IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS METERS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Etienne Lemoine, of Paris, (France,) Gasfitter, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS METERS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Etienne Lemoine at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th June 1857.
I, ETIENNE LEMOINE, of Paris (France), Gasfitter, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS METERS," to be as
follows:-
These improvements refer to wet gas meters, and have for their object the
prevention of fraud in the measuring of the gas that passes through the water;
whilst, by means of an aperture for the escape of the overflow water, the height
of the water in the bent arm or tube, by which the gas enters in the partitions
of the drum or helix, is regulated. By means of a partition a chamber is
formed in the lower part of the water compartment of the meter; in this
chamber is to run the water that would exceed the required level in the said
water compartment, a pipe establishing a communication between the said
chamber and the water level. Another tube, provided at its lower end with a
suitable valve, opens also in the said chamber; whereas the other end commu-
nicates with the inside of the meter; and this part has at the required height au
aperture, by which the overflow water in the bent arm is permitted to escape

page_text: whenever this rises above the required level. The outlet opening for the gas
is established on the fore part of the meter, thus preventing the piercing of the
drum from the outside. The water is introduced into the meter by means of a
tube, the lower end of which opens in the water compartment, and is provided
with a suitable valve; whereas the upper end of the said tube opens in a
reservoir for the feed water.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Etienne Lemoine in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th December 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ETIENNE
LEMOINE, of Paris (France), Gasfitter, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Etienne Lemoine, Her special licence that I, the said Etienne Lemoine,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Etienne Lemoine, 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
GAS METERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Etienne
Lemoine, 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 Etienne Lemoine, 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:-
These improvements in gas meters relate to the kind called wet meters, and
consist in certain arrangements for insuring the due registering of any quantity
of gas passing through the meter.

page_text: The annexed Drawing represents a view of the inside of the meter, seen
from the front, part of the front casing being removed in order better to
show the arrangements of the various parts.
A is the tube by which the gas enters into the chamber A', in order to prevent
any possibility of passing a curved wire or other instrument into this tube to
lift up the valve B, and thereby causing more gas to pass through the opening
C than would be allowed otherwise by the float D; a strong partition plate a
is fixed between the lower opening 6 of this tube A and the said valve B. The
gas, after passing through C, is conveyed by the tube E and the ordinary bend
or syphon pipe F in the measuring drum, situated in the water compartment
at the back of the meter, and consequently not represented in the Drawing;
from this measuring drum the gas passes through the opening G¹ into the
chamber G, which latter is provided with a hole g for conveying the con-
densation water that would have collected in this chamber G into the water
reservoir H formed in the lower part of the front of the meter by a partition
plate h; this reservoir H serves for receiving the overflow water of the drum
compartment, which water will run off through the pipe I as soon as its level
exceeds the upper opening i of this tube I, this tube serving for establishing
the required height of level of the said water. K is the tube by which the gas
leaves the meter. K' and K" are two screw plugs fixed to the front plate of
the casing of the meter. The plug K¹ serves for ascertaining from the outside
whether the gas passes regularly through the meter; whereas the plug K"
serves for ascertaining the height of water in the reservoir E, and for allowing
this water partly to escape and not to rise too high in the tube E, so as to
interfere with the working of the bend or syphon tube F; in order to prevent
that by this opening K" and by the pipe M. water might be abstracted by
suction from the reservoir H. The lower end of this pipe M is provided with a
ball valve p, the ball of which will be lifted up and thereby close the opening
of the pipe whenever one would try to abstract water from H by a suction at
K", and in this manner to cause part of the gas to pass through the meter
without having passed through the measuring drum, and consequently without
being registered. The water for the measuring drum compartment is in-
troduced in the meter by the tube N and through the tube O, the lower
opening of which is also provided with a ball valve p¹; the upper opening 2 of
this tube must not be situated directly opposite the lower opening r of the pipe
N, in order to prevent any possibility of reaching the ball p', by introducing a
wire or other instrument in this pipe N; on the other hand, as the chamber P
is pretty large, this will prevent the lifting up of this ball p¹ by a suction at N,
and consequently prevent the fraudulent abstraction of water from that side.

page_text: The tube I serves for conveying to the reservoir H any water exceeding
the required level in the drum compartment; the upper end i of this tube
glides in the fixed or lower end I, and may be lifted up by a slide p" from the
outside of the meter for duly regulating the water level in the interior of this
latter, after which this slide is soldered or duly secured in any other suitable
manner to the casing of the meter. In order to prevent that, by introducing a
cutting instrument through K, a hole might be pierced in the partition plate
q', and thereby allow the gas passing at once through the said hole; this
partition plate is made from tempered steel.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I claim as my. Invention the various arrange-
ments described for preventing a greater quantity of gas to pass through the
meter than is indicated by its registering or dial work.
In witness whereof, I, the said Etienne Lemoine, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
M. A. ENGUEehard,
E. LEMOINE. (L.S.)