IMPROVEMENTS IN WET GAS METERS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Pinchbeck, of 35, Whiskin Street, Clerken-
well, in the County of Middlesex, Gas Meter Manufacturer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WET GAS METERS."
Sealed the 16th October 1861, and dated the 20th April 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Pinchbeck at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th April 1861.
1, JAMES PINCHBECK, of 35, Whiskin Street, Clerkenwell, in the County.
of Middlesex, Gas Meter Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WET GAS METERS," to be as follows:-
These improvements relate more particularly to the mode of preventing the
pressure of the inlet gas shutting down the valve, in order that the valve may
be adjusted to the greatest nicety, and close when the level of the water in the
meter falls by evaporation or otherwise. The gas from the inlet valve enters
the chamber containing the measuring drum through an aperture or valve
made in the round front or partition dividing the square front and the com-
partment containing the measuring wheel. The gas then enters the measuring.
drun at the back, and into the syphon pipe in the reverse direction of that in
ordinary meters, and no direct communication exists between the syphon pipe
and the square front. From the syphon pipe the gas enters into the waste
water box below the square front, and thence by a pipe to the outlet. The
water level in the meter is adjusted by a pipe, the upper extremity deciding the

page_text: height of the water, and entering the waste water box at the lower extremity,
hydraulic seal being made by one or more intervening bends, as may be found
desirable. To prevent tilting a lever valve may be adapted to the aperture or
valve in the round front. As the gas in the waste water box is measured or
registered, gas fraud by the extraction thence of gas is avoided.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Pinchbeck in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th October 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
PINCUBECK, of No. 35, Whiskin Street, Clerkenwell, in the County of
Middlesex, Gas Meter Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Pinchbeck, Her special licence that I, the said James
Pinchbeck, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such other as I,
the said James Pinchbeck, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN WET GAS METERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said James Pinchbeck, 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 Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Pinchbeck, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
These improvements relate more particularly to the mode of preventing the
pressure of the inlet gas shutting down the valve, in order that the valve may
be adjusted to the greatest nicety, and close when the level of the water in the

page_text: meter falls by evaporation or otherwise. The gas from the inlet valve enters
the chamber containing the measuring drum through an aperture or valve
made in the round front or partition dividing the square front and the com-
partment containing the measuring wheel. The gas then enters the measuring
5 drum at the back, and into the syphon pipe in the reverse direction of that in
ordinary meters, and no direct communication exists between the syphon pipe
and the square front. From the syphon pipe the gas enters into the waste
water box below the square front, and thence by a pipe to the outlet. The
water level in the meter is adjusted by a pipe, the upper extremity deciding
the height of the water, and entering the waste water box at the lower
extremity, a hydraulic seal being made by one or more intervening bends, as
may be found desirable. To prevent tilting a lever valve may be adapted to
the aperture or valve in the round front. As the gas in the waste water box
is measured or registered, gas fraud by the extraction thence of gas is
avoided.
And that the same may be more fully understood, I will proceed to
describe the accompanying Sheet of Drawings which forms part of this
Specification.
J
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 represents a front elevation with the square front removed; Fig. 2,
a side elevation with square frame or box in section; and Fig 3, a sectional
plan of a meter constructed according to my Invention. In each of the
above-named Figures the same letters of reference indicate like parts. The
arrows indicate the direction of the gas through the meter; the gas passes
through the ordinary inlet pipe A and valve box B, thence through the valve:
C into the measuring chamber, or round casing D, and enters the measuring
wheel at the back, which is the contrary end of the wheel to the ordinary
way of admitting the gas; the gas passes from the wheel through the pipe
E, which makes a communication between the interior of the hood of the
wheel and the waste water box F; it passes thence through the pipe G, shewn
in dotted lines in Fig. 1, and in section in Fig. 3. This pipe G communicates
with the outlet pipe H, which supplies gas to the burners. It will be seen
from the above description that the pressure of the inlet gas acts upon nearly
the whole surface of the water, and consequently prevents the oscillation of the
same, whereby the inlet valve may be adjusted to a greater nicety than in
ordinary meters, and also makes it capable of resisting a greater pressure
without shutting down the valve. The gas entering the back of the wheel
turns it in an opposite direction to ordinary meters; the worm and worm wheels

page_text: on the end of the measuring wheel shaft must therefore be changed to
suit this alteration. The level of the water is adjusted by the bydraulic seal
or level pipe H, which carries off the whole of the surcharge of water through
the pipe J, which is soldered to the exterior of the square front, and communi-
cates with the waste water box F. As the pressure of the inlet gas is one
side of the bydraulic seal H, and the pressure of the outlet on the other side
of the same, there is no danger of the water being blown out, as the pressures
are nearly equal; the water is therefore little if any disturbed. The valve C
is intended for shutting off the gas when the meter is tilted forward for the
purpose of fraud, and acts in the following manner :-The valve is fixed to a
rod turning on pivots at M and a weight L is fixed to the other extremity of
the rod. As the weight L will always hang down perpendicularly from the
pivots M, it follows that when the meter is tilted forward the valve seat K
will come in contact with the valve C and thus shut off the gas. The gas in
the waste water box F being registered or measured gas, a seal to the
surcharge plug P becomes unnecessary; this is of some importance not
only for simplicity of construction, but that the meter is filled more easily and
also that the level of the water in the meter is not affected, as very often
occurs in ordinary meters, and also the preventing of obtaining unregistered
gas at the waste water box.
Having now described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into practical effect, I will proceed to state what I claim
in the construction of meters as herein-before described and shewn, the
mode of admitting the unmeasured gas to the measuring wheel, and taking off
the measured gas from beneath the hood of the measuring wheel in the
manner herein-before described and shewn in the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Pinchbeck, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
JAMES PINCHBECK. (L.B.)
Witness,
JOSEPH WILLCOCK,
Patent Agent & Consulting Engineer,
89, Chancery Lane, London.