GAS AND GAS METERS. 185 



allowed to run for forty-eight hours without changing the card, thus 

 super-imposing the record of the second day upon that of the first. 

 Note how closely the readings for the two days agree. The gov- 

 ernor is a protection against excess of pressure only; if the street 

 pressure falls below eleven tenths — the point at which my governor 

 i s se t — automatic regulation ceases, and my gas simply becomes 

 subject to practically the same variations as exist on the main. Hap- 

 pily, the latter condition is infrequently realized in our neighborhood. 

 No argument is needed to prove how successfully a governing device 

 of this nature can cope with the trouble indicated by Exhibit 1, or 

 how utterly inadequate it is to afford relief from the evil depicted in 

 Exhibit 2. Increased pressure is the only remedy for the latter. 



The gas company does not recommend the use of these house-to- 

 house governors — presumably because such a recommendation would 

 be in effect an admission that the service as now maintained by the 

 company is not satisfactory. Indeed, the less enlightened officials — 

 and it is these, unfortunately, with whom the consumer has generally 

 to deal — positively and unreasoningly condemn all such regulating 

 devices. In spite of this, there exist to-day several gas-reduction com- 

 panies, whose sole occupation consists in exploiting various gas-pressure- 

 regulating appliances, which are rented to consumers for a certain per- 

 centage of the monthly saving in the gas bills which their use effects. 



It would appear to be a self-evident proposition that when one pays 

 for gas delivered at his meter he is entitled to receive that gas under 

 such a pressure as will afford the most satisfactory service. This 

 pressure is found to be one inch. Making due allowance for reasonable 

 fluctuations of a few tenths above the normal, any further departure 

 from the standard may be taken as a sure indication of a disinclination 

 on the part of the company to meet the expense of new pipes and 

 regulating apparatus. The time is not far distant when the public will 

 demand, not cheaper gas nor better gas, but a more satisfactory service. 

 But before condemning the gas company one must look to his house 

 piping. The company's responsibility ends just inside the meter, and 

 from that point the consumer must provide satisfactory appliances, 

 giving the same attention to the gas pipes as he gives to the plumbing. 

 This is seldom done and the company is frequently blamed for the 

 neglect of the householder. 



The gas engineer, steering between the Scylla of 'poor' gas and 

 the Charybdis of excessive pressures, finds himself still 'dangerous 

 in the rapids' of financial expenditure. At present he is doing the 

 best he can with the money doled out to him by the management. 



It will be observed that up to the present point the gas meter 

 itself has played no part in the discussion. The meter, although greatly 

 maligned, is in reality an eminently satisfactory piece of mechanism. 



