THE ANALYST. 205 GAS REGULATORS. A NEW form of gas regulator, or governor, originally designed merely for application to street lamps, has been brought under our notice. It appears to possess special advantages for laboratory use in the perfection with which it regulates the supply of gas under varying pressures. The inventor, Mr. Borrodaile, has discarded the ordinary flexible diaphragm, and constructs the governor entirely of metal.For sizes constructed to pass five feet or less per hour, the apparatus consists of a small brass cell carefully turned inside. The diameter of the cell is nearly that of an ordinary shilling, and it is about one-third of an inch deep. The inlet and outlet pipes for the gas pass into the top and bottom of the cell. The only movable part is a thin flat metallic disc, turned so as to fit the cell accurately, though loosely enough to vibrate freely.This disc carries a short metallic tube about a quarter of an inch long, which serves as a guide to ensure the parallel motion of the disc, and also as the tube through which the gas passes from the lower part of the cell to the upper. The regulation is effected by the rising or falling of the disc.When the pressure rises, this disc, carrying with it the metallic tube through which the gas passes, rises also, and by bringing the end of the tube nearer to a fixed plate, partially cuts off the supply of gag, similarly, when the pressure is diminished, the plate falls and the gas way is increased. Simple as the invention is, it works better than the ordinary governors, as the following experiments will show.Three burners, nominally four feet, were attached to the same pipe, under a gas pressure of 9-lOths of an inch. The consumption of the three was 11.7 feet per hour, or an average of 8.9. The gas pressure was suddenly increased to 19-l0tha, and it was impossible to detect any difference in the illuminating power.206 THE ANALYST.One governor with burner attached was tested separately. Under a pressure of 9-lOths inch it passed 3.87 C.F. per hour. 9 , ,, 19-l0ths ,, ,, 3'82 ,, The orifice of the burner (an ordinary batswing jet) was reduced to less than half its area by putting a thick piece of paper in the slit. Under a pressure of 9-l0ths inch it passed 3.85 C.F. per hour. 9 9 ,, 19-l0ths ,, ,, 3.80 ,, A test was made another day at higher pressures, and the following results were obtained : - Under pressure of g-lOths, a burner passed 3.80 C.F.per hour. Y Y ,, 30-10ths, ,, t , 3.70 9 ) $ 9 ,, 50-10ths, ,, 3, 3-67 7 9 Another governor, made to pass more than 30 cubic feet per hour, was connected with four of the largest-sized Bunsen burners and used to heat a steam bath. Under a pressure of 19-lOths the consumption was, when all four burners were turned on, 33-ft. per hour; when only one burner was turned on, 32.5-ft. per hour. We have been using it very successfully for regulating the supply of gas to air drying baths, and are testing it for regulating the currents of air in gas washing experiments. In will be found valuable in the laboratory in many other ways.