196 BURNERS. 



ing of the supply-pipe remain the same under the different circumstances, 

 either a waste of gas is occasioned by the flames being unnecessarily high, or 

 each lamp has to be turned down by hand, which is often very inconvenient. 

 The construction of this consumer's governor is upon the same principle as 

 the large station governor, but is varied slightly in form, the floating vessel 

 being entirely enclosed in a case, and the cone guided at the bottom. 



Within the last three years a patent has been taken out for an ingenious 

 instrument to answer the same purpose, by Mr. J. Milne of Edinburgh, which 

 he calls a " gas-regulator." The advantage gained by the use of these instru- 

 ments more than compensates for the small additional expense incurred in fixing 

 them. In cotton-mills, and other manufactories consisting of several floors, 

 the regulator will be found of great advantage in equalizing the pressure or 

 supply of gas to each floor, according to the quantity of light required. It is 

 a very general complaint in cotton-mills that the light in the under floor is 

 deficient, while at the upper floors there is a greater supply of gas than is 

 necessary. This inconvenience arises from the upper floors being subject to 

 less atmospheric pressure than the under one, every additional rise of ten feet 

 making a difference on the pressure of about one-tenth of an inch. Suppose 

 a mill of six floors is supplied from the gas-mains at a pressure of six-tenths, 

 and that the difference of altitude between the highest and lowest lights is 

 equal to fifty feet, the gas in the highest or sixth floor will issue from the 

 burners at a pressure of eleven-tenths, the fifth floor at ten-tenths, the fourth 

 at nine-tenths, and so on. In order to gain full advantage from the regulator, 

 one should be placed in each floor ; and in this manner one placed at the top 

 or sixth floor, and adjusted to six-tenths of an inch pressure, will send the 

 surplus pressure of five-tenths to the floor below ; another placed on the fifth 

 floor, also set to six-tenths, will send the surplus of four-tenths down to the 

 fourth floor ; a regulator on the fourth floor will send the surplus three-tenths 

 to the third floor, from which the surplus two- tenths will be sent to the second 

 floor ; between that floor and the ground, the fall being ten feet, the remain- 

 ing surplus of one-tenth is lost, and thus an uniform pressure of six-tenths 

 will be established over the whole building ; and to prevent any inequality 

 from outward pressure, a regulator ought to be placed on the ground-floor 

 also. Very frequently the gas companies are obliged to supply mills at a 

 much greater pressure than is above stated as necessary, in order that the 

 ground-floor may have sufficient light ; and it is in such cases that the ad- 



