IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS REGU- LATORS."
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George John Cookson, of Dorset Street,. in the City
of London, Printer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS REGU-
LATORS." A communication from abroad by James Gabriel Pavyer, of
Saint Louis, U.S.A.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George John Cookson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th June 1860.
I, GEORGE JOHN COOKSON, of Dorset Street, in the City of London, Printer;
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS
REGULATORS," (communicated to me from abroad by James Gabriel Pavyer, of
Saint Louis, U.S.A.), to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in constructing gas regulators in the following
manner: The case or shell of each regulator is composed of two hemi-
spherical or approximately hemispherical pieces of metal, which are connected
by flanges formed around them, and screws passing through these flanges. A
pipe or tubular projection extends from the lower side of this case or shell,
and another stands out from the side of the case, having its outer end turned
up and screwed to receive a burner or a branch leading to several burners.
Between the flanges of the case is clipped the outer edge of a circular dise

page_text: of leather or other material suitable to form an elastic diaphragm, which disc
is held around its centre between two plates, below the lower of which is
a nut, and above the upper of which is a nut and a cup for holding shot or
other weighty substance. The central plates, nuts, and cup are all held
together by the screwed end of a rod, the screwed portion of which passes
through them, and the lower end of which depends vertically, carrying at
bottom a convex valve with its convexity turned upwards. This valve
comes against a seat formed within a union, which is screwed upon the
pipe or tubular projection at the bottom of the case. On the upper side
of the case is placed a removable cover with an aperture in the centre for
receiving a plug, which has a smaller aperture through it. The cover is re-
moved when it is desired to vary the weights in the cup. The gas, after
passing through the union and past the convex valve, enters the case below
the diaphragm, and when the burners are opened is expelled by the joint
action of the weighted diaphragm and its appendages, and of the atmospheric
pressure exerting itself through the aperture above. When the pressure
from the main becomes excessive, the convex valve is forced upwards to
a greater or less extent, and the supply is therefore more or less cut off
from the regulator case, and excess of pressure at the burners is thus avoided.
On the withdrawal of the excessive pressure in the main, the normal conditions
are restored. By the plug in the cover, provision is made for varying the size
of the aperture, and for thus adjusting the rate at which the atmosphere shall
enter or be expelled from the regulator.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George John Cookson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
7th December 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
JOHN COOKSON, of Dorset Street, in the City of London, Printer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
George John Cookson, Her special licence that I, the said George John Cook-
son, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said

page_text: George John Cookson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "Iы-
PROVEMENTS IN GAS REGULATORS," (a communication from abroad by James
Gabriel Pavyer, of Saint Louis, United States of America,) upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said George John Cookson, my executors or admi-
nistrators, 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 Inven-
tion, 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 George John Cookson, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
This Invention consists in constructing gas regulators in the following
manner: The case or shell of each regulator is composed of two hemi-
spherical or approximately hemispherical pieces of metal, which are con-
nected by flanges formed around them and screws passing through these
flanges. A pipe or tubular projection extends from the lower side of this
case or shell, and another stands out from the side of the case, having its
outer end turned up and screwed to receive a burner or a branch leading
to several burners. Between the flanges of the case is clipped the outer
edge of a circular disc of leather or other material suitable to form an elastic
diaphragm, which disc is held around its centre between two plates, below
the lower of which is a nut, and above the upper of which is a nut and
a cup for holding shot or other weighty substance. The central plates, nuts,
and cup are all held together by the screwed end of a rod, the screwed por-
tion of which passes through them, and the lower end of which depends
vertically, carrying at bottom a convex valve with its convexity turned upwards.
This valve comes against a seat formed within a union, which is screwed upon
the pipe or tubular projection at the bottom of the case. On the upper side
of the case is placed a removable cover with an aperture in the centre for
receiving a plug, which has a smaller aperture through it. The cover is
removed when it is desired to vary the weights in the cup.
The gas, after

page_text: passing through the union and past the convex valve, enters the case below
the diaphragm, and when the burners are opened is expelled by the joint action
of the weighted diaphragm and its appendages, and of the atmospheric pressure
exerting itself through the aperture above. When the pressure from the
main becomes excessive, the convex valve is forced upwards to a greater or
less extent, and the supply is therefore more or less cut off from the regulator
case, and excess of pressure at the burners is thus avoided. On the withdrawal
of the excessive pressure in the main the normal conditions are restored. By
the plug in the cover, provision is made for varying the size of the aperture,
and for thus adjusting the rate at which the atmosphere shall enter or be
expelled from the regulator.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is an external elevation, and
Figure 2 a longitudinal section, of a gas regulator constructed according to my
Invention; Figure 3 shows, in top view, the manner in which the cases or shells
are connected together, and Figure 4 is a view of the diaphragm with the
upper plate attached.
A, A, is the union or valve chamber by which gas is admitted from the
meter or main; D is the convex valve connected to the rod D', having the
cup I screwed to its upper end; instead of the cup I sometimes employ lead
or other weight; E, E, is the seat for the valve D; C, C, is the diaphragm
held between the flanges of the cases or shells by screws a, a; J, J, are thin
metal plates secured to the diaphragm and to the rod D¹ by nuts K, K, and
these serve to balance and guide the valve in its up-and-down motion; G is
an air chamber fitted at top with a cap H, having a plug L at its upper part,
in which a small hole is made for the admission of air, as shewn at b, Figure 2.
Gas which enters between the valve D and its seat E presses on the under
side of the diaphragm C, and thence passes to the burner or burners as indi-
cated by the arrows, the supply being regulated by the atmospheric pressure on
the diaphragm in combination with the weighted cup I, by which means the
space for the admission of gas, viz., the distance the valve D is from the seat
E is regulated as herein-before fully described.
Figure 5 is a sectional elevation of a gas regulator similar in principle to
that before described, but somewhat modified in details. The passage for the
gas to the burner is through the centre of the diaphragm, a pipe c conveying it
Chence to the burner; there is a space for the admission of air between the top
case and the said pipe c. Figure 6 is another modification; in this case the
gas is led out of the regulator by a pipe d, bent to correspond with the outer
form of the regulator, and terminating in a perpendicular or other pipe leading

page_text: to the burner. The action of the two last modified forms of regulator is essen-
tially the same as that of the one first described.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,―
First, the method of regulating the supply of gas in gas regulators by
atmospheric pressure acting in combination with a diaphragm and weighted
cup, lead, or other appliance mounted on or connected to the valve rod, sub-
stantially as herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings.
Second, the construction of gas regulators as herein-before described and
illustrated in Figures 1 to 6 of the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said George John Cookson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixth day of December, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty.
GEORGE JOHN COOKSON. (L.S.)
GEORGE JOHN COOKSON. (L.S.)