What is a Regulator For? How an Overlooked Invention Simplifies Everyday Life

This video explains the purpose of pressure regulators…What are pressure regulators for? What do pressure regulators do?
It goes back to a time before pressure reducing valves were invented, when pressure control was manually intensive and exhausting. William Fisher's revolutionary invention changed our lives, enabling many modern conveniences such as the use of gas to heat our homes and cook our food, allowing water to flow at the right pressure when we open the faucet, plus numerous applications that make our everyday lives more comfortable.
The legacy left by William Fisher on the Emerson Fisher organization is far reaching. Fisher products can be found around the world, automating tasks that otherwise would have been impossible in industries and applications as diverse as upstream oil & gas, HVAC, food & beverage, power generation, propane distribution and storage, gas transmission and distribution, and air, water, lube oil, and steam in chemical plants and refining.

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Video transcript:
What is a pressure regulator for? What does a pressure regulator do? On a very basic level, regulators provide a way to control the pressure of gas or other fluids to downstream processes or customers. Self-operated regulators work to meet or fulfill downstream demand while keeping downstream pressure constant. To understand self-operated regulators today, you need to know a little bit about why and how they were invented. It began in the 1800’s when engineer-mechanic
William Fisher left his home in Mississippi to work as a chief engineer for Marshalltown, Iowa. Fisher manually maintained the water pressure for firefighters. Now he had to do this by hand from a steam driven pump carried on a wagon. When the firefighters first attacked the fire, they needed as much water as possible. After hooking up the hoses, the gauge gave Fisher the signal to begin the pump and man the valve. As the pump started, the steam pressure decreased. As this happened Fisher opened the valve to make the pump work faster in order to supply enough water to put out the fire. When there was less demand for water, the fire fighters throttled back on the nozzle, the pump slowed down and the pressure in the line increased. At this point, Fisher closed the valve. Exhausted from hand-throttling the pump throughout the night, Fisher decided to invent a way to more easily maintain constant pressure to the pumps. He developed a self-contained valve and actuator combination that operates off its own inertia. Many months later, Fisher developed the Type 1 Constant Pressure Pump Governor which he patented in 1880. That original design is the basis for today’s self-operated regulators. As you begin working with self-operated regulators, we hope that you will remember William Fisher and his original Type 1 constant pressure pump governor. William Fisher desired that process control be safe, efficient, and intuitive. He started an organization that has the same passion and holds these same beliefs. For more information on Fisher pressure regulators, relief valves, backpressure regulators, and more, see the links in the description below. Thank you for watching this video on What is a regulator for? and What does a regulator do?

[jeffs]

Emerson makes great products. I didn't know the story of how regulators were invented. Very interesting!

[jenniferhillard]

Thank you for explaining it so simply.