] 38 GASOMETERS. 



the management of them), would not use the hydraulic main. Had he been 

 as ready to embrace new improvements, as he was to find fault with what he 

 would not be at the trouble to understand, we should have had a more correct 

 account of the subject of ' Gas-Lights' in the Supplement to the Encyclo- 

 paedia Britannica. In speaking of the Telescope Gasometer, he says : 



" ' Other contrivances have been proposed for saving of room, on somewhat similar 

 plans, but, like the above, they are not deserving of much attention, and only proper to 

 be resorted to in cases of necessity.' 



" They probably will not be resorted to but in cases of necessity, because 

 they are more expensive ; but they certainly are deserving of attention, and 

 gas-companies are much indebted to the inventor. No engineer who uses 

 them will find any practical difficulty in their operation. 



" Again, he says, when speaking of a gasometer without counterpoise : 



" ' Fig. 5 is another variety of gasometer which appears lately to have got into use, 

 though it is very imperfect, or rather totally deficient in the essential property of giving 

 an uniform pressure to the gas contained within. Having no counterpoise, it requires to 

 be elevated by the forcing in of gas under a considerable and varying pressure, and the 

 addition of a regulator or governor is necessary to equalize that pressure where the gas 

 is emitted for the purposes of combustion.' 



" Now the above is given with an opinion so decided, that it might lead to 

 great inconvenience, as it is totally wrong ; for no one now would think of 

 counterbalancing a gasometer to the nicety he seems to think necessary ; and 

 I should never think of using counterweights at all, except in telescope gas- 

 ometers, having invariably found that they require an additional weight rather 

 than a decrease ; and as to the governor, it certainly is a much more scientific 

 and correct machine for regulating the flow of gas into the street-mains, than 

 an immense framing to support wheels and balance, with a chain sufficiently 

 heavy to regulate the specific gravity of the iron of the gasometer : the former 

 would cost about 20, and be perfectly correct without friction ; the latter 

 would cost 200, and the friction be very great. 



" Engineers are not always to be blamed for the imperfections of their 

 establishment, as they are in many cases tied down by directors, who, wishing 

 to increase the dividend of the Company, often go to extremes. 



" It is certainly praiseworthy in them to do their best for the Company 

 which they represent ; but if they employ an engineer, and place confidence 

 in him, they ought to be guided, in matters involving essentially engineering 



