A Gas works Gas meter of the 19th century
Illustration from Old England : a pictorial museum of regal, ecclesiastical, baronial, municipal, and popular antiquities published circa 1845. Info from wiki: From 1812 to approximately 1825, manufactured gas was predominantly an English technology. A number of new gas utilities were founded to serve London and other cities in the UK after 1812. Liverpool, Exeter, and Preston were the first in 1816. Others soon followed; by 1821, no town with population over 50,000 was without gaslight. Five years later, there were only two towns over 10,000 that were without gaslight.[9] In London, the growth of gaslight was rapid. New companies were founded within a few years of the Gas Light and Coke Company, and a period of intense competition followed as companies competed for consumers on the boundaries of their respective zones of operations. Frederick Accum, in the various editions of his book on gaslight, gives a good sense of how rapidly the technology spread in the capital. In 1815, he wrote that there were 4000 lamps in the city, served by 26 miles (42 km) of mains. In 1819, he raised his estimate to 51,000 lamps and 288 miles (463 km) of mains. Likewise, there were only two gasworks in London in 1814, and by 1822, there were seven and by 1829, there were 200 companies.[7]:72 The government did not regulate the industry as a whole until 1816, when an act of Parliament created and a post of inspector for gasworks, the first holder of which was Sir William Congreve. Even then, no laws were passed regulating the entire industry until 1847, although a bill was proposed in 1822, which failed due to opposition from gas companies.[7]:83 The charters approved by Parliament did, however, contain various regulations such as how the companies could break up the pavement, etc.
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Photo credit: © Historical Images Archive / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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