All About Inventions and Discoveries
The Romance of modern scientific and mechanical Achievements

56 All About Inventions It was not until the promoters of the enterprise settled down to fulfil the claims which they had advanced that they realised the proportions of the problem which they had attacked. There was abso- lutely no previous experience to guide them. They were creating a new industry, and every step was in the nature of a pioneer movement. In those days metal pipes were unknown. The water supplied by the New River Company flowed through pipes of wood. But Clegg was not dismayed. He built his distributing mains of stone, and the supply pipes of musket barrels screwed together. Explosions and fires were of frequent occurrence, but each calamity of this character was accepted as a lesson, and pre- cautions taken to obviate its repetition. The methods of running the organisation sound quaint in the light of current knowledge. The meter, which registers the quantity of gas, was unknown, so customers were charged so much rental for each light per year. Clegg recognised the shortcomings of this method, and even turned his attention to the design and construction of a registering device so that the customers might be charged for what they consumed. By 1813 Westminster Bridge had received its due allotment of lamps and was first lighted by gas. Once the public realised that their objections had come to naught, they seemed to turn completely round, and were speedily assailing the company vigorously for not completing their contracts to install the new lighting system with promptitude. But this con- cern, in common with many others devoted to a new industry, suffered severely from crippled finances.