IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE SUPPLY OF GAS."
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Esplin, of No. 32, Tyer Street, Lambeth, in
the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR REGULATING THE SUPPLY OF GAS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Esplin at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th
April 1865.
I, CHARLES ESPLIN, of No. 32, Tyer Street, Lambeth, in the County of
Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE SUPPLY OF GAS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for regulating
the supply of gas.
In order more readily to regulate the flow of gas coming from a gas main
to a building or other place where several burners are employed on the same
supply, and where such burners are more or less distant from each other and
from the supply pipe from the main, apparatus is applied in the following
manner-On the supply pipe coming from the main there is a diaphragm
valve or cock; at the back of the cover of this diaphragm is applied the end of
a small tube; the other end of such tube may be in any desired position in
the building or place, and more or less distant from the supply pipe, depending
on the locality where it may be wished to have the power of regulating the
whole supply of gas without having to go to the cock or valve above mentioned,"

page_text: which is on the supply pipe. In such more or less distant locality the other
end of the small pipe is fixed to a vessel, which is divided by a diaphragm of
larger diameter than that of the valve or cock before mentioned. The small
tube is to be full of air, or it may be other fluid.
The regulation of the supply of gas is effected by causing the air or other
fluid contained in the small tube to be pressed on by the regulating diaphragm
acted on by means of a screw or other instrument, by which the fluid will
press on the diaphragm in the cock or valve on the supply pipe, and thus the
passage for the gas from the main to the supply pipe will be reduced in
dimensions, and the flow of gas will be lessened. The reverse action will
follow the moving back of the regulating diaphragm, as the passage for the
flow of gas through the cock or valve on the supply pipe will then be
enlarged.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Esplin in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
5th October 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
ESPLIN, of No. 32, Tyer Street, Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Charles Esplin, Her special licence that I, the said
Charles Esplin, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Charles Esplin, 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 APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE SUPPLY OF GAS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Esplin, 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

page_text: calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said 'Letters
Patent.
:
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Esplin, do hereby declare the:
nature of the 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 thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for regulating'
the supply of gas.
In order more readily to. regulate the flow of gas coming from a gas main
to a building or other place where several burners are employed on the same
supply, and where such burners are more or less distant from each other and
from the supply pipe from the main, apparatus is applied in the following"
manner: On the supply pipe coming from the main there is a diaphragm
valve or cock; at the back of the cover of this diaphragm is applied the end
of a small tube; the other end of such tube may be in any desired position
in the building or place, and more or less distant from the supply pipe,
depending on the locality where it may be wished to have the power of
regulating the whole supply of gas without having to go to the cock or valve
above mentioned, which is on the supply pipe. In such more or less distant
locality the other end of the small pipe is fixed to a vessel, which is divided by
a diaphragm of larger diameter than that of the valve or cock before mentioned.
The small tube is to be full of air, or it may be other fluid.
The regulation of the supply of gas is effected by causing the air or other
fluid contained in the small tube to be pressed on by the regulating diaphragm
acted on by means of a screw or other instrument, by which the fluid will
press on the diaphragm in the cock or valve on the supply pipe, and thus the
passage for the gas from the main to the supply, pipe will be reduced in
dimensions, and the flow of gas will be lessened. The reverse action will
follow the moving back of the regulating diaphragm, as the passage for the
flow of gas through the cock or valve on the supply pipe will then be
enlarged.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed more fully
to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
A shows a section of an ordinary diaphragm cock or valve, which when
carrying out my Invention is fixed on the gas supply pipe. This cock or
valve is put in connection with the instrument B by means of a connecting
tube C, which is full of atmospheric air, or it might be other fluid. The cover

page_text: of the diaphragm in the instrument B has one or more air passages through
it, in order that the outer atmosphere may at all times press freely on that
side of the diaphragm. The instrument B is fixed in any place or locality
where it is desired to have the power of regulating the supply of gas
passing through the cock or valve A to the several burners in connection with
the supply pipe. The diaphragm in the instrument B is arranged to be acted:
on by a screw, by which the diaphragm can be readily moved towards or
away from the small tubular passage C, by which the instruments A and B
are connected; hence the air or fluid contained in the tube and in the
instruments A and B will be compressed when the diaphragm in B is moved
towards the passage C, which will cause the diaphragm in the valve or cock A
to reduce the extent of passage for the gas, whilst the reverse effect will
follow the movement of the diaphragm in the instrument B.
I would state that the form and construction of the instruments A and B
may be varied so long as the arrangement of the parts employed is such that
the air or other fluid interposed between the instruments A and B will enable
a person to adjust the gas passage in the cock or valve on the supply pipe
by moving a diaphragm or partition in an instrument at a distance as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Esplin, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
CHARLES ESPLIN.
(L.S.)