Gas Meter
name: label: maker
content: Precision Scientific Company
notes: label: Description
content: This small capacity meter was designed for use with a Sargent gas calorimeter. It consists of a stationary case and a revolving drum, both made of cold rolled brass tinned where in contact with the water or gas. The drum is brazed to its shaft, and accurately balanced so that it rotates uniformly. The inscriptions on the dial read “SARGENT WET TEST METER” and “MANUFACTURED BY / PRECISION SCIENTIFIC CO. / CHICAGO, U.S.A.”
label: Description
content: Charles Elliotte Sargent (1862-1934) was a graduate of the University of Illinois who established the Sargent Steam Meter Co. in Chicago, and patented a gas calorimeter in 1906. In 1907, in a paper to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, he argued that “With the increasing demand for internal combustion engines, the great activity in by-product and producer plants, and the vigorous growth of gas industries, the testing of gases for their calorific value and foreign ingredients is one of the duties of the engineer, and a simple, quick, and efficient method of making such determinations greatly facilitates his work.” His calorimeter did that job.
label: Description
content: Walter W. Pitann worked for the Sargent Steam Meter Co. before founding Precision Scientific.
label: Description
content: Ref: C. E. Sargent, “Gas Calorimeter,” U.S. Patent 816,042 (March 27, 1906).
label: Description
content: Sargent Steam Meter Co., <i>The Improved Sargent Automatic Gas Calorimeter and Accessories</i> (Chicago, 1900).
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Illinois, Chicago
topic: label: Subject
content: Science & Scientific Instruments
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Chemistry
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Transfer from U.S. Department of Commerce
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: CH.330327
label: catalog number
content: 330327
label: accession number
content: 1978.0483
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Gas Meter
label: Object Name
content: Sargent Wet Test Meter
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: painted alumnium (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: hose fitting: 3/8 in; .9525 cm
label: Measurements
content: pipe: 1/8 in; .3175 cm
label: Measurements
content: dial: 20.3 cm; x 8 in
label: Measurements
content: dial: 15.3 cm; x 6 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 34 cm x 37 cm x 23 cm; 13 3/8 in x 14 9/16 in x 9 1/16 in