taken off, a soft and compressible round piece i is put in its place,
and the covering plate shown at Fig. 11 is screwed fast on the pipe A, A', to
prevent any escape of gas, it is understood that the butterfly valve D may be
entirely open for the free passage of the gas.
My Invention being now described, I would have it understood that I do
not confine myself to the precise details, so long as the particular character is
retained; but I claim,―
First, ascertaining whether there are any escapes or leakages of illuminating
gas in the conveying or delivery pipes, by means of a permanent apparatus
attached to the gas pipes, consisting of a common stop-cock with a slighty
modified plug and a glass U tube, which glass tube containing a colored liquid
communicates on one side with the conveying, and on the other side with the
delivery pipe, the difference of pressure in the said pipes causing an alteration
in the level in the liquid contained in the two branches of the glass tube if
there is any leakage.
Secondly, finding out the precise leaking places, if any, by means of

page_text: ammonia or any other harmless and adourous gas introduced into the delivery
pipes, which gas as it issues through the fissures or leaking places of the
tubes exerts an action on any re-agent which may be brought in contact
with it by colouring it instantaneously, as is described in my aforesaid
process.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Antoine Fournier, bave here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Signed and sealed in the presence of
L. D'AUBREVILLE, C. E.
CH. A. FOURNIER. (L.S.)