In- PROVEMENTS IN WET GAS METERS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James John Shedlock, of Vincent Street, Westminster,
in the County of Middlesex, Gas Engineer, for the Invention of "In-
PROVEMENTS IN WET GAS METERS."
Sealed the 29th December 1863, and dated the 2nd July 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James John Shedlock
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd July 1868.
I, JAMES JOHN SHEDLOCK, of Vincent Street, Westminster, in the County of
Middlesex, Gas Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WET GAS METERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object "Improvements in Wet Gas Meters," and
in order that a wet gas meter may be made to register correctly by keeping
the water in the case at an uniform level, I place in the interior of the case.
of the meter a box containing the quantity of water necessary to keep the
meter at work, registering correctly the gas passing through it for any required
period, say from 6 to 12 months. Upon the under side of the box is fixed a
pipe closed at the bottom, having in any convenient part a small orifice, the
size of which is regulated so as to pass the required quantity of water.
second and smaller pipe open at both ends, and having communication with
the exterior of the case, is made to pass through the box, and is enclosed
and descends to within a short distance of the bottom of the larger pipe. The
box being made to fit the interior of the case, the form of the top is-circular,

page_text: and consequently higher the nearer it approaches the vertical line drawn
through the centre of the meter. At the highest part of the box an orifice is
made, forming a communication from the exterior to the interior of the box
by means of a pipe, or it may be a division formed in the interior of the box.
The bottom end of the pipe or partition is cut off to the required level of the
water in the case, and is surrounded by a chamber having a hole in the under
side. When the water in the case falls below its proper level gas rises up the
pipe or partition and displaces a quantity of water, which passes through the
orifice in the larger pipe attached to the bottom of the box and raises the level
of the water to its proper height, sealing the bottom of the pipe or partition
and preventing the further entrance of gas to the box.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
'by the said James John Shedlock in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 2nd January 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES JOHN
SHEDLOCK, of Vincent Street, Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, Gas
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said James John Shedlock, Her special licence that I, the
said James John Shedlock, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said James John Shedlock, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN WET GAS METERS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said James John Shedlock, my executors or
àdministrators, 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 John Shedlock, do hereby declare

page_text: 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 :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in wet gas meters, and in
order that a wet gas meter may be made to register correctly by keeping the
water in the case at an uniform.level I place in the interior of the case of the
meter a box containing the quantity of water necessary to compensate for loss
by evaporation or otherwise. By means of this arrangement the water is
maintained at one determined level, and the registration of the gas passing
through will be thus found to be at all times correct. Upon the under side of
the water box is fixed a pipe closed at the bottom, having in any convenient part
a small hole or orifice, the size of which is regulated so as to pass the required
quantity of water. A second and smaller pipe open at both ends and having
communication with the exterior of the case, is made to pass through the box,
and is enclosed in and descends to within a short distance of the bottom of the
larger pipe. At the highest part of the box an opening is formed by means of.
a pipe, or it may be a partition in the box, this pipe or partition forms
a communication between the interior of the box and the meter. The
bottom opening of the partition or pipe being cut off to the required
level of the water in the meter. When the water in the case falls below
.
its proper level the opening at the bottom of the water box communicating
with the interior becomes unsealed, and consequently the gas in the meter
passes through the opening into the box displacing the quantity of water
required to bring the water level to its proper height, when the opening
in the pipe or partition will be closed, preventing the further entrance of
the gas into the box. And in order to better explain the nature of my
Invention I will proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto annexed, which
shews my compensating apparatus fixed to one of my ordinary wet gas
meters. A is the water box, having a part of the front removed to shew the
arrangement of the interior. The pipe B is open at both ends, one end
communicating with the outside of the case. The pipe C is fixed on the
bottom of the box A, and encloses the pipe B. The pipe C is closed at the
bottom, and has a small orifice D at some convenient part, of just sufficient
size to supply the quantity of water required for compensation. The meter is
charged with water at the opening B', whence it passes through the pipe B
into the pipe C, and through the orifice D. Now it follows if the orifice D is
not so large as the pipe B, and if the pipe B be filled with water, the whole of
the water cannot pass through the orifice D, but some must of necessity rise up
the pipe C, and filling the box A the water overflows at the opening E of the

page_text: pipe or partition Finto the meter, and continues to run until the water runs over
at the plug. G, when the meter will be charged. Should the water fall below
the proper level H, H, the gas will pass up the lower opening I in the pipe or
partition F, displacing the water in the box A, which falling through the
orifice D restores the water to its proper level, and closing the opening I pre-
venting the passage of the gas into the box A.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the mode of carrying
the same into practice, I would wish it to be understood I do not claim a
novelty in this principle of compensation, but what I claim and desire to be
secured to me is the combined arrangement herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James John Shedlock, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this First day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
JAMES JOHN SHEDLOCK. (L.S.)