Gas holders

A gas holder, sometimes called a gasometer, is a large container in which natural gas or town gas is stored near atmospheric pressure at ambient temperatures. The volume of the container follows the quantity of stored gas, with pressure coming from the weight of a movable cap. Typical volumes for large gasholders are about 50,000 cubic metres (1,800,000 cu ft), with 60 metres (200 ft) diameter structures. Gasholders tend to be used nowadays for balancing purposes (making sure gas pipes can be operated within a safe range of pressures) rather than for actually storing gas for later use.

Antoine Lavoisier devised the gazomètre to assist his work in pneumatic chemistry . These enabled him to weigh the gas in a pneumatic trough with the precision he required. He published his Traité Élémentaire de Chimie. in 1789.

James Watt Junior had collaborated with Thomas Beddoes in constructing the pneumatic apparatus, a short lived piece of medical equipment that incorporated a gazomètre. He then adapted the gazomètre for coal gas storage. The term gasometer, anglicisation was adopted by William Murdoch, the inventor of gas lighting, in 1782, as the name for his gasholders.

Despite the objections of Murdoch's associates that his so-called "gasometer" was not a meter but a container, the name was retained and came into general use. The term "gasometer" is discouraged for use in technical circles, where the term "gas holder" is preferred. The British Ordnance Survey have marked gas holders on their large scale maps- calling them Gasometers. This became used to label Gas works, where there usually are several gasholders.

The spelling "gas holder" is used by the BBC, though the variant "gasholder" is commonly used by other publishers and they are often both used in the same paper. The meter used to measure the flow of gas through a particular pipe is a gas meter.

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