GAS AND GAS METERS. 189 



simple, measuring cubic feet with as much deliberation as is required 

 to deal water out of a cask by means of a pint dipper. Its percentage 

 of error is the same at all pressures and under all loads within its 

 capacity, and it measures cubic feet of gas regardless of whether that 

 gas be expanded or compressed. 



And so we are obliged to realize, as another fallacy is exposed, that 

 the meter does not spin around most energetically under the higher 

 pressures, cheerfully and accommodatingly serving its masters by add- 

 ing a mythical cubic foot or two to the count at each revolution. 



It remains, then, to consider the error of the meter. The custom 

 is, in New York at least, not to set a meter that registers fast — that 

 registers a greater volume of gas than actually passes through it. If 

 it is found to be slow, however, and not more than three per cent., 

 it is allowed to go out. As a result, the meter, when first placed, 

 always favors the consumer, sometimes to the extent of recording only 

 ninety-seven feet of gas for each one hundred feet actually passed. 

 Owing to the aging of the mechanism and the drying out of the 

 leathers, there exists a tendency to increase the registry for each cubic 

 foot passed. In this way a slow meter may become a fast meter after 

 a period of active service. From the meager data at my disposal, it 

 would appear that every meter should be called in for a thorough over- 

 hauling and readjustment at periodic intervals of from three to five 

 years. 



Assuming that there are several million gas meters in Greater New 

 York alone, it is but natural to expect that out of this vast number, 

 in spite of any reasonable care that may have been exercised in their 

 adjustment originally, many will be found subsequently to be defective 

 — some because of mechanical injury, some through sheer old age. 

 Unfortunately, it is not possible as yet to obtain a convincingly large 

 array of figures; but in the Borough of Brooklyn, where there are in 

 service nearly a quarter of a million meters, and where complaints 

 against them have been studiously encouraged by the authorities, one 

 hundred and eighty-seven meters have been carefully tested. Here are 

 the results: 



,..,.. , 42 between 3 and 10 per cent. 



114 fast, average 3 per cent (recording 103 cubic feet for each J 



more than 10 per cent, 

 between 3 and 10 pei 

 69 less than 3 per cent. 



100 cubic feet actually passed) 



I HI 



f more than 10 per cent. 



i 13 between 3 and 10 per cent. 



52 slow, average 2% per cent (recording 97% cubic feet for I gg ]egg thftn g pef cent 



each 100 cubic feet actually passed) | J_ 



