The bellows-type gas meter is the most popular type of device for measuring the volume of gas flowing through it. It is used in situations where the provider of gas needs to bill a user for the gas consumed and is usually scaled in cubic metres. It is a device that has been in use since the early 19th century and is usually installed on the premises of individual clients and small enterprises. The gas meter is made of two bellows that alternately fill with gas and transfer their reciprocal movement via a servomechanism to a drum counter mechanism, which allows a the consumption of the blue fuel to be read. Depending on the size of the device and the maximum throughput, there are different classes of bellows-type gas meters. The devices of this type produced today are often additionally equipped with an electronic device to monitor consumption and facilitate meter reading by the gas supplier. Apart from the bellows-type gas meters, there are also orifice and turbine metres, typically used in industrial applications where ithigher volume of the fuel must be delivered in a short time. The bellows-type gas meter presented here was built by the German Vesta, Apparate- und Metallwarenfabrik GmbH company that operated between 1901-1937 and manufactured metal products for the German market and for export, including to the USA.

References:
Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office, Washington D.C. 1910, p. 159.
Gazomierze w sieci virtual exhibition, Wirtualne Muzeum Gazownictwa, https://wmgaz.pl/wirtualne-wystawy/gazomierze-w-sieci (Accessed: 9.05.2021).